Fall, fondue and failure

This weekend has been craaaaaazy amounts of busy. That's how we do it around here though; ringing in the last of fall with a Bang. But more about the Bang later. First, here's a few pics of how the Halloween decorations around the house are turning out!

Spooky Spider treeHarvest PumpkinAutumnal greetings my dears

Friday started off the weekend with something I just simply adore; fondue! Nick and Carly were headed over to join us in eating all things on sticks, mostly because Nick needed Brad's help with a "replace the LCD in my laptop" adventure they decided to embark upon. (Didn't prove fruitful after several hours I'll add, but that's here nor there). Fondue in the Zawacki house thus far has included shrimp cooked in spicy garlic oil. But this time we got crazy with the cheese whiz, and in addition I made a cider cheese fondue recipe I bogarted from Stephanie after this month's book club meeting. It was delish. Add to the fondue itself all the accompianments; carrots, peppers, baby portabella's, broccoli, heirloom tomatoes, grapes, apples, bread, shrimps and several dipping sauces, and everyone had a great time. A few things we discovered this time that I haven't tried in the past; making croutons in garlic oil is tasty. So is frying mushrooms then dipping them in cheese. Also, apparently despite much hyped up talk, grapes do not explode when you drop them in oil. Although I wouldn't recommend trying that at home folks.

Fondue is tasty

One thing that was not tasty about the fondue party, was some diabetic friendly desserts I tried to create for dessert. I give both of them the ultimate FAIL. First I tried making some mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (substituting splenda for sugar) in my new cute little pumpkin mold.

Pumpkin muffin mix looks promising

But tastes worse than I can possibly describe

They really were that awful. Next up was some peanut butter cookies using splenda. Brad was pretty excited to test these out for me after the pumpkin muffin, since he doesn't particularly care for pumpkin as it is, and needed a palate cleanser. Boy, was he in for a shock there.

Peanut butter cookies look innocent

I guess the lesson I learned here, is that splenda is terrible. They say you can subsitute it for sugar in recipes, and I guess in fact you can. But what they don't tell you is how much cooking with splenda changes the texture and consistency of whatever you're making, especially baking. I really won't try this ever again. These cookies were sooooooo bad (crumble in your mouth and taste like sawdust kind of bad), and I certainly couldn't serve them to guests. So into the garbage they all went, and off to the grocery store I ran for back-up Murray's cookies. Which by the way, are actually tasty. I eat em all the time, and I don't even have glucose concerns!

Next up on the weekend schedule, after a disappointing Michigan loss on Saturday afternoon (and me sneakily working on more basement projects at the same time), it was time to Bang. What exactly is "the Bang" you ask? Well, I've posted a link about it in prior posts, but the Bang is essentially a monthly themed mixed tape dance party at a local club, The Blind Pig, in Ann Arbor. The Bang has been going on for quite some time, but I just learned about it this year after meeting some new friends. :-) Stephanie and Birgit both have been Banging for years, so I decided it was about time I try my hand. I mean, I can at least get excited to dress up for Halloween Bang! I dragged my Brad along with me (who flat out refused to dress up - he hates Halloween), met Stephanie & her Brad at their house for a little carpooling, and off we went. And finally, the unveiling of my Halloween costume for 2008!

Wicked Witch of the East & Strawberry Shortcake

I have to say, the Bang was really a good idea. Birgit met us there, and I've never had so much fun people watching all night! Halloween really does bring out interesting things in people.

Brad's (who apparently were both supposed to be Meghan's)Dominatrix Birg joins the costume funZawacki's poke fun of silly halloween decorations

Finally, we closed out the weekend by spending all day on Sunday in Saginaw for the 25th annual Pumpkin Day. Pumpkin Day started as a baby shower for Brad's cousin Kyle, but has since turned into a yearly excuse to get the Shuberg women (Brad's mom and sisters) together for halloween themed fun and pumpkin hunting. The young kids search for pumpkins with their names scared into them, and the adults play outdoor sports trying to work off the calories we all consume eating a tasty meal of ham, cheesy potatoes, various salads and such, and plenty of cookies, pies, and cakes. All in all, it's a good day spent catching up with family, albeit exhausting. And with that, I'm off to bed to try to catch up on some Zzzzzzz's.