I went to a Halloween party, and was assigned to bring the alcoholic beverages. Bummer! How do you make themed drinks that can keep up with the kids who got assigned dessert? Dessert is always the best for matching a theme.
Anyways, I perused the Internet, and decided to make two things. The first were jello shots, which I thought I could spruce up with gummy worms, awesome presentation, and bright colors. Here's the recipe I (pretended to?) used: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tainted-Fruit-Shots/Detail.aspx
I made two batches. The first used strawberry flavored jello. I accidentally got my measurements wrong, and ended up with 1 3/4 cups of vodka and 1/4 cup of cold water, rather then the 1 1/4 cups vodka and the 3/4 water the recipe actually called for.
I put the mix into individual 3oz cups. I would have preferred black cups, but had to settle with what they had at Target, which were green. I placed them in the fridge for about an hour, then put the gummy worms in, so that the mix had solidified enough that the worms wouldn't just sink to the bottom.
The second batch, with the green jello, had the "correct" measurements. This batch never really solidified like the red batch did. It was great for taking them as shooters, but not so great for making rotten fruit. The jello wasn't really solid enough to transport outside of a cup. I ended up eating the rotten fruit myself! Gee. Such torture.
The way to make the rotten fruit is to slice an orange, and then sink the slices of rind into the slightly solidified jello. I'd use an 8x8 square pan, or something similar. When the jello is set (normally about 4 hours) you can cut the rinds out and then shape each one to look more like a slice. My picture gives you an idea of what they'd look like. Do-able, adorable. But a lot more work than the gummy worm shots.
I spruced up the presentation on my wormy shots by putting down a layer of "dirt" made of a mix of brown sugar and coffee, and then putting plastic spiders and additional gummy worms all over. This probably would have looked super cool if I'd used all green, rather than the mix of red and green.Every party needs some sort of punch. You can't survive on jello shots alone. I took some inspiration from the following recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/candy-corn-cordials-recipe/index.htmland then entirely changed everything around. I made the candy corn infused vodka, which didn't really taste like candy corn, but had an AWESOME bright orange color. I think if I did it again, I'd infuse the vodka overnight, rather than three hours, and just let the candy corn dissolve entirely into the vodka. When I served it, I used a handle of the vodka, a liter of sprite, a liter of 7-up, and half a bottle of orange liquer. It was a lot of punch. I had intended on using the lemon juice, but forgot to grab it in the rush to get out of my house. These things happen.
To make the punch more spooky, I also made "zombie hand" ice cubes, to float in the punch and keep it cool. Just take latex gloves, wash the outside throughly, then flip them inside out, and fill with water. Hang them in the freezer for 24 hours. When you want to use them, run them under hot water for a few seconds to loosen the latex, then peel it off. Watch out, because the fingers are delicate and will break, but that just makes the hands more creepy! 
The final trick for making a totally awesome witch's brew is dry ice. Create a sort of double boiler. I used a big silver basin, but it would have been cooler with a cauldron. Make some type of platform in the cauldron (I used a big pot), and then put water (any temp, but the hotter the water the more smoke you'll get) into the bottom. Add a few pieces of dry ice, and TA-DAAAAA! You've got a smokey witch's brew! You really don't need much dry ice to keep it smoking all night. 1lb, maybe 2, will probably be more than enough.
Other items worthy of a shout out at this party (add your recipes, please!):
The final trick for making a totally awesome witch's brew is dry ice. Create a sort of double boiler. I used a big silver basin, but it would have been cooler with a cauldron. Make some type of platform in the cauldron (I used a big pot), and then put water (any temp, but the hotter the water the more smoke you'll get) into the bottom. Add a few pieces of dry ice, and TA-DAAAAA! You've got a smokey witch's brew! You really don't need much dry ice to keep it smoking all night. 1lb, maybe 2, will probably be more than enough.Other items worthy of a shout out at this party (add your recipes, please!):
Katie's rotten deviled eggs
Lisa's finger cookies:
Floren's adorable chocolate pumpkin cake:
Rachel's AWESOME graveyard cake (she made those toppers herself!):
I don't have a picture of it, but Dean's pork tenderloin was delish and perfectly moist. Overall, everyone did a great job of working within the theme to come up with a great spread! Please post your recipes, and if you've got pics of your own dishes, let me know and I'll post them!
But it tasted delicious! I think if you make this recipe (with or without all my substitutions) I'd recommend adding somewhere between 1/4 and 1/8 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. A word of warning: this recipe has the potential to go terribly terribly wrong. You're doing a lot of things at once. And there is the dreaded requirement that you temper the egg mixture. Always a dangerous proposition, especially as far into the recipe as this was. But if you temper with tiny amounts at a time, you'll be fine. I honestly started with about a tablespoon at a time, and gradually increased to about a cup at a time. Better to be safe and slow than sorry, right?
For the braise I cheated. Lee bequeathed me his super amazing braising liquid, which the last time it was used had a stick of butter added to it. Yes, Paula Dean, yes. A whole stick! So I had a major advantage when making these. I got the cuts of meat at the Organic Butcher, which was really reasonably priced. 
I thought that the meat needed a little salt when it was served, so I think next time I try this recipe I'll salt the meat slightly after it comes out of the oven before I serve it.
Now, when I looked at this recipe, I was pretty floored by just how much cream cheese and butter it was calling for. I made half the recipe, knowing that half the recipe would probably frost 24 cupcakes easily. Paula Dean must end up with cupcakes that have more frosting than cake! So, if you cut the recipe in half you will get delicious frosting and plenty of it. I actually didn't half the vanilla, but I like very vanilla flavor. I also added about 1/4 cup minced fresh strawberries, to compliment the flavor of the muffin. Deeeeelicious. But how could it not be, with that much butter and cream cheese?!
So, happy Fall everyone!
Anyways, the flavor on this was really nice. I think it could have cooked a bit longer to reduce some of the liquid a little further and make it settle better. It also may have seemed more like a cobbler with more crust. But as a fruity compote that could be used as a topping for ice cream, or enjoyed on its own, it was a pretty good attempt. 
Dipping Sauce for Potstickers: 
The entree was the beautiful and delish beef tenderloin with the tomato chutney, with asparagus and couscous sides. 
And for dessert was a fantastically simple AND totally delish key lime pie. I burnt the first crust I made CRAZY bad. Never burnt anything that bad before. So definitely ignore the crust instructions. When I redid the crust (because it was entirely not salvageable) I baked it for slightly more than half the called for time, and reduced my oven heat a bit. Aside from that little ish, I will make the pie over and over again, because it was so simple and praise worthy.
This was a gorgeously plated meal. Great colors for summer.
The real challenge: How do you make two quiches, breakfast potatoes, mint simple syrup, lay a table, entertain guests, keep the dog out of trouble, and manage to get dressed and look fabulous while getting all that stuff done? Answer: It's all about planning!
I've never made as many changes to a recipe as I did to these. On the goat cheese quiche, the onion cook time was too long/hot, as was the bake time. Some of my onions burnt, so I picked them out before mixing my ingredients. I baked the goat cheese quiche at 325 for 45 minutes and that was plenty. 
Here's the recipe for the potatoes: 
The potatoes had great flavor, but honestly they needed some serious salt and pepper. Mostly salt. I also thought some cayenne or maybe some diced jalapenos would have added a little somethin' somethin'.