Halloween...my favorite holiday ever!

I took a week off from blogging to get ready for my favorite holiday of the year, Halloween. I love everything about it: candy, costumes, pumpkin-flavored stuff, trick-or-treaters, and candy corn. Here are some highlights from our Halloween this year.

Our pumpkins are all "funkins" a foam pumpkin that you can carve like a real one but keep for next year. Mike does such intricate carving that we decided to "invest" in these fake guys so that we can save them for years to come. Cheesy, i know, but this is the one holiday we go all out for. We had hundreds of trick-or-treaters come to our door for candy and a look at our newest Halloween addition: a front yard graveyard. I made the tombstones with styrofoam and gray spray paint. Pretty easy!
Charlie Brown as a pumpkin.


Igor from Young Frankenstein.



Here is my costume. This year I was Amy Winehouse, complete with tattoos and huge beehive hairdo. I had so much fun putting this costume together.


Here is another picture of me with a few students at school. Paul is a paparazzo and Brittney is Lindsey Lohan's arrest photo. Fun stuff!



Had a few more cooking classes in the past few weeks. Here are some of the things that Andi and I made.
Salmon and tamatillo salsa. This salsa was so good that I made it again that weekend for our pumpkin carving party.


Vietnamese chicken salad. This was so delicious and not too bad for you. The palm sugar dressing was the best.

Tonight, for more practice (I guess it is like doing my homework, right?) I am making a tri-tip, roasted beets and roasted potatoes. The tri-tip is from the butcher at the Original Farmer's Market on 3rd and Fairfax. Awesome guys behind the counter, they really helped me pick out the perfect cut of meat.

My Marine Biology students turned in a fun project last week. In groups, they had to bake and decorate a cake to represent a cell. Here are a few of their creations.


And, on to knitting.
I added another dinosaur to the herd. This is a Brachiosaurus. Next up is the Triceratops.


A few days ago someone posted a link to an EXPENSIVE bangle that was cabled. Here is my take on that, for about 3% of their price. I love these!!!


Amanda, one of my knitting students, has fallen in love with making toys (a girl after my own heart). She recently completed this pig wearing pants. Her next project is caterpillar finger puppets. I taught her how to knit with DPNs and she is finishing up the puppet. Photos next week.