This is Halloween

Some photographs snapped around Westminster Abbey after work yesterday evening.

And the friendly bat that lives on my balcony door (his friend lives with my sister):

Hope everyone's having a good weekend, however (and whether) you are marking Hallowe'en, All Hallows' Day and All Souls' Day.

Hallowmas... What's That?

Arthur Rickman (Image source)

Did you know that the festival of Hallowe'en forms part of a series of three days in the Christian calendar, dedicated to remembering the dead? Anyone who knows that Hallowe'en is an abbreviation of All Hallows Eve would have guessed something was up, that it must be the day before something... And most people would know of the Day of the Dead, made most famous by the Mexican festival. Personally, I knew of All Souls' (or All Hallows') Day and All Saints' Day, but had assumed they were the same thing, and hadn't much thought any much further about it to be honest. But I've opted for a quiet night in tonight, instead of going out for Hallowe'en high jinx, and I decided to sit down and do some reading.

Arthur Rickman (Image source)

All Hallows' Eve comes first in the series of days, and is the time when it is believed that the veil between this world and the next becomes thin, allowing departed souls to pass back into our world. The tradition of wearing masks, which has lead to the costumes of today, is derived from the belief that disguising your face would prevent you from being recognised by any malicious spirit that might be out to do you, personally, harm.

All Saints (Image source)

All Saints' Day, beginning as the new day dawns after the potentially perilous night of Hallowe'en, is (as the name implies) the celebration of all the saints, 'both known and unknown', with a particular focus on those without their own dedicated days (such as St George, St Patrick, etc). The traditional colour of this day is white, and all who attend a church service (as everyone would have once upon a time in medieval England) will still see the altar table and clergy dressed in said colour.

All Souls' Day by Jakub Schikaneder, reflects the respectful, quiet nature of the day (Image source)

All Souls' Day is the final day in the series, and expands the act of remembrance to not just the saints, but to all 'faithful departed'. The particular focus of this day is family and friends who have passed away, rather than the famous, somewhat distant saints. In addition to attending church, people traditionally visit the graves of people they have known, to lay flowers, light candles, and offer prayers. On this day, churches are traditionally festooned in the richer colour of purple. In England, centuries ago, the poor would go 'souling', walking from door to door to collect food, money and 'soul cakes' from the well-to-do...

So that's where all this modern malarky of costumes and trick-or-treating comes from, then. Not that I have anything against all this modern malarky - au contraire! But it's interesting to find out more about the sober, spiritual and rather quite beautiful origins.

I hope everyone's has a great Hallowe'en, however you spend it. May you pass the night without harm from any wayward spirits, ghouls... or earthly beings!

Cup Pies! Pumpkin Ones!

I made cup pies! Pumpkin cup pies!

Look at my pumpkin cup pie!

Fans of Pushing Daisies will of course know that a cup pie is a single-serve pie with honey baked into the crust.

Chuck promotes cup pies to Ned in Pushing Daisies (Image source)

I've not baked in I can't remember how long... But this occasion all started with my plan to make pumpkin pie to take in as a Halloween treat for my workmates. I love pumpkin, seriously, love pumpkin. I think that it is intentionally designed to be hard to cut up because otherwise humans would simply overdose on it because it is so good. It's the only vegetable for which I am willing to make all that effort. 

However, I've only had pumpkin pie once or twice in my life, when I have been fed it by an American friend. I decided that it had been too long since I'd indulged in this wonderful treat and that I would break my baking drought with pumpkin pie. As I was going to take it into work, I thought it would make more sense to make small ones that I could distribute easily.

But it was when I found myself short of sugar for the pastry and The Cat suggested I make up the difference with honey that I realised I was actually making cup pies, with honey as the vital ingredient!

Honey - the secret cup pie ingredient.
That's Philip up on the cupboard - he watches over the Cat and I, cheering us up when we're down or stressed.

I used a recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry I got off the BBC website, using about 50g of sugar and a few healthy scoops of honey. You can definitely taste the hint of honey. Unfortunately the pastry stayed quite soft even after a proper, long baking, which isn't so good for individual pies that you want to be able to pick up in your hand. I'm not sure if the result was due to the honey or it's just the usual result of the runny pumpkin filling - perhaps pumpkin pie crusts are always a bit soggy and that doesn't matter when you have a slice on a plate? In any case, I'd experiment with different quantities of honey in the pastry if I tried it again, and I'm not sure if it would be worth trying a slightly different approach such as blind baking first...

Chopping the pumpkin, keeping the seeds aside in case I decide to roast them later.
And I know, no chopping board - bad form.

For the filling, I just pressed on as instructed in the BBC's pumpkin pie recipe, without messing about.

Only for you, oh marvellous pumpkin, would I do all this chopping.
(Note: the wine was an aid, not an ingredient)

The next adjustment came with the baking time. As I was doing lots of small pies, they required less baking time than one big one, but it was still a good 25 minutes.

So much excitement! They actually worked!

Smells so good... (And yes, my lipstick has worn off a little due to sampling the pastry and filling as I cooked...)

Plate of cup pies - although slightly incorrect in Pushing Daisies terms as I used a mince pie tray rather than a muffin one, so they should technically be deeper... but I'm not really complaining.

I found the result really very sweet - maybe I got my measurements slightly wrong, used the wrong kind of pumpkin, or should have made adjustments to the sweet ingredients due to the honey in the crust... Or maybe I'm just not used to treats this sugary. But adding a dollop of cream took the edge off the sweetness, making it almost perfect.

Cup pie?

The Mysterious Tale of an Apple in N1

Halloween 2012 officially started last night for me, when I headed out on the town with my fancy-dressing partner in crime. But before I share my costume with you, I must tell you the mysterious tale of an apple in N1...

The mysterious apple...

Yesterday evening, I was on my way to my friend's flat in Canonbury, to get ready for our night out. It was my first visit to her new flat so, having found the right street, I was walking down it, looking for the right building. It was dark, the sky had opened up, and I had pulled my scarf up over my head in a vague attempt to keep dry. As I stood, waiting for some cars to pass so I could cross a street, I felt a tap tap at my right foot.

'Someone is knocking at my foot', I thought for a second, before realising the oddness of that idea.

I then looked down to see a small, red apple resting next to my foot.

I looked down to see an apple (reenactment)

'How odd!' I thought to myself. I looked around to see where it might have come from. I had walked over this section of footpath moments before (in hunting for my friend's flat, I had accidentally gone to the wrong house first, so had to retrace my steps backwards). There was no-one about who might have dropped it. There were no apple trees about from which it might have fallen... and in any case, by the looks of it, it seemed too polished to have come from a tree.

Completely bemused, and feeling something like Snow White, I reached down and picked up the apple.

I picked up the apple (reenactment)

I then carried it with me to my friend's place. When she opened the door, I recounted to her the mysterious tale.

'Don't you think it's weird?' I asked.

'What's even weirder', she replied, 'is that you picked up the apple.'

I just couldn't resist though. It felt like something from a fairy tale. I couldn't have walked away from the apple after it knocked at my foot in that fashion. I carried it with me in my handbag all night and have brought it home. What happens now, I don't know...

...?

Am I completely mad for being so transfixed by this mysterious apple? Perhaps... Probably...

But as for my outfit, I'm afraid it wasn't nearly so extravagant and impressive as last year's effort because we weren't quite so organised, what with my friend moving flat and me being abroad and then overwhelmed with returning to full-time work. However, we kind of managed to pull it together at last minute, with some B-grade '50s horror style in the form of victims of the blob or some other such other-worldly monster...

Run! Don't Walk! From... the Blob!

And I will be making pumpkin pie and hopefully doing something else fun and appropriate on Halloween night itself to add some excitement to the mid-week. Hope you all had a fun weekend and have a happy Halloween!