Halloween

*Taken from our new UKYankee booklet 'How to Fit in and Make Friends in Your New Community'

*Taken from our new UKYankee booklet 'How to Fit in and Make Friends in Your New Community'

You know, woolworths is doing a lot of halloween items this year I wouldn't be surprised if they had some cheap bags....but I'd have to go with the Asda idea, if it's cheap (and usually a good buy) it'll be there.

Thanks for the tips -- unfortunately I've checked and both Woolworth's and Asda don't do any small bags -booooo! -  I'll have to import!

That pumpkin you made Melissa sounds like a work of art.
You guys have got me dreaming about authentic American candy... I used to be a sucker for "Indian corn" or banana flavored "Turkish taffy" ... do they still make that lovely teeth-wrenching stuff?

I remember one Halloween when myself and three friends made ourselves a big dragon costume for us to line up under -- it was hell maneuvering up doorsteps because only the person in front (me! )  could see where they were going.  The "dragon" had five arms sticking out the side each with a trick-or-treat bag ......the fake arm collected as much candy as the real ones!  

Hey Moose.  

Clinton Cards has Halloween party bags.  £1 for a packet of five or eight-it didn't say how many on the packet and the darn things were to thin and slippery to count.

I have loads of memories about halloween and was very disappointed when there were no trick or treaters on halloween here..we put out a pumpking with a candle in it and some kids stole it..he he saved us from getting rid of it...

im gonna get hubby to take me to tulleys farm near brighton to get some pumpkins and maybe go on a haunted halloween ride...
happy halloween all

I've got Candy Corn!!!  And I'm not telling anyone where I bought it...........or how much I paid.

man oh man- I could make you an offer on that candy corn- I love that stuff!

I just stocked up on trick or treat candy- we are lucky- we get quite a few trick or treaters in our nieghborhood- Basically my son and his gang of school friends go around to their parents and friends houses.

Lol- about the pumpkins getting stolen- same thing happened to us year before last- and I remember thinking0 darn it- but oh well now I dont have to deal with a yucky smelly pumpkin after halloween!

We're starting on our return leg from a long weekend to the states to attend my high school reunion. It's been a real treat this time of year, because not only did I have this idyllic childhood, but I grew up in the middle of Homespun Americana. Seeing it this time of year has been magic, all the leaves turning and everyone having carved pumpkins and gourds, scarecows and dried cornstalk arrangements on their front porch, complete with rocking chair. It's a town that's a Norman Rockwell painting.

I'd love to take this feeling back to the UK with me, but know any sort of Halloween decoration is going to be taken as the work of Satan by, well, one of our neighbors. Besides, it just isn't the same without the New England house paint colors and front proches with rocking chairs, piles of orange leaves amassing and grey squirrels frolicking.

<sigh> Naturally, we had to stop by the roadside and pick up a jug of apple cider. Trying to drink the whole thing down before we get on the plane is going to be like entering a pie-eating contest, but we'll do it!

Mindy -- Thanks for the Clinton Cards tip, I'll check it out.
             and you have CANDY CORN!... you tease!

LisaE -- Sounds wonderful where you are... I can almost smell the Fall leaves... my husband is going to have to tie me down to stop me getting on the next plane.  

Ah, but it's nice to get back home, too. Although, what's with the weather? I knew it had to end sometime, but stepping into was still a shock!

My little community is getting quite an American influence, so it may not be long till we're Homespun English-ana. A woman joked with me last night that her grandson phoned her up to ask if she wanted the pumpkin innards he carved out (presuming for the pumpkin recipe I gave her) and next month I've got a group of women coming over for pumpkin pie.  

Welcome back!

Yummmm - I love pumpkin pie!  Stumbled upon this fascinating entry in "Reader's Digest Farmhouse Cookery": --

"Norfolk Million Pie --
Million is the old word for melon, pumpkin or, indeed any kind of gourd vegetable.  Though this dish is now made with marrow (), its original ingredient was pumpkin.
This pie crossed the Atlantic to the New World with the Pilgrim Fathers, who came mostly from East Anglia; and Pumpkin Pie was served at their Thanksgiving dinner for the first harvest in the New World.  Americans eat the pie at least once a year in honour of their founding fathers.
Although the pumpkin has gone out of fashion in England, its memory lives on in this old Norfolk recipe...."

Isn't it bizarre you are reintroducing the locals to their traditional culinary heritage?!  

Isn't it bizarre you are reintroducing the locals to their traditional culinary heritage?!  

Yes!  Fascinating!  Must remember this!!!

Moose, how many Halloween bags do you need? I just picked up some small ones with twist ties. (They're like party favor bags, are clear with ghosts on them.) I have about 10 I can send you. IM me your address if you're interested.

LisaE, thank you so much, but my husband found me some this weekend from a party shop  -- he cleaned them out!  (after all that, the little cherubs better show up on the night...     )

Thanks again!