Personally, I am a huge fan of pumpkin at any time of the year. Pumpkin anything is usually amazing and I will rarely pass up the opportunity to eat something made from the beautifully orange squash—pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie (one of the only pies I actually enjoy), pumpkin cookies, ect. However, the one thing I do not appreciate pumpkin-themed is the infamous Pumpkin Spice Latte, aka the “PSL,” from Starbucks.

Mini PSL rant: For the life of me I cannot grasp why this drink continues to be a phenomenon every single year. I get that most of it is due to the hype and everyone’s romanticized view of fall, but what I don’t get is why the masses suffer through such a mediocre coffee drink year after year. I will usually get one PSL, just one, every year at the beginning of the season solely to remind myself exactly how bland and disappointing the drink really is so that I don’t make the mistake of ordering it later in the season.

I suppose I also add to the “movement” by participating in it, but I can’t support it. The only hint of pumpkin in the drink is the potent orange color and the “spice” is tragically nonexistent. If Starbucks found a way to pump up the natural pumpkin flavor and infuse the drink with tangible spices, I would whole-heartedly support the movement; but until then I just can’t. Mini rant over.

Anyways, for this month’s installment of the series I decided to make a pumpkin chocolate chip scone recipe I found on Pinterest by a blog called Baker By Nature.

Here’s a quick refresher of the rules:

• I have to consume 2 drinks before I start, but I can’t drink more than a total of 4 throughout the process just to keep the level of overall danger relatively low.
• I have to come out with a finished product; I can’t just make the batter and be like “tadaaa.”
• I have to get someone to taste test it and give their opinion.

Time started: 9:30 p.m.

What I’m drinking: To honor the pumpkin theme even further I picked up a pumpkin ale made by New Belgium, called Pumpkick. I loved the packaging and was intrigued by the description saying that it had a splash of cranberry juice with the classic pumpkin and spices of pumpkin ale. It took me a couple of sips to taste the spice flavors, but once I did it was pretty surprising how potent it was without being overwhelming. Not sure if I’ll buy it again but it was certainly something different. After finishing my first beer, I took a shot of my Toasted Caramel Black Velvet I finally replaced. Then during the baking process I took one more shot of whiskey with my friends.

Estimated difficulty level: 3/5

I’ve never made scones before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Also for some reason I always associate a recipe calling for an egg wash with being more intensive.

Challenges (besides being intoxicated): Most of the measuring utensils in my apartment were dirty, which is saying a lot because we seem to have an excessive amount. I ended up making due with just a ¼ cup and ½ cup measuring cup which worked fine, but I had to measure the flour twice because I lost count the first time. Also, I only realized when the scones had 2 minutes left in the oven that I forgot to put on the egg wash and cinnamon and sugar topping. To improvise I pulled them out as soon as I remembered, added the topping, let them finish cooking for the last couple minutes and then turned the broiler on until the tops had a nice caramelized coating.

Results

My drunk opinion: They’re super tasty, not a lot of pumpkin flavor though.

Julia’s opinion: “Yooo, they’re good! They’re really moist which is hard to do in a scone. I’d buy them.”

Rylee’s opinion: “I can’t really taste anything right now.” (Her and Julia had shared a bottle of wine at dinner.)

My sober morning opinion: I really, really like these. They are moist like Julia said, without not being scone-like enough and the mini chocolate chips add a perfect balance to the overall less sweet flavor. They are also much more orange than I expected from only half a cup of pumpkin. Maybe the PSL isn’t so unnaturally orange after all.

Final deliciousness rating: 9/10

I love this recipe, definitely going to add it to my favorites.

If you want to test out the recipe for yourself you can find it here.

Check back next month in November for something steeped even deeper in the essences of fall.

Previous Episodes:

Episode 1: Orange Chili Brownies

The post Whisks + Whiskey: Episode 2 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Somehow Pumpkin Month is already nearly over and we are finally in the single digits in the countdown to Halloween. This means if you don’t have a costume yet, it is time to step it up.

We can all agree that witty Halloween costumes are the most entertaining to pick out in the seas of monsters and various “sexy” versions of literally anything. “Sexy Donald Trump,” anyone?

Those who show up to the party in costumes like “Fifty Shades of Grey” or “Heisenburger” immediately make the night even more hilariously strange than it already is.

However, if you are looking at your options this season for the spookiest day of the year and there’s a little voice in your head asking yourself “Is this offensive?” it probably is.

In the wake of instances like this Washington Redskins fan who wore full on red-face to a game in September, and that fact that you can actually buy a sombrero-serape combination costume for your baby (unfortunately, no I am not joking), blatantly racist and offensive costumes are unsurprisingly still an epidemic.

There are literally thousands of options for Halloween costumes to choose from, I mean there are over 20 different costume ideas from Harry Potter alone. There’s seriously so many options that the full two weekends Iowa City seems to utilize for Halloween isn’t even enough to exhaust all the possibilities. With that being said, offensive costumes have become such an integral part of the holiday that sometimes looking through our All Hallows Eve goggles we forget that just because someone calls something their “costume”, doesn’t absolve it from being awful.

Keeping your costume witty rather than offensive really isn’t that hard. Honestly, it really isn’t. However if you are having difficulties distinguishing hilarious from horrific, here are some handy guidelines.

DO NOT:
This one may seem like a no-brainer, but there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to don any sort of blackface, redface, etc. Basically any other “face” than your own is off limits. I shouldn’t even have to include this, but as we saw earlier with the Washington fan and Julianne Hough’s costume two years ago, this sort of thing is apparently not a thing of the past. Sigh.

DO IT:
Grumpy Cat face! Sloth face! Put those paints to good use with any other “face” that does not mock another human’s skin color.

NOPE:
“Sexy” versions of a cultural stereotype, just don’t do it. “Sexy ____” costumes, while comical, are generally pretty unoriginal anyways, but fetishizing another culture through costume is arguably even more offensive than wearing a regular appropriative costume; which you definitely shouldn’t do either, by the way. This includes Geishas, Native American headdresses, sombreros, etc. Basically if it isn’t your culture, do not wear it as a costume. Repeat after me: “Cultures are not costumes, cultures ARE NOT costumes.”

OKAY?
I guess if you really want to go the “sexy” route you might as well do something that will get a few laughs while you’re at it. Just a few gems from around the internet are: sexy pumpkin, sexy crayon, sexy gumball machine, sexy pizza…the list goes on and on. The world is your sexy oyster.

DO NOT:
The previous guideline sort of lends itself to this one: don’t be misogynistic. As mentioned earlier, there are endless possibilities for Halloween costumes. Picking a costume such as a strategically placed genie lamp that says “rub me,” or a “mammogram” box that says “place boobs here,” may seem harmless if not a little crude, but subtly sexually aggressive costumes can contribute to rape culture, something that is unfortunately still an issue on college campuses.

DO IT:
Why be misogynistic when you could be a moose?  Or Tina Belcher and Jimmy Jr. Or a Bob Ross painting. A good guideline for staying away from crude costumes is to think WWGTOT—what would grandma think of this. (Disclaimer, some grandmas are a bit wilder than others. Use discretion when choosing your test grandma.)

The list of guidelines could go on forever, but this is a pretty good starting point. Overall, the number one thing to remember is that Halloween isn’t a free pass to be an insensitive idiot. Being witty is always better than being shitty.

Happy Octoberween!

ALSO:
If you need any other Halloween inspiration, check out special effects makeup YouTuber, Mykie. Her channel, called Glam&Gore, has tutorials for all levels of special effects makeup from beginners to experienced that can be used to create some wicked Halloween looks. She’s currently doing a special Halloween series to get ready for the holiday and her channel is definitely worth a look!

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The post The Walking Contradiction’s How-To Guide: Halloween Costumes appeared first on KRUI Radio.