Count Jacula and the Jack-o-Lanterns of 2011

Happy November!

October was a busy month for me, between my trip to Savannah, work, workouts, and Halloween festivities. I almost had a huge Halloween fail because I waited too long to go to the pumpkin patch and by the time we went all they had left were those gross pimply pumpkins that no one wants. Publix was out of pumpkins completely and all hope was lost. Luckily, Dan surprised me with some little sugar pumpkins last night and we were able to carve jack-o-lanterns while listening to Halloween music even though I didn’t get any trick-or-treaters and cursed the gods all night. All I want is a few trick-or-treaters. Is that so much to ask? I was even going to give them full sized Hershey’s Special Dark bars from my secret stash of dark chocolate because I know better than to buy bags of Halloween candy these days. I’ve bought candy for the last eight years and have never once gotten a trick-or-treater, so I usually end up eating the candy myself bringing it to work and sharing it with my department.

Anyway. Check out my Halloween festivities and be jealous:

I'm not a vampire. I am COUNT JACULA!

That’s right, I was Count Jacula, NOT just a measly vampire. A few years ago I was a Jac-in-the-Box and now I like to find new ways to make my costume a play on my name. I was pretty proud of this one, even if it didn’t look like much on the surface.

Count Jacula and a '50s pregnant housewife

My BFF Miranda is several months pregnant and decided to dress as a 1950s pregnant housewife. She should have had a drink and a cigarette to complete the look, but I think she looked really cute!

Scumbag Steve: Invited to a party/Hits on the pregnant girl

Miranda’s husband Joey dressed as Scumbag Steve and left the tag on his hat so he could return it in true scumbag fashion.

Mememememememe!

Our friend, Todd, had the best costume of the night. He was Beaker! He and his wife made that costume and it was amazing. The best part of the night was when he just walked around out front and waved at people, then went across the street to a playground and went down the slide.

Our tiny jack-o-lanterns!

You know, when I was in kindergarten the other kids called me Jack-o-Lantern and I was NOT amused. I’ve mostly gotten over it though. We had fun carving these little baby pumpkins and they still yielded a ton of pumpkin seeds, so I was able to make roasted pumpkin seeds:

The Devil's Seeds

Which are a huge pain. It took me over an hour to get the pumpkin guts separated from the seeds, and then drying them was a whole other issue. I tried putting them in a salad spinner (which was an obvious fail) and then I tried drying them with paper towels (which they stuck to) THEN I remembered that my mom used to dry them with a hair dryer. That was just the ticket. Pumpkin seeds give me a stomachache, but I like sucking the salt off of them and Dan likes to eat them, so all of my hard work didn’t go to waste.

All in all, Halloween was a success, but if I don’t get any trick-or-treaters next year I will cut someone.

Project Tasteless Challenge #2: Pizza Tricks For Treats featuring Joan Holloway’s C’est Magnifique Tomato Tart Pizza Margherita

This week’s Project Tasteless challenge truly couldn’t have been more perfect.

I love it when things just come together and fall into place.  I especially love it when things like Halloween costumes and delicious meals just come together and fall into place.  Months ago, I decided that for Halloween, I had to be Joan from AMC’s Mad Men.  Joan is easily one of my favorite characters on the show; I find her character to be wonderfully empathetic and of course, she’s insanely beautiful and elegant in a way I envy and admire.  I’ve never done any kind of sexy Halloween costume, but I felt like I could emulate Joan while keeping it classy–after all, Joan is a classy lady!

I mean, really. Look at her!

For the Mad Men season finale, a group of friends and I had a Mad Men party, complete with 1960′s-style party food.  We had chips and onion dip (remember Pete returning the chip-n-dip bowl for a gun in season 1?), cheese balls, deviled eggs, and this amazing tomato tart.  Ezra Pound Cake, where I found the recipe, recommended this dish for a Mad Men party, dubbed it Joan’s Tomato Tart, and described it as “An excellent vegetarian main course option or side dish, this tart is ripe and scrumptious and full-bodied, just like Joan.  No tart jokes, please.” Not only was the tart super easy to make, but it really was delicious.  Here’s a shot of my tart:

Pre-oven. We inhaled the post-oven tart before I got a chance to take a picture.

So, when Rachel announced Project Tasteless Challenge #2: Pizza Tricks for Treats, I knew I had to make a variation of this tart to go along with what turned out to be a very successful Joan costume:

My best friend dressed as Peggy! We were quite a hit!

The tart is essentially a margherita pizza (one of my favorites!) in tart form.  To make my pizza for the Project Tasteless challenge reminiscent of the tomato tart, I added chopped basil to the whole wheat pizza dough and I used full, ripe, juicy tomatoes and soft, fresh mozzarella cheese.

It may not be as pretty as Joan, but it was delicious!

I followed a really simple recipe for whole wheat pizza dough from Allrecipes.com.  You can find the recipe here:

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

I added about two handfuls of fresh chopped basil to the dough when it was finished rising.  Then I assembled my pizza.

Joan’s C’est Magnifique Tomato Tart Pizza Margherita:

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (recipe above)

8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced medium-thin

2 medium ripe red tomatoes, sliced medium-thin, blotted with paper towels

2 handfuls of fresh basil, chopped and added to the pizza dough.  Reserve 1-2 tbsp to sprinkle on top of the hot pizza

2 tbsp olive oil

Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Garlic salt to taste (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Roll out the whole wheat pizza dough on two cookie sheets into desired shape.  As you can see, I went with unidentifiable blob.  Drizzle olive oil over the surface of the dough and spread out with the back of a spoon.  Slice mozzarella and tomatoes into medium-thin rounds and blot the tomato slices with a paper towel.  Arrange the mozzarella over the pizza dough, then arrange tomato slices over the mozzarella.  Sprinkle with kosher salt (or garlic salt) and freshly cracked black pepper to taste.  Bake pizzas 18-20 minutes and let stand for 2 minutes before slicing.

This pizza is wonderfully flavorful and filling.  The whole wheat pizza dough adds an extra touch of sweetness that is balanced out really nicely with the fresh mozzarella.  The tomatoes are juicy, tart, and red–like Joan!

Yum.

Yep. "Marilyn is a Joan."

The costume, the tart, and this pizza were all wonderfully magnifique!  In case you don’t remember this haunting scene from Joan’s dinner party where she sings “C’est Magnifique,” here it is:

God, Mad Men, how do you do it?

Working It Out: Goals for October

It’s October 1st and it is GORGEOUS outside.  My windows are open, the air is off, and I’ve been going outside without melting into a puddle.  85 degrees in October in Florida?  I’ll take it.  This is a miracle.

A miracle like perfectly toasted bread.

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In September I wanted to work on my ab strength, eat more green stuff, stop multitasking, and own everything I did.  I started going to core strength-ab stretch classes and I bought the Core Fusion Abs and Arms DVD.  My abs are still hiding under there, but I’m working on it!  I did a good job of sticking with that goal.  I ate my greens every day.  Every single day.  As far as multitasking goes, I started out fairly well, but then I realized that if I don’t multitask while doing my job, I’ll die of boredom.  I owned a lot of stuff–not everything–but a lot, including my birthday, which I’d been a sourpuss about until my best friend threw me a surprise birthday party.  This September was a way better month for me than last September.  Last September was no good.  No. Good.

I’m excited about October.  Cinnamon brooms and gourds are in the stores, Peanuts specials are starting to come on TV, fall is here, I have a new workout plan, and I’m going to be Joan Holloway for Halloween.

Srsly.

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I already have a great pink dress and I’ve ordered my gold pen necklace from Amazon.  I’m stoked.

Anyway, I’m feeling good about October.  Onto the goals!

Goal #1: Eat smaller meals more frequently.  This is one I know I should already be doing.  I had a session with a trainer at the gym the other day and we really just talked about what I’ve been doing for exercise, what I needed to switch up, and then she asked me how often I eat.  I got a little red and shamefully admitted that I usually have three meals and maybe a morning snack sometimes when I remember.  She was not pleased.  She said I absolutely have to have a pre-workout snack and a post-workout snack, and to pare down on my actual meals to make room for those snacks.  I did well today; scrambled egg and whole wheat toast for breakfast, Greek yogurt with wheat germ for a morning snack, minestrone soup with a piece of crusty toasted whole wheat baguette for lunch, an apple with Justin’s Nut Butter for a pre-workout snack, a glass of fat free chocolate milk for a post-workout snack (which helped me feel so much better almost immediately) and a mushroom sandwich at dinner with friends.  I can definitely eat like that every day and I know it’s way better for my metabolism.

Goal #2: Core Fusion 3 times a week I bought the Core Fusion Abs and Arms DVD (and I had to buy the band separately because it didn’t come in the box as promised) and I’ve done it a few times, but I know myself well enough to know I need to set an actual goal and schedule to stick with it.  I’m not big on DVDs, but I can tell it will be helpful.  I’m shooting for 30 minutes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, which are my lighter days at the gym or my days off.

Goal #3: Start Next Level Training I don’t quite know what this is yet.  The trainer described it as 30 minutes of cardio and strength training at the same time and said “it’ll make you want to die, but it’s great.”  She’s having me do this immediately after spinning on Wednesdays.  I’m not sure if she’s insane or if I’m insane, but I’m going to do it!

Goal #4: Get my ass to places on time.  I don’t know how I became one of those assholes who’s always late.  I think it’s mostly from hanging out with people who tend to be late; I got so used to being the first person everywhere that I started to get self-conscious, so I started showing up late to things too, knowing no one else would be timely.  Living alone is also a contributor.  Since I don’t have anyone around to take getting ready cues from, and my concept of time is a little wonky due to my poor math skills, I sometimes just hang around until I have like, 20 minutes to get ready for something and then I forget to factor in travel time.  It’s a mess.  In October, I vow to be on time for both social events and for work.  At least most of the time.

Goal #5: Attempt to be less self deprecating I had a good talk with my BFF the other day about how self deprecating I am and how I probably shouldn’t be.  Most of the time, I do it for comedy, but I clearly need a new act.  I won’t become a peace-loving hippie or a “we’re all beautiful creatures” type, but I’m going to try to chill out on the self deprecation a bit.

So there’s October.  I’m going to try desperately to not listen to my insanely awesome Halloween CD until it gets closer to the actual holiday.  Just remember…

GHOSTBUSTIN’ MAKES ME FEEL GOOD!

What are your goals for October?  More importantly, what are you going to be for Halloween?