HEY WEEKENDER | No. 3 - NIGHT-IN GUIDE TO A SNAZZY SAMHAIN
Going out on Halloween can be good fun and all, but watching a scary movie by candlelight and filling up trick or treaters’ coffers – while answering the door in your favourite Moon + Mellow pyjamas, obvs – has its own charms.
Here’s our big night-in guide to a snazzy Samhain.
The bump-in-the-night bingewatch
If you’re looking to sink your teeth into a series this bank holiday weekend, make it What We Do in the Shadows.
Sure, we could’ve chosen something truly gory or bone-chilling – but we get enough of that from our news feeds. Instead, go for this clever comedy mockumentary from 2018 based on the titular film of 2014 which charts the highs and lows of present-day vampire roommates as they navigate contemporary life while satisfying their blood lust.
While the film was set in New Zealand (it was written, directed by – and starred – Kiwi talent Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement) its TV counterpart is based in Staten Island, New York, and, four seasons in, will have you chuckling into your pumpkin chai.
The throwback thrills
Dust off Joel Schumacher’s 1987 teen black comedy horror The Lost Boys, which made stars of whippersnapper actors Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Haim and Jason Patric.
It’s a far cry from the bougie vampires in the likes of Twilight, who live in a luxurious woodland home that you suspect Dermot Bannon would love, and wear smart tailoring. These lads are 100 per cent punk and live in a bat-infested cave daubed with a Jim Morrison poster, to which Sutherland’s David lures Patric’s Michael in the hope of expanding their fearsome clan.
Haim’s Sam, along with Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander as the horror-comic-book obsessed Frog brothers, provide light relief in a film whose tongue is too firmly in its cheek to follow what in the 21st century would undoubtedly include a sombre backstory of, essentially, young men being groomed by a head vampire – but is here a pleasingly uncomplicated 1980s romp.
The creepy cocktail
Since we’re on a blood-sucking roll, rustle up a Vampire’s Kiss cocktail before you fall on to the sofa in your luxury Moon + Mellow nightwear.
Ingredients:
20ml raspberry liqueur
25ml vodka
ice
handful of frozen raspberries
red sugar to garnish (optional)
champagne, to top up
Method:
Step 1 Chill a martini or cocktail glass. Pour the raspberry liqueur and vodka into a cocktail shaker and add a handful of ice and the raspberries.
Step 2 Shake until the outside of the shaker feels very cold. If using the coloured sugar, dip the rim of your chilled glass into cold water, then into the sugar.
Step 3 Fine-strain the cocktail into your prepared glass and top with the champagne.
As per BBC Good Food website
Or – let’s face it – if you can’t be bothered, order a readymade Craft Cocktail, which are mixed up in Dublin’s BAR 1661 and available online for home delivery and in more than 40 retailers. Flavours include a Whiskey Sour, Aviation, Strawberry Daiquiri, Margaritas and more.
The spooky snack
Apple bobbing at Halloween is fun – but making, or rather eating, toffee apples is even better.
Apple bobbing at Halloween is fun – but making, or rather eating, toffee apples is even better.
Ingredients:
550g sugar
300ml water
6 eating apples
Method:
Step 1 Gently heat 550g (11⁄4lb) sugar and 300ml (10fl oz) water in a heavy-based pan until sugar dissolves.
Step 2 Spear six eating apples with a stick. Once the sugar has dissolved completely – otherwise it will crystallise – turn up the heat and let the mixture boil until it turns a caramel colour. Take off heat and immediately dip the pan in cold water to stop the caramel cooking further.
Step 3 Quickly dip each apple into the caramel to coat, then place on non-stick baking parchment to cool. They should last for 2-3hr before the caramel starts softening.
As per Good Housekeeping website
The spellbinding styling
Frighteningly chic, this Moon + Mellow robe in Nomad Navy will keep out all the chills of Samhain.
Roomy, and in super-soft organic cotton voile, it also has two deep pockets, ideal for keeping an emergency midnight snack stash of sour fang sweets…