Build up to Halloween's

Uh huh. Oh yeah.

We are THAT keen.

Nevermind the laundry room is so full of dirty laundry, I fine that socks are migrating into the freezer when we open the freezer door.

Sure, occasionally we think we have visitors because the doorbell has malfunctioned and it intermittently chimes at odd hours of the night.

BUT,

Halloween's next month, people Priorities!!!

Ok, so I know technically we are still in August. Details really.

So I dug out this Day of The Dead mould I was given by Thing. Yes. I said Thing. Well, to be exact, it is Thing RM. RM being Registered Midwife. I have known Thing for yonks. I got to know her on an online midwifery forum. it used to be likened to a midwifery equivalent of the online biker bar.  In its hey days, boy, didn't the forum live up to that reputation. Toys got thrown out of prams, individuals were ridiculed for the non-savvy-ness (I know that's not a real word so you can, if you choose to, close your eyes and pretend it's not there) on the subject of vegetable pakoras and I acquired my vast vocabulary of creative verbal insults from there. Seriously, how genius is 'cockwomble'? 

Oh, and of course, we discussed bucket loads of clinical midwifery 'stuff'.

That was until The Man got us to behave. 

Anyway, back to Thing. She bought me this mould for our Secret Santa project. I was really made up with it as I'd coveted it for ages. I love her so much. I've met Thing a few times. My lasting visual memory of her is of her dressed up as a witch (how apt of a midwife) from The Wizard of Oz. 

Even her face was painted green.

So today, in preparation of impending Halloween's, I started making the decorations. 

The instruction was easy. Mix a cup of sugar with a teaspoon of meringue powder and a teaspoon of water. It'll end up looking like you've got something wrong and if it does, then you know you got it right :P

So scoop the mixture up and press it into the moulds. It'll be a bit sticky. So press it in, making sure you get the grains into the dips and crevices.

Now, you don't need to wait for anything to set. Just pop them out onto a stiff card. Brush away any excess sugar and pop the card into the oven on very low heat. Mine was set at 100C and leave the door slightly open, making sure you shout out loud to the rest of the family that they shouldn't run into the kitchen at light speed. Then go get the bandages and arnica in anticipation.*

*DO NOT PLACE ARNICA OR BANDAGES IN THE OVEN.
It has nothing to do with the skulls.

Do remember, do not make the oven any hotter. Any hotter, you'll just end up with a pool of caramelising liquid sugar at the bottom of your oven, and the smell will drive you crazy and rather than cleaning the mess up, you'll just end up making creme caramel instead.

Believe me. Some things you need to experience yourself, other things you really ought to just read about and take heed.

So bake it for about 20 minutes and then, just leave them out to cool.

That's the end of the first installment. Be prepared for the next one. Once I figure out the best way to decorate them. I have only made fondant version of this before and that actually created a smooth surface which you could paint on. Unlike the porous surface these babies have.

Until then, have a gander at some pictures of the Sponge family's Halloween from a couple of years ago.

They start off looking pretty fiendishly normal

Ok, so maybe if you see something like this in the middle of the night when you are calling your cat in, you might not be asking, "Are you lost, little boy?"

The smiles are deceptive, I tells ya. I wouldn't let any one of these near my pets.

Oh hang on, they ARE my pets

Terror comes in small packages

She actually gives us the evils like this often

This however, gave grown men nightmares

Please note. I didn't make my children dress like this. They came morbid that way