Welcome to my Halloween graveyard!

Happy Hallowe’en my pretties! It’s the Wicked Witch of the East(ern Suburbs) here! Hop onto the end of my broomstick for a personal tour of my very own Hallowe’en party! I promise to lure you into my cottage with all sorts of gruesome, ghastly and frighteningly freaky goods.

I still don’t know what on earth possessed me to make 13 items for this Halloween party. Did I mention that I grossly overcater for these types of events? It seemed like a good idea at the time and I just kept adding things as I discovered them or thought of them. This over eagerness to feed does have its downsides and I found myself on the evening before the night of the party exhausted. Mr NQN had gone out for work drinks and didn’t come home until 10pm where he found me an incoherent mess. All I could wail was “I want my television” (i.e. the laptop) while lying prone on the bed kicking my feet in the air like an upended hedgehog.

Tombstone cookies-one for each guest!

Brain Shots!

Ghost open sandwiches and pumpkin open sandwiches

The next morning I awoke refreshed and glanced at my schedule. You can never keep a good ghoul down and inside me is also a strange mutation of Bree Van Der Kamp and Martha Stewart crossed with Morticia Addams. That day I had to pick up some cupcakes from Sparkle Cupcakery who were giving me some Halloween themed cupcakes for my party in a pumpkin spice flavour. My father had made the little menu cards (so please excuse some of the typos). I was visiting the Party People who were generously loaning me a whole bunch of gorgeously gruesome props and we also had to pick up some last minute items and Mr NQN’s costume. He of course wanted to go as Dexter Morgan.

Dragon’s Eye Devilled Eggs

“Can I go as Dexter?” he asked.

“In the white outfit with the blood spatter?” I asked him.

“No…not really”

“What do you mean then?

“I’ll wear a polo shirt and shorts”

“Nice try”.

Wobbly brain pate anyone?

Baked Brie spiderweb

As for me? I went as Little Red Riding Hood. I’m not quite sure why except that I’ve always wanted a red cape. I was going to wear fangs as I was supposed to be the mutant offspring of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf but the fangs that I bought made me look like I had a severe overbite. Mr NQN was going to come as the wolf except that all of the wolf masks that he tried on were itchy.

I handed out Vampire Cookie Pops to all of my guests-recipe to come!

Medusa’s head. Sing along with me “Isn’t she lovely…”

Witch’s Gingerbread House

I know, I know, Hallowe’en in on the 31st of October but this year, my friend The Second Wife and her fiancee Gravy Beard are getting married that weekend so we decided to have Hallowe’en a bit earlier this year. This meant that you could also use the recipes if you were so ghoulishly inclined. And many of the thirteen recipes here are very easy to do. Of course I don’t include the sanity straining gingerbread house above in that list

Floating Teeth Juice

“Worms in dirt anyone?” I ask as I hand out some delicious proteiny goodness

Or how about some bat wings?

There was food a plenty and all of my nearest and dearest were invited along. Everyone came dressed in costume-I am a costume nazi and if you don’t come in costume, you are banished to the gallows to live in eternity. We spent the evening eating, drinking, talking and playing games including the very fun horror movie version of charades. That’s right, if you come to my Halloween party, you will be subjected to games!

Broken glass shards and blood

All of the food worked a treat except for one item. These were supposed to be Dexter Blood Slides but they didn’t work so they became broken glass shards with blood which Queen Viv loved as they reminded her of toffees at school fetes (except for the blood I presume ).

Sparkle Cupcakery Pumpkin and Spice cupcakes $4.50 each

The Sparkle Cupcakes were an undeniable hit. Lou passed them around and they got an unanimous thumbs up from everyone that tried them. There was actual pumpkin in the cake itself which made it very soft and moist and we may have had a riot on our hands with this half dozen eagerly contested cupcakes!

…or eyeballs?

Anyway, without further ado, here are the recipes, should you wish to indulge your inner vampire! Settle in with a cup of tea or coffee though as this story is the most picture filled NQN story ever! And if you want to see my ghoulishly fabulous guests, scroll down!

So tell me Dear Reader, what would you get dressed up as for Halloween?

Bloody Brain Shots

This is such a seriously brilliant and brain like idea. I got this idea from fellow Halloween afficianado Not Martha who originally saw this recipe on Folkinz. I was amazed at how ingenious it was and used the curdling effect of lime on Baileys. I’m sure this is not what the Baileys people had intended for use of their creme liqueur but I have to say that it works beautifully. I also used the vodka and cranberry and vodka and blood orange that Smirnoff sent me in a cask no less. I used  a little syringe to add to the effect but according to the people at Folkinz the same effect can be had with a straw.

• 2 parts Smirnoff Vodka and Cranberry or Vodka and Blood Orange
• 1 part lime juice
• 1 small bottle of Baileys

1. Mix vodka and cranberry or vodka and blood orange with the lime juice and pour into shot glasses. Using a pipette, small syringe or straw, slowly drop small amount of Baileys into the shot glass to form a brain. It may gather and collect at the bottom of the glass but for the best effect place the droplets of the Baileys towards the edge of a glass. Using a spoon you can gently dislodge it from the bottom and the “brain” will float to the top! Watch your friends grimace and gag at how accurately brainy it looks.

Worms In Dirt

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“You’re travelling First Class and you have access to the lounge” the man behind the ticket counter tells Mr NQN and I and in return we grin like chimps. No we’re not talking a plane here but our train from Montreal to Quebec (bye Montreal!). It’s no secret that whilst I do love eating all sorts of food from little caravans to Michelin star, the way I like to roll when I travel is luxury. It’s all about comfort!

We board the train to Quebec and take our seats. It’s a comfortable three hour ride between the two cities and we are plied with wine and a three course meal which is actually very nice indeed. There is said to be free wifi all throughout the train but it doesn’t seem to work once we start moving.

Our limo driver picks us up from the train station and takes us to the Palace Royal Hotel just a few minutes away. The hotel is all gold touches and we hear the magic words “Your suite is on level….”. I admit I didn’t hear anything after that-I love a good suite. When we go upstairs and are not disappointed. The suite open up to a view of the city and is enormous with a very large bathroom, a closed off bedroom and loads of cable tv stations (yes I am obsessed with television). And although there is no mini bar there is an excellent and very reasonably priced convenience store at the lower ground level of the hotel so we stock up on goodies there.

We have arrived at precisely the right time for Quebec City as the Summer Festival is in full swing. In fact this evening Iron Maiden are playing at the Plains of Abraham and the Black Eyed Peas are playing another day. We meet Richard from the Quebec City tourism office in the lobby and head towards the Boudoir Lounge where we have a quick meal before seeing a performance of the Cirque du Soleil. Mr NQN being a beef tartare lover chooses that and I go for the an entree sized salad (we’ve had so much food to eat so I’m eating light tonight!).

Complote $8.50

But first we start with cocktails! I have the Complote which has absolut peach, guava and lychee and it is fruitily fabulous.

Refresh $8.50 Gin Bomby, cinzano rose, blueberry juice and elderflower cordial

Salade Cambodgienne $8.50

I think by now you’ve heard how massive and generous the serving sizes are in Canada and this is no exception (and prices here are amazingly reasonable for the calibre of restaurant). This “Salad Cambodgienne” means Salad Cambodian and comes with pork with “nine perfumes”. The nine perfumes refer to the nine ingredients such as fried noodles, chillis, spring onion, iceberg lettuce and the sweet, aromatic Asian spices. It’s delicious and utterly satisfying. I realise how much I have missed spicy food!

Tartare de boeuf $20.50

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I am what people would call a girly girl. Sure I went through a tomboy phase when I was around 8 years old but for the most part I wanted all things pink and pretty. So when I learnt that my last day in New Zealand would involve two of my favourite girly experiences: a spa visit and afternoon tea-and not any afternoon tea, the Wonderland afternoon tea-I squeal. I do love Alice in Wonderland!

I step into the lush interior of the Langham Hotel. Like Alice I follow the signs down a rabbit hole ahem… corridor and face the sliding doors of the Chuan Spa. Everything is covetable from the furniture to the carpet (can you tell we’ve been redecorating?) and I’m led to sit down in the Contemplation Corner. “Pardon?” I ask and the attendant smiles and motions me to the Contemplation Corner aka the waiting room. There I’m asked to fill in a questionnaire about allergies and any conditions I may have and I can choose the music that I want to listen to. I’m also given a folded card where I indicate my current state of mind reflected in season or feelings.

They set down a lovely Ginseng and Oolong tea which I sip until they take me into the changing area. I’m shown to my locker which has a soft robe, slippers and a towel and they offer me the use of the steamroom, sauna or the ice before my treatment. The ice? Apparently when Finns (who invented the sauna) use a sauna in Winter, they like to pat snow on themselves afterwards so there is an ice machine that dispenses ice. I walk through the door and my therapist guides me to my room and explains the treatment to me. I am getting a full body massage and a Thalgo bliss facial. Oh yes have I been waiting for this day!

She asks me my preferred pressure for the massage and asks me to take a a few deep breaths and exhale while saying the word “Gong”. This is a little strange for me but I channel my Mother in Law and do as I am told. I lie back and relax for 1.5 hours of bliss. Afterwards I am shown the dream room, which is the room where I lie afterwards and can read magazines. She also gives me an Osmanthus Blossom Tea (Earth Element): properties/benefits – warms the stomach, dispels cold, clear toxins, soothes mouth infections including teeth and gum problems and a fire Elemental Juice of beetroot, turnip and carrot which is said to improve circulation throughout the body and tastes surprisingly good (the sound of turnip in a juice had me wary). I contemplate switching from a food blogger to a spa blogger…

I am also offered the use of the pool and spa outside but I quickly shower (gardenia scented body products in the shower-yum!) as I have an appointment with an afternoon tea! I meet with Mr NQN and Deanna from Tourism NZ and Rachel from The Langham who has arranged for a Wonderland Afternoon Tea along with a regular Afternoon Tea for us.

Wonderland Afternoon Tea $36NZ per person

Top layer of Wonderland Afternoon Tea

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