Sunday Brunch #Halloween Memories + #Giveaway hosted by Maya Corrigan

MAYA CORRIGAN: Halloween will be the focus of Mystery Lovers' Kitchen's posts for the next two weeks. To kick off the celebration, let's talk about a favorite Halloween memory. What costume, trick or treat, food, or party from the past still haunts you?

When I was growing up, Halloween wasn't the huge holiday it is now it. Costumes and trick-or-treating were for little kids. Older teens and adults didn't "dress up" for the festivities. But by the time I was working for a tech start-up, that had changed. One Halloween the thirty of us in the company came to work to compete in a costume contest. None of us wore masks because we had to work all day in our costumes. I dressed as an avatar from one of our software programs--a little girl with long black hair, an orange bow, and a yellow dress with black polka dots.

Until I sat down at my desk, no one recognized me. My husband was away that week and, when I later showed him a photo of the group in costume, he identified some of my colleagues, but he couldn't find me in the photo. He insisted I wasn't in it. I realized then that if you have short blond hair, you can disguise yourself by wearing a long black wig and clothing different from your usual outfits. In a book that came out fifteen years later, one of my characters did exactly that to hide her identity. By the way, the costume contest winner dressed as a cocktail. She's on my left, wearing a martini glass on her head with a monster-sized olive in it.

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MADDIE DAY: That's a great story, Maya! I did something similar. I've always loved costumes and fooling people. From when I left high school until I became a published author, I haven't worn makeup or lipstick or heels (still don't wear heels). So I went to a work Halloween party (in the evening) decades ago in a black puffy wig, a tight white jacket, tight short skirt, fishnet tights, and red heels. Red lipstick, black pointy glasses (from eighth grade!) and a cigarette rounded out the outfit. NOBODY knew who I was. I have pulled out that wig and those glasses for many a party over the years. Here's a pic of my best friend and me in matching crazy outfits, the same black wigs, and clownface at a party. We fooled people there, too.

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LUCY BURDETTE: I love Halloween too and we often had costume parties in graduate school! Luckily, Key West is a town big on costumes too, so I've been able to weave quite a bit of that fun into my books. Knowing how to sew makes the costumes easier to produce. I'll show you a few of my favorites from over the years. Here's me as Wonder Woman, circa 1982:

And here's me as Kermit the frog with a pumpkin cornmeal poundcake to celebrate the season. Believe me, absolutely no one knew who I was as this party!

And finally, this is my hub and me getting dressed up for the zombie bike ride in Key West. This was research for a scene in Killer Takeout!

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LESLIE KARST: I loved Halloween as a kid (though not so much now—the ringing doorbell and strangely-clad kids terrify my poor dog). And what I loved the most about it (besides the candy—duh!) was being able to dress as I wanted. These were the days when girls had to wear skirts or dresses to school, something that even as a seven-year-old I detested. So here’s how I dressed for Halloween that year:

As far as my adult years go, my favorite memory of the holiday is the Pumpkin Fest my friend Craig used to host on a yearly basis, where friends would come to his house and mass-carve pumpkins for the entire community to come and admire. (And on the big night, he’d also host a terrific meal at his house.) One year we carved about 700 jack o’lanterns!

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LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  This topic sent me back a few decades remembering the fun my parents had helping us dress up for Halloween. One year, they blew up giant balloons and we covered them in papier-mache with strips of cut newspapers and white glue, then when they hardened, burst the balloon and cut it out, cut a jack o'lantern face, and spray-painted the whole think orange. Voila, the pumpkin kids! Not that easy to walk in, but fun. And my dad thought bobbing for apples too messy -- not good to get kids wet and send them home that way on what could be a very cold day -- so he tied apples to long strings he attached to the ceiling and we had to bite the apple that way! (Obviously, I dressed myself the year of this photo!)

In my community, so many kids live out in the country or in areas where trick-or-treating house to house isn't safe, and a Halloween snowstorm is not an uncommon thing. So the village merchants---you know them from my Food Lovers' Village mysteries, based on my real town---turn our main street into Halloween Central. Business and traffic all but shut down, and merchants dress up and stand in their doorways handing out candy. Mr. Right and I have been known to wander into the village, find a rock wall or bench to perch on, and take in the sights. For a few hours on a late October afternoon, the streets are filled with joy as aspiring superheroes, ghosts, wizards, and other costumed creatures roam freely and safely, and just about everyone in town sports a grin as wide as Mr. Jack O'Lantern's. 

 

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TINA KASHIAN: I loved Halloween when I was young, and I still do! My teen girls still dress up and help hand out candy at home and then go to parties with friends. When I was young, my mother sewed our costumes. I learned how to sew from her, but I am not as good and rarely practice. Here’s a picture of me as a kid wearing a costume my mother sewed.

 

Here’s a pic of me from last year. Happy Halloween!

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PEG COCHRAN: So fun to recall all those Halloween memories! One childhood memory that wasn't so fun was the Halloween it rained and I was carrying my candy in a paper shopping bag...which was a bit too big for me so I alternately carried it and dragged it along the ground.  You guessed it--the bag broke!  Better memories include making costumes for my daughters. I remember my younger daughter watching in amazement as I turned a bolt of fabric into a harem costume for her.  I made a Dalmation costume for my older daughter--complete with glued on spots--and no one recognized her when she got to school!  To complete the 101 Dalmations theme my younger daughter went as Cruella de Ville.  Many years later, I went to a Halloween costume party as Cruella de Ville bringing things full circle! 

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MARY JANE MAFFINI:  I love Halloween. Always have, always will.  The photos and stories here today are so much fun.  Thanks to everyone for hanging on to those photos and sharing and to Maya for the entertaining topic. 

As for me, I look back fondly to the days when hordes of shrieking kids would burst forth onto our street as soon as it was dark, scrunching through dry leaves.  Most were wrapped in crepe-paper costumes and brandishing lit sparklers or firecrackers or both.  We waltzed into strangers’ houses and collected pillowcases full of treats and, if we were lucky, lots of candy cigarettes with bright red tips.  There wasn’t a parent in sight.  What could possibly go wrong?  

 When my kids were growing up, we were more safety conscious and I went out with them on Halloween. I could never resist wearing a costume, although I drew the line at trying for treats. These days we take a more homey approach and wait to answer the door. But as the day approaches, my husband carves the Jack-o-lanterns and I get the dogs’ costumes ready.  

Penny is dressed as Miss Pumpkin and Ivy always feels she's Wonder Woman anyway. As you can see, they are eager to trick or treat even if it's at home.  They've been promised something special if they stay still for the camera.

Some of you may recognize our daughter Victoria's Peachy the Pug aka Walter from the Victoria Abbott Book Collector mysteries. There's always a pug on the cover!

We always haul out the black cast-iron cauldron and fill it with Reese’s Pieces.   If Victoria is around we pop spiders in our hair or we may go with witches’ hats and cue the spooky music.   

If we are lucky on our dark road we’ll get four to six kids and an equal number of parents. The dogs are always a big hit. Last year with COVID we saw only our next-door neighbor’s child.  We were distanced and all wearing masks.  As you can imagine, this left a lot of Reese’s Pieces and they went straight to our waistlines.  I have high hopes for this coming Halloween and look forward to hearing what all of you remember or look forward to on October 31^st.   Maybe it's reading the fabulous batch of books in the giveaway.  Whatever it is, enjoy!

CLEO COYLE: Great topic, Maya! Halloween is such a fun holiday. I have many wonderful memories over the years: from my childhood all the way up to viewing the fabulous floats, puppets, and costumes in New York's annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (check out a parade video here). I love how this holiday gives kids (and adults!) a chance to express their creativity, imagination, and a way to interact with their communities. When I was a little girl, my sister and I carved our own pumpkins and made our own costumes (we always made them ourselves, no need for store-bought anything). We went trick or treating with groups of friends and had fun visiting the neighborhood houses, many of which were imaginatively decorated. Some even had sound effects (ghostly moaning and thunder rumbling). Afterwards, Grace and I would dump out our bags of candy booty on the living room floor and trade favorites (2 Clark Bars for 1 Baby Ruth, deal)! And speaking of favorites…

 

Click the photo for Cleo's recipe:
Candy Apples with Honey

Homemade Candy Apples continue to be among my favorite treats at this time of year. I even came up with my own version of the recipe, swapping out corn syrup and using honey instead (it’s delicious). In another version, I went for a spiked candy apple for adults. I’m happy to share both recipes today, just click here or on the photos (above or below). There’s a free PDF of both recipes that you can download with plenty of tips and photos. Happy Halloween season, everyone! ~ Cleo 

Click the photo above for Cleo's recipe
How to Spike Candy Apples for Adults

GIVEAWAY! 

To be entered in this week's drawing,

join us in the comments.

What costume, trick or treat, food, or 

party from the past still haunts you?

Include your email address,

so we can contact the winner!

Comments Open through

Wednesday, October 20

>> CRYPT SUZETTE by Maya Corrigan

>> MURDER AT THE LOBSTAH SHACK (ARC) 

by Maddie Day

 >> KILLER TAKEOUT by Lucy Burdette

>> THE WOLFE WIDOW by Victoria Abbott

Comments Open through

Wednesday, October 20

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Around the Kitchen Table: Grade School Lunch Memories + #Giveaway

MOLLY MACRAE: Brand new pencils,

Brand new books,

Brand new teachers’ smiling looks!

Brand new crayons,

Brand new paste,

Brand new lunch box . . . 

School lunches often get a bad rap, and “Lunch lady” is a stereotype in so many school stories and jokes. Do your memories fall in line with that? Mine show how lucky we were as kids. More often than not, my siblings and friends and I walked home for lunch. Even in the depths of Midwestern winters. (We had a teacher who called kids creampuffs if they didn’t walk home on the worst days. How cruel is that?)

But how lucky we were that our moms were home to feed us. We had leftovers, or sandwiches made from leftovers (gristly piece of meat on bread, anyone?), and sometimes little round omelets (I loved those omelets). My biggest secret though, on the days we ate in the school lunchroom, was wishing for a lunchbox instead of a brown paper bag. And a thermos! Nope, never had one.

So let’s go back to grade school. Did you eat in a cafeteria? Can you remember the smell of school spaghetti and Friday fish? Did you have a lunchbox? Did you drop your thermos only to hear the glass inside shatter? Did you have fun sitting with friends and then get to run around outside? What grade school lunchtime memories do you have?

What was your favorite part of 

lunchtime in grade school?

Food, friends, fun or . . . ?

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MADDIE DAY: I love this topic, Molly! My favorite lunchbox was red plaid, just like in your picture. But my siblings and I always had tickets to buy milk to go with our lunch, so we never brought a thermos. (My mom probably knew how quickly it would break.) And we didn't live close enough to walk home for lunch (even though it was southern California, where the only weather presenting a problem was September with 105 degrees and 100% smog). I was third of four kids with a mother who was determined to make us self-sufficient in the kitchen as soon as we were tall enough to see over the counter. I usually made my own peanut butter-and-lettuce sandwich - hey, don't judge, it's delicious! Add in a pear or an orange and a couple of Girl Scout cookies and I was good to go.

Edith/Maddie second from left. A year or two before school age

Unlike my sisters and brothers, I was NOT a picky eater, so I loved buying lunch in the cafeteria. Cost might have been a factor in our family, so it wasn't a regular thing. But give me that flat slab of "Salisbury steak" with gravy and a scoop of mashed potatoes - yum. A little pocket of applesauce. Maybe a slice of boysenberry pie. It was a long, long time ago, and I truly don't remember what they offered on other days. I don't think I'll ever forget the smell of the school cafeteria.

Yes, and we always had a good long recess outdoors after lunch. Swinging on the bars, running out to the far fence where the walnut trees grew, playing kickball. Sigh.

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PEG COCHRAN: I went to a private Catholic school until sixth grade I can't remember if I had a lunch box or not but I do remember my mother making me bologna sandwiches over and over again. And I hated bologna sandwiches but didn't have the nerve to tell her! (I still do.) And, worst of all, the nuns made us finish all our lunch no matter what. I also remember that we said the "Catholic Grace" before the meal--sometimes in English and sometimes in French. So recess afterwards was definitely the best part when we were let loose to run around for a bit. When I transferred to a public school for 7th grade, I sometimes bought my lunch. What I remember most are the squares of white cake. The first day they just had frosting. Leftovers on the second day had frosting and chocolate chips and by the third day, the leftovers had frosting, chocolate chips and coconut.

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LESLIE KARST: I was lucky enough to inherit my oldest brother's Roy Rogers lunch box, which--being the horse-crazy gal I was--I adored! (Yes, I still have it.)

My mom, who went back to school get her master's degree when my little sister started kindergarten, would pack all our school lunches for the week on Sunday night: individually wrapped bologna sandwiches on white bread which would go into the freezer, potato chips in wax bags (yes, they were always stale by Friday, but I still loved them!), apples, and cookies in wax bags (also stale but delicious).

But once a month we got to eat in the cafeteria, and I'd spend ages poring over the next month's cafeteria calendar deciding which day to go: Hot dogs? Pizza? Creamed beef with canned string beans? I loved them all!

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LUCY BURDETTE: Leslie, you are too cool with the Roy Rogers lunchbox! My mother had four kids plus she worked, and my dad commuted an hour plus each way to Manhattan, so nobody was packing lunch. We ate at the cafeteria and that seemed fine.

Back in middle school, or maybe it was late grade school, our school was being rehabilitated and we had to go to another school and share split sessions. That meant that half the kids arrived very early (could it have been 6 AM?) and left by noon. The other kids attended from noon to five. My sister and I were in the early bird shift. And my mother hated getting up early. But she wanted us to eat well before we went to school. One of the things she fixed ahead of time for our breakfast was sloppy Joes. We were on our own for heating them up to eat at 5:30. They were delicious!

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MARY JANE MAFFINI: I love this topic, Molly! Lunch was absolutely my favorite subject in school. In grade school (we called it Elementary) I lived a block from the school but everyone in the school walked home for lunch. I don't remember any accommodation for children to eat at school, regardless of weather. Almost all the moms were at home in the fifties. We always had a hot lunch in the cold weather and my dad also came home from work for his hot lunch. My mother was an excellent cook, but of course, my preferred meal would be beans and wieners or grilled cheese sandwiches. The walk home and back was an important time to socialize with other kids, although in winter with our woolen mittens and heavy cotton padded snowsuits, we were usually cold and wet going back. I love the film "A Christmas Story" although it's an earlier era, we still had the bulky gear and the challenges of snow and occasionally falling into it.

Even in high school (beyond the scope here but ...) we walked home, a half hour each way. That left us a half-hour to eat and be out the door. I went to a Catholic girls school and we were not permitted to go anywhere except home at lunch, especially not to restaurants. I always enjoyed bending that rule.

Years later, I made lunches for my own girls, every day. One daughter (who shall remain nameless) always complained that my lunches were not as good as her friend's. The friend's dad (a firefighter) apparently always provided chocolate milk, chocolate bars and soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies. If he included sandwiches, I assumed they were filled with M & M's.

Although I don't remember specifics, no doubt I criticized my poor mum's meals at the time. Now, of course, I have nothing but happy memories of school day lunches.

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Leslie and Twiggy -- 3d grade

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Eat your hearts out, sisters. I had a "Julia" lunchbox. And I still have it, and the Thermos, though I wasn’t brave enough to unpack half the back end of the garage to reach the box where it’s safely stashed to take a picture.

Another Catholic school kid here, but from what I remember, our cafeteria lunches weren’t any better or worse than the public school kids’. The only difference was that I lived too far to walk home for lunch. (Walk to and from, yes, but not for lunch.) Was it Marty Wanner who convinced me that the scoop of rice was dead maggots? Though I can’t blame him for the idea of flipping the cooked peas over our shoulders with a spoon so they splatted on the cafeteria walls, which were the exact same shade of horrid green. And on what planet was fried baloney actually decent? Friday Fish Sticks and squares of cheese pizza were fun, but usually I took a lunch. Some years it was cool to have a box – and Julia WAS cool – and some years, brown bags were cool. Who decides these things? It sure wasn’t me, never cool for a minutes Sandwiches or soups – that’s where that Thermos came in handy, even if we bought milk for a quarter. An apple or orange segments in a little baggie. My mother’s homemade cookies. And occasionally, for a treat, a little bag of Fritos. Trades happened, though I doubt I participated, not because of that cool thing, but nobody could offer anything that beat my mom’s cookies.

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TINA KASHIAN: Great topic! I fondly remember school lunch in grade school. I had a Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox. We ate in the cafeteria, then had recess on the playground. We always looked forward to playing outside. When it rained, we had to stay indoors. As for my lunch, my mother packed me hummus and pita at a time when hummus was not well known. It caused some stress for me. Finally, I asked for peanut butter and jelly. I have two girls now and we make their lunch. Sometimes, they make their own. They prefer peanut butter and jelly and never want to change. There is something to be said about a routine.  

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MAYA CORRIGAN: Like Molly and MJ, I walked home for lunch. I lived about 1/3 mile from school in Queens, NY, and walked with friends whose houses were twice as far. I was happy to be the first one to peel off. Our school had no cafeteria, so everyone within a mile of school was required to have lunch at home. Others who lived farther but were near a city bus route were also required to go home. The remaining few kids ate bag lunches in the auditorium. They had a longer recess than the walkers, but we fit in a lot of socializing on the way between home and school. As you can tell from the uniform and obediently folded hands in my first-grade class picture, there were nuns involved.

My mom always cooked a balanced meal for dinner, but lunch either came from a can--Campbell soup, Heinz baked beans--or between two slices of bread. I remember ham, bologna, tuna fish, lettuce and tomato, and BLT sandwiches. So my midday meal had more variety than box lunches. I still enjoy BLTs and tuna salad sandwiches, though I've given up my other childhood favorite: baked beans on toast.

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Photos from our younger years!

Click here to learn more about us &

the books we write as Cleo Coyle.

CLEO COYLE: Great topic, Molly! My husband and I attended different public schools in the Pittsburgh area, but we both had a blast during our lunch periods. Marc looked forward to seeing his friends from other grades. I was a chunky monkey (foodie-in-training!), so any meal break was a happy part of my day. And it was during these lunch hours that I got my start as a storyteller, entertaining my cafeteria tablemates with seriously odd tales. 

The giant mouse 🐁 on the moon 🌙, who gobbled up astronauts foolish enough to rocket there, went over big. Maybe not as big as Pizza Bagel Day or the apple crisp, but definitely more palatable than the canned green beans, cooked until every last molecule of living nutrition was boiled out of them (one of my early encounters with culinary crime). Then again, the food wasn’t all bad. Our lunch ladies also served a favorite Western Pennsylvania nosh (one so good that Marc and I still eat it to this day), the BBQ Chipped Ham Sandwich. 

We are such fans of this cheap eats delight we wrote it into our 14th Coffeehouse Mystery, ONCE UPON A GRIND. After moving to NYC, our pregnant amateur sleuth (Clare Cosi) craved the sandwich so badly that she sent her young husband out into the night with instructions for deli workers on how to “chip” the ham "Pittsburgh-style" on their slicers. If you’d like to learn this deli-ordering trick and get our recipe, click on the photo below, and eat with school lunch memory joy! 

Click photo for Cleo's recipe.

Vicki Delany: I also am of the walking home for lunch generation.  I don't remember anything memorable about those lunchtimes except for one thing. My grandfather lived with us for a while. As my mom was a teacher, Grandad prepared our lunch.  Every lunchtime he opened one can of Campbell's tomato soup to serve with a rather plain sandwich of a slice of cheese on white bread sort of thing. No matter how many people were coming for lunch - whether it was just me and him, or my brother and some of our friends, maybe Mom too or Dad if he was off work for some reason - he opened one can of soup.  So somedays I got an adequate serving, and some days barely a spoonful. 

What was your favorite part of lunchtime

in grade school? Food, friends, fun or . . . ?

GIVEAWAY! 

To be entered in this week's drawing,

join us in the comments.

Include your email address,

so we can contact the winner!

Comments Open until

Wednesday, September 8, noon Eastern

>> HEATHER AND HOMICIDE by Molly MacRae

>> A SCONE OF CONTENTION (Audio) 

by Lucy Burdette

>> CRYPT SUZETTE by Maya Corrigan

>> MURDER AT THE LOBSTAH SHACK (ARC) 

by Maddie Day

 >> BREWED AWAKENING by Cleo Coyle

Comments Open until

Wednesday,  September 8, noon Eastern

Don't forget to include

an email address!

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