Thursday, November 1, 2007

The Party

We had a killer Halloween party last night. We invited a bunch of people we know that have little babies too young for trick or treating. Amazingly, everyone came. It was total chaos for about an hour, then the babies started getting cranky. One by one, families started leaving to put their babies to bed. But for that hour, it was extremely intense.

In preparation, I spent most of the day cooking, while Brandon cleaned and decorated the house. Caleb spent most of the day crying because he wasn't being held enough, but it was impossible to get anything done otherwise. Then, once the party people started arriving, he was so happy. He just loves having a party.

For the main course, I made a stew in a pumpkin. People absolutely loved it. It was extremely tasty, and not at all hard. It just has to cook for a really long time. I was worried that it would be gross and super pumpkiny, but you couldn't taste the pumpkin at all. Maye a hint of squash flavor. It was beyond delicious and the first thing we ran out of. (Despite the fact that it was an eleven pound pumpkin filled to the brim.)

The second main course was this pizza sandwich shaped like a snake. So super cute. I didn't actually try it (since I filled up on stew), but everyone else said it was really good. Mostly I just liked how cute and fancy it looked without being too hard.

And since this was a party, I thought it the most appropriate place to debut my party fountain (which I got for Christmas last year). The punch tasted great. The only downside to the fountain is that it doesn't handle carbonation well, and will stop working if you pour too much soda into it. We also got to use our fancy Halloween glasses for the first time (which I got last year). They looked awesome, but only held about two swallows of punch in them. One of the older kids at the party just camped out next to the fountain so he could constantly refill his goblet.

For dessert, I made these spider cupcakes. I thought they looked absolutely fantastic (but didn't actually taste them). Just regular cupcakes with regular frosting. Sprinkles on top for a hairy look. Skittles for eyes. Twizzler legs (which was the hardest part).

A spooktacular party!

3 comments:

Patti said...

Loved your pictures of your cute food for your party!!!! Save the soup recipe for our new book. Shall we have it for a dinner while in St. George? Where's the picture of Caleb in his turtle costume? Nag nag nag.

Patti said...

I just noticed the eyeballs on the pumpkin stew plate! Awesome. I'd forgotten about those. No wonder you had a spooktacular party!

FoxFamily said...

Wow Karen! That is beyond awesome that you planned such an exquisite party AND made all the food and decorated. I am super impressed. We want to have a party with you too... just don't know when. :-)