When I was growing up there was a lady down the street who was into Halloween even before it was trendy to be into Halloween. We all referred to her house as the witch’s house and even in the light of mid-summer, we would all walk quickly and quietly by her house in an effort not to get her attention so effective was her yearly holiday performance.
She would dress up and talk like a witch, have a ghost wave at us (by pulling on a thread attached to a sheet) and have us earn our treat by cutting into a ghost pie (flour in a tin) where coins were hidden.
The other amazing thing I remember when going into her house was the smell. It always smelled like simmered sauerkraut and since then I have always associated Halloween with the scary, soury smell of pickled cabbage.
Which is why every Halloween, I make sauerkraut and ribs in the crock pot. I start it early in the morning and am sure to open the lid often so that the smell can waft throughout the house.
It’s our own version of Halloween holiday potpourri.
My kids complain, they wrinkle their noses, they gag, but they also know that it just wouldn’t really be Halloween if Mom didn’t make her fabulous stinky food.
1 Comment
October 30, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Have a stinky old time tomorrow. Happy Halloween!