Halloweeeeeeennnnnnn!
Be afraid! But not of pie crust...
What kind of a horror writer would I be if I didn’t post for Halloween? Speaking of which, if you love Halloween, my friend Lisa Morton’s newsletter is off the hook all year round. It’s called Every Day is Halloween and if you follow her on IG she’s been posting little movies of Halloween history that are really awesome.
I’ve already shared my best Halloween recipes in this space (two on Mailchimp). Here are links to
Every year I make Black Bean Soup and Fingers in a Blanket and head up to my friends Miguel & Valerie’s house for Halloween. Miguel is the inspiration for Beto, the King of Halloween from my Halloween novella, Halloween Beyond which is in a trio of novellas along with one from the aforementioned Lisa Morton and Lucy A. Snyder. I took all of the joy of Halloween, filled it with Easter Eggs from my kids’ local Halloween and put in a story about Death and losing best friends. I love this cover so much.
A lot of writer friends are saying it’s hard to write now, with everything going on. A feeling of helplessness comes over them when they sit down to work.
I’ve been coping by volunteering with a local organization, CLUE, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice in doing court observations, but also, lately in paying bonds for them. I’m not teaching this semester and I have a lot of times in which I served my students to give in a different way. Cal State LA is largely made up of immigrant students or children of immigrants, and in spring, so many were stressed about the current political climate. The semester ended before the raids, which are now daily in Los Angeles, rounding up upwards of 30 people each day. It makes one feel helpless, but once a week I go to the dhs office with a check from CLUE to pay someone’s bond, and the next day someone goes home. This helps.
Wherever you are, you can find local orgs, already on the ground, already helping people and see if you can donate a morning or an afternoon once a week. Pay attention to the risk level at which you are willing to work. There are many low risk ways to really make an impact on people who are impacted now. If you have a face like mine and feel comfortable on the front lines, get out there! It’s time to exercise that privilege for good. It will help keep you centered as we forge forward in this nonsense.
And keep celebrating art! This month I got to sit down with Matt Kressel and David Mercurio Rivera’s on their awesome podcast Nerd Count which you can find on any podcast platform as well as on Youtube! We talked about all the things, and craft tools such as creating in scenes you can shuffle for better effect.
Read.
Carmen is at the top of her game with this bewitching page turner that pulls you in through its endearing characters, slowly creeps open, and finally rips you apart in a harrowing climax.
--Kate Maruyama author of The Collective and Bleak Houses.
I was totally honored when asked to blurb a book for Christa Carmen. She’s such a solid (Bram Stoker Award winning!) writer and this book was an absolute joy, I gobbled it up. She’s also good people.
Aside from the above glowing recommendation, I can say that this story is a beautiful look at a wreck of a marriage, the danger of enthusiastic best friends, and the little bit nuts we can get when things are going wrong in our home lives.
Write.
My friend Linda Campo gives beautiful Día de Los Muertos parties in which we eat good food, play Lotería for prizes, and remember our loved ones. This year she made a tree for us to create memories of our departed loved ones. The beautiful thing about this holiday is that the character of the departed really comes through.
I miss my mom so much, she’s eight years gone and this year I’ve been reflecting on her a lot as I edit her Kit Craig thrillers for Silvertail Books. In this November/December issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact I’ve written a novelette (inspired by a poem from Chiwan Choi’s My Name is Wolf )that is tribute to caretakers of relatives with dementia. The story took me two and a half years to finish, but I wanted to make sure caretakers felt seen, and I honored folks dealing with memory loss.
Mom came up as a character in Halloween Beyond, but just in passing. I imagined what she’d say to Death on that boat while crossing the river Styx.
So, if it would be heartening for you (be careful in writing around trauma without extra care), think on someone you’ve lost. Sit with them a moment. Write a list of words that describe them…but the real human three dimensional them. We tend to be too reverent with our dead. If you think of them for all of their humor, bad habits, quirks, sayings, they tend to come a live a bit more. What is something they always said that drove you nuts. What made you laugh hardest when you were with them? What’s one thing you wish you’d said to them? Or they to you?
Write from there.
Cook.
Pumpkin Pie season.
I abhor “pumpkin spice” as a generic flavor, it always tastes like candle to me and smells weird. But actual spices in real pumpkin can be quite delicious. Whenever I’m baking with pumpkin, I tend to add lemon zest, and/or orange zest and I substitute fresh ginger for powdered ginger. It boosts the flavors and brings out the real pumpkin flavors inside. Try this when making pumpkin bread, muffins, pancakes, or bars.
The gluten free version of this, honestly, is just pour the center in a ramekin. We’ve never found a GF pie crust we like, and the custard is lovely.
These crust directions are very talky, but ppl are intimidated by crust and it’s not too hard, so I talk you through it. You can, of course, use a premade crust.
Pie Crust
Pie Crust.
2 cups flour
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks)butter
1/4 cup water (iced)
1/4 tsp salt
Filling:
2 cups pumpkin puree 3 large eggs at room temperature 1/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 tablespoon freshly ground ginger 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp allspice (I’m not a fan of clove due to dental trauma…up to you) 1/4 cup milk 3/4 cup evaporated milk 1 squeeze of lemon (a tablespoon juice?
zest, one lemon
Crust can be made in a kitchen aid mixer or by using two knives or better yet forks to mix butter and flour if you don’t have crazy appliances. I imagine beaters would work as well if you don’t overmix.
Combine flour and salt, mix lightly. Cut butter into slices (smallish, size and shape don’t matter) and then dump the whole bunch into the mixer or bowl. Mix (with forks smushing butter into flour and mixing) until it forms a soft pebbly mixture akin to dry instant oatmeal. Pour in ice water (without ice!) very slowly and continue mixing until it just comes together. This last bit is super important. if you overmix the dough it turns firm and hard and then is tough to eat. You want it a bit crumbly.
Dump crust mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap (or wax paper or parchment) divide it evenly (relatively) into two pieces and make two discs. Guess what? You have enough for two pies! use both now or save one, frozen. Wrap and refrigerate ONE HOUR. But if you end up with leftovers or want to make it ahead, go ahead and throw it into the freezer! I sometimes make the crusts a day ahead and refrigerate overnight. you can’t hurt it with time in the fridge as long as it’s wrapped.
Dust your rolling space with flour: a table, counter or cutting board. I’d say put like two tablespoons of flour to one side of the surface you are using for easy access, or just keep the bag of flour handy. Unwrap refrigerated dough and put one disc (one half of the mixture) in the middle of the dusted board. I put parchment paper (which I’ll use later for the blind baking) over the dough to more easily roll it out. but you can be brave and roll it, just be sure to dust your rolling pin with flour as it starts to get sticky. I roll the dough from the center outwards. Yes this is awkward and difficult at first with the dough fresh out of the fridge and hard, and you need to put weight on the pin--I’ve been known to bang it with the pin a few times. I sometimes have to rock it back and forth to break it down a bit. but I promise it gets easier as you go. Keep rolling it out from the center, into a larger circle. I peek at it every so often and if one bit has gotten long, I’ll peel it off and put it on a bit that has a crack on it. Keep rolling. I place the pie dish in its center to judge when it’s big enough to cover the bottom the sides and go about 1/2 inch beyond the pin.
Parchment paper (or wax paper for rolling, don’t blind bake with wax paper tho)
When it’s big enough, I tend to run a spatula under to make sure it’s loose from the board, then, leaving the parchment paper on top, I roll the crust onto the rolling pin to move it more easily over the pie dish. The paper being attached cuts down on the terrifying prospect of your crumbly dough cracking apart as you transport it. Don’t fret if it does, it means you have a good dough! Lay the dough into the pie dish and smooth it down with hands.
I saw the rolling pin trick on a tv show and thought what have I been doing all these years?
I have a problem where my wet fillinged pies stay wet at the bottom so with this pie, I doa BLIND BAKE. Which means leaving the parchment paper on it, I fill crust with something like rice, beans, lentils (or glass baking marbles if you’re fancy) and bake the pie for ten minutes before assembling it. this results in a crust as flaky on the bottom as the edges.
Lentils fill the bottom of the pan for the blind bake, keep crust from bubbling up
during that time I make THE FILLING. Basically combine all the filling ingredients and beat well.
Remove the blind baked pie, and put paper and lentils aside. the lentils will now be tasty toasted in a soup, or you can discard them, but I don’t like wasting them.
Pour in the filling. I then always in case of overflow, put the uncooked pie on a rimmed cookie sheet before sliding it carefully into the overn. Bake from 40 to 35 minutes, or until no longer wobbly. Let cool and enjoy!
OMG, your mom's been gone that long? I'm so glad I got to have that one magnificent meal with her and you.