Let's Eat!

Welcome! If you are here blog-hopping from faithhopecherrytea (isn't that a great name for a blog?) or if you landed here by lucky chance today, it's good to see you! Are you ready? then (with thanks to Amy who organised us all) Lets Eat..

Maybe it's an Irish thing, I'm not sure, but the one time of year my mum always stepped up her time in the kitchen was right around now. Halloween. It was better than Christmas.

Apples are plentiful round here at this time of year, and the first thing she always made was an apple tart - brown and crisp, and if you were lucky a carefully wrapped coin hidden in your slice. We always had toffee apples, too, with the round, flat penny at the bottom as big as she could make it because that was our favourite bit, and peanut brittle. And did you know that it's turnips round here for lanterns? (Or large potatoes. Less scooping, less candle wax, my mum always said.)

But the best food treat of all wasn't really a food. It was a pie (but not one you could eat) and that's what I want to show you today.

The Halloween Treasure Hunt Pie

• First of all my mum chose a special present for each of us. Something she knew we wanted, that was what made it so exciting. She wrapped it and labelled it with a named tag on a long string (see photo)
• Then she worked out where in the house she wanted to hide her clues. She spread them around so there was plenty of running about from one end of the house to the other
• Next she wrote up clues, numbered them and hide them carefully with the final clue leading to the biggest, best hiding place (see below for some ideas)
• Finally she constucted the surprise pie with a big dish and some brown paper. It doesn't have to look sophisticated because the idea is for it to fall apart as soon as everyone pulls the tag with their name on. Once it was hidden, all she had to do was sit back and enjoy the fun.

The pie under construction

The finished pie - simply gather the brown paper up around the presents and secure with paper clips so the wrapping falls away when the strings are pulled. My strings are plaited black wool

 

The Clues: Just some ideas to get you started

1. UNDER THE BED: If you rest on this, you'll sleep safe and sound. Don't look on the top, it's more underground.
2. IN THE FRIDGE: Cold, colder, coldest, this clue isn't hot. Check your chees or your milk, it's easy to spot.
3. COAT HOOKS: If you want to wrap up in the rain or the snow, to pick up a coat it's there that you'll go.
4. LINEN CUPBOARD: Reach in your hand for something fresh, clean, smelling sweet. It could be a quilt, some towels or a sheet.
5. OVEN: If you can't smell your supper, you can peek inside. Cos if nothing is cooking, it's a good place to hide.

The clues - nicely decorated for Halloween

And that's my recipe for today. It doesn't have to be for Halloween of course. It works for Easter or a birthday or a bit of fun on a rainy Sunday afternoon. But I bet by now you are ready to see what else is cooking, so the next stop on the hop is with Rinda. See you there!