Serve Constant Comment or other spiced tea
for Halloween. Photo courtesy SXC.
After a busy afternoon of shopping at Bloomingdale’s flagship store in New York City, we sought quiet refuge for afternoon tea at the Fitzpatrick Hotel, a scant two blocks away. The hotel is celebrating “Fitzoween” all month with a Halloween-themed tea: cinnamon spice tea, pumpkin scones and midnight chocolate double layer cake.
Make a date and invite your friends to celebrate Fitzoween—or Smithoween, or Schwartzoween, or whatever your name is. Get some Constant Comment, the original American spiced tea recipe invented by Ruth Bigelow (available in supermarkets and from BigelowTea.com). Decorate your midnight chocolate cake with candy corn or other favorite Halloween candy; or serve midnight chocolate cupcakes and provide different Halloween candies so guests can decorate their own. No one is too old to enjoy Halloween candy and chocolate cake!
Read our review of Top Pick Of The Week Iveta Scones and try their moist pumpkins scones.
There’s a bit of the devil in this flourless chocolate whiskey cake. You can color the white chocolate cream orange for Halloween.
Or go straight for the real devil’s food cake. Instead of using heart-shaped cookie cutters as this recipe calls for, to make individual “heart” cakes, use a large round cookie cutter for individual “pumpkin” cakes and decorate with Halloween candy.
Instead of a birthday cake, consider a platter of cupcakes. Beloved by children and adults alike, they eliminate the need to cut a cake, have built-in portion control and can provide guests with their favorite flavors and special needs (chocolate or vanilla cake, different icings, some Splenda-based cupcakes for those who can’t have sugar, gluten-free cupcakes for those who can’t have wheat). If you don’t have a cake stand or cupcake holder, arrange highly decorated cupcakes on a round tray (try topping with chocolate medallions or marzipan figures). You can leave an unadorned cupcake in the center to hold the candle(s).
Have allergic friends? Send delicious Divvies cupcakes—dairy-free and egg-free—as a gift.
Treat your favorite meat lover (yourself?) to a gift of something meaty, new and interesting. Boar, bison, elk, emu and ostrich are readily available. Farmed, usually raised naturally and low in fat, what may sound exotic is actually sweet, tender and not in the least gamy. Cooking an unusual cut is a good reason to invite fellow food-lovers for dinner—and tell them to bring some good Burgundies!
See our review of BlackWing Bison, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. Amazingly delicious, it’s also glatt kosher.
There will be a lot to eat and drink at this gala tasting event.
Take advantage of the fall weather and hotel bargains and head over to the Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. food festival in New York City the weekend of November 6th-8th. Join the lively group of fellow foodies and taste your way through a bustling event that will showcase new food products and cocktails along with presentations from celebrity chefs, cookbook authors and mixologists. There will be plenty of wine and delicious food from popular restaurants, plus the opportunity to do some early holiday shopping.
Tickets are $65.00 per day and can be purchased at cookeatdrinklive.com or by calling 1.888.695.0888. A portion of the proceeds from the festival will be donated to one of our favorite causes, Action Against Hunger.
In addition to all the food, we’re looking forward to the:
Coffee & Tea Pavilion. Discover new gourmet favorites and learn about them from the experts.
FineWaters Pavillion. Your opportunity to taste rare fine bottled waters from all over the world, assembled by water expert and author Michael Mascha.
Robert Mondavi Discover Wine Tour. Stocked with wines from the Robert Mondavi Private Selection and Mondavi Winery portfolios, this pavilion will provides participants with an interactive learning experience through tastings and classes.
