Halloween fun - day 23

Joke:
Q: What do sea monsters eat for lunch?
A: Fish and ships.

Recipe - Pumpkin cake


Cuts into 15 generous portions
Preparation and cooking times
Prep 20 mins
Cook 30 mins (without frosting)
Ingredients
For the cake
300g self-raising flour
300g light muscovado sugar
3 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g sultanas
½ tsp salt
4 eggs , beaten
200g butter , melted
zest 1 orange
1 tbsp orange juice
500g (peeled weight) pumpkin or butternut squash flesh, grated
FOR DRENCHING AND FROSTING
200g pack soft cheese
85g butter , softened
100g icing sugar , sifted
zest 1 orange and juice of half
1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line a 30 x 20cm baking or small roasting tin with baking parchment. Put the flour, sugar, spice, bicarbonate of soda, sultanas and salt into a large bowl and stir to combine. Beat the eggs into the melted butter, stir in the orange zest and juice, then mix with the dry ingredients till combined. Stir in the pumpkin. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30 mins, or until golden and springy to the touch.
2. To make the frosting, beat together the cheese, butter, icing sugar, orange zest and 1 tsp of the juice till smooth and creamy, then set aside in the fridge. When the cake is done, cool for 5 mins then turn it onto a cooling rack. Prick it all over with a skewer and drizzle with the rest of the orange juice while still warm. Leave to cool completely.
3. If you like, trim the edges of the cake. Give the frosting a quick beat to loosen, then, using a palette knife, spread over the top of the cake in peaks and swirls. If you're making the cake ahead, keep it in the fridge then take out as many pieces as you want 30 mins or so before serving. Will keep, covered, for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Try this
Recipe from Good Food magazine, October 2007.


Costumes - for couples


Some funny costumes for couples ideas:

Caught in Lover’s Lane: Man can wear a button-down shirt buttoned all wrong, lipstick kisses on his face and shirt, pants slightly unzipped, shoes untied or on wrong feet and hair messed up. Woman can wear skirt tucked into back of pantyhose, missing one shoe, make up smeared, hair messed up, and bra on the outside of shirt.
Movie, TV or Cartoon Couples: pick your favorite couple from TV and dress as them.
Widowed Wife and Deceased Husband: Woman dresses in all black with a black veil and carries tissues. Man dresses in a nice suit but paints face to look dead.
Dead Groom and Bride: Woman wears white dress and man wears tuxedo of black suit. Paint face to look pale and eyes sunken in.
Celebrity and Paparazzi: One of the two dresses up real nice, wears sunglasses and acts real stuck-up and popular. The other wears regular clothes but has 2 or 3 cameras around neck and is following the celebrity. Paparazzi often hide around corners or behind things and sneaks photos or shouts things like “turn to the right! And “just one photo please!”
Ketchup and Mustard: One wears all red and the other wears all yellow.
Salt and Pepper: One wears all black and the other all white.
Hot and Cold: One wears blue and has icicle decorations (like the kind sold at Christmas) or pictures of icicles on clothes. The other dresses in all orange, red or yellow with pictures of flames and fire.
Dracula and Victim: Man dresses as Dracula. Woman dresses as his victim with a pale face, nightgown and bite marks on neck.
Doctor and Patient: One should dress in a lab coat and wears stethoscope or has doctor equipment in pockets. The other dresses in a hospital gown.
Fish and Chips: One dresses as a fish and the other can wear solid color clothing and attach empty chip bags to clothes.
Wild West: One can dress as a cowboy and the other as a saloon girl.
Me and My Shadow: One wears regular clothing, the other one wears all black including painting face black and wearing a black hat that covers up hair. Follow the other person around all night and mimic what they do.
Gangster and Flapper: Man dresses as a 1920’s gangster and woman dresses as a 1920’s flapper.
Vampire and Slayer: One dresses up as a vampire and the other dresses up in normal clothes but carries crosses, holy water and a wooden stake.
Frankenstein and his Bride.
King Kong and Faye Ray: One wears a gorilla suit and the other wears a dress and blonde wig.
Sailor and Mermaid: Man dresses as a sailor and woman dresses like a mermaid.
Pirate Couple: both persons dress as pirates.
Amazon and Slave: Woman dresses like an Amazon warrior and man dresses like her slave. Works best if she has a whip and he is in chains.
Cop and Prisoner: One dresses like a cop and the other in a prison suit (the type with black and white stripes).
Farmer and Animal: One dresses as a farmer and the other dresses as a barnyard animal.

More couple ideas at:
http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/couplehalloween_sdsw.htm