Happy Halloween!!!
 |
| Wing of bat, toe of newt, a crap load of pumpkin, it's my favourite fruit! |
Even though the heading of this post has already said it, Happy Halloween everybody!!!
Words cannot describe how happy I am that this day has finally arrived! If you're like me then you're more than ready for all the pumpkin carving, horror movies and of course mountains of treats that this night has to offer. However, before we get into all that good stuff I just want to give a quick apology and explanation as to why I haven't posted in a little while.
So, firstly please accept a mighty bucket of sincerest sorry. It's been well over a week since my last post which is a little bit odd considering that this blog is pretty much all I do, right?
This year, I really wanted to celebrate Halloween properly. Since leaving University (where this night of terror is spent getting heavily intoxicated on alcohol with all your friends - oh the good times) I haven't really done that much to get into the annual spooky spirit. Unfortunately, Halloween in the UK just doesn't get a great deal of attention (especially compared to places like the US) meaning that there is a slight lack of motivation to actually get organised and do anything. However, I was determined to change that and stop myself getting sucked into a cycle of boring Halloween nights spent sitting indoors with the lights off to avoid trick or treating children. As you may have been able to tell, I have spent a great deal of October building up to today and for good reason. Not only is it an excuse to cram a few more pumpkin recipes down people's throats - there's always room for more pumpkin - but also because I actually arranged to do something to celebrate this year's haunted holiday.
So, what's the best way to dive head first into the horror of Halloween? Go and get Cursed of course!
Cursed is Essex’s award-winning Halloween experience set in the grounds of Wat Tyler Country Park in Pitsea. If you know the area, then that’s terrifying enough! Walking around Pitsea at night is generally something that even the most daring of people try to avoid doing. The event lasts over an hour and consists of walking around the grounds through 8 different themed horror mazes with special effects, jump scares and live actors (dead ones would have been a bit scarier but who hey).
'Why go there?' a voice in my head is asking me.
Well Mr voice, I have wanted to go to a Thorpe Park Fright Night for years (which is similar to this Cursed event but kind of on steroids) but the problem is that it’s a lot of money and its quite a distance away. So far, I haven’t been able to rally together a group of people willing to go… yet, so when my friend Ellen told me about this Cursed business I knew that even if kicking and screaming I was somehow going to drag some friends there.
Ellen being the doll that she is agreed to go with me and even convinced her sister Beth to join us as well. After reading the terms and conditions that included warnings of smoke machines, strobe lighting and electric shocks as well as advising that people with heart conditions, claustrophobia and those with a bun in the oven shouldn’t enter, we still decided to book an 8pm slot for Wednesday the 28th of October. There was no going back, we were going to Cursed 2015, in Pitsea, at night...
...Lord help us.
All the excitement (and mild anxiety) of this prospect understandably left me feeling a bit hungry, so the morning after we had booked our places I decided it was time to whip out the old pumpkin puree again and put it to good use. An hour or so of playing around with a few ingredients that were floating around the fridge and haunting the back of my Nan's cupboards led to the formulation of my pumpkin cream cheese spread. Simple, delicious and extremely versatile, this spread that can be enjoyed any time of the year at breakfast, lunch or even in the dead of night. Spread it over toast or an English muffin, stir into oatmeal or use it in anything from smoothies and savory cooking sauces, there really is a never ending variety of ways to include this stuff into your diet.
Below today's recipe are the names of the 8 horror themed mazes that Ellen, Beth and I had to walk through during our Cursed experience along with some first impression we had, but you'll have to wait till tomorrow's post to find out how it all went and if we survived! Spoilers - we did, of course we did. I may also share tonight's Halloween costume and one final pumpkin recipe and believe me when I tell you, I've saved the best till last :). If you're going out tonight, enjoy yourself, embrace all things horror and even if you end up with a raging hangover tomorrow (I probably will) it's ok, we can chill together via this tiny space on the internet. Until then, Have a HAPPY HEALTHY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mixed spice (can sub for pinches of ginger, nutmeg and cloves)
1/8 tsp allspice
Sweetener to taste (I only used 1 tsp truvia but honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, coconut sugar etc would all work)
See what happened in Part 2!
Wrong! I'm happy to let you know that after months of searching and applying for every job I could find I have finally been given a break thanks to a very good friend of mine. My chum Katy managed to get me an interview at the company she works for and thankfully they've decided to give me a shot. Now, despite having only been there for four days, I can already tell that there's going to be a lot to learn, but I'm prepared to give it a go (everyone loves a tryer) and hopefully I'll be able to save up some money and begin to move towards finding out what I want to do with my life. This does mean that I'll have to reduce my blogging to around once a week or so but as I'm pretty sure that this blog doesn't really contribute much to society, it might actually be quite nice for everyone to get a break from my pumpkin obsessed posting ;).
Ok, onto the seasonal part of this post!
This year, I really wanted to celebrate Halloween properly. Since leaving University (where this night of terror is spent getting heavily intoxicated on alcohol with all your friends - oh the good times) I haven't really done that much to get into the annual spooky spirit. Unfortunately, Halloween in the UK just doesn't get a great deal of attention (especially compared to places like the US) meaning that there is a slight lack of motivation to actually get organised and do anything. However, I was determined to change that and stop myself getting sucked into a cycle of boring Halloween nights spent sitting indoors with the lights off to avoid trick or treating children. As you may have been able to tell, I have spent a great deal of October building up to today and for good reason. Not only is it an excuse to cram a few more pumpkin recipes down people's throats - there's always room for more pumpkin - but also because I actually arranged to do something to celebrate this year's haunted holiday.
So, what's the best way to dive head first into the horror of Halloween? Go and get Cursed of course!
Cursed is Essex’s award-winning Halloween experience set in the grounds of Wat Tyler Country Park in Pitsea. If you know the area, then that’s terrifying enough! Walking around Pitsea at night is generally something that even the most daring of people try to avoid doing. The event lasts over an hour and consists of walking around the grounds through 8 different themed horror mazes with special effects, jump scares and live actors (dead ones would have been a bit scarier but who hey).
'Why go there?' a voice in my head is asking me.
Well Mr voice, I have wanted to go to a Thorpe Park Fright Night for years (which is similar to this Cursed event but kind of on steroids) but the problem is that it’s a lot of money and its quite a distance away. So far, I haven’t been able to rally together a group of people willing to go… yet, so when my friend Ellen told me about this Cursed business I knew that even if kicking and screaming I was somehow going to drag some friends there.
Ellen being the doll that she is agreed to go with me and even convinced her sister Beth to join us as well. After reading the terms and conditions that included warnings of smoke machines, strobe lighting and electric shocks as well as advising that people with heart conditions, claustrophobia and those with a bun in the oven shouldn’t enter, we still decided to book an 8pm slot for Wednesday the 28th of October. There was no going back, we were going to Cursed 2015, in Pitsea, at night...
...Lord help us.
All the excitement (and mild anxiety) of this prospect understandably left me feeling a bit hungry, so the morning after we had booked our places I decided it was time to whip out the old pumpkin puree again and put it to good use. An hour or so of playing around with a few ingredients that were floating around the fridge and haunting the back of my Nan's cupboards led to the formulation of my pumpkin cream cheese spread. Simple, delicious and extremely versatile, this spread that can be enjoyed any time of the year at breakfast, lunch or even in the dead of night. Spread it over toast or an English muffin, stir into oatmeal or use it in anything from smoothies and savory cooking sauces, there really is a never ending variety of ways to include this stuff into your diet.
Below today's recipe are the names of the 8 horror themed mazes that Ellen, Beth and I had to walk through during our Cursed experience along with some first impression we had, but you'll have to wait till tomorrow's post to find out how it all went and if we survived! Spoilers - we did, of course we did. I may also share tonight's Halloween costume and one final pumpkin recipe and believe me when I tell you, I've saved the best till last :). If you're going out tonight, enjoy yourself, embrace all things horror and even if you end up with a raging hangover tomorrow (I probably will) it's ok, we can chill together via this tiny space on the internet. Until then, Have a HAPPY HEALTHY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese
Ingredients:
1/2 cup low fat cream cheese (I used Philadelphia - lightest)1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mixed spice (can sub for pinches of ginger, nutmeg and cloves)
1/8 tsp allspice
Sweetener to taste (I only used 1 tsp truvia but honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, coconut sugar etc would all work)
Instructions:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl together until well combined. That is all.
Alternatively, try combining them in a blender for a smoother consistency.
This spread can be kept in the fridge for at least a week or stored in the freezer for a month.
Names of the Cursed mazes and first impressions:
'Uncle Tyler’s
Workchop' – Both Ellen and I thought this sounded the most lame. I was never
any good at D.T. in school (especially the woodwork stuff) but I was for sure
never frightened of the teacher.
Predictions
– portly men with bloody aprons and buzz-saws.
'Cell 13' – Looked to be some sort of containment/restricted area. Me and Ellen thought that
sounded absolutely fine as that kind of stuff doesn’t really bother us. Ellen even based her University dissertation on dystopian themed writing and is practically engaged to George
Orwell. Bitch is not phased by that shit.
Predictions
– scientists screaming that something got loose (be it a mutant or a
disease or a diseased mutant) – flashing lights, smoke machines and possibly a
little electric shock or 2. Cheeky.
'CarnEvil' – Another theme always done (but a fan favourite none the less), it’s not quite
Halloween until some evil clowns are thrown into the (pic‘n’)mix. Now, clowns
can be creepy but personally I’m more scared of things like ventriloquist
dummies, dolls, Pete Burns and other such plastic-faced things.
Predictions – a clown with some sort of
name like chuckles was going to be prancing about screaming at people and
bursting balloons.
'Broth Hell' – We
both couldn’t stop laughing at this. At first I thought that I had read it
wrong but no it definitely appeared to be a prostitute themed maze. This was going to be quite interesting as earlier this Summer I was in Amsterdam during my
European travels so I would actually be able to see how the prostitutes measured up
against the real-life working ladies of the Netherlands. Quick note: I actually
didn’t enter a brothel whilst in Amsterdam so I wouldn't be able to compare the
interior decor.
Predictions – we were just going to walk through some of the back alleys in Pitsea.
'The Mine' – This
intrigued me because this might have been referring to the claustrophobia
warning in the terms and conditions. Were we going to have to crawl through
somewhere? If so that would be cool, as long as we didn't get trapped or locked
in because that could have the potential to freak me out.
Predictions – Men wearing hardhats and dungarees with charcoal smeared
faces. One can but dream...
'The Graveyard' –
Oh please, I have actually taken walks around graveyards for pleasure - not that I’m happy that everyone’s dead, I just find them quite peaceful and
mysterious. Neither Ellen nor I thought we’d be bothered too much by this one.
Predictions – well… a graveyard. That’s
about it really. Maybe they would have actors hidden under
fake graves. I had a hunch that this is where a fog machine would come into play as well. In
fact, I would bet money on it. In fact, I would bet my last Pumpkin spiced brownie on it!
'Pig Pen' – For
some reason, this is the one that Ellen and I were most anxious about. There’s
just something about it that sounded really foreboding. I love pigs, always have
done, but I think maybe we've watched too many horror genre shows/films and now can unfortunately relate pigs to a
variety of unpleasant images e.g. the man-eating pigs from Hannibal, The Piggy
man from American Horror Story, anything pig related from the Saw
franchise and even the pig men from that Dr who episode a while back set in
Manhattan.
Predictions: dark,
muddy, pig squeals (always a chilling noise) and people acting like
farmers/butchers treating the participants as if they were pigs.
'Field of Screams'
– My first response was simply ‘sounds crap’. Names like that always just come
across as trying too hard. However, after thinking about it a bit more I decided
that it may actually be good depending on where it is set. If in a field of tall
maize with anthropomorphic scarecrows, then I would be down for that. But, if
set in some knee-high grassland with a few pumpkins then… well let’s just say
I’ll at least get to spend time with my favourite festive fruit.
Predictions – Possibly a
maze of maize, maybe scarecrows, dead people and for some reason my mind kept conjuring
up Children of the corn-like images of sickles, flaming torches and pitchforks.
Oh dear, I definitely think about these things too much.
For more information about Cursed, here is a link to the website - http://www.thecursed.co.uk/
For more information about Cursed, here is a link to the website - http://www.thecursed.co.uk/
See what happened in Part 2!
No comments:
Post a Comment