Thursday, November 1, 2012

Post Sandy Mexican Halloween

Maniac Pumpkin Carvers, thank you

Every year we have a few families over for Halloween. The challenge when you host the same holiday annually is to find new ways to keep things fun. Maybe some people wouldn’t feel that way but I extend my type-A-ness to hosting. Trust me, I wish I was  the laid back, wing it hostess but that’s not in the cards. And there was no way we were going to let scary Sandy dampen our plans, in fact one friend emailed at 10am asking if it was too early to come over. After all...


I recall having more candy before Sandy and my 8 year old really likes these
First item on the agenda is the candy. There is no way to boycott candy giving. There will be no money, toys or inedible items handed out from our house. Instead, I try to seek out better candy. I was excited to learn of Unreal CandyUnreal  “unjunks” candy and uses no corn syrup, no hydrogenated oils, no artificial dyes and contains no GMOs. You can find unreal at Target and Kroger.

What's "way better" than a bag of these chips? Um 2.
Two of our friends are guac-masters. When they offered to bring guacamole for our festivities I thought a whole Mexican theme would work. And if you have guac you need chips Way Better sprouted chips in Sweet Chili are my #1.
We called these Spicy Scary and Autumn Margaritas
And if there’s going to be guac and chips, you need margaritas. My all time favorite margarita is from a restaurant called Gran Electrica. Gran Electrica was nice enough to share this piece of perfection with me and I have the pleasure of passing it on to you.

Margarita de Toronja Picante (in our house aka Spicy/Scary Margarita)
1 ½oz Habanero-infused Blanco Tequila (we use Pueblo Viejo)
½oz    Combier (or Triple Sec of choice)                                        
1oz     Fresh Lime juice                                                
1oz     Fresh Grapefruit Juice
½oz    Jalapeno syrup
Rim a rocks glass with Grapefruit Salt (we make this in house - but regular salt would do)
Shake vigorously and strain over ice into rocks glass                                                          
Garnish with a Grapefruit slice
*note we used Tanteo Jalapeno Tequila and Morris Kitchen Ginger Syrup and lime garnish
When my time comes, can I put in the request to be laid to rest on a bed of kale?
And if a nutritionist is going to have a margarita and guacamole, there has to be greeens (and this nutritionist has to be in the office at 8am) so I snuck in a Kale/Butternut/Pepita salad. This recipe from Jenna at Rosaberry and has become a family favorite. There were also mini corn empanadas from Empanada Mama and I had spicy tuna on rice crackers (I know sort of Japanese but I made it Mexican with my friend cilantro).

We had a little family Batman theme
What, you don't know who I am?
I was so happy that our friends rallied with the city still a mess. And the fact that Maniac Pumpkin and Empanada Mama didn’t disappoint was amazing. New Yorkers make things happen.
How did you spend Halloween? What type of hostess are you- obsessive or relaxed? Did you give out candy? Think I should consider green hair?


14 comments:

  1. So glad to hear you and your fam are well after Sandy. Seems like you've made the best of it. I spent halloween handing out candy to trick-or-treaters and reading "Gone Girl", new novel I just started and pretty scary so felt à propos. I'm definitely type-A hostess, need to plan everything out so all goes without a hitch!

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  2. What a great Halloween! So glad the kale recipe is a hit; I'm going to try your margarita.

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  3. Oh, and I am definitely an obsessive hostess.

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  4. Loved reading Gone Girl didn't like ending...let's talk.What did you hand out?

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  5. A total and complete hit, love simplicity and of course taste. Maybe you'll share/would love to know how you develop recipes.

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  6. loved reading in new Ina book Foolproof she does a timeline 430 prep veggies, 5pm preheat oven. When there is a lot involved, you sort of have to obsess.

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  7. I'm such a type-A hostess. Your parties always sound so fun! So glad you and the family are safe. I had a hard time not watching the news 24/7..

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  8. the news became addictive and depressing and I've had enough of weathermen for a while. Ooh seems everyone commenting is type A

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  9. Oh I loved Gone Girl, even the ending.

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  10. carefull what you post....I'm putting your name in my calendar for next halloween... What time should we be there? What do you do with post trick or treat candy? I need some tips. We collected tons and don't want or need it here!

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  11. the kids lose interest in halloween candy, I find it can go after a couple of days (adults listen up, if it hangs around it's just for you). We are most tempted by leftover empanadas.

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  12. you can definitely rock green hair, you guys look great. we did mexican christmas aka "mexmas" once - guess that makes this mexoween?

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  13. Type A Meg checking in here! Love the family theme, you guys look great. Can you post a link to the salad recipe! Looks dreamy!

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  14. Glad you had a fun party! I am a type B person by nature, but have been known to be a type A hostess. The trick to overcoming this is to have lots and lots of parties (this works if you have a husband like mine who always invites everyone over to our house for last minute parties)...after several of these impromptu parties, you may throw your hands up in despair and just go with the flow :-)

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