Today we are joined by Melinda, a GoodReads member

For my Halloween picks, I decided to do a hodgepodge of stuff: Books, Movies and wonderful party food item.

Being an avid reader, I decided to share some books that I thought were very creepy and appropriate for a good Halloween read; so here are 5 picks that I thought were oldies, but goodies:

The Orchard by Charles L. Grant
Shade of the Tree by Piers Anthony
Saint Peter’s Wolf by Michael Cadnum
Something Out There by Ronald Kelly
and probably the creepiest to me, The Crate by Stephen King (short story).

For movies; my favorite creepy bedtime stories are:

Paranormal Activity
The Exorcist
Poltergeist
Evil Dead
Nightmare on Elm Street
and can’t resist, Disney’s Icabod Crane!

And for a Halloween treat: Devil’s Eyeballs

Use your favorite recipe for Deviled Eggs;
divide the stuffing; 1/4 and 3/4. For the 1/4 add in red food coloring;
Stuff the boiled egg half with the normal (3/4) serving leaving a small indention in the center and fill the center with the red coloring (1/4). For further effect, use a small sliced black olive as a placeholder for the red “eye”.

Simple, easy and you can use your imagination. Have fun!

Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

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Today we are joined by my dear friend Hedda of Messy Pink Apron

I found a recipe for this cake on one of the many food blogs that I frequent and I’ll be damned if I can actually find the original recipe so I can bow down and praise the person I should be crediting for this cake. Still, I took it and made it vegan. It’s sinful, it’s decadent, and I think I gained a kilo just baking the thing. Seriously though, if you have the time, you should try it. It’s gorgeous.

Cake Ingredients:

3 oz (or about 80g) couverture semisweet dark chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch)
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
3 tsp Egg Replacer (whisked in 6 tbsp water)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups soy milk (mix in 3-4 tbsp white vinegar until it’s the consistency of buttermilk)
3/4 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 180°C. and grease 10-inch round cake pans. (9 inch cake pans will overflow – use 3 pans if you have to, I certainly did!)

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl mix egg-replacer, oil, soy milk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture, beating with the mixer until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined. (I made sure there weren’t any sizeable lumps!)

Divide batter between pans and bake until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. (The original recipe said to bake an hour – I baked these about 35 minutes and they were done – all depends on your oven, I suppose.)

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Place in freezer on rack if you want to frost it quickly.

Frosting: You can use whatever favourite frosting you like – I used my old easy standard:

1 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
3 tbsp soy milk

Blend until fluffy and decorate as you will. I gave mine a bit of a Hallowe’en theme!

Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

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Be the Change You Want to See in the World by Julie Fisher-McGarry. © 2006 Conari Press. ISBN 1-57324-297-7. Paperback. $14.95 US. [ Purchase ]

With the environment the way it is today, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with worrying about what other people do. In steps, Julie Fisher-McGarry and her new book. This fabulous book is set up in a daily devotional style, one tip per day for 365 days to help you take the step to controlling how you, yourself, use the environment. Julie evens provides yummy recipes to help you start using your local farmer’s market in season produce instead of buying it from a corporate super chain. This is a wonderful book for those who want to take that leap into living organically and for the planet.

Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

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