Saturday was our annual Halloween party! We had a great time with friends, playing games and eating food. I decided after last year to do another giant pot of chili as the main food dish. It worked out great, and anything left over Iâll freeze and use over the next few months. Â
As for the rest of the foodâŠI tried a couple of new recipes. The first one was a recipe for pumpkin cookies with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. They were pretty good, and did not have an overpowering pumpkin flavor at all. The recipe came from a magazine I got at work. The second new recipe I tried was a version of white chocolate bark, made with crushed Oreos and candy corn â very sweet, but good! I also made an old family favorite that has become a tradition for me every Halloween â Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts. They donât really have a name, so I guess thatâs what Iâll call them. Normally, I just say those âbacon water chestnut thingsâ â but somehow that doesnât seem appropriate for a recipe title. At any rate, hereâs what you do:
Ingredients:
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1 package of bacon
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1-2 cans of whole water chestnuts
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Barbeque sauce
Directions:
Cut the slab of bacon into thirds. Cut water chestnuts in half. Roll a piece of bacon around each water chestnut half and place in a glass baking dish. Cover with barbeque sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until bacon is cooked and sauce is bubbly. Insert a toothpick into each bacon-wrapped water chestnut and serve immediately (although, be careful, these guys come out piping hot!).
Now, on to the costumes. I had my costume planned a while back, and I thought Tom did, too. I was a female version of the old McDonaldâs character â The Hamburglar!
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| Rubble, Rubble! |
Tom had originally planned on being The Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Unfortunately, the helmet proved troublesome to replicate. So, we found ourselves rushing to put together a new costume for him just a few hours before the party started! I think it turned out pretty wellâŠwe turned Tom into a Chia Pet!
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| Cha, Cha, Cha, Chia! |
And, of course, we can’t forget about The Cheat. Â He was dressed up this year as a pirate…and I would say it suits him well.
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| MEH! ARRR! |
I had my painted pumpkins all around the house, as well as a few other fall decorations.
Perhaps the best dĂ©cor was a recent, more permanent change, however. Tom recently decided to paint a âscreenâ on the wall where our projector shines. I was not convinced that his was a good idea, but I think it turned out great! Tom built a frame around it and we painted the wall around that.  He finished it just in time for the party!  Check it out:
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| Now it really looks like a home theater! |
Tonight, actually Halloween night, we have some fun stuff in store for our trick-or-treaters. We have a big trick-or-treating neighborhood, but it seems that most kids donât actually make it all the way down to our end of the street. Weâre basically off the back entrance. So, in an effort to lure kids, we have purchased the big, full-sized candy barsâAND we have a bonus bin of miscellaneous items they can choose from (most of which contains freebies from my brotherâlike the millions of yellow stress balls Tom got from him in our white elephant Christmas exchange last year!). If we succeed, word will spread, and we will get lots of trick-or-treaters next year!  Wish us luck đ
At the Water's Edge 
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