Rising from the dead

Halloween..in it's most ghoulish sense is not just about trick or treating, candy corn (YUM), pumpkins and costumes.  It's also about witches and zombies, scary clowns and the living dead. 

My version of Halloween is just like Thriller. Blood and gore. And 80s music.

With Guilty Pleasures annual Halloween bash last night, JF and I used the excuse to do what we haven't quite gotten around to doing yet, being brides.  So what if we were "corpse brides" risen from the dead.  We still looked stunning in our tattered wedding gowns and skull veils. 

The mothers of the brides would be so proud.

You should see her when she first wakes up in the morning

Like last night's freakishly frightening persona, this blog is also slowly rising from the ashes.

I have been on a 4 month hiatus due to work commitments which meant sacrificing blogging, cooking, dance classing and seeing my friendsing. However, today I found one glorious afternoon with absolutely nothing on.

So what if I have a taxi picking me up at 5:30 am tomorrow morning for yet another work trip. Today, Sunday the 26th October is all mine. I'm writing, I've knitted, I've cooked, I've seen friends. I'm slowly starting to feel Dana again (the non ghostly bride one).

Combined with the upcoming Halloween holiday and crunchy leaves on the ground, there's a definite fall feeling in the air. I thought the best way to celebrate my resurrection was with some simple autumnal dishes.

Nothing fancy, just tasty fall flavours.

Pumpkin, parsnip and ginger soup

First up this morning was making a pumpkin, parsnip and ginger soup. Recipe below is on my estimations since I made it up as I went.

1. 3 cups cubed pumpkin, cover in 1 tablespoon olive oil and sea salt (roast in a 200 degree oven for 45 minutes until tender)
2. On the stove top saute 1 small diced onion, 3 gloves diced garlic and 2 tablespoons chopped ginger. Add 1 cup diced parsnip and saute until slightly tender. Add 4 dried apricots sliced.
3. Add 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (you may need a bit more at the end, and simmer until parsnips are completely soft.
4. Add pumpkin to parsnip mixture and blend until smooth with a hand blender or food processor. Note: You may need to add a bit more stock to thin out the soup. 

I served the soup with chopped coriander.  You could also swirl through a teaspoon of Greek yogurt or sour cream.

Apple crumble bread

Besides pumpkin, of equal fall stature is the humble apple. My first instinct was naturally the good ol' fashioned apple pie.  But considering I'm off for most of the week I wanted to bake something instead that I could either bring along with me or potentially freeze.  Considering a quarter of it is already gone (and there's still a good few hours of the day left) I think I may have been ok either way.  

This loaf cake was a bit of a random one  It's a sort of a cross between a banana bread (but with apples instead of the bananas) an apple crumble and a coffee cake.  

Made in a loaf tin, a brown sugar and applesauce batter was layered with sliced apples and a streusal topping of oats, pecans, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.    The resulting effect was an crunchy (pecans and oats), sharp (bramley apples), moist cake.  

Perfect for afternoon tea (check) and a pre dinner snack (check), I imagine it will be equally perfect for dessert this evening (in progress) and breakfast on the way to the airport tomorrow (wrapped up and ready to go).  A multipurpose food item.  The best kind!