Autumn/Halloween stuff that you like?

[wesleysgirl]

Okay, lay it on me...

It's definitely fall here in New England - the nights are cold, the leaves are turning color, and we're only a few weeks away from Halloween. If you enjoy any of the things associated with this time of year, share them with me!

Do you have a favorite Halloween/scary movie?

A favorite food that you associate with autumn weather and/or Halloween?

If you celebrate Halloween, what do you do to celebrate it?

Comments

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

My answers:

I have a lot of movies I like to watch at this time of year, in part because I really like horror films. Some favorites include the original Night of the Living Dead, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Arsenic and Old Lace.

What kind of food don't I like, LOL? I like pumpkin, so pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins with cranberries, and pumpkin pancakes are all great. Not such a fan of pumpkin pie, though... I think I'm really finicky about the texture. I love apple crisp.

Our celebrating of Halloween usually consists of handing out candy and trick-or-treating with the boy and some of his neighborhood friends. I enjoy both of these in theory more than in practice - I feel awkward walking around the neighborhood because people always seem much better at remembering us than I am at remembering them (I have wicked out-of-place-itis and can't figure out who someone is if I see them in an atypical location).

[dragonydreams.livejournal.com]

I'm generally not a fan of scary movies, but I do love this time of year.

I love that it's hot apple cider time. Pumpkin/butternut squash ravioli is seasonal at this time of year. And who can forget the Halloween candy?

I also adore the scent of the air in autumn. Logically I know that it's decaying leaves, but I still love that smell.

I'm going to miss dressing up for Halloween this year. When else do I get to wear my Renaissance peasant outfit?

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, butternut squash ravioli, I forgot about that! Yum.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

I love pomegranates. Also apple and pumpkin pies. I'm sure I'll think of more things later!

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, pie!

[harmonyfb.livejournal.com]

We celebrate Halloween (costumes, candy, spooky movies!) and also Samhain (our religious new year and festival for the dead, which happens to fall on Oct 31.)

For the former, the kids go out trick-or-treating, the oldest goes to a costume party, and I answer the door and give out candy while watching spooky movies. (Favorite Halloween movie? Hmm. They're all so good! I really love old Hammer films.)

For the latter, we set up an ancestor altar, with pictures of all our beloved dead, and then I make foods we associate with our family members who have passed on. We set them out a plate at supper, and invite them to join us. We also clean and decorate family graves at this time. On the 31st, we leave a candle (battery powered) burning all night to guide our family spirits to us.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

The past few years I've watched marathons of SyFy's Ghost Hunters on Halloween night, LOL!

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

Halloween is just a day to me because I didn't grow up with it. Already houses are decked out in stuff and I'm all Grinchy and do it on the day itself. We love it for the novelty, but we don't make it last for weeks.

Halloween just means bit-sized candy to me but autumn means homemade soup :-)

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Yay, candy! LOL.

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

I, too, am a big fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas -- it's a pivotal part of our household tradition to watch it on Halloween night. As for other scary movies, I'm actually quite fond of Scream, because I enjoy how it simultaneously emulates and satirizes the genre. I'm not a big fan of scary movies -- especially ones that involve people/things jumping out unexpectedly -- so I usually close my eyes during the really suspenseful parts.

But Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin ... how can you miss with them?

As for food, I have these pumpkin cookies I like to make. They're supposed to have raisins, but I substitute tart dried cherries, because I like the flavor better. I haven't made them in a while, since the recipe calls for shortening, which just doesn't feel healthy these days, but the cookies are yummy. Do you know of a good substitute for shortening?

Also: hot, spiced apple cider.

Also, going out of my way to step on crunchy leaves on the sidewalk. In autumn, I tend to weave a rather wending path when I'm out walking, occasionally -- when I see a particularly "juicy" big dry leaf -- stomping down with a bit more force than necessary.

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the original Scream for years! I'll have to see it again. (A little boy in our neighborhood excitedly told me this morning that he's going to be "Scream 4" for Halloween, LOL! Um, and the Scream 4 character looks different from the original Scream character how?)

I don't know what you could do instead of shortening... I think it's a different texture, you know? I guess I'd try with an equal amount of butter first and see what happens. If the results weren't terrible, I'd probably then try using half butter and half applesauce (which is a great substitute for some of the fat in baked goods, and I think the apple would be great with pumpkin and cranberry.)

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

After reading your comment and being extra extra intrigued by the possibility of applesauce in my cookies (I've used it as a substitute for oil in muffins and other baked goods before, but never for shortening, since shortening isn't used in a lot of modern recipes.), I found these two useful-looking webpages:

Common Ingredient Substitutions
Healthy Recipes: A guide to ingredient substitutions

(I thought I'd list the URLs here, since you might find them useful, too.)

The Mayo Clinic page suggests applesauce for half the recipe's required shortening, but they warn quite explicitly not to replace the rest of the shortening with oil, but it looks like butter might be okay. So maybe half butter and half applesauce. Hmm. I'll have to try this recipe again soon! Thanks for getting me thinking about it more actively.

[maggie-conagher.livejournal.com]

I had my colors done and I'm an Autumn so this is the time of year where the colors outside and the decor in stores resonates with me. brown, gold, burgundy, burnt orange

I like the weather getting cooler so that I am not sweaty. Getting out sweaters and blankets. The cats becoming more affectionate cuz it gets cold at night. Opportunistic heat seekers. grr

I like getting out my crochet projects that are one piece and that having a mass of blanket-in-progress on my lap doesn't give me heat stroke. In the summer, I do piece work, little squares and strips. Nice to have an entire work all together and progressing faster.

I love putting on a pot of soup and letting it simmer all day. Lighting candles on gray days. Smell of coffee means comforting warmth rather than just morning stimulant.

Thanksgiving--the holiday where food is the central objective.

I even like the word "autumn." not many words with a silent "n"

[wesleysgirl.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, we love when the cats become opportunistic heat seekers! And I love when it gets cold enough at night to really pile the blankets on (and to switch to flannel sheets!) because I seem to sleep better when I'm snuggled in.

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, cider. My preference is cold, unspiced.

Pumpkin just about anything except pie. Baskin Robbins pumpkin ice cream with hot fudge is to die for.

The Nightmare Before Christmas and Labyrinth. You can't go wrong with a pair of kings.

A Night in the Lonesome October. I love Snuff.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i'm a big fan of mallowcreme pumpkins. there's not a single natural thing in them and i don't care. i always buy a bag at cvs and put it in my desk at work. and since i'm the only person in the office who likes them, i have them allllll to myself.

on halloween i overbuy on candy and get like two trick-or-treaters. i have no idea if i'll get any this year, but i can't pass up the chance to buy mini candy bars just in case. mmmmmmchocolate.

(halloween is all about the candy for me. :D and whatever scary movies i rent to watch on the actual night.)