Is it still a pumpkin if it doesnt come from a patch?

Jon & I really love Halloween. Like really love it. After Christmas, its the one holiday we most look forward to every year! When we were dating, October 30th was our "anniversary", and we loved to throw a party to celebrate. Ask anyone whose been to one of our parties over the years - we go all out. We had an extensive Halloween decoration and costume collection that could have supplied a small store. Every year the collection grew, and got bigger and better. One year we made a life-sized witch for the lawn, made of particle board and black paint. She stood in our "graveyard" stirring her cauldron. A stuffed figure of a man sat eerily silent at the front door, hands in pockets, hat down. A giant black spider crawled over the doorbell, and footsteps and screams came from behind you, playing from a hidden stereo. Even the food was scary, and sometimes gross: green slime to drink, and goblin fingers to eat. We love Halloween for no other reason than it is the perfectly themed party night, where even the guests become a part of the decoration, filling the house with laughter and color. Its hard to not have a good time if you get to dress up.

But even without the blow-out Halloween party, October is the color of love. Theres maize mazes, hay-bale mazes, pumpkin patches, Autumn fairs, roasted corn-on-the-cob and farmed lilac honey and strings of garlic bulbs. Driving to Half-Moon Bay for the Annual Pumpkin Festival was a ruthless trip, and took hours on the weekends, but everyone does it because everyone knows itll be a great time. Walking through Santana Row on the actual Halloween night was an experience to remember. Adults in every costume, some funny, some weird, some really disturbing. But every person having a blast being someone (or something) else for just one night.

But moving to Ireland mean that we had to rid ourselves of most of our earthly possessions. We kept only the non-replaceable and very sentimental things: wedding albums, scrap books, favorite blankets, and a crock pot. Things that we just couldnt part with, or were not worth having to buy again when we moved back. Everything we kept, is graciously stored underneath our parents' houses, so there was limited room. Sadly, our Halloween collection of a lifetime was donated. Sentimental? Yes. Non-replaceable? No. Its just stuff.

So when I wanted to have a small Halloween-themed get-together this month, it was just a little sad to think about the awesome Halloweens of our past. This was the first year in a long time that we havent had our barrels of spooky stuff to choose from. And while Halloween is a pretty big deal to Americans, its a small thing to people here. At our party, one of our new friends carved the very first pumpkin of his life! Hes Jons age, and had never once stuck his hands into the slimy goodness that is a freshly butchered jack-o-lantern! Another friend there said he'd carved pumpkins at his grandparents' farm before, but in the summer, and not even for Halloween. I couldnt locate one pumpkin patch on this side of Ireland at all. I had my five little pumpkins delivered to me from a local fruit&veg seller. They're all the exact same size, and perfectly round and uniform. I miss the freakish oblong ones, the icky warty ones, the Cinderella carriage ones, and the pretty fairy-white ones.

But no matter. We celebrated Halloween Ireland style, and have the baked pumpkin seeds to prove it! It may not have had all the earmarks of what we have come to know and love about Halloween, but it was just another awesome night in our new country. We are constantly learning new things, but it was really great being the teachers for once. Happy October my fellow Americans! Enjoy every second of it for us!

Mussels in Brussels

Belgium answered that longing in my heart to visit exotic places. I always fantasize about traveling to far-reaching lands with sexy-cool names like Istanbul, Vienna, or Cairo. Places that steam with street food while you walk hand in hand with your lover down the narrow cobbled streets at night; gazing at the twinkling stars gracing the velvet sky peeking over dilapidated clay-tiled roofs. Wild, untamed places that feel dangerous and dreamy, teeming with people, some like you: seeking the same adventure of a different kind.

We were only in Brussels for two night and one full day. We were excited to have to learn how to say "Thank you" in Dutch, but turns out that the most common language in the capitol is actually French. Having spent a long weekend in Paris last month, we felt confidant enough about our "Merci"s that we even left the cheat-sheet at home. It was complete with Please & Thank You, but also had such gems as, "Leave me alone, Im not a tourist!" It was also the first trip that we both packed everything we needed for the weekend in to ONE backpack! And it wasnt even full!

Brussels is the perfect spontaneous getaway. To say its beautiful there is something of an understatement. The buildings that surround the Grand Place square loom like trolls in the sun, frozen in time forever while life around them grows and dies, and grows anew. Walking down the corridors of chocolate shops is a treat in itself! The large glass windows shine from within, sparkle with every color imagined, and promise the secret of happiness in a bonbon. Every store has a different ambiance too, like so many sisters lined up in a row: Related, but each having its own unique flavour.

At night, the streets dont really sleep for the night, but are awake with a new crowd. White linen clad tables spill out of every door lining the uneven stone walkways, a romantic flickering candle on every one. The maitre d' is as well-dressed as the tables, and if you catch his eye he will show you a menu and sell you the dish of the evening before you even sit down. Many of the menus feel the same, all sporting mussels and other shellfish by the bucket. We chose a less formal restaurant, and got the last table of the night, the waiter giving us a chastising glare while setting the table and taking our order. The food was hot, the wine was cold, and the street we sat on glistened with all the exciting charms I had hoped it would. And it was perfect.