Boo!

I won’t lie. Halloween, with its pressure to decorate, construct cute costumes and come up with clever, themed eats, stresses me out. I might like the kitchen, but the rest of the domestic arts leave me cold. Around here, decorations and costumes are thrown together at the last minute, and the Halloween menu always includes something simple like homemade chili with fresh toppings and grilled all-beef dogs. To enhance this prosaic vibe, I throw in a couple of simple, classic standbys that never fail, especially for kids 10 and under and their worn-out parents. For our young guests, I make ghost apples and witches hats. And for adults, Halloween cocktails that always turn out right.

To make ghost apples, take a small, red apple and place a white napkin over it. It should cover most of the apple. Pop a wooden toothpick through the napkin at top of the apple near the stem. Leave enough of the toothpick protruding to impale a marshmallow, which becomes the ghost’s head. Create eyes, a nose and a mouth by dabbing chocolate sauce with another toothpick on the surface of the marshmallow. You’re done! Just be sure everyone’s aware of the toothpicks when you serve them.

For witches hats, turn a Keebler Fudge Stripes cookie upside down. Unwrap a Hershey’s Kiss and smear it on the bottom with dark chocolate icing. Place it in the center of the cookie to form the hat’s peak. Trim around the Kiss with icing or gel from a small tube to create a ribbon. If you can find orange icing, it looks great.

Now, for cocktails. One of my new favorites is the Bayou Slime because it includes ingredients I like and doesn’t look excessively gross. No floating eyeballs just swamp sludge.

Ingredients:

2 parts Dark Rum (I like Old New Orleans Rum, Cajun Spice, but any dark or spiced rum will do)

6-8 fresh mint leaves

1/2 part simple syrup or cordial syrup

1 egg white

Method:

Muddle mint leaves and syrup together. You want the consistency to look like moss.

Place all ingredients into a shaker with ice.

Shake until well-chilled and frothy.

Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Garnish with more crushed mint leaves.

Finally, if all else fails, creates the world’s easiest Halloween cocktail, the Bloody Mary, but be sure to nab some of Briarhill Farm’s Bloody Mary Mix (Spicy), available at the Red Stick Farmers Market and Martin Wine Cellar. I’ve yet to find a mix that can beat this one, made by Mt. Hermon farmer Joe Dobie.