Chocolate | The Happiness Recipe

Happy Belated Halloween! Is that even such a saying? Well it is now since I disappeared from the blog world long enough to miss one of my favourite celebrations… Or what used to be!

Lottie’s pumpkin is her twin complete with a bow and soother since those are her signature accessories!

I’m pretty sure I could still pass for a trick-or-treater but I gave up being greedy in grade 10 when I declared myself “too cool” to dress up. I was never the child with a pillow case (my mom always sewed me cute bags) but don’t be fooled I still collected my fair share of candy because it was a competition between my brother and I who could run the fastest and accumulate the most chocolate. Afterwards we’d sort and trade, organizing them in rows based on their colour and variety. 3/4 of my haul went uneaten considering most chocolate wasn’t nut free, but it was fun nonetheless. I still remember getting chocolate milk or pop from the house on the corner, gum from the dentist, and full sized chocolate bars from the family who worked at Mars. One year we gave out Dips bars because my Dad worked for Quaker, but nowadays we give out mini play-doh!

I bet you could have guessed I’d carve an owl pumpkin! Thanks to my mom’s rubber gloves I finally didn’t react to the seeds!

This year the spark of Halloween was recreated since I took Lottie out trick or treating. As a child my costumes were always homemade by my mom and she continued the tradition by sewing Lottie her red cape. We called her Lottie Red Riding Hood and I think she stole the hearts of many homes that we visited.

… and then she got scared by the big bad wolf

I celebrated Halloween as both Madeline (A throwback since Halloween was on a Thursday this year) and Eloise. While I didn’t attend any dances, on Tuesday our residence had a mini party with candy apples, punch and a pumpkin carving competition. It was a perfect ending after 6 hours of classes! I threw together a last minute costume (Thanks Kelsy for the suspenders) which had me looking pretty close to my favourite six-year-old character. Did anyone else use to envy Eloise who lived in a Plaza with her “rawther” British Nanny, cat-look-a-like pug Weenie, and turtle Skipperdee? I sure wish I had room service or at even just a flat in New York City. I also decorated miniature pumpkins with sharpie markers thanks to the Brescia student council. Definitely a good way to de-stress mid week and a perfect alternative to carving pumpkins since I get welts from the seeds.

Western’s 2 day fall “reading week” could not have come at a better time. Although I have two midterms, a test and a Food handler’s certificate to study for next week, I look forward to catching up on some much-needed rest, family time, friend gatherings, blogging and coursework. It was nice to be home to celebrate Lottie’s first Halloween. Do you have any fond memories from Halloween? What was your first costume and what did you dress up this year? Do you get scared by Haunted houses or graveyards? ♥ Molly

What is a mummy’s favourite type of music? Rap music

What is a skeleton’s favourite instrument? The trombone

Where do movie stars go on Halloween? MaliBOO

What does a bird say at Halloween? “Twick or tweet”

What is Dracula’s favourite fruit? A neck-tarine

Happy National Ice Cream Day! You didn’t think I would forget did you? On Thursday I listed 20 fun facts about myself, and let you know that onions are my favourite food. What I failed to mention was that Ice Cream is making its way up the totem pole.You can’t buy happiness but you can buy ice cream… and that’s kind of the same thing. The pictures in today’s post are just some of the cones I consumed this July… I have a slight addiction but it’s calcium right?

In 1984, President Ronal Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day. He recognized ice cream as a fun and nutritious food that is enjoyed by a full 90 percent of the nation’s population. In the proclamation, President Reagan called for all people of the United States to observe these events with “appropriate ceremonies and activities.” (Source)

Ice cream used to be something I feared and ate only on special occasions. Well that thought went out the window because it is now something I consume on an almost daily basis. I’d like to blame the heat for this recent addiction, but I have a feeling come December, it’ll remain a staple in my diet. There’s no telling when I’ll become sick of it!

The combinations of flavours are endless, not to mention mix-ins, sauces and toppings. I consider frozen yogurt to be a form of ice cream, so my favourite flavours are cappuccino, tart, mango and lime. When I am having real ice cream, I typically have soft-serve so a “twist” of chocolate and vanilla is my go-to. In terms of “harder” ice cream flavours, I enjoy cookie dough or mint chocolate. When I was little I chose ice cream based on the “colour” so I often left with bubble gum, cotton candy or rainbow sorbet since they were all pink! Of course back then I wasn’t allergic to nuts so I could also have peanut butter chocolate. Yum!

My usual mix ins are fresh fruit and I prefer strawberry slices or mango chunks. I really like lychee popping balls as well. They are these little balls that have a soft outer shell and upon applying pressure with your tongue, they squirt out flavourful juice into your mouth. On occasion I add in sprinkles, cookie dough or strawberry sauce.

I had hoped to create an ice cream recipe to share on the blog but I haven’t yet perfected one. This being said I’ve been pinning recipes on Pinterest all week long, so I’ll leave you with some that caught my eye. Of course, you can always try my Banana Soft Serve as well!