Dredge the beef cubes in the flour and brown in the oil, tossing, for 5-10 minutes. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a heavy pot. Ghoulish GoulashĢ pounds cubed beef, handful of flour, 2 tablespoons olive oil or lard, 1 garlic clove, 2 tablespoons onion powder, 2 tablespoons sweet paprika, 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, salt and pepper to taste, 2 bay leaves, about a cup chopped plum tomatoes, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 2 cups low-sodium beef broth. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until it’s done. Put raw meatloaf monster/rimmed sheet on the middle rack. Stick a pan of water on the rack below the meatloaf if you want, to keep the turkey from drying out. Dump the turkey mixture on the sheet/foil and slap into monster shape of choice. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and oil the foil (lightly). Hands are best for mixing, and the sound this makes will be truly ghastly. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and one below. Monstrous MeatloafĢ pounds ground turkey, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 cup basic bread crumbs, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, extra ketchup, two green olives. And we observe Halloween as seriously as Christmas.ĭinner Halloween Eve is usually pizza on the fly, but a night or two before we’ll have our traditional spooky dinner of Monstrous Meatloaf, Ghoulish Goulash, and Mashed Potato Ghosts (any mashed potatoes molded into ghost shapes with caraway seeds for eyes). There’s a man around, and no cats (I’m allergic), but we do keep a mean little female dog. Twelve years later, my girls and I live in a similarly disheveled yellow house with a falling-down fence and an overgrown yard. Mother Witch puts Little Witch to bed with some personal wisdom: “That book has a very stupid ending! Nobody lives happily ever after. Little Witch reads the rest of the book to her mother and aunts and cousin. “But Mother Witch, didn’t you read about the poison apple? And the evil queen? And the ugly old witch?” Mother Witch wails, “But this book is terrible! It’s all about a lovely princess who lives happily ever after!” She confesses, telling them that she loves stories and that, in spite of her mother’s directive, she’s learned to read. When Little Witch gets home from school the big witches confront her. They search her room and find a book: Snow White. She’s drowsy in the morning, and the big witches notice. Little Witch is good but her mother and her aunts want her to be bad: “You cleaned your room again!…Little Witch, when will you learn to be bad?” Then, “Go to school if you want, but remember, don’t learn anything!” In Little Witch Learns to Read, Little Witch hides her library books and stays up reading late into the night. Little Witch lives in an unkempt but adorable little yellow house with Mother Witch, Aunts Grouchy and Nasty, Cousin Dippy, and a couple of cats. Preferring witches to princesses anyway, they took to the series with relish. I ordered the books and read them to my daughters, then seven and four. I searched the internet until I found the image that matched. I’d read the books myself as a kid, and a sketch of a helter-skelter little-girl witch began to haunt me impishly. Her witches, like others in film and fiction, are outsiders, oddballs, and single mothers by choice. As do most witchy stories, Hautzig’s offer an alternate vision of family-an alternative to mainstream society’s preferred template. Check you local library for more adventures with Little Witch.I rediscovered the Little Witch books by Deborah Hautzig in 2008, the year the market crashed and I got divorced. Maybe kids will be curious about Little Witch and want to hear more of her stories. The “Doors of Wonder” series is meant to enhance a child’s reading experience, not replace it. It is a cute Halloween video for youngsters. The kids come to accept her for what she is, and her family comes to the realization that they, too, like her for what she is, a good witch. She shows the neighborhood kids how being friends with a witch can be fun, especially on Halloween. Most of all, she wants to have a “bestest friend.” The problem is she and her family are different from the “normal” families. The story is about a little girl who just wants to fit in. They just don’t understand her good intentions. She is a good witch, which is unacceptable to the wicked witches. Little Witch was born the day after Halloween, unlike her aunts and her mother, who were born on the scary holiday. The video is based on the “Little Witch” book series by Deborah Hautzig. “Little Witch” is part of Sony Wonder’s “Doors of Wonder” series, a collection of home videos based on illustrated children’s books.
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