This blog is “cooking therapy”. I lost my dear friend, Linda H. Mason, "Mason", this year- so I began to cook! Mason and I loved food! Mason lived "the good life"- "la bonne vie"- she cooked, ate, enjoyed the company of others...enjoyed French stuff. I've decided to blog recipes, tastes, and smells that remind me that life is good. Nothing stuffy- just fun- an eating, drinking, cooking journey to explore the good life...the way Mason would- over a good meal!
As it gets closer to Halloween, the Hubs and I love watching Halloween movies. I don't like the scary ones...I know, so what do you watch?
My Current Halloween Movie list:
Hotel Transylvania
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Icabod Crane (Disney's Headless Horseman)
Beetlejuice
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Alice in Wonderland (Johnny Depp version)
Dark Shadows
and my favorite Halloween movie...
Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein!
This puts me in mind of Mason and I going to see Sleepy Hollow many years ago at about this same time of year...
One thing that Mason and I loved to do (other than eat) was go to the movies. We saw so many movies together.
Haha...this reminds me...
Back when Shakespeare In Love came to the theaters, Mason and I went to see it. I was in college and I was smitten with Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in the movie).
I went to meet Mason (I think we were going to a movie) and she pulled a folded piece of paper out of her purse.
"Here. I got this for you", she said.
I unfolded a magazine page which she had torn out of that month's People at her beauty shop.
I looked at it...then at her...
"Thanks...why do I have this?" I asked.
"It's that Shakespeare you like from the movie", she said.
"Ummm...no. This is his brother. Ralph."
"Oh. Are you sure? Well, he's nice looking too", she said.
Movie Joseph stars in...
Joseph Fiennes...
Ralph Fiennes...Joseph's older brother...
Movie Ralph stars in...
She did stuff like that all the time. She made me laugh. She still makes me laugh.
One Halloween, my friend Bran and I decided to dress up as some of Mason's favorite characters.
While my crush was on Joseph Fiennes (not his older brother), Mason's was Mel Gibson.
So Bran and I dressed as Braveheart (complete with blue face paint) and...
...Indiana Jones.
When Mason came to her door that Halloween, she was laughing so hard we thought she was going to stop breathing.
We loved doing things for her to make her laugh.
As I watch some of our favorite Halloween movies and get ready for all those cute trick or treaters, I remember Mason.
So, maybe you surprise someone this Halloween...but instead of scaring them...make them laugh, like Bran and I did for Mason...
Bran & I dressed and ready to surprise Mason!
Enjoy this time of year!
And Enjoy my favorite clip from this Halloween Movie!
The Hubs married into a Roll Tide Family. Bless his heart- he did really well with our crew here on Saturday!
You will see all kinds of Crimson and White, but it can easily be changed for your teams colors!
The Hubs and I collected 4 soup cans...
...which I then painted brown...
...then I used a chalk pen (you could use paint or paint pen) to add the laces...
...I stuffed them with red paper and used them to hold napkins and forks. I had 3 with napkins and scattered them around the house. Tailgate food can be messy.
Here are the proper contents for The Bear's Berry Punch!!! 64 oz of Berry Blend V8 Splash, 1 cup Berry flavored Vodka and 1 cup sparkling water. Chill, Mix, Serve!
(Need a different color for your team...V8 Splash has several options!)
In honor of The Bear's Houndstooth Hat...I added the houndstooth ribbon to attach names to glasses.
We started by serving our Crimson & White Brie with The Bear's Berry Punch.
This recipe is from our blog post a few weeks ago. I used the second pastry sheet to cut the Alabama "A" out!
We used Jalapeno Raspberry Jelly so our Brie would bleed Crimson & White. (You can pick another flavor of jelly to get your desired color.)
I used Knorr's Vegetable Mix (directions on the back). I served King's Hawaiian loaf, carrots and broccoli. You can see the Rotel in the crock pot in the background- Yum!!!
I used a large flooring tile as a serving tray!
Oh- and Ham Bites!!! Small onion minced- saute in a skillet with a stick of melted butter...
...add 3 Tbsp of mustard, 1 Tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce, & 3 Tbsp of poppy seeds...
...cut 2 packages of dinner rolls in half and coat the bottoms with the sauce. Top with 1 lb of shaved, chopped deli ham and the desired amount of shredded swiss cheese. Put the top of the dinner rolls over the ham and swiss, cover entirely with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Cut the dinner rolls through to make tiny sandwiches.
Serve immediately...YUM!
We finished everything off with Crimson football cupcakes from Publix!
I have a plate that I write little sayings on. I change out the ribbon depending on the event!
And a party at the Cunningham's would not be complete without the crab sign!
Tailgating is one way to keep it La Bonne Vie Y'all!!!
