2009 was my first Halloween in the USA, it also happened to coincide with my girls visiting.

Our first taste of Halloween was visiting the Pumpkin Patch to choose our pumpkins with my niece and nephew.

Next, we had a family carving night.  Kids young and old had so much fun!

The front step, now resplendent with Jack-O-Lanterns.  Emily gets the prize for most evil, Susan gets the prize for most scaredy cat-like.

Scarefest.

St Louis is well known for it’s haunted houses.  No, not REAL haunted houses, but houses dressed up by Hollywood crews and inhabited by actors dressed as monsters lurking in doorways and camouflaged into the walls.

OMG

It was the most Awesome thing I had ever done.

UNTIL

We went to Knott’s Berry Farm, which at the time was called Knott’s Scary Farm.  It had also been dressed up for Halloween and had actors dressed as monsters, and the rides had been changed for the event as well.  I’d have had a heart attack on several occasions had I not been having such an awesome time.

Halloween 2009 ROCKED!

***I stole the two photos of Scarfest from Scarefest.com***

Hickam Air Force Base held it’s Open Day today.

Dayum!

Americans know how to entertain the masses.  It was incredible.

The highlight of the day were the Thunderbirds.

I’ve always loved aircraft,  I could watch planes take off and land all day long. Seriously.

Thunderbirds, unsurprisingly, turned out to be something frighteningly close to orgasmic.

Tomorrow… barbecue and football.  Stay tuned.

The boys are going to need a little more practice, methinks. 

OH.MY.GOD!

It was a massive day – we were picked up from our hotel in New York at 2:30am, dumped at the airport at 4:00am, caught a plane to Washinton DC at 6:20am….

*taking a deep breath*

We arrived at Dulles airport at 7:20

It was at this point that I started to feel human and realised I had my camera with me.

Caught a bus to the Metro station at 9:15

Lined up for an hour to get a train ticket.

Travelled for 50 minutes in a packed train

Walked 1 mile from Foggy Bottom station

to the park right between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Memorial to where there were part of the 2 million strong contingent who had the same stupid idea we had.

I lined up for half an hour to use a porta-loo on the way there to find that there were a million of them with no lines at our destination.  D’oh!

We found our spot, behind a tree that pretty much completely obstructed our view of the Jumbotron.

Our spot WAS, however, perfect from a crowd point of view and to be honest, I dont think there would have been anywhere on that day that wasn’t perfect. The crowd was amazing.  I was feelin’ the love!  See the woman on the left of the photo below?  We were crying and hugging before the day was out.

Not even the Jebus Freaks could spoil the atmosphere!

First, Biden was sworn in…

We were all waiting and watching patiently..

Then Aretha sang….  what was up with that damned hat?

Finally, the time had come….  “Are you prepared to take the oath Senator?”

It was at about that time that I forgot I had a camera again, oops!

That afternoon we repeated the journey, in reverse, back to new York.  We arrived at our hotel at around 9:30pm, exhausted and elated.  It had been an amazing day.

There’s Valerie at The Cupboard restaurant, Nikita at the front desk at La Quinta on Millbranch, Michelle at Marlowe’s Ribs and Restaurant on Elvis Presley Boulevard, the incredible and vast amount of staff at Graceland. Then there’s gorgeous and outrageously funny strippers from Crystal’s I met while having a cigarette outside BB King’s Blues Club on Beale Street, and all the people I have run into, been served by, randoms I have asked questions of….. they have all been incredibly sweet, well above and beyond the call of duty.

Having an Australian accent down here always makes for a spirited conversation.  I have chatted to all sorts of people, including street people asking for money (of which there are many).  They just LOVE the accent, it really makes people smile.  Awesome!

I love the South…. I never want to leave.

Taken in Grafton, Illinoi.

I have been completely captivated by these incredible creatures.  I can’t get enough of them.  I dare say I will have a few more shots in this Flickr set before I leave Illinois.

We had a call from friends of ours recently.

It seems they are getting married in Hawaii next month.

Right about the time we are leaving the country for Christmas in Illinois before heading to settle in San Francisco.

Damn.

Looks like we have to make a slight detour.

For Brad’s first Thanksgiving in Australia, I had to find a good Pumpkin Pie recipe.  That was not as easy as you might think as, at the time, the vast majority of recipes included a ‘can of pumpkin pie filling’.  I have never really been a ‘can of’ kind of girl, and have always made things from fresh ingredients, so when I came across the following recipe, I couldn’t have been happier.

He says it’s the best pumpkin pie he has ever eaten… but don’t tell his Mum!

This recipe makes enough for two pies – don’t halve it, as both pies will disappear in no time, but they do keep very well for several days in the fridge, so they can be made well ahead of time.  They also freeze very well.

Ingredients:

● 3 eggs
● 1/3 cup brown sugar
● 1/3 cup caster sugar
● 2 cups mashed pumpkin – jap or queensland blue
● 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
● 1 tsp. ground ginger
● 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
● 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
● 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
● pinch salt
● 3/4 cup thickened cream
● 1/2 cup reduced fat cream
● 1 cooked 23cm shortcrust pastry case (recipe to follow)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 220C

2. Beat eggs and sugars together until light. Stir in pumpkin, spices and salt and mix thoroughly. Stir in both lots of cream. Pour filling into pastry case.

3. Cook the pie for 8 minutes, then reduce heat to 160C and cook for another 40-45 minutes or until filling is set (a knife inserted in the centre will come out clean). Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.

Short Crust Pastry – enough for 1 pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups (250g) plain flour
• 125g unsalted butter, chilled, finely chopped
• 1 egg, chilled

Directions:

1. Process flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Whisk egg and 1 tbs chilled water in a bowl until combined, then with food processor motor running, add to flour mixture. Process until mixture begins to form large clumps, stopping machine before mixture forms a ball.
3. Turn pastry out on to a work surface and knead gently to bring together. Form into a disc for a round tart or into a log shape for a rectangular tart. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours

Have fun, and let me know what you think!

40th dinner – Bob and Phyllis

Originally uploaded by Kerri McCrorey

I’m late for Mother’s Day and getting in by the skin of my teeth for Father’s Day.

Thank you for being such wonderful in-laws. It makes not having my own parents around a lot less depressing at these times.

I love you!

We have a few *choke* things to do this weekend, and it’s not good news. We are renovating our house and I would like to get most of it finished this weekend.

So….

Tonight we veg, drink and eat crap food, tomorrow we empty the laundry. UGH! This is not going to be pretty. The washing machine is now 5 years old and I have NEVER cleaned under it. Let’s face it, who the fuck cleans UNDER their washing machine? I can barely open the linen cupboard door, let alone find enough space to manoeuvre the washing machine out of it’s cosy little nest. So that is something special to look forward to tomorrow morning. I may put a few things I find under there on ebay, so keep an eye out!

Isn’t it amazing how things get so much worse by just thinking about them? That laundry has gone from a small job I could do by myself in a day (huh!) to a gargantuan effort involving two adults, a scaffold and possibly a forklift. Not sure about the forklift, it depends on how the auction goes and if I can find some suitable shoes to match.

If that gets finished this weekend, we move into darker, more evil territory. The master bedroom. The master bedroom is so bloody awful, I can’t describe it. Just let’s suffice to say that it needs serious work (although it already has a bea-u-ti-ful brand new paint job).

Have a great Easter weekend!