Hurricanes, Hotdogs, and Pie (oh my!)

You might think that me leaving New York for a week has apparently reaped some unexpected benifits - namely, missing the worst of Hurricane Sandy. New York was, after all, hit much harder than Baltimore. However, my apartment in NYC did not have any outages or flooding, whereas my parents' home in Baltimore did not quite escape unscathed. We have two separate power lines connected to the house, apparently, and ONE of them was hit. Which means that most of the upstairs is without power. The downstairs is almost entirely unaffected - save for the odd outlet. It's pretty easy to work around, honestly - my father was able to simply use an extension cord so that the fridge and stove were powered by a different, working outlet. No flooding at all, and the hot water is running just fine. However, we have no heat. It is not overly chilly for this time of year, but it does feel a bit.. brisk, especially at night and first thing in the morning. But it's easy enough to bundle up in an extra sweater and sleep in a sleeping bag, so I'd rather have hot water than heat in this situation. Plus, lack of heat means that we've had the excuse to use our fireplace, all day! Which resulted in last night's dinner: hotdogs and s'mores, roasted over the fire, of course! So all's well that ends well.

For that good charcoal flavor

The perfect crispy brown roast.

In other cozy, stuck-in-the-house-all-day news, it also seemed appropriate to carve the pumpkin. In the past, I've done my fair share of elaborate pumpkins, but sometimes a more "classic" design is appreciated. So I went with a tried and true design - the one people think of when people think of jack'o'lanterns: triangles everywhere!

Boo!

Not only is it simpler to do this style of pumpkin, but it tends to last better. If you do elaborate carvings with fine details, those details start to curl within a day or so. This design is not going to fade until the pumpkin itself starts to rot. I just did a few marks for guidance (trying to maintain symmetry), then once I cut the basic shapes out, trimmed away a bit of the pumpkin flesh from the inside so that, when lit, the design showed clearly. I think it turned out rather well! Not going to win pumpkin of the year award, but nice.



Besides pumpkins, my family's other Halloween tradition is a wonderful "Halloween Pie" - aka, a delicious French apple tart, which I baked this afternoon.

French Apple Tart
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (defrosted)
3 or 4 large apples, peeled
2 tbs melted butter
2 tbs confectioners' sugar
2 tbs apple jelly

Preheat the oven to 400F. Roll the pastry out with a rolling pin, 11x7 goes to 12x18 inches, flouring the pastry so it doesn't stick to the pan or the rolling pin. Prick a 1-inch border around the crust, and prick all over in the center of the pastry. Now, I always make a picture with my fork prickings, since after all, there's no need to be BORING. This will soon be covered with apples, ne'er to be seen again. If you've ever eaten this pie, I guarentee you I made a picture under it that you never knew about. I've done everything from pictures of my house, to neutron stars with high energy jets, to an attempt at Van Gogh's "Starry Night." This time, you can see my attempt at reproducing the pumpkin I carved earlier.

Now, you'll want to remove the core and seeds of the apple with a melon scoop (or spoon), and thinly slice the apples into pretty crescent shapes. If you happen to have an apple peeler/core-er, you're in luck, and this step becomes much easier: just insert and twist. But there IS something to be said for the old fashioned method, trying to get the apple peel in one long curl. If nothing else, it's a challenge!

Now simply lay out your apples in a lovely and decorative pattern - unlike your fork pattern, this one will be seen - and brush the whole thing generously with butter. Sprinkle confectioners sugar over that, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the apples are tender and the pastry is puffed and golden. Let the tart cool, then melt the jelly in a saucepan over low heat. This makes a lovely glaze which you can brush over the entire tart, which adds some nice extra apple flavor and makes it look even prettier.

For best results, be sure to chant: "Halloween Pie, Halloween Pie, if I don't get some, I think I'm gonna die!"

The only day each year I can go out as a fairy princess  and no one will think it overly odd...