It's a Boo-tiful Morning!

Happy Halloween!!
It's a Boo-tiful Day!

Busy, busy and no pre-prepared post for today. Shame on me.  Running a bit late.

Instead I have a collection of ghosts and goblins and spirits from Halloween's past.

My kids don't usually read my blog much which is a good thing. Unfortunately for them, some of their friends do read it. I may be in trouble tomorrow.

But this is probably the closest I will get to trick-or-treaters out here in the country.

We've had:

Lala and a Geisha-

Love that Teletubby.

A butterfly.

A pirate and a Raggedy Ann

                                               

A devil.

(I won't say anything about playing to type here...)

Another devil and a... rockstar?

Boy has a theme going here..

I believe KISS inspired.

 Also rockstar inspired:

(And that moment where the parenting skills lapsed)

Teenage daughter as Amy Winehouse

At least it is just a Coke bottle in her hand.

Halloween Spiders and...

Halloween cats.

Halloween Hillbillies.

Another Halloween cat.

Plus Pikachu.

 Even some Halloween moms playing with a group selfie in the baño.

Not sure what these girls were- but 

the Halloween cast on Bunny was real.

And to make your Halloween complete, a recipe for dessert tonight.

Severed Halloween fingers:

Red or green food coloring if desired
Sliced almonds
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 pinch salt
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:

Heat oven to 350°. I line my cookie sheets with Silpat liners.

Separate 1 egg. Set aside the white. In a small bowl, whisk together yolk, remaining egg, and vanilla. Set aside.

In the mixer, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add egg mixture, and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, and mix on low speed just until incorporated. You can add the food coloring at this time or leave them "natural".  Wrap the dough in plastic, and chill until firm, at least 20 to 30 minutes.


Take out small chunks of dough at a time, keeping the rest chilled. Roll each piece back and forth with palms into finger shapes, 3 to 4 inches long. Pinch dough in two places to form knuckles. Score each knuckle lightly with the back of a small knife. Transfer fingers to baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.

When all fingers are formed, brush lightly with egg white. Position almond nails; push into dough to attach.

Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Cool completely.

To make the knuckles more creepy just shape them big and uneven. To keep them from puffing out too much roll the fingers extra skinny (skinnier than you want them to look if that makes sense). Try to get them out of the oven before they brown.

(Recipe adapted from here.)

Happy Halloween.

And this morning on my walk I passed 22 of these:

You know what that means, don't you?
Thanksgiving is right around the corner.