VintageGriffin.com

In November, at some point many of us start seriously thinking about cooking. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we think about the bountiful feasts that we'd love to attend or give. Perhaps we imagine ourselves as the gracious host who spins pomegranate comfits, apple-spiced stuffing, and fig-walnut-cranberry sauce from the odds and ends on one's larder, effortlessly. Helped by merciful, culinary elves who seek to ease our burden, much the same way Rumplestilskin spun straw into gold for the fair-but-unskilled maid. Perhaps we fantasize about bringing the dish to the family table over at Aunt Berenice's that will be talked about and flattered over all others.

Well, I think about those things too. And I think about just how much harder our tasks would be if we were cooking in the 18th century.

I can't figure out if this is the Paris Hilton Pumpkin or the Lindsay Lohan Pumpkin, apres too much Grey Goose and too little self-respect. Or maybe it's me, after too much Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan.

More pumpkins after the jump.

More really good Halloween food, courtesy New York Magazine.


Pumpkin Miracletini

4 parts Svedka Clementine
1 part pumpkin purée
2 parts apple cider
Pinch cinnamon

This. Is. Hysterical.

Real examples of high-fashion, low-fashion, and it-shall-go-brandless-fashion handbags that bear a striking resemblance to real Hollywood monsters.

You have to see it to believe it.

This garland is the perfect, macabre alternative to the usual fall palette of oranges, ambers and browns. Pliant, it will easily wind its way around pillars, through chandelliers or around the legs of unsuspecting victims. You could even dress it up a bit with thorn-studded coconut shells and call it "Cleopatra" (a la Morticia Adams).

I'm having a belated birthday this year. Very belated. I'm also in transition on the homefront, so it might not be all that feasible for me to have my traditional, wholly enthusastic, done-to-the-gills Halloween party. Because I couldn't get my friends and family together for a birthday party around the bonifide date (despite three tries), I've decided to take my cousin up on her offer (well, the offer was +originally+ around the actual birthday date) and have the party at her house. That takes care of the locale. And the general Halloween decor? Well, she's as mad for Halloween as I am, so her house was largely decorated with jack o' lanterns, crows and brambly branches by the end of September. Some slight additions might be needed for the vintage 1920s Halloween speakeasy theme (my inspiration theme of choice), but not many. We're about a quarter of the way there already, and we haven't even begun to brainstorm. : )