Halloween cocktails are back!

Yes I know, I've been a pretty lame blogger as of late -- traveling a lot can do that to you. But I am back in the 'hood and very much looking forward to Halloween. I put up my first decoration yesterday -- outside of my basic Halloween Pez dispensers -- and will do more tonight and Friday. Don't want any trick or treaters passing by my place and thinking we're not in the game.

We will have a crew on our front porch like last year sipping on drinks and trying not to frighten the young treaters too much. We're usually pretty well-behaved. But that might change this year since my Halloween cocktail concoctions have taken a turn for the better.

If you remember last year, I had an ill-fated attempt to make candy corn infused vodka. This year however things are looking up. I've been experimenting some with Jolly Rancher hard candies and Nerds. So far, so good.

My first attempt was with the sour apple Jolly Rancher. I infused about two ounces of Stoli's with one-half the candy and let them marinate for about 2.5 hours in the fridge. Since the 2009 attempt was way over the top, I decided to err on the side of caution and only do 1/2 a candy. The result was tasty, although mild. One might want to consider upping it to one whole sour apple Jolly Rancher per two ounces of vodka. It all depends if you're looking for something a little sweet or just a hint of the apple.

Next on my list was Nerds. I know everyone has tried these packed little punches of sugar. Again, I went easy on the combination and only added 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry Nerds to 4 ounces of vodka. Reasonable success for number two as well.

On this one I did some straight sipping via this 2 ounce shot and then did the rest mixed with soda water. Certainly with the latter I had very little Nerds flavor. But with the straight shot you got a decent strawberry flavor, but not a heavy sugar flavor. I got that later in the night when I finished off that box of Nerds. Major mistake. Talk about all sugar! I guess it had been a while since I tried some straight Nerds. Word of advice -- avoid that treat if you're giving them out on Sunday night.

OK finally, the best of the batch, vodka-infused with a Jolly Rancher cinammon fire. I was looking for straight red hots but couldn't find any. Nonetheless I was more than happy with these. Again I only did 1/2 a candy to two ounces of vodka. The result was quite good. I would have taken a bit more heat, but the combination worked great together. I think next time I might go for an entire candy and give them 3 + hours in the fridge. For this first batch I only did 2.5 hours each and the candies had yet to dissolve completely. So if you're looking for something different to offer friends Halloween night, this should be a consideration!

All right, a couple other quick things while I have your attention. Thanksgiving is just a few short weeks away and if you're cooking and are looking for a properly-raised local bird, here are a few sites you might want to check out. I bet you can't go wrong with any of them.

Good Earth Farms
Guttenberg Farms
Heritage Turkey Farm

And I'm sure you know the last Fenton Street Market of the year is set for Saturday, so don't miss the action. It's now being held at the new civic building as opposed to the Fenton and Silver Spring Ave location.

Lastly, any thoughts to my creative idea for fans of Fenton St -- would you like to be called a, FENTONiSTa. OK, be gentle on that one. I've only heard lame remarks on it, so I guess a few more won't hurt me.

If you try my drink concoctions let me know how they go. I'll be sure to post my results. Also, if you have other drink ideas, please pass them on.

The Great Pumpkin comes to SoCo

I think we may have officially made it, the neighborhood now has its own pumpkin patch. It just took root last week on the west side of Fenton, just south of Thayer.

It is being run by the MD-based Norman's Farm Market, who already have a couple vegetable stands in the area, one in Bethesda and the other in Chevy Chase. While ours in not a real vegetable stand -- it is mainly pumpkins and gourds -- they were selling onions, cucumbers, and potatoes when we visited.

Their prices seem pretty good. I know last year we stopped at the one in Chevy Chase either around Halloween or Christmas to pick up some goodies, but we left empty-handed. The prices were just too high for me, so we took a pass. And while I'm confident you could take a drive out Georgia Ave or Colesville to find cheaper pumpkins, this location - at least for me - could not be beat.

So we picked up a couple pumpkins for carving ($0.59 per pound), and then some smaller ones for decorations around the house. I assume we'll be back in the next couple weeks to make additional purchases.

I was told the stand will be open till Halloween and maybe even a little past. And then they're hoping to re-open in the spring since the location where they're located still does not have any kind of solid plan for development. We've heard about it being a mixed use site, but I think it is far from being permitted and who knows about financing.

Either way, I am glad this spot is not just a fenced off section of weeds and trash anymore. So stop on by for your Halloween needs. But don't think you're gonna outdo my carving; I am the master. And yes, I am talking pumpkin-carving trash. I don't have the ability to talk trash a lot anymore, so I have to take what I can get. I'll post my work closer to the big day.

And let's keep our fingers crossed that the Great Pumpkin makes a special SoCo visit on the 31st. I know I'll be out there waiting for him. I may not be sober, but I will be there.

Shabu Shabu

So, I finally tried the new shabu shabu place off Georgia. Have you been there?

I am kidding. There is no shabu shabu restaurant in the hood, although I'd be pretty psyched if there was. If you are not familiar with this kind of dining, it is a Japanese style of dining that involves cooking your food with a hot pot that's sitting at your table.

Since I am back in LA for work, I tried this for the first time the other day at a place called Kushi Shabu in Little Tokyo.. Interesting. I wish I would have been with someone familiar with this type of dining or received some kind of instruction from my waitress, but alas, neither was to be. But I made it through OK on my own.

Here is the hot pot that I mentioned. When I was seated I first thought it was some kind of scale to weigh my food. I thought, oh Lord, do I really wanna know the weight of the food I'll consume tonight. But it became quickly apparent it was not a scale when the waitress placed a pot of water on top and turned the device to high.

I ordered the seafood shabu shabu meal, although meat seems to be the protein of choice for most SS meals. My dish came with a few fried skewers of seafood and then a plate of raw items which were to be cooked in the hot pot. I also ordered some pickled veggies, since I almost always LOVE these when I can find them in Japanese restaurants. This meal was no exception.

The fried items were pretty easy to deal with. No cooking involved here. My only choice with these was to decide what sauce to use as a dip. I had my choice of peanut sauce, soy sauce, and another one that was kind of thick and a bit tangy. I sampled a bit of each with these skewers. While they were all quite tasty, I could not ID which type of seafood each was. Besides the shrimp, most of the others were a bit of a mystery to me. But hey, deep fried seafood on skewers works for me whether I know what I am eating or not.

After the fried dish I was brought my appetizer -- oshinko -- or Japanese pickled vegetables. I am never sure what will come on the plate, but almost always I am happy with the mix. This night I had some gobo (burdock root), radish, carrots and cabbage. All oishi. I could eat this stuff about every night of the week. I definitely need to figure out how to do this myself since I pretty much never see it in our neck of the woods.

Next came my plate or raw seafood and uncooked noodles that I was supposed to cook in my hot pot. Hello, a little direction here. But none was coming. I'm glad I cook Asian meals on a somewhat regular basis so I wouldn't ruin everything. But still, it was a bit unnerving.

The clams and fish were pretty straightforward. And I figured with the noodles I would just taste them after they had cooked a while to see if they were done. So that did work OK. And the other seafood items, squid, langostine, and some mystery fish also came out all right. But hey, what was I supposed to do after that?? I had my mix of sauces, but had no clue how to proceed. So I just flew by the seat of my pants. A little soy here, some peanut sauce there, the other sauce whenever. I mean it turned out decent, but you can't just willy nilly add sauces to your seafood and noodles without some kind of game plan. And I had none. Again, some guidance would have been appreciated. I also needed help finding my cellophane noodles in my pot. After they cooked they essentially became transparent and good luck trying to pull those guys out. I gave up on them and used the rice which was provided as a side.

I read after the fact that traditionally the rice would be added to the leftover broth in your hot pot. However, had I known that I kinda doubt I would have done it. It seemed to work better eaten with my cooked seafood and sauces.

I'm ready to try it again, but the next time supervision is a must!