Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween and the fall season I wanted to take a minute to share some of my fall decorations!

My Fall Centerpiece. 

After Halloween I'll put the cats away. The pumpkins stay out until Thanksgiving.

Most of my fall decorations are courtesy of my mom. Whenever I'm looking for holiday decorations I usually check with her first since she has all sorts of things she doesn't use anymore.

The fresh produce (pumpkins, squash, etc.) I bought at the Sooner Produce stand at 21st and Harvard. Apparently the big orange flat pumpkins are Cinderella pumpkins. He told me what the white ones were called too, but I can't recall the name. There were some dark green ones there as well that were Enchanted pumpkins.

I spent a small fortune on pumpkins and squash this year, easy to do when the pumpkins are priced by the pound. The nice thing is that if you don't carve them they'll continue to be pretty until well into December. After Halloween I plan to move the Cinderella and white pumpkins onto my front porch. I may also buy another regular pumpkin for the seeds.

Pumpkin Seeds
I love making pumpkins seeds. Generally I put the pumpkin "guts" into a bowl of salt water to help separate the seeds from the pulp. Then I toss the seeds lightly with olive oil, garlic salt and maybe some pepper, creole or other seasoning. Then I spread the seeds out on a baking sheet and toast them until they are lightly browned--or if I'm not paying close attention dark brown/black. If done right this is one of my favorite fall snacks.

After Dark
I had to wait to share this post because I really wanted to show off my jack-o-lantern and ghosts as well, and they wouldn't be viewed at their best potential until after dark. Here's my front porch!