Giveaway ~ $25 Amazon Gift Card
The winner is Ash Wolf!
Thanks for your comments, everyone.
The winner is Ash Wolf!
Thanks for your comments, everyone.
http://intothemound.blogspot.com/ |
started. People believed things like this:
"Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win"). The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life ..." - http://www.halloweenhistory.org/
I'll be right there with a basket of candy for the little princesses and superheroes and preteens with fake knives embedded in their heads when the doorbell rings this coming Thursday night. I swear, one of these years I'm going to give those big groups of teenagers who come around before their parties some dental floss, but it would probably just get my house teepeed.
Relax, I can deal with it.
http://www.ivargault.com/kelterne/celts.html |
In keeping with the subtitle of this post, A Combination of Incongruous Things, here are some Celts doing something odd with a dead man and a dead pig. Plaid was popular then.
Bloody good! |
Vampire Cookies
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
approx 1/2 cup red jam (raspberry/strawberry)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
approx 1/2 cup red jam (raspberry/strawberry)
2. Add flour and salt to the bowl and mix them into the butter-sugar mixture at low speed until dough is just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 325F.
4. Divide dough in half and keep the portion you are not using in the refrigerator.
5. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/8-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out 2-inch rounds.
6. Place rounds on a baking sheet, put a teaspoon of jam on each of them and cover with another round of dough. Press edges down lightly, pinching the edges onto the cookie sheet. Use a toothpick and poke two small holes (like a vampire bite) in the top of each cookie.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are set.
8. Cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Dip a toothpick in some extra red jam and re-insert in the “bite” holes you made before baking to emphasize them, if not already red. Draw a blood trickle down from one of the bites with the jam, if desired.
How about a virtual trip down Amazon's aisles with a $25 gift card clutched in your hand? Just leave a comment below letting me know your favorite paranormal character from a book, movie, TV program, or cartoon (didn't want to exclude Casper the Friendly Ghost). Please make sure I have some way to contact you if your comment is drawn as the random winner. I'll do the drawing on the opening of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Friday, November 1, 2013. Then this lovely card will belong to one of you!
Hugs,
Dakota ♥
Bonus
Everybody knows the lines:
Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Want to know all the icky ingredients in that cauldron? If so, click "more" to read the entire (long) passage from Macbeth.
Macbeth
ACT IV SCENE I | A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. | |
[Thunder. Enter the three Witches] | ||
First Witch | Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. | |
Second Witch | Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. | |
Third Witch | Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time. | |
First Witch | Round about the cauldron go; | |
In the poison'd entrails throw. | ||
Toad, that under cold stone | ||
Days and nights has thirty-one | ||
Swelter'd venom sleeping got, | ||
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. | ||
ALL | Double, double toil and trouble; | |
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. | ||
Second Witch | Fillet of a fenny snake, | |
In the cauldron boil and bake; | ||
Eye of newt and toe of frog, | ||
Wool of bat and tongue of dog, | ||
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, | ||
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, | ||
For a charm of powerful trouble, | ||
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. | ||
ALL | Double, double toil and trouble; | |
Fire burn and cauldron bubble. | ||
Third Witch | Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, | |
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf | ||
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, | ||
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, | ||
Liver of blaspheming Jew, | ||
Gall of goat, and slips of yew | ||
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse, | ||
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, | ||
Finger of birth-strangled babe | ||
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, | ||
Make the gruel thick and slab: | ||
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, | ||
For the ingredients of our cauldron. | ||
ALL | Double, double toil and trouble; | |
Fire burn and cauldron bubble. | ||
Second Witch | Cool it with a baboon's blood, | |
Then the charm is firm and good. | ||
[Enter HECATE to the other three Witches] | ||
HECATE | O well done! I commend your pains; | |
And every one shall share i' the gains; | ||
And now about the cauldron sing, | ||
Live elves and fairies in a ring, | ||
Enchanting all that you put in. | ||
[Music and a song: 'Black spirits,' &c] | ||
[HECATE retires] | ||
Second Witch | By the pricking of my thumbs, | |
Something wicked this way comes. | ||
Open, locks, | ||
Whoever knocks! | ||
[Enter MACBETH] | ||
MACBETH | How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! | |
What is't you do? | ||
ALL | A deed without a name. | |
MACBETH | I conjure you, by that which you profess, | |
Howe'er you come to know it, answer me: | ||
Though you untie the winds and let them fight | ||
Against the churches; though the yesty waves | ||
Confound and swallow navigation up; | ||
Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down; | ||
Though castles topple on their warders' heads; | ||
Though palaces and pyramids do slope | ||
Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure | ||
Of nature's germens tumble all together, | ||
Even till destruction sicken; answer me | ||
To what I ask you. | ||
First Witch | Speak. | |
Second Witch | Demand. | |
Third Witch | We'll answer. | |
First Witch | Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our mouths, | |
Or from our masters? | ||
MACBETH | Call 'em; let me see 'em. | |
First Witch | Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten | |
Her nine farrow; grease that's sweaten | ||
From the murderer's gibbet throw | ||
Into the flame. | ||
ALL | Come, high or low; | |
Thyself and office deftly show! | ||
[Thunder. First Apparition: an armed Head] | ||
MACBETH | Tell me, thou unknown power,-- | |
First Witch | He knows thy thought: | |
Hear his speech, but say thou nought. | ||
First Apparition | Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; | |
Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough. | ||
[Descends] | ||
MACBETH | Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks; | |
Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one | ||
word more,-- | ||
First Witch | He will not be commanded: here's another, | |
More potent than the first. | ||
[Thunder. Second Apparition: A bloody Child] | ||
Second Apparition | Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! | |
MACBETH | Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee. | |
Second Apparition | Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn | |
The power of man, for none of woman born | ||
Shall harm Macbeth. | ||
[Descends] | ||
MACBETH | Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? | |
But yet I'll make assurance double sure, | ||
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live; | ||
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, | ||
And sleep in spite of thunder. | ||
[ Thunder. Third Apparition: a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand ] | ||
What is this | ||
That rises like the issue of a king, | ||
And wears upon his baby-brow the round | ||
And top of sovereignty? | ||
ALL | Listen, but speak not to't. | |
Third Apparition | Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care | |
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: | ||
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until | ||
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill | ||
Shall come against him. | ||
[Descends] | ||
MACBETH | That will never be | |
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree | ||
Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good! | ||
Rebellion's head, rise never till the wood | ||
Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth | ||
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath | ||
To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart | ||
Throbs to know one thing: tell me, if your art | ||
Can tell so much: shall Banquo's issue ever | ||
Reign in this kingdom? | ||
ALL | Seek to know no more. | |
MACBETH | I will be satisfied: deny me this, | |
And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know. | ||
Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this? | ||
[Hautboys] | ||
First Witch | Show! | |
Second Witch | Show! | |
Third Witch | Show! | |
ALL | Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; | |
Come like shadows, so depart! | ||
[ A show of Eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following ] | ||
MACBETH | Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down! | |
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair, | ||
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. | ||
A third is like the former. Filthy hags! | ||
Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes! | ||
What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom? | ||
Another yet! A seventh! I'll see no more: | ||
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass | ||
Which shows me many more; and some I see | ||
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry: | ||
Horrible sight! Now, I see, 'tis true; | ||
For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me, | ||
And points at them for his. | ||
[Apparitions vanish] | ||
What, is this so? | ||
First Witch | Ay, sir, all this is so: but why | |
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly? | ||
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites, | ||
And show the best of our delights: | ||
I'll charm the air to give a sound, | ||
While you perform your antic round: | ||
That this great king may kindly say, | ||
Our duties did his welcome pay. | ||
[ Music. The witches dance and then vanish, with HECATE ] | ||
MACBETH | Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour | |
Stand aye accursed in the calendar! | ||
Come in, without there! | ||
[Enter LENNOX] | ||
LENNOX | What's your grace's will? | |
MACBETH | Saw you the weird sisters? | |
LENNOX | No, my lord. | |
MACBETH | Came they not by you? | |
LENNOX | No, indeed, my lord. | |
MACBETH | Infected be the air whereon they ride; | |
And damn'd all those that trust them! I did hear | ||
The galloping of horse: who was't came by? | ||
LENNOX | 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word | |
Macduff is fled to England. | ||
MACBETH | Fled to England! | |
LENNOX | Ay, my good lord. | |
MACBETH | Time, thou anticipatest my dread exploits: | |
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook | ||
Unless the deed go with it; from this moment | ||
The very firstlings of my heart shall be | ||
The firstlings of my hand. And even now, | ||
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: | ||
The castle of Macduff I will surprise; | ||
Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword | ||
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls | ||
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool; | ||
This deed I'll do before this purpose cool. | ||
But no more sights!--Where are these gentlemen? | ||
Come, bring me where they are. | ||
[Exeunt] |
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co., 1904. Shakespeare Online. 27 Oct. 2013. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth_4_1.html >.
15 comments:
Nice pot - I actually learnt a thing or two that I didn't know before about Samhain.
As to my favourite paranormal character that changes per each book I read - I'm fickle that way ;)
BTW Thank for the cookie recipe - they look delicious and I will be trying them out at my next bakeathon
I loved the werewolf character, Velkan in Van Helsing. Will Kemp was wonderful.
Thanks for the great post and pics.
kac_030@yahoo.com
I have to go with Bram Stoker's Dracula since that was the first paranormal book I read.
sgiden at verizon dot net
I love Raphael and Elena from the Guild Hunter series. They are amazing!
alinutza4u2004[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk
I am a big fan of shapeshifters. So, I will say the cat shifter and wolf shifter heroes from Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series.
Crystal816[at]hotmail[dot]com
Love the cookie recipe. :) Too cute.
I do tend to go towards shifters including mermaids. Don't know why. I just like shifting into another form and it sounds interesting. :)
books(dot)things(at)yahoo.com
OK. I know I can do this. The problem is, I love each of my best book friends for different reasons. Just one? Are you sure? I pick... I pick... Anita Blake. Yes, "that" Anita Blake from the Laurell K. Hamilton series of the same name. Her inner dialog and voyage of self-discovery is inspiring. It's saved my sanity more than once. I know that, whenever I pick up an LKH book, I will laugh, cry, and learn something. Don't get mad; get Anita!
There are three movies that I always watch on Halloween night:
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Garfield's Halloween
The Nightmare Before Christmas (I also watch this movie around Christmas)
My favorite character though would have to be Sally. Though she is a made creature, she seems to be the only sane doll in an insane demension.
Praying that it don't rain Thursday. That's never any fun.
My favorite paranormal character is the quirky vampire Raylene Pendle from Cherie Priest's two Cheshire Red Reports books - Bloodshot and Hellbent.
Pick ONE favorite? Gah! This might be a little left field, but my pick is Duke Crocker from Haven (tv show.)
b(dot)cardone(at)hotmail(dot)com
My favorite paranormal creature is a vampire but I can't really pick just one favorite out of all of them. But I really love all types of paranormal creatures: shifters, demons, angels, etc.
June
manning_J2004 at yahoo dot com
It's raining. Oh well. Trick-or-Treating might be held off until tomorrow.
You can contact me at ash.wolf@hotmail.com
I'm all about the vamps, but I have way too many favorites to list here. So, I'll just list my favorite TV vamps: Spike (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Henry (from Blood Ties) and Mitchell (from Being Human). Bad boys all, but ya gotta love 'em!
syltim@aol.com
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