My Cuttlebug

I haven't been posting often, but I have been busy. Now, maybe someone out there will notice I did not post September's artist trading card and you are right. When I tried taking picture of all of them before I handed them out, I only encountered technical difficulties and lousy picture after lousy picture. I intend to attempt to take a picture of the card I kept so you can see the design. But of note (to me at least) is that the day I worked on my September ATC's was the day I bought my Cuttlebug machine and from that moment on I have been embossing and cutting like a fool.

The following two cards are for men...a couple of my uncles to be more exact whose birthdays are this month.

This first card is actually very similar to my September ATC as I even used left over background paper I had made for those. Do you see those swirls? Those were done with my Cuttlebug. And do you see the ovals? Those were done using my Spellbinder's Nestabilities dies cut and embossed with my Cuttlebug.


Do you see the white and brown mesh looking paper? Cuttlebug and the Cuttlebug Mesh embossing folder designed by Christine Adolph (the same who designs the lovely stamp lines with Stampington).



Here is another card I made for someone who loves purple (could you tell?). Notice the panel behind the flowers? That is the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder designed by Christine Adolph. And the borders are made using Martha Stewart Craft's Doily Lace border punch which I finally found at a Michael's in Dallas when I went to visit a friend of mine. Did I mention that I brought along my Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug embossing folders and my friend spent one night and the next morning happily embossing away and then went out that week to buy her own Cuttlebug? Yes, I am an enabler.

The polka dot brackets are from a set by Inque Boutique and the oval a Nestabilities die cut and embossed using my Cuttlebug of course. And the squares were also cut using Nestabilities. These dies are fantastic and I buy a set a month as I have a VIP coupon from Cut@Home.

And lastly for now here are the artist trading cards (ATC's) for the Vintage Halloween theme:

I think they came out pretty well. I used Kiwi Kiss from Stampin' Up! for a punch of color with the black and white--I love this color! The scary cat face is from Paper Source (when I was in Dallas I bought it), the cat with the swirly tail is from Papertrey Ink's Spooky Sweets II set, the beware stamp is from Pink Paislee's Trick or Treat set. And yes, I used my Cuttlebug for the black cardstock base which I embossed with the wonderful Swiss Dot embossing folder and I cut the black cat heat embossed on the vellum with a scalloped oval Nestabilities die.

Lately I have been hard at work on my Halloween party invitations. They include the same Kiwi Kiss color, black, white and some other colors for good meassure. I will try to post some pictures at some point.

Spooktacular Souper Part II

I made this vignette to show you guys how the witch's fingers turned out...they were deliciously nasty looking and still yummy.

{Chedder Witch's Fingers}

(From Sunset Magazine, October 2006)
Preparation & Cooking Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 30 fingers

Notes: Keep dough cool as you work it to prevent stickiness.

INGREDIENTS

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 pound (about 1 cup packed) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal
• 1 large egg
• Kosher salt
• 30 sliced almonds

DIRECTIONS

1. In a food processor or bowl, whirl or rub together butter, cheese, flour, and cornmeal until the mixture has the texture of wet sand. Add egg and whirl or stir with a fork until dough holds together.
2. Scrape dough onto a sheet of cooking paper or parchment, 12 to 14 in. wide and about 14 in. long. Top with another equal-sized sheet of paper and pat dough into a 1/2-in.-thick circle. Wrap in plastic and freeze 15 minutes, or refrigerate up to 3 days.
3. Roll dough into a rectangle about 8 in. wide and 10 in. long, working carefully to avoid creases in paper. Return to freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°.
4. Peel off top paper and use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 30 strips, each about 1/2 in. thick and 5 in. long. Place each strip on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt to taste, then use your fingers to round the top of each strip into a fingertip shape. Use a sharp knife to score shallow "knuckle" lines in each finger, then press an almond "nail" into the tip. If you like, bend each finger in places to make it look knobby.
5. Bake the fingers until an even light brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

MY DEVIATIONS, VARIATIONS & RESULTS

My witch's fingers were shorter & pudgier than the magazine's as seen in the picture, but they turned out looking splendid and tasting good. I also did not add additional salt and they were perfectly seasoned in my opinion as the butter already has salt added to it, but the kosher salt may have added a nice crunchy element to the fingers.


Now these desserts are rich and only for the gravest of chocolate lovers! Most people had to split them with someone else and still they didn't finish it. The Tombstone Cookies were fun to cut out freehand with a sharp knife. I made some crosses and some angled tombstones (in addition to the more classic shape pictured above) which reminded me of Tim Burton films. I only piped a few of the tombstones with RIP (badly) & it was a mess--next time I attempt these I will have more than a ziplock bag.

{DARK CHOCOLATE GRAVEYARD POTS DE CRÈME}

(from Sunset Magazine, October 2006)
Preparation and Cook Time: 15 minutes, plus at least 30 minutes chilling time.
Yield: 8 servings

Notes: This method uses a microwave to heat the cream until it's hot enough to cook and thicken the eggs, but you can always make it on the cooktop. Heat the cream over medium-high heat until it boils, about 6 minutes. Proceed with step 3, but heat the cream-egg mixture as needed in the saucepan until it reaches 160°. Then proceed with step 4.

INGREDIENTS

• 14 ounces (about 3 cups) semisweet or bitter-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
• 2 large eggs, plus 2 yolks
• 2 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1/3 cup coffee-flavored liqueur
• 1/2 cup chocolate wafer crumbs
• Tombstone Cookies (recipe follows)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a food processor or blender*, whirl chocolate until finely chopped. Pour into a bowl. Put eggs and yolks in the processor or blender.
2. In a 4-cup glass measure, heat whipping cream in a microwave oven (see Notes) at full power (100%) until cream boils, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. With processor or blender on high speed, add boiling cream to eggs. Check temperature of mixture with an instant-read thermometer; if below 160°, pour mixture back into glass measure and reheat in microwave oven at full power until it reaches 160°, stirring and checking at 15-second intervals.
4. Combine hot cream mixture, chopped chocolate, and liqueur in blender or processor (or whisk the ingredients together in a large bowl); whirl until smooth, about 1 minute.
5. Pour chocolate mixture into 8 ramekins or glasses (1/2-cup size). Chill until softly set, 30 to 45 minutes. If making ahead, cover and chill up to 1 day. For creamiest texture, let desserts stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before eating.
6. Spoon 1 tablespoon wafer crumbs onto each pot de crème. Insert a Tombstone Cookie into each serving.

MY DEVIATIONS, VARIATIONS & RESULTS

For the chocolate I did a mix of both semisweet & bitter-sweet chocolate. The sweeter you want the chocolate the less bitter-sweet chocolate.

*Blender--funny story. I was trying to whirl the chocolate in the blender and I thought I had ruined yet another blender. I have found blenders--even the best--can't handle too much ice or chocolate in this instance. I unplugged the blender, hoping against hope that it the motor was merely overheated because the blender in this instance is a Vita-Mix (and expensive!), and fortunately it was okay. I DO NOT recommend using a blender for chopping.

I have no instant read thermometer (but plan on purchasing one), so winged this one and it came out fine in my opinion. This is deeply, darkly chocolate! The wafers are hard to find too as here the grocery store keeps them in the ice cream isle along with ice cream toppings & ice cream cones, but they are delicious! I crushed a whole box of wafers and added as much cookie crumbs as I wanted--who needs to measure that?

{TOMBSTONE COOKIES}

(from Sunset Magazine, October 2006)
Preparation and Cook Time: 15 minutes, plus at least 30 minutes chilling time.
Yield: 2 1/2 dozen

Notes: Cocoa nibs, also called "cacao nibs," give these cookies a mottled look that resembles stone. We made the recipe with both chocolate-covered nibs made by Scharffen Berger and plain nibs from Dagoba Organic Chocolate, and both worked well. Find both types in gourmet markets. Or substitute 2 tbsp. finely chopped bittersweet chocolate if you prefer. Make up to 3 days ahead; store airtight.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons cocoa (or cacao) nibs (see Notes above)
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling cookies
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Melted semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400°. In a blender, whirl cocoa nibs until each is about the size of a grain of rice. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar until creamy; beat in egg and vanilla.
2. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa nibs; gradually add to butter mixture, blending thoroughly, to form a soft dough. Divide dough into thirds, cover each portion tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour), or up to 3 days.
3. On a floured board, roll out dough, a portion at a time, to a thickness of 1/8 in. (keep dough refrigerated when not in use). With a sharp knife, cut out free-form tombstone shapes (about 1 1/2 by 3 in.; cut bottom edges at an angle to make them easier to poke into the pots de crème), and place slightly apart on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle generously with sugar.
4. Bake cookies until edges are lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool completely before handling.
5. Using a pastry bag with a very fine tip, pipe the letters "RIP" in chocolate on at least 8 of the cookies. Stick these cookies into the Dark Chocolate Graveyard Pots de Crème and serve the rest of the cookies alongside.

MY DEVIATIONS, VARIATIONS & RESULTS

The search for nibs was extensive and ultimately not very successful. We found a candy bar with nibs and cinnamon oil so the cookies had a definite cinnamon flavor so I dubbed ours Mexican Tombstone Cookies. I did like the cookies and they are terribly appropriate for Halloween. Next time I make these I think I will first purchase nibs online.

One last thing: Happy Halloween!!! Eat a little candy, watch a spooky movie, wear a wig and just delight in a holiday were you can let your inner demon out to party!

Spooktacular Souper Part I

I promised a few (very few!) pictures of the Spooktacular Souper held this past Saturday and I would hate to disappoint my myriad of readers! Above was the tablescape--there is a lot of room for improvement next year, but the hurricanes came out great. Yes, dear reader, I am already thinking of ways to add and better the party for next year. I need to begin purchasing and decorating months in advance! If anything got shortchanged it was the decorating. You need at least a weekend to properly alter a house into a sinister showcase. It also helps when you build upon what you amassed and learned the year before. Since this was Year 1, next year can only be more gruesomely elegant!

We spent Thursday night, Friday night and most of Saturday cooking and the food turned out tasty (already have an idea for making goulash next year). Nearly everyone tried all three soups which we served in order in small bowls like it was a soup tasting (the cream soup with bacon on top first, chili next with fixings & last the onion soup with a gruyere cheese toast). The hit of the party was the witch's fingers (something that obviously must come back next year). The Swamp Sip drink also was liked by all. Say all you want against Martha Stewart, but she (and her team) know how to do Halloween!

Do you like the above image? That was how the hurricanes looked like from above. We filled them with dried beans, peas, a little white pumpkin & then lots of spiders and the eyeballs!

We ended up sticking spiders everywhere: on the walls, going up the cabinets, all over the stairwell, in the powder room including a roach on the powder room toilet that made people wonder.... The best happy accident was that the glue dots didn't keep up the spiders so there were spiders and other bugs falling at weird intervals. At least one person did a double take when that happened!

I have a few more images, but I am not sure I am pleased with how they turned out. I may add more images later to make this more interesting....

We gave out little goodie bags to our guests which included their own colorful web & spider, tombstone erasers, these awesome napkins we found from Target (all the guests are into art), candy bone bracelets and best of all mini containers of Halloween colored Play Doh. Who doesn't love Play Doh? I do!!

Next up will be a couple of images of some of the more spooky foods (like the witch's fingers) we made and some recipes, but not today, dear reader!

With Cauldrons Bubbling

Last night we began on the cooking for the party tomorrow night. We are doing a Spooktacular Souper--meaning we are feeding our guests a trio of soups along with appetizers and ghoulish desserts. Last night we cooked up the Devilish Chili, tonight we are making the French Onion soup (to be renamed with an appropriately gross name which is easy with how onions can look like worms), tomorrow is the last soup a Chicken, Leek & Celery cream soup (another one that needs a different name).

Last night I also worked on the dough for the Witch's Fingers and made the Salt & Pepper Puffs (we are adding olives to a few to make them appear like eyeballs). Tonight along with the French Onion Soup is the making of the desserts: Dark Chocolate Pots de Crème Graveyards with Tombstone Cookies and miniature caramel apples. For our drink we are going with something a lovely slimy, swampy green.

Additionally, last night my sister also finished up the spider sacks...they are as disgusting as we had hoped!! We still have to web everything in sight and add the hundreds of spiders and insects, make spider toothpicks, mummify some candles (saw this in a magazine and a blog, Ma Vie en rose--check out how awesome it looks), and the like. I need to buy a spooky cd of music too in addition to some fresh bread Saturday, go to the liquor store for tonight....

I will try my mightiest to take pictures of the food and some of the decorations and post them next week. Hope, dear reader, you are likewise enchanted by the coming holiday!

Dark (Expensive) Preparations

I spent $40.00 on insects, shiver-worthy animals and eyeballs last night. That says Halloween to me. I have bought so many spiders, ants and flies it will be incredibly creepy at the ol' abode. Spiders are the theme this year especially after my sister found a particular decoration that she found frightfully gross which incorporates spiders (and thereby perfect). I hope next year to add mad scientist touches by purchasing beakers and test tubes to hold drinks.

For those wanting a little sinister elegance for Halloween I recommend going over to Target and looking around at their Grim Gables line. They have a black rose wreath, gargoyles, headstones, ornate black candles and other lovely, but entirely not needed things. I plan on hitting the store again right after Halloween to see if I can purchase any of the more expensive (and less expensive) items on clearance. Even the napkins and paper plates were the right mix of beautiful macabre (skull image with flourishes, jack-o-lanterns, spiders and such in blacks and deep, rich oranges). At Michael's they had these incredible resin pedestals that looked like stone with a raven or crow perched on top that I wanted, but alas it was too expensive for this year.

The amount of money you can spend on decorating for Halloween reminds me of a little headline I read recently on msn that mentioned how expensive Halloween is...Halloween has become BIG business. Think about the candy, the costumes, the decorations. As I was entering a party store last night a woman and her son were exiting and she (I think she had yellow heels which matched one of the flowers found on her dress) exclaimed with exasperation, "And Christmas is only around the corner!" as if to say she could not believe how much she just spent on his costume and the like. Upon entering the swarming store I was a bit floored by just how people were there purchasing their costumes and other Halloween necessaries. My very blasé sister told me how Halloween was their busiest time of the year (didn't you know that obvious fact, idiot was her tone and I am afraid I hadn't really given it enough thought to formulate that conclusion).

All this spending of money has me wondering--why? Why do I have this need to purchase all this stuff? Why do I have a somewhat guilty feeling about spending rather than being more creative and improvising? I think part of the reason why I feel like a child run amok in a candy store (actually me in a candy store can be equally as bad--I squeal, I dance about, I have the short attention span, I clap, you get the idea--I have no dignity) is because I haven't been doing anything for Halloween for ages and I do love the holiday. I need to fully celebrate this holiday and the upcoming ones to appreciate the passage of time and to have something special to look forward to each year. It is the same reason why I used to mark the dates of when books (or movies or music) would be released--I like to keep myself reminded of how much new (or repackaged) is being created and yet to be.