Quest for the Caramel Apple

I used to be way into Halloween.  I mean way.

In middle and high school, my best friend Lizzy and I always came up with elaborate costumes and wore them to school.  One year, we were Patsy and the King from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Another year, she made me a fabulous Marge Simpson outfit complete with yellow skin and a huge blue wig.  (She is an artist/seamstress.)  We planned the costumes for weeks and always did something crazy on Halloween night.

In college, I decked out my apartment in decorations and demanded that my roommates plan an annual "Halloween date" with me, even if none of us had boyfriends.  My junior year, I actually did have a boyfriend:

The evening included carving pumpkins, a mummy wrap race, bubbling potion to drink, etc.  Very dorky and fun.  And of course, I wore a Halloween costume all day, even in college.

Well I'm sad to admit it, but for the past few years, I have been a total Halloween fud.  I haven't decorated the house, carved pumpkins, or even thought about Halloween until basically the day of.

I blame teaching.  Honestly, when I expend so much energy trying to be creative for my students (yes, I do decorate my classroom for holidays and wear random costumes for lessons), I don't have any energy left to be fun for myself.

Thank goodness some of our friends in Buffalo, the Evans, force us to have a little Halloween spirit each year.  They host an annual costume party with spooky food, great company, and perhaps best of all...homemade caramel apples as prizes for the costume contest!

These caramel apples are like nothing you have ever seen before: Huge, crisp, green apples enrobed in rich caramel and chocolate, rolled in a variety of candies.  Some applies are rolled in crushed Oreos; others are rolled in crushed Reeses Pieces; some are rolled in crushed Snickers.  Are you salivating yet??

The first year, we arrived at the party as Harry Potter and Hermione.  Though people liked our costume, we didn't win a prize, and I watched in dismay as other colorful characters walked away with the coveted caramel apples.

The second year, I was determined not to miss out.  Ryan threw together this Alice in Wonderland ensemble, and, due to his creativity, I was the happy recipient of an Evans Decadent Apple.

This year, we waited until the very last minute, and, with only two hours until the party, we still had not come up with costumes.  Dreams of a divine apple fading away, I desperately searched through our drawers and found my Chinese silk pajamas. With the addition of a red robe for a kimono, a black knee-high nylon for a hair knot, poster board for a rice picker hat, several black pipe cleaner for mustaches, and black eyeliner for temporary "soul patches," we were back in business.

The competition was stiff, but we ended up with an award: Coolest Costumes.  A Twix caramel apple was ours to be devoured.  [Insert "The Hallelujah Chorus."]  Pure bliss.

Thanks, Evans, not just for the apple--mostly for the amazingly fun Halloween tradition!