Halloween Harvest Festival @ Pierce College

Every year around this time, Christine and I head out in search of cool amateur haunted houses in the valley to explore. But this year, with our own little pumpkin on the way, Christine opted out of our tradition for fear of being bumped, pushed or just plain scared to high heaven along the way.

So, instead of going the local, down and dirty haunted house route, we decided to explore something a little more organized and fair-like this year. That way Christine could chill with some cotton candy while Ryan, Laura, our friends Patty and Mike and I screamed our lungs out in the haunted house.

And after many years of hearing about it, we finally schlepped out to Woodland Hills for the annual Halloween Harvest Festival at Pierce College. We had heard before that this place had one of the scariest “pay” haunted houses in the area, but when we learned that they also have a haunted corn maze on the premises, well, we were sold!

I’d never been to Pierce College before, but that place is way out of the way…I’m talking barely in L.A. county. And the campus is positively massive, with acres of corn fields, pumpkin patches and other assorted growing spaces dedicated to the school’s renowned Agricultural Department. I gotta say, the sheer volume of land out there was insane, you kinda felt like you were in another state or something…

But the coolest part is that if you park in the far lot, you get to enjoy a free tractor-pulled hayride through the fields to the festival grounds! Cool, huh? Even Christine, a hayride aficionado from way back, was impressed…although she was quick to point out that the bales we were sitting on were comprised of straw, not hay as we first surmised. They don’t call her Farmer’s Daughter for nothing, yo!

Anyway, aside from tons of what we think were free pumpkins and a petting zoo — which is only open during the day — the Harvest Festival is also home to some of the finest fair food we’ve had since, well, last year’s visit to the L.A. County Fair. Giant turkey legs, kettle corn, funnel cakes, you name it, they had it.

Of course, being the girlie man that I am, I wanted to hit the haunted house and corn maze before eating, you know, just in case I threw up or something. So, while Christine chilled with her cotton candy, Ryan, Laura, Mike, Patty and myself headed into the daunting haunted house.

And…Oh. My. God. Was it scary!! I clung to Ryan’s jacket with my eyes closed almost the entire time, and halfway through, as we passed an emergency exit, Patty got so scared that she actually burst into tears and left. I wasn’t crying, but man, how I wanted to! So, I took off with Patty and Laura while Ryan and Mike finished the tour alone. Yes, I left with the girls…sue me.

For anyone out there keeping track, I should also note that this haunted house is not nearly as scary as the bone-chilling “Shipwrecked” event they have every year at the Queen Mary, but it was a pretty close second.

It’s not that the scares were that original or anything, but the looks on some of the people’s faces in there were downright murderous. These are not your garden variety haunted house workers, amigos…even without their make-up, these carnie folks looked and acted, well, dangerous. Seriously…we checked our wallets when we came out!

And then, since we had paid for both the house and the corn maze (and I am loathe to ever not get my money’s worth!) we hit the haunted corn maze out front. That horrifying winged beast in the picture above acts as kind of the maze’s gatekeeper, and when he is moving and screeching, well…you kinda want to wet yourself. I’m not kidding, he was freaky!

But the maze itself was actually quite cool. Instead of picking on me — as the ghosts and goblins did in the haunted house — they fixated on Ryan this time, so my journey on his coattails was actually pretty scare-free. Don’t get me wrong, the maze was still very creepy and totally long — someone said it winds almost a mile and a half through that dark-ass corn field! — but it was more cool creepy than, you know, crap your pants creepy.

So, if you opt for the Multi-Pass Ticket, which is $20 (versus $13 for just one haunted area) I’d suggest you hit the haunted house first, then catch your breath in the corn maze. And then, and only then, hit the fair food!

Like I said before, they have all kinds of crazy-good food and all of it was awesome and totally cheap, but I think the highlight of the Festival were the fresh-cooked donuts pictured below. Fried to order, they were freaking amazing…and when you added a healthy dusting of powdered sugar, well, these were some donuts for the ages, man. Spectacular!

So, for those of you in the L.A. area who wanna get your scare on, or even just get your fried food on, head out to Pierce College tonight because the Halloween Harvest Festival ends Sunday, November 2nd.

And for the love of God, make sure and wear something grubby…we’re still scraping mud and straw off our damn shoes!

Halloween Cupcakes: 2008 Edition

Farmer’s Daughter Bean here. I know it’s been awhile…but it’s too hot to bake during the summers in LA, so I haven’t spent much time in the kitchen. But now, with the harvest season in full swing, I figured it was time to make some goodies, and since my husband likes to say that Halloween wouldn’t be complete without my cupcakes…cupcakes it was!

First, I looked up some tasty recipes in one of my favorite cookbooks, Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans and came upon the Spiced Pumpkin recipe. Once I saw the pictures inside, I knew that I had to try these out! The batter looked so good I was dying to try some, but in my current state, I wisely resisted the temptation.

Tomás and my sister-in-law Laura — who were playing “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” all night while I baked — said the batter on the beaters was “delish”, so, I kept baking. Trust me, it took a lot of willpower to wait for the final product with Cream Cheese Frosting and cinnamon frosting spiderwebs, but it was definitely worth the wait.

The cake was very light and had just the perfect amount of pumpkin spice. I did switch it up a bit by omitting the crystallized ginger from the recipe, partly because I didn’t have any on hand, but mostly because I just kind of needed immediate satisfaction at that point. But the cupcakes still tasted great.

The other cupcakes I made that night didn’t turn out as cute. For that batch I used the Butter Cupcake recipe and the Cream Cheese Frosting from Cupcakes! again. They were supposed to look like little pumpkins, but the Tootsie Roll stems didn’t really turn out as well as I had envisioned them.

They still tasted good though, but Tomás and Laura (and later Ryan!) raved about the pumpkin spice…so, I’ll definitely make those again.

For those of you who have never baked from scratch, you must try it. And with the holidays approaching, there is no better time to crack open your favorite cookbook and give it a whirl. It takes a little longer, but if you like to bake, the results are totally worth it. Just ask the nerdy gamers in my living room!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Obama-Biden magnetic bumper stickers!

By this time next week the race for President of the United States will be almost over and Christine and I will be either dancing in the streets at midnight or moving to Canada. But whatever happens, we’ll always have the rocking Obama-Biden magnetic bumper sticker that arrived in our mailbox today!

Our neighbor turned us onto these cool magnetic bumper stickers months ago — back when they just said Obama — and we finally ordered one for ourselves last week. The coolest thing about these guys is that they don’t stick at all, which means no gross sticker goo on your car. Yay!

And as you can see, even our tiny Obama — still winded from his last-minute campaign jaunt up the coast — is excited about our new bumper sticker. Seriously, he was up all night trying to get Christine and I to drive him to Nevada to help secure votes. Man…that dude is persistent.

So though we don’t have the time to road trip it to Nevada like some of our friends, you can rest assured that we will be driving the hell out of our car this week to show this bad boy off. And if we change the hearts and minds of a few die-hard McCain supporters along the way…all the better!

Go, Obama!

It’s gonna be a girl!

Christine and I went in for our 21 week ultrasound today and were delighted to learn that we are expecting a little girl. Yay! As you can imagine, we are both pretty stoked, especially since we share a fondness for all things Barbie and Hello Kitty…and who better to pass that giddy fondness on to than a little tiny version of us, right?

Of course, we would have been just as happy with a boy, but as I have gathered from the enthusiasm from our families, a little girl offers them much cooler stuff to shop for. And speaking of, we made our first parental purchase today in the form of the super cute Baby Gap onesie shown below.

Yep, we went right from the doctor’s office to the mall. Crazy, huh? But, wow, how fun to buy little tiny clothes for your own baby! And to do it all at the store — not literally the same store, but the same chain, Gap Kids — where Christine and I met back in 1990, well, talk about coming full circle. Whoa…

So, while I must admit I was a tad disappointed at not being able to score the more boyish “Star Wars” and “Superman” onesies for our little one, I think once I get my hands on a girly Princess Leia or Queen Amidala onesie, all will be right with the world!

Obama resoles his shoes…

That old lying, hate-mongering, Republican VP candidate, Sarah Palin, might call herself an “intellectual”, vow to name her next son Zamboni — I’m not kidding, she actually said that! — and spend almost $5,000.00 a day on fancy designer duds, but when it comes to keeping it real, no one, and I mean no one, can beat our man, Barack Obama.

As you can see in the super cool pic by Time’s Callie Shell above, Obama saves his campaign money by having his shoes resoled rather than buying new ones. Yep, while the McCain campaign runs to Neiman Marcus three times a day to keep Sarah Palin looking “fresh”, Barack Obama runs to his cobbler. Awesome!

Seriously, can you think of another modern-era politician who would do something that freaking practical? Man, just when Christine and I think we could not love this dude any more…we do! Wow…

Thanks to our friend Danielle for the link to Shell’s rocking Obama campaign pics. To see more of these beautiful shots for yourself click here.

And, as always…go Obama!

On the road with Obama

With the election just a couple of weeks away and getting crazier by the minute, Christine and I decided to take our brand new Barack Obama action figure on a quick campaign push up the coast to Northern California.

The fact that we were both itching for a fun, weekend road trip might have had a little something to do with it too, but either way, Jedi Master Obama came with us and as you can see from the pics below, the little plastic dude had a blast.

Not only did he get to cross the Golden Gate bridge during Fleet Week — and see the Blue Angels performing above us on the drive back! — but Obama also got to tour the rocking Charles Schulz Musuem in Santa Rosa, judge a surfing contest in Capitola, check out Sista Monica’s soulful outdoor gospel choir in Santa Cruz and best of all, Lil’ O got to wrap up his journey with some tasty hot wings at the Burbank Hooters.

And with stops at Taco Bell and the classic Bob’s Big Boy in Toluca Lake thrown in for good measure, well, I don’t know about you guys, but that kinda sounds like campaign heaven to me!

If you’re interested in seeing the full, unedited version of Lil’ O’s “rainbow tour” of the California coast, check out the Flickr set here, but in the meantime, enjoy the pics, remember to vote on November 4th, and, as always, go Obama!

“The Strangers” on DVD

I should start by saying that the version of “The Strangers” that is coming out today on DVD is not the same one Christine and I saw in the theatre in June. The DVD cut of the movie is unrated and from everything I’ve read, that would make it ten thousand times scarier!

And with a movie this downright freaky, that is really saying something. Not only is “The Strangers” unnervingly quiet, but the sounds that are there rival “The Orphanage” in their goosebump-inducing impact. Seriously, even the knocks on the door in this movie will give you nightmares…just chilling!

Another thing we loved is that the concept here is so simple: troubled couple terrorized by strangers in the middle of nowhere. There is no goopy dialouge or clunky character arcs, this is a classic, old school scary movie that does what it’s supposed to do — scare you shitless! — and does it beautifully.

Trust me when I tell you that Christine and I were not the only ones screaming out loud in the theatre. This is one of those weirdly realistic films that gets under your skin way more than something supernatural ever could.

Sure, we might not be as pretty as Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler, but almost everything that happens to them in this movie could happen to us. Or you…or, well…now I’m getting all scared again just thinking about it!

Anyway, check it out on DVD and let me know what you think. Oh, and for the Liv Tyler haters out there — I happen to live with one. Christine likes to say that the reason Tyler is so good in this movie is because she doesn’t talk much. Ha! — rest assured that her performance here is probably one of the finest she’s ever committed to film.

Seriously, Tyler plays a sweaty, freaked-out chick like nobody’s business, baby. And those eyes…wow…must have been something in that Rivendell water.

So if you’re looking for some rocking seasonal scares, check out “The Strangers” today. And for the love of God, do not watch this movie alone!

We saw it together and still had to double and triple check all the doors and windows before going to bed. Yes, it’s that scary…

Yeti footprints found in Himalayas!

OK, this story could be as phony as that fake-ass Bigfoot “corpse” they discovered in Georgia recently, but if the Yeti footprints pictured below are for real, then, wow…this Yeti, for one, will be very pleased indeed!

Discovered by the rocking Japanese team from the Yeti Project Japan during a grueling 42-day expedition to the  Himalayan peak of Dhaulagiri IV, the footprints — shown larger in the first pic above and on the left, in comparison to a human footprint, in the other shot — are said to be irrefutable proof of the mythical Yeti’s existence. Awesome!!

So while Yeti Project Japan leader, Yoshiteru Takahashi, prepares to head back up the mountain for more scientific proof, and maybe even some video this time, the Bigfoot and Yeti geeks of the world — myself wholeheartedly included! — will be waiting breathlessly to see if this Yeti footprint is the one that sticks, and finally silences all those non-believing haters out there.

Grrrr…go, Yeti!!

Mother’s Cookies bites the dust…

I know it’s been a while since our last post, and while I could make excuses for why we haven’t written, or where we’ve been, the biggest reason for the lag in posts is that we’ve been in serious cookie mourning, amigos.

Yep, you read the title correctly, Mother’s Cookies, that sugar-coated staple of our grade school lunches has baked their last frosted circus animal cookie.

Apparently Mother’s has been through four different owners in recent years and has been seriously hemorrhaging cash for decades, but still, this is a company that has been in business for 92 years…you’d think some cookie-loving CEO would save them.

Sadly, that was not to be, and so, Mother’s Cookies abruptly closed their doors last week…forever. Christine and I were so shocked by the news that we hurried over to Von’s to see if they had any Mother’s Cookies left. Luckily for us, they did. And although we didn’t buy the store out on that visit, we just might head back in a couple days to stock up.

Christine was bummed that she couldn’t find a whole bag of her favorite Mother’s Cookies — the pink and white frosted circus animal cookies, above — but she was more than happy to pick them out of the Cookie Parade grab bag we found. And she was even more excited to find a big, beautiful sleeve of the Iced Oatmeal cookies from her childhood just waiting for her on the top shelf. Yum!

Personally, my favorite Mother’s Cookies were the plain old Mini Chocolate Chips. They weren’t as good as homemade chocolate chip cookies, but they were cheap and yummy and you could fit like, twenty of those little bitches in a plastic sandwich baggy…so, needless to say, I kinda loved them.

I think we’re most sad to know that our unborn child will never get to experience the totally processed joy of Mother’s Cookies for themselves. I’m not kidding, we were so distraught that we actually looked for bags with expiration dates of like, two years from now, but they didn’t exist. Every bag we found at Von’s expires sometime around mid-January of next year.

And seeing as there will be no more Mother’s cookies delivered after today (the 20th of October) I guess that’s the end of the line…cookie-wise.

So, for now, we’ll just have to settle for the pictures above and the warm, fuzzy memories of simpler times spent sharing Mother’s Cookies with friends in the school cafeteria. Ha, who am I kidding, I never shared my cookies with anyone.

Either way, vaya con díos, Mother’s…we’ll miss you!

FX cancels “The Riches”

Unfortunately, the Season Pass list on our Tivo just got a little leaner with the announcement this week that FX is cancelling one of our favorite shows ever, the pitch-black satire of American consumerism, “The Riches”.

Maybe it was too dark, or too weird, or, hell, maybe it was too freaking awesome for TV! But for whatever reason, the brainiacs at FX have decided to let the show go the way of it’s God-awful sister show “Dirt”. Cancelling “Dirt” I understand, that show was just plain stupid, and Courtney Cox? Wow…bad.

But “The Riches” had it all, baby! Juicy storytelling, totally original characters, a super cool concept — a family of modern-day gypsy “travelers” assumes the identities of a normal, all-American “buffer” family in the burbs in an attempt to go straight — and some of the best acting you’ve ever seen on the small screen.

Sure, the leads were awesome, Eddie Izzard can do no wrong in my book, and Minnie Driver’s tragically-flawed character broke our hearts on a nightly basis — I’m not kidding, yo, she rocked! — but this was a show were even the smallest part was amazing. Seriously, even the crazy, catatonic Grandma with like, four lines, was incredible.

And though the kids were all out-of-this-world-good, I gotta say our favorite character was Driver’s neighbor, Nina, played by the rocking Margo Martindale. Martindale has guest-starred in practically everything, but here she was given a chance to really explore a character over time, and she totally ran with it!

Married to a gay alpaca farmer — hilariously played by “Passions” regular, Bruce French — Martindale’s repressed, self-medicating housewife evolved over time into the one person Driver could truly confide in. In lesser hands, these crazy characters could become types, but Driver and Martindale made Dahlia and Nina into living, breathing women of substance, and watching their relationship blossom was really beautiful to watch.

And when Driver lied to her about something major on the season finale, and Martindale knew she was lying, the look on her face was just…wow…I mean, give this woman an Emmy already!

So, though we’ll never know how things turned out for the Malloy/Rich family and their strange, Southern-Gothic brood of extended friends, co-workers and enemies, I gotta tell ya, our lives have been richer — no pun intended — for knowing them. Rock on in rerun heaven, amigos!

Our favorite picture of the year!

This picture was taken on June 27th at 9:26PM. For the mathematically challenged — myself included, pregnancy math is weird, yo! — that makes Christine 18 weeks pregnant with a due date of March 8, 2009. Hooray!

And since babies can supposedly hear what goes on outside the womb at this point, we are already hard at work on a wicked-cool, mellow jam mix tape for the little one. Man, I sure hope baby digs Radiohead…

Kara’s Cupcakes, San Francisco

Some folks swear by Sprinkles, and Yummy Cupcakes in Burbank is always great in a pinch, but our favorite cupcakes on God’s green earth come from the crazy good Kara’s Cupcakes in San Francisco.

Christine and I first discovered Kara’s while making our regular pilgrimage to Ghirardelli Square to buy some of their yummy Ghirardelli Drinking Chocolate.

If you haven’t tried this stuff, then you have not had truly incredible hot cocoa, amigos. It’s delicious…and since we first tried it a couple years back, Ghirardelli Drinking Chocolate has become one of the staples of our kitchen: salsa, eggs, tortillas, and Drinking Chocolate. Not necessarily in that order…but, I digress. Back to the cupcakes!

Kara’s has two locations in San Francisco, the one mentioned above at Ghirardelli Square and another storefront in the city’s happening Marina District just off of Chesnut Street. And though we usually frequent the one at Ghirardelli just out of convenience, I gotta say that the Kara’s in the Marina has a much bigger menu to choose from.

And what a menu it is! Even the most basic-sounding cupcake here is out-of-this-world incredible, but we have two favorites that actually start me drooling just thinking about them. Christine’s favorite is Kara’s dark chocolate Fleur de Sel, which is basically a chocolate cupcake with caramel filling, ganache frosting and fleur de sel sprinkled on top.

I’m not kidding, that cupcake is the most perfect union of chocolate and sea salt outside of those dreamy little morsels we had at Todos Santos in Santa Fe. Just incredible! And best of all, it travels well. You know, in case I pick one up for her while she’s busy shopping the Gift Show downtown.

But my favorite is, and always will be, the outrageously-good Banana Caramel. Now, I know not everyone loves bananas like I do, but wow…this banana cupcake with caramel filling and silky cream cheese frosting will change your life, baby! I have never had a cupcake as good as that one…and trust me, I’ve had a lot of cupcakes in my life, yo. This one is cupcake heaven!

Also good are the Coconut and Kara’s Karrot cupcakes, but if you only have time (or money!) for one $3.25 cupcake, I’d say go with the Fleur de Sel or the Banana Caramel. And if you are a true lover of cupcakes, then you have to stop what you’re doing right now and head on up to Kara’s…seriously, you’ll die!

Oh yeah, and I just saw on their website that they recently opened another Kara’s in Palo Alto…so, that’s even less of a drive from L.A.! Yay!

OJ Simpson found guilty!

Hooray! Thirteen years (to the day!) after an L.A. jury found that murderous thug OJ Simpson not guilty, the “Juice” was found guilty of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and a slew of other charges by a clear-headed jury in Las Vegas, of all places.

I don’t really know that much about the trial or what that hood did to be found guilty, but the fact that he might actually serve some time is just freaking awesome in my book. Ha! Who’s squeezed now, bitch?!

Presidential Poll Cookies @ Porto’s

We’re not sure who’s gonna come out ahead in tonight’s juicy VP debate — guess it all depends on which  Palin shows up, the sleek, impassioned politico from the RNC or the dunderheaded hillbilly from that now-classic Katie Couric interview — but we do know for sure what we’ll be eating while we watch it…

And that would be these crazy-cool Presidential Poll cookies from Porto’s Bakery in Burbank’s revitalized Magnolia Park District.

Yep, even Cuban bakeries are in the poll business these days, amigos. And seeing as Porto’s has a steady line of customer’s out the door, day and night, I’d say the results of their informal presidential poll are pretty representative of what people are thinking right now.

I know that sounds goofy, but so far, Porto’s cookie poll has been mirroring results of other legitimate polls nationwide. When they first went on sale, the Obama donkey and the McCain elephant cookies were neck in neck…then, Obama took a slight lead, but after all the craziness McCain pulled this week, Obama cookies took off and have stayed there ever since. Yay!

It’ll be really interesting to see which cookie takes the lead after tonight’s debate. I mean, if Palin really kicks Biden’s ass, will Porto’s start selling hunting-rifle-shaped cookies or eskimo pies or something?

All I know is that whichever way the cookie crumbles tonight — sorry, I couldn’t resist — Chistine and I will be watching Palin and Biden slug it out on a giddy, sugar cookie high.

Muchas gracías, Porto’s!