So, this Halloween was pretty much a wash. I missed a party on Saturday night that was pretty much my only reason for making any sort of costume effort (picture me as Molotov Cocktease from the Venture Brothers ;), but I did spend some time and effort on decorations. In addition to the normal pumpkin carving, I tried out both the Witch's Curtain" and Turnip Jack O' Lanterns from Martha Stewart's website. My camera battery charger is MIA, so I don't have any pictures, but lemme just say the Witch Curtain was super-easy and effective. The Turnips, on the other hand, looked awesome for about 24 hours before they shriveled up and died. They literally consumed the tealights inside them - I couldn't even see the candles to light them after the second day up. Now I know to put them out ON Halloween next time, though.

In other news, I'm reading "Tastes Like Cuba: An Exile's Hunger for Home" by Eduardo Machado, which is a great memoir/cookbook, with recipes at the end of the chapters. The only bad thing about it is it makes me crave fatty food (roast pork, which I don't even like) even more than I already do. Funny that this comes directly after seeing vegetarian author Mollie Katzen speak about the wonder and joy in a life with vegetables. Oh man, there was this recipe in the book that she made to hand out at the book signing, and it consisted of these simple squares of firm slightly roasted squash with a few pomegranate seeds on top. Ahhh, it was amazing. Made me want to eat more veggies. Ooh, I wonder if I could make a pomegranate substitute for cranberry sauce? Something to try out this Thanksgiving. But I digress.

I'll probably be posting my Statement of Purpose up here for criticism soon, so watch out for that. The days are ticking down until my first deadline and I'm starting to get pretty nervous.