I love Halloween. But only this year have I realised just how much I love this holiday.
Everywhere becomes Halloween themed and people go to great lengths to decorate everything spookily. Shops start selling Halloween themed food. I got especially excited about the 'Cadbury Mini Animals' biscuits because they become 'Halloweenies' and the biscuits change into the form of ghosts, bats and spiders etc. The drinks, specifically in Starbucks, become themed. I recently tried the pumpkin spice latte (without coffee, I'm not a coffee lover) and I would recommend it to anyone, it's so good! The only sad thing is that they're all novelties and they only last a couple of weeks then it's a whole year of waiting for their return. One of my favourite things though is the costumes and makeup. I love looking at people's costume ideas and how they've interpreted them, especially when they think about the small details in their outfit which really finish it off.
But even though I have just said how much I do love this holiday, I feel ashamed to say I had never carved a pumpkin until a few days ago.
I'll just let that sink in.
I don't quite know why I had never carved one before seen as though it's a tradition on Halloween, and I usually get into the spirit of things by dressing up and decorating the house. But when I did carve mine I have to admit it didn't go as well as it could have done. So I've thought up a few tips so you don't make the same mistakes that I did if you are carving pumpkins.
Jack O'Lantern Tips!
>When making the lid of the pumpkin, place the knife at a 45 degree angle so the knife is pointing towards the centre of the pumpkin. This will prevent the lid falling through when you put it back on.
>Draw your design onto the font of the pumpkin with a pen that can be wiped away, like a drywipe marker. Any mistakes made can be easily corrected and at the end you can wipe off any lines that you might have missed. I used a permanent marker and some of the ink is still visible so it doesn't look as good.
>Carve with small, slow movements. I went too quickly and sliced the pupil in the right eye off and I also cut from the right eye (again!) into the corner of the mouth.
>If you cut off a piece of the pumpkin that you didn't want cutting off, take a toothpick and join the piece back onto the pumpkin by pushing the toothpick through them both.
I was feeling particularly Halloweeny that night so me and Anna also made spooky buns.
We followed a standard 12 bun recipe and decorated them using green and white icing and Halloween decorations with red food colouring as blood. Which we thought was a good idea at the time because it did look very effctive, but only in the looks area. It tasted so bad! Next time I'm definitely going to buy fake edible blood because the taste of them means just as much to me as the appearance.
Hope you have a good Halloween!
I'll just let that sink in.
I don't quite know why I had never carved one before seen as though it's a tradition on Halloween, and I usually get into the spirit of things by dressing up and decorating the house. But when I did carve mine I have to admit it didn't go as well as it could have done. So I've thought up a few tips so you don't make the same mistakes that I did if you are carving pumpkins.
Jack O'Lantern Tips!
>When making the lid of the pumpkin, place the knife at a 45 degree angle so the knife is pointing towards the centre of the pumpkin. This will prevent the lid falling through when you put it back on.
>Draw your design onto the font of the pumpkin with a pen that can be wiped away, like a drywipe marker. Any mistakes made can be easily corrected and at the end you can wipe off any lines that you might have missed. I used a permanent marker and some of the ink is still visible so it doesn't look as good.
>Carve with small, slow movements. I went too quickly and sliced the pupil in the right eye off and I also cut from the right eye (again!) into the corner of the mouth.
>If you cut off a piece of the pumpkin that you didn't want cutting off, take a toothpick and join the piece back onto the pumpkin by pushing the toothpick through them both.
I was feeling particularly Halloweeny that night so me and Anna also made spooky buns.
We followed a standard 12 bun recipe and decorated them using green and white icing and Halloween decorations with red food colouring as blood. Which we thought was a good idea at the time because it did look very effctive, but only in the looks area. It tasted so bad! Next time I'm definitely going to buy fake edible blood because the taste of them means just as much to me as the appearance.
Hope you have a good Halloween!
No comments:
Post a Comment