Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Although we have been in the woods for three years, this is the first time the boys put on a halloween outfit and go "Trick or Treat" with their friends! We started early at 5pm, thinking that we could end by 630pm. The boys were so happy that they wanted to go to another part of the neighbourhood. And so, we extended the fun by another hour. They sure were happy and tired the next day, since they went to bed later than usual.

While the boys and their friend were busy knocking on doors, I was busy admiring the Halloween decorations put up by the residents in our neighbourhood! I was glad to have my camera with me =D

Pumpkins! It's fun carving pumpkins! We were happy to see these pumpkins sitting on the lawn. Love the expressions on them!

Here's another cutie! Isn't it creative?
I have a friend living in another state who painted all her pumpkins ... Red, black, and yellow. Ok, rather, she got her boys to paint the pumpkins, since she's heavily pregnant. She turned the orange pumpkins into Angry Birds! And there were logs of wood for her "pumpkin" birds to sit on!

Apart from pumpkins, there were the tombstones .... here's a cute setup ...

Tombstones and pumpkins ....

We found this at the front door of an apartment ... Erh, I loved the spiderweb, but the white cloth stained with handprints was a little too much for me ... even the inside of the apartment was dimly lit ... spooky!

Facing the same apartment sat a tombstone with skulls and bones scattered around, against a backdrop of trees and sandy ground.

The boys found it thrilling and fun. And they were happy with their little pumpkin "buddies".

And they loved having their "buddies" filled with candies!

That's a almost bucket full of candies! The boys had been warned about the frequency and number of candies they can eat. Candies are not a regular item in our pantry.

Halloween Crafts

Are you ready for Halloween? I definitely am! See, I even receive a special mail from a mysterious little kid!

Darling son YW was watching "Sid, The Science Kid" on a lazy Sunday morning. This week's programme was about Halloween. Halfway through the show, I heard my little boy's footsteps as he started running up to his room, and then down, back to sit in front of the TV. I was wondering what he was up to. After the show, he came and showed me this.

Wow! No wonder he was looking for paper, pencil, and scissors!

I told him I liked it very much, and was very impressed that he learnt something interesting from the TV show.

"Do you think you can make it even more exciting?", I asked him.

And all I gave him was this set of self-inking stamps.

And he came back to me with the following ....

Ok, the one he did was without the edges being ink, and minus the stick. But I love the drawings he did after stamping ... the happy suspended in the air spider and the "scary" vampire. I asked him if he would like to make it even more interesting by having the sides of the paper inked. He had seen me done it before, and he would like to try it too. And so, I showed him and then passed him the ink to do it. Then I added a straw to the back and added a black ribbon.

The final product! He was so pleased with it that he wanted to show me how make it! All over again! Kids can be so creative. One will be amazed at what they can come up with when one let go and let them explore!

Halloween Bento!

It's difficult to avoid preparing one for the boys, when the Internet is filled with such beautifully done Halloween-themed Bento!

The kitchen in the morning is always a battle-zone.

Cooking lunch, packing lunch, preparing breakfast ... and all these on top of getting the boys out of their beds to go brush their teeth, change out of their PJs, pack their bags, and get down for breakfast! Wish I had more hands to do more things! Doing a beautiful bento is out of the question, as firstly, I'm not an expert in "Lunch Art". I couldn't quite decide what to put, and where to put. Of course, there's the "How To". Hence, I decided to do some planning the day before packing a Halloween-themed Bento =)

The sketch didn't look too bad!

I was happy after deciding on the "How To"!

The tasks for the morning will be :

Shape rice into a "Ghost" using plastic wrap.

With a cutter, cut the eyes and mouth.

Cut a bow tie from a slice of cheese.

"Ghost" is done!

Bake the fish fingers in the oven.

Let cool and place on a liner.

Cut out small squares and place on tip of the fish fingers.

Use a little mayo to stick the cheese onto the fingers.

"Fingers" are done!

Fill up the rest of the space with the cooked broccoli.

Form face with cheese and nori.

"Frankenstein" done!

After the first lunch box, I realised that I couldn't really see the eyes and mouth of Frankenstein! So instead of using nori, I changed to using cheese. The effect was a lot better than just using nori alone =) So here's the two Bento lunches for my two little darlings!

The boys went out of the house later than usual, because I was busy taking photos of the bento! It's not an everyday affair that I made such bento.

Thank you, Tiffany, for sharing with us in your blog, how to make a ghost using rice!

I had fun preparing the Bento, and I hope the kids enjoyed their bento in school!

Happy Halloween!

"Spooky" Treats!

Tomorrow, Saturday October 31, is Halloween.

We won't be going Trick or Treating.

I always wonder whether the kids really eat all the candies they collect.

I am not a huge fan of frosted cakes and cookies. It is fun to go along with the holiday theme in baking though, so I opted for cookies with minimal decorations. I chanced upon this website, Cookie Madness, and was happy to find a recipe to use up my leftover cream cheese from baking buns.

It was a bad day for baking.

Anything you think could go wrong, went wrong!

I put in too much cream cheese, and as a result, my dough was very sticky. I had to slowly add more flour into the dough so that it become "moist but not sticky" as stated in the recipe. It was a moist and soft dough. I chilled it in the refrigerator for about an hour, hoping to bake them so that darling sons can bring them to school as snack the next day. Bad luck! The cut-outs were so soft that when I tried to lift them onto the cookie sheet, they broke apart! Sigh! I did manage to lift a couple without breaking them, but ended up with my back almost breaking! The few cookies that "survived" and made their way to the cookie sheet smelled so good when baking in the oven! I put the dough back into the refrigerator to have it chilled overnight, and was happy to have a few pieces of cookies to munch on. I had no problems cutting out the cookies the next morning, as the dough was firm.

The next time I bake these cookies, I would roll the dough into the correct thickness for cutting, before wrapping and putting it into the refrigerator to chill. That way, when the dough is taken out from the fridge, all I need to do is just cut! The cut-outs will be firm and easy to lift up and slide off the cutter. But that will also mean that it will occupy quite a huge area in the fridge.

For now, I am enjoying my cookies ... Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies =)

Big and Little Jack "'O"

Hi, I'm Big Jack "O" and this is my brother, Little Jack "O"!

Will you visit us on Halloween night?

Will it be Treat or Trick?

See you then!

Knives and Pumpkins!

What do you with three huge pumpkins sitting on your kitchen floor?

Pair them with a serrated knife and a scoop, and you are ready to carve!

First, you cut a wide circle around the pumpkin stem with the carving knife. Pull the cut lid off the pumpkin by the stem. Use the scoop to scoop out the inside of the pumpkin.

Next you draw/trace the picture you want to carve, onto the pumpkin.

You can have a smiley face, a scary face, a witch, a ghost, or even a haunted house.

Now you are ready to carve the pumpkin!

Use the carving knife to saw along the lines drawn on the pumpkin. When done, use a wet cloth to wipe the marker lines off, and dry the skin.

Darling son KW is all ready to try, since it's that simple!

He pick the "Haunted House" for his pumpkin carving.

Darling son YW is too young to hold a knife, so daddy has to carve it for him, on the little pumpkin he pick up at the pumpkin patch during the school field trip.

Since the little one is not allowed to hold a knife, he is happy to play with our little neighour while waiting for daddy and his gor gor to carve the pumpkins.

Tada! Done!

See you tonight, Jack "O"s !