Southern California Halloween activities

If you've waited until now to start thinking about a frightening Halloween activity for the weekend, you've come to the right place. Here are my favorites, listed in no particular order.

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios

Year after year they have highly-themed, quality mazes as well as some scare areas around the usual Universal Studios park. The backlot area is particularly scary since it does seem like a free-for-all in the woods, and crazed killers lurk everywhere. Tickets are $59 at the gate. Here's last year's review.

Knott's Scary Farm Haunt in Buena Park

Read my Knott's Haunt review for details. Tickets are $46.00 at the gate. It's an old standby that won't disappoint, and this year had several great mazes.

Night of the Living Dead / Zombie Love at the Maverick Theater in Fullerton

I was lucky enough to attend both this year - Night of the Living Dead gets better every year, and I couldn't recommend it more. Each year they add a little something to the show that makes it different and better than the previous year. But let me say that if Scott Johnson ever stops playing Ben, it won't be the same for me. I now trust him - and only him - with my zombie-killing needs. Read my review for Zombie Love over at Spooky Little Girl's blog. It was also entertaining, though nothing can compare to NOTLD, and I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like musicals. Tickets for both shows are most likely already sold out, but it never hurts to call and ask.

The Olde Towne Music Hall in El Segundo

I went to their showing of Dracula and loved it. The Mighty Wurlitzer is front-and-center in the theater; before the movie we heard everything from traditional, carousel-style organ music to a cover of the Beatles. It's a treat, and a glimpse at a simpler time. Every Halloween weekend they show the original silent Phantom of the Opera, and the organ is played as the score to the movie. Personally, I never need to see anything Phantom ever again, but if I hadn't seen it recently, I'd go just for the live music. It's a cheap evening too - tickets are $8 and concessions are about $2 each.

The Dia de los Muertos event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

I understand that it gets crazy-busy, so if you can manage the horde, you'll love the altars, the Day of the Dead processional, and beautiful costumes. Tickets are $10, parking is non-existent. It's an L.A. tradition, so maybe the chaos is worth it.

Old Towne Haunt in Pasadena

When I visited, it was great - truly scary. The Old Towne Haunt doesn't have the same quantity of mazes as a theme park haunt, but they make up for it by scaring the crap out of you for the 15-20 minutes that you're there. They find clever ways to breathe new life into their mazes, and the scare-actors are usually pretty dedicated. Tickets are $14, and there's a front-of-line pass for $19.

Zombie Joe's theater in North Hollywood

Currently showing Attack of the Rotting Corpses. I haven't seen this particular show, but I like the small theater, and the I-could-die-here vibe that I got when the doors were closed and the lights went out. There's artwork on display in the lobby, and concessions are cheap. Tickets are $15.

There are also lots of lovingly-crafted home haunts - and there are even probably a few in your neighborhood - but it takes some looking to find them. If you want to stick close to home and you don't want to pay a lot of money, I recommend searching your city's website, and these sites:

Alley Cat Scratch - they meticulously list haunts from Burbank to San Juan Capistrano. I'm sure you can find something on that site that is in your neck of the woods.

HauntedHouse.com - they also have a list of many of the smaller attractions. Use the top navigation if you're not in CA.

If you don't like my suggestions, here are a few reviews from my friend Spooky Little Girl:

Los Angeles Haunted Hayride in Griffith Park; tickets are $25-$60

Reign of Terror in Thousand Oaks; tickets are $13-$20

Or if you just want to stay home and watch a scary/corny movie, don't forget about Elvira on Saturday night, and your Netflix subscription. Netflix Instant has some great movies, with my personal favorites being the old-school monster movies, and the campy classics.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space - a campy tradition. With terrifying clowns.

Dracula A.D. 1972 - a bizarre spin on Dracula that focuses on a group of beatnik kids in England in the 70s.

The Munsters: Season 1 - If you want to make Halloween a light, family affair, you can't go wrong with the Munsters.

Them! - my personal all-time favorite creature feature. It's a classic B-movie that does tend toward hokey-dom, but I think it holds up surprisingly well.

Hearty pumpkin soup with bacon

Weeks ago the craving for pumpkin soup with bacon entered my head, and I finally couldn't yearn for it anymore. Here is worked-all-day, nothing-measured pumpkin soup with bacon.

Sort of looks like baby food, but it was delicious served with buttery toast

Ingredients (nothing was measured. I guarantee no accuracy!)

1 medium onion - finely diced (I used sweet onion)

3 strips bacon - chopped

1-1.5 ish cups pumpkin puree

1 medium sweet potato, cooked, peeled, and mashed (the microwave is easiest)

1.5 ish tablespoons honey

chicken stock (until the puree is thinned, but not runny)

sea salt

freshly cracked pepper

thyme

cinnamon

ginger

(all herbs/spices dried)

Parmesan cheese (for topping)

- Cook the bacon until it is crispy, remove the bacon pieces, but leave the drippings

- Sauté onion in the drippings until it is translucent and the edges brown

- Add mashed pumpkin and sweet potato and a little salt; cook until everything browns

- Add some stock and dried or fresh herbs, honey, and more salt

- Simmer and taste until you can't wait to eat it

- Stir in bacon, serve, and top with reserved bacon crumbles and Parmesan cheese

I used this pumpkin blossom honey. It probably won't make any significant difference over clover honey, but I like to use it with my pumpkin dishes anyway to cram as much pumpkiny-goodness as possible into every dish.

A Halloween-themed birthday cake

There is almost nothing that I love more than cake. While I have never destroyed property just to greedily scarf down someone else's birthday cake, I have done quite a lot in the name of cake. Baking and decorating cakes isn't my strongest suit, but when I saw this crazy, beautiful, sprinkle-encrusted cake on Sprinkle Bakes, I knew that my favorite Spooky Friend was going to get an interpretation of it for her special birthday - complete with a giant gummy bear topper.

(No) thanks to some ill-timed baking, I had to throw away my from-scratch cakes and sub them with two boxed mixes that were on hand for cake emergencies. The frosting is pretty simple - butter, shortening, vanilla, salt, and lots of sugar.

Because Spooky Friend loves Halloween, I used only Halloween sprinkles - black, orange, purple, tiny pumpkins, non pareils, terrible-tasting-but-cute ghosts, candy corn, bizarre edible glitter, stars, Reeses Pieces, and (my favorite!) mellowcreme pumpkins.

It was my first time decorating a cake in...a year? It's not the best, but I think it fits the bill for a sprinkle and glitter fan like Spooky Friend.

Here's a hasty photo of a slice, topped off with a scoop of pumpkin ice cream. For a little surprise, I filled the cake with orange frosting and the middle layer was baked with orange and brown sprinkles. It paid off! When I served Spooky Friend a slice she said "Halloween through and through!" Yay!

Dreyer's Pumpkin Ice Cream

The hub loves ice cream, so we picked up this container of Dreyer's Pumpkin Ice Cream. It was available last year, but I couldn't remember the taste.

I double-checked, and the container really does make the ice cream look like a salmon color. In reality, it's more of a natural yellowy pumpkin color.

It has a nice pumpkin flavor with a hint of spices. It's very creamy, but it's lacking something. After a few bites, the hub was bored with it. I suggested sprinkles.

Muy festive. He was happy with it, and the sprinkle texture helped a lot.

While this pumpkin ice cream is very good for straight-up pumpkin ice cream, I found it too dull to eat an entire scoop. Next time, I'd probably tart it up with crushed graham crackers, spiced whipped cream, and sprinkles.

3.5/5

Yep, I'll get to actually making things soon. I started last week, but I've had a lot of flops so far. I'm trying to be more adventurous this year.

Reverse Trick-or-Treat

Please enjoy this hilarious thing found via Reddit:

Click for the original, readable size.

It's a comic drawn from an old Ask Metafilter comment, and it made me laugh so hard that I couldn't breathe.

Looking for more laughs?

-The Oatmeal explains how different age groups celebrate Halloween.

-Here's one of those infographics about Halloween from Halloween Express.

-The 25th anniversary of Back to the Future is bringing out all kinds of information about Eric Stoltz's involvement. Best Week Ever has a list of the other movies Stoltz got fired from.

-Guys, Woot wants to tell you what your Halloween costume says about you.

-The Snickers "lady" scares the bejeezus out of everyone. (I'm waiting for news of Jocelyn Wildenstein's lawsuit)

-My first guest post over at Spooky Little Girl's blog is about Fullerton theater The Maverick. I attended a performance of the musical Zombie Love. Check it out!

Pumpkin pie for breakfast

The supermarket had Dickinson's Country Pumpkin Butter, and it was quickly added to my other pumpkin purchases. I wasn't sure what to expect - the dark orange color made me think that it might have a gritty texture or overwhelming spice flavor. I'm such a pessimist - always convinced that new pumpkin treats will be awful.

Not this stuff, though, because it is delicious:



Dickinson's Country Pumpkin Butter

It is like smooth, thickened apple sauce with honey notes. It's very pumpkiny, and it has a lot of flavor, and the spices are nice but they don't overwhelm the pumpkin.

I spread a good amount on wheat toast. It's delicious with and without butter, but the butter adds a richness that seems especially indulgent for breakfast. I'm considering going back to stock up on it so that I have enough to get me through the zombie uprising.

5/5

Knott's Haunt 2010 Review

Earlier this month I made my annual pilgrimage to the Knott's Berry Farm Haunt, and I thought this was one of the stronger years. It seemed really tired last year, and many of the mazes were sorely in need of a face lift. It seems like they noticed because there were several great changes to the park. I won't go into great detail about all of the mazes, but there were a few stand-outs.



Sleepy Hollow Mountain: The Log Ride has finally changed themes from the very tired Pyromaniax. It was so exciting to see new decor and monsters! If you're a pumpkin enthusiast, you'll love the dozens of glowing jack-o-lanterns, and the moody, misty woods were perfect for setting a believable Sleepy Hollow theme.

The Labyrinth is always good for pretty things - pretty costumes, pretty decor, and silly, tittering spooks. It's not scary, but it is fun to walk through. The stairs and uneven terrain help with the outdoorsy, fairy forest theme.

Virus Z in Fiesta Plaza. As we were walking through I said It's exactly how I always pictured the Zombie Apocalypse! The maze starts out in an abandoned 1950's-style diner and winds through a zombie-filled suburban town. It wasn't the scariest maze, but it was the most satisfying. How often does something deliver exactly what you'd hoped for?

The Corn Stalkers is a good one for me, but only because I've never seen a real-life corn field. I love the smell of the hay bales that stack up taller than my head; the thought of really being in a spook-filled corn field is plenty of scare for me.

While it is nowhere near the bottom of my list of favorites, I do have to say that Uncle Bobo's Big Top of the Bizarre was better this year. It didn't make me roll my eyes and sigh the way it did last year.


I just wanna talk! Image courtesy of Knott's.

And a dishonorable mention to the Black Widow's Cavern (Calico Mine Ride). Every year, I cross my fingers and hope that the giant spider in the middle of the cavern will finally move or do something, and I am always disappointed. As a spider-enthusiast, I'm sad to say that it is really time for this one to go. Knott's is pretty good about changing it up, so I hope to see something new in the Calico Mine next fall.

If you've never been to Knott's for the haunt, or if you haven't been in years, but are thinking about it, I think this is a good year to get back into the Haunt Groove. The Virus Z zombie maze alone was worth it for me, and the Sleepy Hollow log ride got me in the mood for the rest of autumn...if it ever shows up.

Review: Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights

This box of Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights caught my eye at the grocery store. There were several Little Debbie treats on the bottom shelf in the seasonal aisle; I chose these because they were the only snacks that contained actual pumpkin puree.

I'll admit to having never had a Little Debbie snack before. These are "filled soft cookies" with a jack-o-lantern face. Each cookie is individually wrapped, 150 calories.


The cookies are cute - especially if you like things that appear cute, but are actually terribly evil. These cookies look evil. The too-wide smile is a sure sign of insanity.


You eat me, I eat your SOUL.

The cookies are quite flat and they smell like apple pie. The bite is soft; I would liken them to a very moist, dense fig newton. They don't have a strong pumpkin flavor, but they are nice enough. After the initial cookie flavor, they're overwhelmingly sweet, and then overwhelmingly salty. I remember caramel and cinnamon being the strongest flavors.

Overall, the Pumpkin Delights were fine for midnight munchies, but if I'm in the mood for this type of cookie again, I'll probably just buy some fig newtons.

3/5

Zombie defense

It's time to get real and train for the inevitable zombie uprising. The zombies won't take pity on you, and neither will these guys:



UDAZ-DO: The Way of Unarmed Defense Against Zombies

Real zombies at every event!

Learn skills to STAY HUMAN!

I don't know these guys, but I salute their efforts. LA folks - check it out and report back...if you survive.

Pumpk-introduction*

I’ve been obsessed with pumpkins for a long time, so I decided to finally create a place for all my pumpkin love. I love pumpkins, carving pumpkins, pumpkin foods, and pumpkin drinks so much, that you might even call me a pumpkin tart.

The first pumpkin-themed dinner I made was in 2003. It was a relatively simple meal:
-Savory pumpkin and tart apple soup
-Filet mignon with pumpkin and sweet potato puree
-Pumpkin crème brulee

It was my first time really cooking with pumpkin, besides some soups that were made by faithfully following recipes. My husband said it was delicious, but it wasn’t very good. The soup was watery, the pumpkin puree was mushy, and the crème brulee had little pumpkin flavor. The only thing I did well was the filet – also the most expensive item on the menu, so at least I got that right.


From Flickr user Teo

I’ve grown since then. My last pumpkin dinner had something like 8 courses and three rave reviews (thanks, friends!). Nowadays, my annual pumpkin dinner requires about 2 months of test cooking, and a solid week of prep before the big night. I’m starting late this year, but when I finally get to it, I hope to share my annual pumpkin dinner with you. I’m still learning new techniques and my taste in foods and flavors is always changing. I get bored by following recipes, and I almost never measure (unless I’m baking, of course).

In the meantime, I’ll be trying all the tasty pumpkin treats at local restaurants and stores, and occasionally writing about my obsession with weird Halloween activities and horror-themed plays.