Well, here they are...the highly anticipated Halloween Party pics! If you follow this blog at all, you may know that I had a party on Halloween night that was inspired by "dark food."
I hit up Trader Joe's, PCC and Uwajimaya for my groceries...all in search of black, purple and oddly colored food...locally produced and/or organic whenever possible.
An assortment of interesting finds from Uwajimaya included wheat crackers that looked like little brains, black sesame seeds, black sesame candy, matcha powder and wasabi peas. I also found some purple rice seasoning that I thought would be cool on popcorn, but didn't end up using. There were cookies with green seaweed "dust" that looked cool, but ended up tasting like fish...not so good. I also found some locally produced Red Hibiscus Flower Agave Cocktail mix and wanted to use it as a signature cocktail, but no one drank it. The dried hibiscus flowers were from TJs and were amazing! A few other fun finds from TJs included blue corn tortilla chips to go with my guacamole. Nori snacks were the perfect color, but I wasn't in love with them...sent them home with a friend who was. Dried fruit snacks were a big hit with the kids. And I fell in love with all the little mushrooms at Uwajimaya, but didn't end up using them...they ended up in a mushroom ragout for dinner last night. :)
I had a lot of fun picking out cheese. My favorite is the green Sage Derby...love the color! A cabarnet soaked cheddar from CA, Spanish Valdeon blue and locally made No Woman, a jerk seasoned cheese from Beecher's all fit the bill color-wise. The small round cheese is a French goat cheese called Le Chevrot that I got b/c the rind looked like a brain to me. :)
For my crudite plate and to go with the cheese, I picked out some black grapes, purple cauliflower, figs and guacamole. The oblong thing in the center is a banana blossom that I didn't end up using, but will try to make a salad with this week. I also had some red and purple peppers, radish roses and garnished the plate with black kale.
Now for the table transformation...
BEFORE:
STAGED:
I always like to stage my table before I place my food. This probably comes from my merchandising background. An interesting "structure" ensures a gorgeous table. I found the purple fabric, cheese cloth, beakers, roaches, hand, wrought iron bowls and a few of the silver platters at my local Goodwill and Value Village for just a few dollars apiece. Some of the items will go into my permanent stash, the others will be available for sale in my antique booth, so I can buy fun new treasures for my next event!
AFTER:
And a few detail shots:
Veggies with fresh cilantro hummus...I whirled up two containers of TJs organic hummus with a large bunch of fresh cilantro for a gorgeous green dip. (Ignore the burned cauliflower...got excited and heated the pan without water...was still pretty, so I included it anyway.)
Cheese board with oddly colored cheese...and some sneaky cockroaches...
Black rice cakes with savory blue cheese topping...tomato dipping sauce...and some more roaches...
Spinach tortellini with pesto sauce...bamboo skewers in mini beakers.
Baked blue potato skins with sour cream and caviar...the leftovers made amazing mashed potatoes the next night!
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of my gorgeous stuffed mushrooms and the dessert buffet...where was my brain?? My matcha truffles turned out kind of gross, but the Red Velvet Chocolate Chip cookies were yum! My daughter and I also made some chocolate covered marshmallows pops which were pretty yummy too.
As far as decor went, I whipped up a wreath and some spider web lanterns, but didn't do a whole lot of decorating...the food table really was the centerpiece of the party. Here are a few detail shots of things around the house.
We also covered all of our furniture with sheets to make it look more like a haunted house...this photo is from last year, but it's the same idea.
Last, but not least, here was my candy presentation for the trick-or-treaters...I found this head already painted for $3 at an antique mall...had planned to repaint it black, but decided the sickly green was just perfect. :)
That's about it! Hope you enjoyed following along as I planned and perfected my theme. It was a tricky menu to orchestrate, but I enjoyed the challenge. Feel free to click around the links for sources, recipes and how-to's. Did you do anything dark or spooky for Halloween this year? XOXO, Cindi
