Review Day: Endangered Species Creme Filled Chocolates (Almond Butter and Coconut)

So, I'll admit.

Sometimes vegan Halloween sucks. Especially if you're like me.

Yeah, I know we still have a lot of candy that we can eat. But do you know what I like? CHOCOLATE. Fuck those fruit candies we get. I mean, sometimes they're nice, but 90% of the time I'd rather be digging my teeth into a candy bar.

And I'll be honest - my chocolate making skills are ABYSMAL. I've tried multiple times. They always come out terrible. It's frustrating. And let's not forget that I'm a broke college kid, so going to the natural health food store to get myself a candy bar is like going to Fifth Avenue and asking for something from Tiffany's.

The struggle is real, folks.

But then, out of the darkness, the parents of the broke vegan college kid emerge and behold! A BAG FILLED WITH HALLOWEEN CHOCOLATE FROM THE AFOREMENTIONED HEALTH FOOD STORE?

BLESS. It's like heaven raining down upon your face in the form of sweet, chocolatey goodness.

But some of you may not have parents that are as supportive as mine when it comes to your veganism. Trust me, I've heard HORROR stories. I'm incredibly grateful that mine as so helpful, but I understand that not everyone is in the same situation. So, I like doing these reviews so that you can save some money if you can or, if something is awesome, you'll hear about it and go check it out!

So, let's get down to the CHOCOLATE.

Now, from what I remember, I think Endangered Species Chocolate just came out with these creme filled ones? If I'm wrong, please correct me. I love this brand. The chocolate is good, they inform you about animals, argh! So delicious. So I was excited about the creme filled ones, and it's been a while since I had creme filled chocolate anyway.

First, I tore into the coconut one. I'll admit that I'm not a huge coconut lover. But I was hopeful with this - I'm more against the texture than the taste. (Ew to shredded coconut, now and forever. There's a 90% chance you'll never see a recipe on here with that nasty stuff.)

Little squares of magic.

The inside of the wrappers give you neat animal facts, too!

So, once this was all out of the way, I took a bite, and...

Huh.

It's not BAD.

But where's the creme?

Did it hide?

What's this nonsense?

THIS ISN'T CREME.

In all honesty, it just really wasn't creamy. It had a nice flavour, and it was waaaay more mild than I expected it to be (I think coconut tends to be overwhelming) and it blends in well with the dark chocolate. But, hmm. The texture left something to be desired.

Also, can I mention that these bars feel a LOT richer/more decadent than the normal ones? Two squares of this and I was groaning over the fact that I had to review another bar.

So, I tore into the almond butter creme bar.

The cremes look suspiciously similar in terms of colour. And honestly, the amount of creme to chocolate in this one was even worse than the coconut one. Which is a shame, because the bit I tasted was WONDERFUL.

Overall I preferred the almond butter creme, and I would gladly eat these if someone gave them to me, but I don't know if I'd buy them. I was just really disappointed by the amount of creme in them. Especially because these are their first creme bars (I think)- I thought they'd really want to step it up. But yeah, one square and you'll be knocked out for the count. So you do get your money's worth!

I hope you all have a lovely and safe Halloween tomorrow!

xo, Kate

Book Buddies - Rod Serling's Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves

So today was fun!

My class was canceled, but I forgot to unset my alarm so I still woke up relatively early anyway. I figured I'd get some stuff done for my Halloween party! (And around the house in general.)

My mom and I went shopping yesterday and we picked out supplies together for a nice decoration for the railing on my front porch.

Hehe, isn't it cute? I was so excited, I put this up the minute I woke up!

I also found a new friend at Joanns.

She is Queen Rebecca and I love her. (Her eyes also light up.)

Oh, AND I carved my pumpkin today! (Thanks for the pumpkin, mom!)

But today, we're gonna talk about a fun read for Halloween!

This summer, I went to Belmar with Eric and my friend Julia. We came across this really cool store that sold a lot of vintage comics and toys and other really cool memorabilia. I found this in there, and I knew I had to get it. I've always been a Twilight Zone fan, and I mean Rod Serling was also super attractive, hahaha.

Now, I'll let you know, this isn't a collection of Rod Serling's stories - rather, it's an anthology of horror stories that he picked out.

Like any anthology, there are some stories in this that are better than others. Overall, I was incredibly entertained! The one story that really stood out to me was 'Blind Alley' by Malcolm Jameson. (I looked him up and now I'm interested in reading more of his work!) While reading 'Blind Alley', I was reminded of a Twilight Zone episode, and I was on the money - because it was one.

Overall I really did love this collection. I wasn't really thrilled with Nathaniel Hawthorne's contribution though (but I have very mixed feelings about him in the first place, so this isn't totally surprising to me). I recommend picking this up if you're in the mood for some spooky stories before bed!

Halloween is almost upon us! Do you guys have any fun plans?

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Hocus Pocus (1993)

Hello everyone! It's soooo close to Halloween! Is everyone ready for their parties or nights of entertainment? I'm getting there! I can't wait to show you guys what I'm doing for mine, heh. I'll make sure to post about it on November 1st!

Today I went to visit my parents. Halloween is one of my mother's favourite holidays, so I guess I got this love from her, heh. We went shopping for some Halloween goodies (I'll post about those on November 1st too probably) and we watched 'Hocus Pocus' together! (I feel weird if I DON'T watch it with her during the Halloween season, heh.)

I know this isn't really a horror movie, but it's definitely a Halloween movies.

A warning to my vegan friends: There's two sad cat parts in this, but please note that this is also a kid film, so those scenes do look fake.

It's also one of those movies that I kind of judge people by - if they tell me they don't like it, I just kind of squint at them and suddenly I'm hesitant to trust those kinds of people. No one needs that kind of negativity in their lives, heh.

In case you've somehow been living under a rock/you follow cult classics, I guess I'll summarize this. 'Hocus Pocus' is about three witch sisters who, after 300 years, have been resurrected by three kids on Halloween night. It's up to these kids (and an unusual cat) to put these witches down for good.

Okay, this movie is INCREDIBLE though. Even without my childhood nostalgia, there's a lot of great stuff about this film.

1. Bette Midler. Bette Midler can do NO wrong and she's beautiful and talented and and and just amazing. 
2. Sarah Jessica Parker. She's so weird and ridiculous in this. It's really endearing. I wonder if she does impressions of her character from this when she's in bed with Matthew Broderick.
3. The jokes. THE ADULT JOKES THOUGH. Do you even KNOW how many are in this film? This is back in the day when it was okay to make really crude jokes in kid movies because kids wouldn't understand them but adults would and oh my gosh. (I mean, they still do it now - the Shrek films, okay.) But the jokes in THIS are in a different world - that entire scene with the creepy bus driver, though.
4. Bette Midler's song. I mean, SHE'S GONNA PUT A SPELL ON YOU. I'd be mad if they put her in this and didn't have her sing a song. Get it, girl.

I can't praise this movie enough. It holds up really well with time. I could watch this all year, not just Halloween. It's such a FUN film.

I'll be shocked if anyone that reads this HASN'T seen it, to be honest. It's played on TV SO much around this time of year! It's everywhere! 

My class was apparently canceled for tomorrow, so maybe I'll do something a little different then? We'll see what I'm up for, heh. 

Hope you guys are having a lovely week so far!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Pontypool (2008)

Hi everyone!

Today has been pretty uneventful. Had class, came home. I was trying to get ahead on homework so I have less to worry about this week (and so I can have fun during my upcoming Halloween party!), but the cat has been spazzing out SO much today and driving me absolutely mad, so I'm having a hard time concentrating.

So yeah, here's a movie!

I went into this movie totally blind. Netflix's Max feature has been really buggy for me lately (sometimes it disappears completely, sometimes it has brain farts and stops working, etc.) so I went through Netflix's "Halloween Favourites" category. Which, honestly, isn't as good as it was last year, so I'm pretty disappointed.

I picked this because Netflix really thought I'd like this. That was about it.

'Pontypool' deals with Grant Mazzy (played by Stephen McHattie), a radio announcer in Pontypool, Ontario. (Heck yeah Canada - I wish I had never left, oy.) While on the air, he and his crew realize that they're in the middle of major virus infection, and Pontypool is soon quarantined.

I'm gonna be honest. The entire time I watched this, I kept wishing that McHattie would mysteriously turn into Ron Perlman. Not that McHattie did a bad job in this. I just really prefer Perlman's "grit". Anyone else get what I'm saying? If they ever did an American remake of this, my dream cast would probably beeee... Ron Perlman as Grant, Javier Bardem or Alfred Molina as Doctor Mendez, perhaps Catherine Keener as Syndey (I usually only see her in comedies, so I'd like to see her in a horror film), andddddd I dunno who to cast as Laurel-Ann, ha.

Has anyone ever read anything by Tony Burgess? I'm really curious about his work now!

I loved this film. THIS is a good example of what a slow movie should be. The first half is slow, but we spend that time with character development and understanding how they behave in general. But then the second half? That's where shit gets dark reaaaaaal fast.

Is this a zombie movie? Perhaps. That part is really up to interpretation and your personal opinion of what a zombie is, or could be. I don't consider it to be a zombie film. But hey, that's just me. I would easily understand why someone would call it that. The director doesn't consider it one either - in fact, he calls the infected "conversationalists".

And I mean hot damn, if this doesn't inspire you to learn a least a LITTLE of another language, well. I think I'd be okay in this situation, possibly. Maybe. This film will make you think about languages and what we're so willing to throw around easily, and our general understanding of words.

Note: There's a scene after the credits as well. What're your thoughts on it?

I was REALLY surprised by this. Definitely would recommend this to all of you lovely folk!

Horror month is almost done, but if you wanna try to squeeze in a last minute suggestion, just leave me a comment here or send me an email!

xo, Kate

Movie Madness: Audrey Rose (1977)

So today I'm planning on seeing a couple of friends of mine, so I'm actually writing this the night before, ha! (This is so weird. It's like time traveling except not even slightly.) Let's skip right to the scary movie!

So, I'll preface this by saying that the 70s are actually my least favourite decade in terms of film. I just, I dunno. I feel like most of the movies made then were a huge miss. (Though I do have some exceptions of course!)

'Audrey Rose' is a psychological horror film in which a man believes the daughter of a couple is actually the reincarnation of his own daughter that died. I'd consider this more of a psychological thriller, and even the Wikipedia page for the movie seems kind of conflicted about the subject, but for the purpose of this we'll call it a horror film. It's under the Halloween favourites on Netflix, too.

It's weird seeing a (relatively) young Anthony Hopkins. I mean, I kind of thought he just popped out of the womb looking like Hannibal. He pretty much carried the entire film. I mean, I felt like he was just talking for the entire movie and everyone else just happened to be there. And while he was compelling and wonderful, there's only so much that one can take of just one person talking at them for almost two hours.

The Wikipedia page talks about how when this came out, there were a lot of comparisons drawn between this and 'The Exorcist'. And, well, yeah. I can see that. I mean, possession of a young girl, concerned parents/parent figures, supernatural events, etc. But this just isn't as... exciting? It's so slow. The child that everyone is bickering about is barely even in the movie. How am I supposed to care about her?

Overall, this reminded me of my review of 'The Prophecy', actually - this was like a theology lesson, only this time on the subject of reincarnation. It's just so dry, man.

I just, no no no. Please don't ever make me watch this again. I feel like this would only interest those with a passion for reincarnation, but even then it's so dry it's pretty much unwatchable. I regret everything.

I hope you guys are having a beautiful Sunday! October is almost done, and soon I'll be wrapping up the horror month! So get those last-minute suggestions in!

xo, Kate

Sailor Moon Saturday #17!

So, this was another really rough week.

I was given an assignment for one of my classes that really upset me and my professor wouldn't listen to my concerns. It was draining. I had to write a eulogy for myself. I can't believe anyone would think of that as being a good assignment. I tried to ask for an alternative and was rejected. I had to interview someone for it. It was so uncomfortable and I'm so upset. It was a terrible one too - I just wrote about how I was childless and fat and clumsy and awful. It was really bad. But I made sure to complete all of the objectives, so I hope she doesn't fail me. I don't even think I care anymore at this point though. (I keep trying to tell myself that, but I think an F would freak me out, too.)

At least it's done. It's done, and now I can try to enjoy Doctor Who tonight and ugh. I wish I had money to go out or go by myself a video game. It's almost my birthday and I'm just really not excited for anything right now.

But yeah, it's Sailor Moon Saturday. *forces self to be excited*

Warning: This post is spoiler-heavy for those who have never seen the 90s show or read the manga.

Today we're talking about Nephrite.

So yes, it's another geology day!

I gave a background of his role in the story in Sailor Moon Saturday #15, so if you want kind of an idea of what Nephrite does, it's basically the same thing that Jadeite does.

(Remember how there was an implied relationship between Jadeite and Sailor Mars? Nephrite had the same thing with Sailor Jupiter. Which is great, considering he was actually killed by her in the manga.)

Anyway, geology.

So, in Sailor Moon Saturday #15 I also talked about the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. It'd be a good idea to read up on that again if you forget what it is, but nephrite is a tiny bit weaker than jadeite (clocking in at 6-6.5). And since jadeite and nephrite are so closely related, no one should be surprised that nephrite is a metamorphic rock too! Really, they're both versions of jade.

Nephrite is used in a lot of decorative ways - like in jewelry or beads.

It's commonly used in China (and has really odd names there - they have different names for different colours of nephrite, and they're both food related; mutton fat jade and chicken bone jade). Apparently, they used jade to make these beautiful burial suits for Chinese royalty! Jade was considered to be more valuable than silver or gold, so it was often used in the art of the palaces of the royals.

So I hope this was a fun little lesson for you guys today! I know there's not much here, I'm sorry. I'm just really having a hard time concentrating on stuff and I feel a bit overwhelmed. I hope you guys have a nice day today, and next week we get a new episode of Sailor Moon! So yay!

xo, Kate

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites (Version #1)

So, it's been a while since I've posted a recipe. I know, I know. Honestly, I want to post everything I'm making for my Halloween party, but I just can't make them that far ahead in advance.

However, there's one thing that I can make a week ahead of time - cheesecake. The freezer is your friend, folks.

Now, I will point out that this was my first time making them and I'm posting the recipe as I made it, but I have some suggestions that I'll add in at the end! (I'll probably come back and play with this recipe some more later on.)

I'm generally not a pumpkin fan (when autumn hits, I'm cheering for apple cider!), but I know a lot of people love pumpkin stuff, so I wanted to accommodate to my party gifts a bit and make something that most of them would probably like!

(I apologize for the poor quality of the photo - the lighting in my house is incredibly awful and it is not a photographer's dream.)

ingredients:

for the crust:

• 1 cup crushed graham crackers (Note: Check to make sure they're vegan! Many use honey - I'll show you what I use in a moment.)
• 4 Tbsps vegan butter (I use Earth Balance), melted
• optional: a pinch of cinnamon sugar - I used Trader Joe's brand!

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Get out an 8x8" pan and line it with parchment paper.
3. In a blender, crush the graham crackers. (You can pre-crush them in a plastic bag and then roll over them with a rolling pin - that's what I do.) Add the melted butter and cinnamon sugar.
4. Press the crust into the pan, and bake for six minutes.

These are the graham crackers I used!

Ugh, this is a wonderful product. The second you pop off the lid, you're just hit with the sweet scent of cinnamon and it's absolutely beautiful.

This is the kind of texture you want from the crust. 

While the crust is pre-baking, you can work on the filling.

for the filling:

• 2 8-ounce packages of vegan cream cheese, softened (I used Tofutti for this)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsps flour
• *1 Tbsp cornstarch (I didn't use this originally, but I wish I had. This may be too much or not enough - this is something I'd add the next time I made this, though.)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 Ener-G eggs

instructions:

1. In a mixing bowl, whip the cream cheese for about 30 seconds.
2. Add the sugar and mix it for another 30 seconds.
3. Add the pumpkin puree and mix it for another 30 seconds.
4. Add the vanilla, flour, cornstarch, and spices and mix for another 30 seconds.
5. Mix in the Ener-G eggs - mix for about 10-20 seconds.
6. Pour the filling over the crust, and bake for 38 minutes.
7. Let the cheesecake sit at room temperature (for at least one hour, preferably two). Once it's cooled, put it in the fridge for at least two to four hours.
8. Cut into small bite-sized pieces, or add the optional chocolate drizzle.

optional: chocolate drizzle

• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp refined coconut oil

instructions:

1. Over the stove, melt the coconut oil over low heat. Once melted, increase the heat a tiny bit and add in the chocolate chips. Melt until smooth, then pour over the cheesecake. Let it cool to room temperature, then put the cheesecake back into the refrigerator or freezer.
2. Once the drizzle has hardened, cut the cheesecake into bite-sized pieces.

Mmmmm, cream cheese.

So yeah, my one major edit would be to add some cornstarch to this recipe. Otherwise it's pretty liquid-y. (Though still delicious.) Without it, you should probably stick to pumpkin cheesecake dip or something, dip some apple slices or graham crackers into it. :) 

Let me know if you guys try this out! I'm really curious. I'm starting to like pumpkin stuff a lot more, so that's exciting! I froze this tonight and I'll pull it out when Halloween hits, so I'll have less to worry about for my approaching party. :)

I hope everyone's having a nice night! Take care, dears!

xo, Kate