Our collection of Halloween Party Decorations and Accessories is now live on the site… we are thrilled with how this area is being received.. and most of the new lines sold out as soon as they hit down!
But we still have lots of orange balls, garlands and booty bags… and while you are prepping your spooky celebrations why not download our free limited edition spooky DIY Printable Project?
Halloween is upon us and we have some fab Halloween Party decorations at Pearl and Earl, which we have had a little fun with this week.
We are adding to our collection of DIY PARTY activities on the site – and have made these 3 little projects to do with your kids (or have fun with on your own!) They are free to download on our blog here for a limited time – and afterwords can be downloaded from our site for a small fee.
The pack includes a GHOST, SCARY PUMPKIN and DAPPER PUMPKIN for your Halloween enjoyment! All you will need is a printer, scissors and some of our paper balls and paper bells to decorate.
Alternatively you can simply use them as stencils for your pumpkin – or maybe stick on a balloon?
Today is our Halloween party – and we have been baking all morning – including these (I’m very chuffed with them) pumpkin rolls for the kids…
We simply made up the bread as normal – and at the second knead we popped them into oiled shaped silicon moulds (meant to be for cakes)… Baked as normal rolls for 10 mins – and voila!
Not sure how much of the bread will be left for the troops – as we are a little fond of it fresh with a mound of butter (see half eaten loaf!)
Enjoy! (Note these are NOT pumpkin flavour – just shape!.. as the kids love them)
BREAD MIX:
500g strong white flour
1 tsp (or 6g sachet) quick yeast
pinch salt
25g butter from fridge
300ml water (warm)
Rub Butter into the flour
Stir in the yeast and salt
In a well in the middle add the water and mix up into a dough
Knead in a mixer with hook for 5 mins (or floured surface for 10)
Oil a clean bowl and place ball in there
Cover with damp clean teatowel
Leave in a warm place for 1 hour until doubled in size
‘knock back’ – knead for another 5 minutes
form into loaf and place in 2lb loaf tin ** or cut up into 12 large or 18 mini rolls to put into the pumkin or other moulds…
Cover with teatowel again and leave to rise for 30mins
Meanwhile super hot oven on at 220oC
Place in the oven for 30mins for a loaf or 10 mins for rolls
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| second kneading is when you shape into little rolls |
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| pop into moulds |
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| and here you go! |
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| fresh wholemeal made with our local farmers new flour.. lasted 2 minutes |
Today we ventured up the road to the Pumpkin Farm in Slindon to view this years display of Pumpkins and Squashes… and buy a few for carving.
Sadly Mr Ralph Upton (the farmer) died last year and there was speculation that this fantastic local tradition was going to come to a close… but his son Robin has stepped up to the mark and I hope that he is suitably thrilled with the result. I know our kids were.
With pumpkins and squashes from 50p to £50 there is something to please all… whether looking for a Ghoulish Guord, Tasty Squash or Perfect Pumpkin… (including the ‘pus spot’ ghourd modelled by Mr H)
The whole village get together.. and the local ladies open a tea room for the week with the mother of all flapjacks and homemade pumpkin soup (50p). Open till Sunday 31st – if you are in West Sussex it is well worth a visit.
We came away with a SACK FULL!… Now to cook and carve !
We love Halloween in our house – I think it is led mainly by my daughter who finds any excuse to make decorations and organise a party… and to be frank we just go along!
After our shopping spree on Saturday – she displayed our autumn chutneys (made by my lovely friend Kati), gourds and some flowers she picked on the kitchen table…. and promptly announced I should take some pictures and ‘put it on the blog mum’. She’s 5 !
Hey ho – here you go – Libby’s autumn displays
This weekend we had our farmers market in Arundel and it was also the inaugral Food Festival in the town. Celebrating all that was local and fresh - the local farmers were out in full force showing their wares!
We are big fans of Daylands Farm – as they are the epitome of a small local freehold who grows popular but also a couple of ‘crazy crops’ to provide something a little different. This year they have gone Gourd and Squash crazy – trialling a mad variety of Pumpkins, Squashes and decorative fare.
We bought up the super sized pumpkin, pumpkins, 5 varieties of squash and lots of gourds ready for our Halloween Party decorations. We will let you know how we got on with the various recipes – but our quick lunch on Saturday was roasted squash, which was mashed up with 1 boiled potato, butter, cream and a tablespoon of dijon to make the most divine mash to go with our new season Venison sausages…. winter fare indeed.
Also in town was the local Cross Bush Farm Shop, who bought along their combined harvester and lots of old tools and different grains for the kids to touch and feel! My 2 were straight up onto the combined harvester …. and then we popped off home to make some bread with his freshly milled flour… and dry the last of the madly coloured autumn flowers for christmas decorations.
The kids had a ball – and it was one of those days when we felt a little bit in love with Sussex and the town where we live – especially on sunny Autumn days like these.
My daughter has a costume party coming up and I was browsing the internet for ideas and came across this fantastic costume from EMBROIDER ME BOUTIQUE on Etsy
Apparently her daughter won a competition with it for JC Penneys in the States.. and I am not surprised as it is Super Cute.
Any other great costumes to share? Let us know – we love a bit of early Halloween inspiration
A little later than planned due to hectic Halloween activities (see Pumpkin Post) but here is the recipe for the scoopings from our Halloween Pumpkins…. if you have already ‘chucked it away’ 
you can always take advantage of the reduced post Halloween prices, or use Butternut Squash instead. Yum!
ROASTED PUMPKIN SOUP
1 pumpkin – flesh only (medium/large)
1 onion finely chopped
Garlic clove finely chopped
Chopped Chorizo sausage
Vegetable stock cube
Water
pinch of chilli flakes or 1 crushed dried chilli
2tbsp creme fresh
Handful of grated parmesan
Slug of Olive Oil
Place your pumpkin cuttings in a large roasting tray – and lace with olive oil and a handfull of fresh thyme. Place in a hot oven (180-200o) and roast for 30 minutes until the edges are golden. This gives the pumpkins a really great nutty taste.
Meanwhile heat up a good slug of olive oil in a heavy large pan (which has a lid) and saute the onion and garlic.
Add in the Chorizo sausage and cook for 5 minutes.
Add in the roasted pumpkin and top up with just enough water to cover the pumpkin (but not too much).
Add the stock cube and a pinch of chilli flakes.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and ladle out a scoop or 2 of stock (you can add this back in after if soup is too thick)
Blitz in a food mixer – or with one of those indispensible hand whizzers!
Stir in the Creme Fraiche and top with a handfull of grated parmesan.
Yumlicious! (one of Libbys words)
Feeling super Autumny (is that a word) this weekend – and happy in the sunshine with a slight chill in the air. After our day blackberry picking, we had a jam and cordial making session on Sunday am, and after munching on copious amounts of toast and said jam we decided to head off to the woods at Goodwood to walk it all off.
Kicking leaves with gusto with Mr Finlay, we found some Blair Witch-esque half built wooden wigwams deep in the wood – which were mad, and perhaps a little scary! The kids had great fun continuing the build (including big kid Mr H) until Libs spotted the ‘biggest spider in the world ever’ nesting between 2 trees at the top of the wigwams!
So we scuttled home quickly as it started to get dark and toasted marshmallows on our open fire to warm up.
So with Halloween in the air we have been gossiping at HQ and finding out some weird and wonderful Halloween facts which we will of course forward on the run up to the Pumpkin festivities:
Weird fact number 1 - In Romania, it’s illegal to dress up as a witch during the month of October.
Weird fact number 2 – Eating the leaves of the pumpkin can rarely cause spontaneous growth of hair on the body – cucurbita lycanthropus
Idyllic and spooky Sunday indeed.
