An Unorthodox Halloween – Page 35

Sick day.

I was hoping to be able to post some progress this weekend, but being laid up in bed for the weekend sure halted that thought in a hurry.

So, what to do while miserable?

Work on the music.

Music is such a key part of any haunt. In fact, one of the things I was most proud of our haunt in the past was the soundtrack. This just begged a particular brand of music

From Halloween 07

And, we collected music from around the world, from famous Taiko groups like Kodo

and Portland Taiko (I find their CD’s to be of superior sound quality…)

To African Djembe music from anonymous sources, and even my younger brother…

And even some Native American, Aztec, and Mayan music as well.

However, The Harvest needs a different flavor all together.

From The Harvest

Something more classic, and subtle.

Now a lot of haunters will tell you “just grab a midnight syndicate CD and call it good”. It’s hard to argue against Midnight Syndicate…

However, the feel is entirely too gothic in nature. A track here or there might have the right feel I’m looking for, but searching for them is difficult. The same holds true for the equally popular Nox Arcana.

Both groups are superb at capturing the feeling of what each CD is designed for. The problem is, neither had gone for a “harvest” feeling.

Last year, we played a few selections from Robert Short. And, while I was happy with those, I need variety. Listening to a few tracks over and over for hours gets annoying.

This weekend I discovered Northaunt. I think we’re circling in on a soundscape for The Harvest, but I’m not entirely convinced we’re 100% THERE just yet…

The first, uh…thing…of 2011 has begun.

I suppose we should name it.

Hadn’t thought about that.

Heady on my purchase of the torches, we went back for more on Saturday, and bought what I was ORIGINALLY going after to begin with. Of course, I could not afford ALL of what I wanted, so we had to settle for just the framework this weekend.

The end piece will measure 6′ tall, but the head is down around the 4′ mark, to stare those 8-10 year olds in the eyes.

From 2011 buildup

Just what the heck is it, though?

Well, the body is drawing inspiration from skull and bone’s 2006 kreep. But the right hand will be holding a lantern, and the head is coming right out of my own past, drawing from the good ole pelvis bone.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

I’ve used one of these on several occasions, in fact, it’s what started it all at this house:

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

(wow…a few years ago that was the entire display…)

It’s only fitting to bring the thing back. We’ll be taking a rough mold of one, and doing a little sculpt work, maybe even adding a ‘lower jaw’ to the thing.

From 2011 buildup

It’s going to end up a real Chimera…which is not a bad name after all. We hope to replace the scarecrows with different Chimera this year.

Hail to the King.

LONG time readers will know about my fascination with the Island King Tiki Torch. From it’s debut in 2008, to the 2009 redesign, I have always felt these things were nice, but WELL outside my price range for the yard.

Ranging from $15-$20, it just was never feasible when you needed a bunch.

However, Home Depot today had them on clearance for $3.

From 2011 buildup

I just couldn’t pass that up.

From 2011 buildup

We may even go after some more.

Time to begin…

Well, it’s not to say we’ve finished with the cleaning up.

But, we do have a small workspace now, and barring a sudden windfall to purchase a bunch more organizational materials, the rest of the plans to re-organize the garage will have to wait until next year. In the spring, we’ll be doing some work in the shed, which will lead to even more room, but it has to wait until I can move out all the patio furniture to work in there.

So, after a weekend of getting everything as set as it’s going to get for a few months, it’s time to look forward at what the first project is going to be.

This is the time of year I like to try out NEW things. That way, if it falls totally apart, I can fall back on my tried and true methods later.

Years ago, I learned to make molds around this time, for instance. Last year, we tried our hand at animating props…and utterly failed.

It’s time to revisit that idea of animation, and this time with more than an idea of how it should work. I’ve been reading over a MARVELOUS site for animation over at Johnny’s Ghosts. Now, I’m not really needing those ghosts in particular, but if I can figure out the ins and outs of his puppetry, we can use the idea to our own purposes.

General Uno’s All Purpose Orangy Oriental Chicken.

As long time readers know, cooking, for me, is yet another hobby of mine.

Most of the time I’ll just throw something together it’ll be ‘good’, and we’ll move on.

And, I rarely get to eat Chinese food around here, as my wife doesn’t tend to like it much. Fortunately she works often, and I’ve been circling in on a favored dish of mine for quite some time: General Tso’s chicken. Now, I’m SURE there are loads of recipes for this online, but what’s the fun in THAT? It’s been trial and error.

The other night, I had a bad day, and she was home. I told her I wanted to experiment, and she agreed. Intent on bringing it all together at last, I was frustrated to find some of the key ingredients had been lost due to a recent fridge failure incident. SO…I made due….and came up with something even better. When the boss said ‘you need to write that one down’, I knew we were on to something special. So, this weekend, we made a final batch, fixing the few mistakes we made last time.

So, here it is, some kind of bastard cross between General Tso’s and Orange Chicken.

The Sauce:

1 1/2 Cup Chili Sauce (Ketchup will work as well)
1/4 Cup Orange Juice (add this last, little less/more to taste)
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/3 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
2 cloves Garlic, minced
pepper sauce to taste*(I like Cholula brand, about 2 TBS (Tobasco, etc))
1 TBSP Rosemary
1 1/2 tsp Ginger
Pepper to taste
3 TBSP Corn starch

Throw that all in a sauce pan and simmer until thickened to the desired consistency.
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The Chicken:

Cube a bunch of boneless/skinless chicken breasts. Take a bit of that sauce above (about 1/3 or enough to cover) and marinade that chicken for 2-24 hours.

In a baggie, mix:
3 cups Flour
2 TBSP Curry powder
2 tsp pepper

Take that marinaded chicken and dunk it in the flour mixture, and spread out onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes, until cooked.

Now, transfer that to a pan/wok sprayed with pam, and stirfry with your favorite veggies. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top, and serve.