So, to celebrate the holiday, here's a Roasted Pumpkin Seed recipe:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups raw pumpkin seeds (from the pumpkin you carved, of course)
2 teaspoons butter
Lots of salt.
First, boil the pumpkin seeds in salt water for 20 minutes. Lay them out on a cookie sheet overnight to dry (today is Halloween, however, so we can't wait a whole night. Blow dry them or something.) Add a tablespoon of salt (or more, if you're a respectable individual) and 2 teaspoons of butter. Spread the buttery, salty seeds on a cookie sheet, and bake them for 30 minutes at 300 ºF (149 ºC).
Then eat them.
PROTIPS:
Use garlic salt (or some other flavored salt) to *spice* up the recipe. Garlic salt fits with the Halloween theme, I believe, but don't use it if you're a vampire. Not that you'd need me to tell you.
Instead of butter, use some other oily thing, like olive oil or whatever. Or margarine. Or some combination of oily things. Go crazy.
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Also, here are some salt-related Halloween costumes (it's not too late to change your costume this year!):
This guy knows.
Baby version.
DIY version/Jimmy Buffett Song?
Brand loyalty.
More brand loyalty.
Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka (Is that Charlie next to her?)
Today's post is only nominally related to salt, but I think it still counts.
No doubt many of us are familiar with the world of Willy Wonka, be it from either of the films or from the classic Roald Dahl book. Consequently, one of the more popular characters (in a love-to-hate sort of way) was the spoiled, bratty Veruca Salt.
In the 1971 film, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," Veruca is played by the young Julie Dawn Cole. In the 2005 film, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which shares its name with the original novel, Veruca is played by Julia Winters. I find it a sort of interesting coincidence that both actresses have essentially the same name, were both plucked from obscurity (Veruca Salt being their debut film role), and were both cast at the age of 12.
Julie Dawn Cole in Veruca's big scene. Warning: May Contain Spoilers!
Part of the character's nastiness comes from, in my opinion, an apparent self-awareness. Particularly in the above scene we can see that she knows that she's a total b****, and that just makes it all the more so.
In the original novel, Veruca's inevitable demise (I'll try not to give too much away, for those who are unfamiliar with the story) is caused at the hands of a troop of angry squirrels. In the 1971 film, the squirrels are changed to a few rather indifferent geese, and Veruca sort of causes her own downfall. In the 2005 film, the squirrels are restored.
Now, I read the book when I was a kid, and I've seen the original film, but I've yet to see the 2005 movie. Something about Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka seems more appealing to me than Johnny Depp. It's not that I don't like Johnny Depp, but I've grown rather skeptical of Johnny Depp/Tim Burton pairings (Burton being the director of the 2005 version).
And no, I haven't seen "Edward Scissorhands."
By the way, the name Veruca Salt (my only real connection to salt for this post, after all), has an interesting meaning: "Veruca" is a manipulated spelling of Verruca (from the Latin Verrūca), which is the sciencey term for "wart" (eg. Verruca Vulgaris, Veruca Plantaris). The word "salt" also has some negative connotations that suggest anger, aggression, and piquancy.
