BOOzy Brunch
When I moved into my new apartment back in August, I knew I eventually wanted to have a housewarming party. I also decided that I wanted to have a Halloween party, so I decided to combine them into what I called a 'BOO'zy Brunch last Sunday afternoon. My new place is much larger than my last one, and it's so wonderful to be able to finally have more than one person over at a time. I threw two epic Halloween parties back when I lived in Ohio and it's my very favorite holiday to celebrate. I love the aesthetic of Halloween—skulls, bones, orange, black, spiderwebs and pumpkins everywhere.
I told everyone to bring a drink of their choosing, and I took care of all of the food. I made spooky spiderweb deviled eggs, breadstick bones, Jello worms, clementine pumpkins, hot dog mummies, ladies' fingers, graveyard and monster cupcakes and the most delicious (and simple, and disgusting-looking) salsa dip.
Probably the biggest hit on the table was the pumpkin who had clearly partied a little too hard. It took me only a few minutes to carve, a few more minutes to mix the salsa dip (thanks Francesca!) and it looked great. Every time I made the dip in the past, someone would comment that it looked like vomit, so when I saw a pumpkin puking up guacamole I knew I had the perfect substitute (am I the only person on the planet who doesn't like guacamole?)
The Jello worms, however, were a new addition to my Halloween repertoire, the thing I was most excited about, and a complete failure. From start to finish they were the most frustrating and most time consuming thing I made, with the least return on my investment. I am no stranger to kitchen failures but the worms were definitely the most mind-bogglingly disastrous thing I've ever attempted. In the end they looked ok, but of course no one ate them (does anyone really like Jello?) so I crossed them off my list as quickly as I had added them.
This was the first party I threw since moving to New York so my domestic Martha Stewart-y side is a little out of practice but it was nice to be able to share so many Halloweeny delights with all the people I love the most.
If I had to choose my very favorite thing about the party (besides all of the lovely company!) it would have to be my fireplace full of pumpkins. I saw the idea on Pinterest and realized I had the exact same fireplace that was shown in the example—non-functioning and already painted black. All I had to do was make two trips to the grocery store with my old-lady shopping cart, carry them up two flights of stairs and hope they didn't decompose by party time. A week and a half later they are still making me happy, even if I'm slightly terrified to touch them in case they really are rotting—my party might be over, but I'm not ready to say goodbye to Halloween just yet.