Free bread at Il Fornaio

Grown-ups need treats too. To celebrate their 10th anniversary in Seattle, Il Fornaio will be handing out free full-size ciabatta bread on Halloween at the Bakery Café, atrium level in Pacific Place. The offer is good only on October 31 while supplies last. The Bakery Café is open from 9am-8pm on Friday.

Il Fornaio ("the baker") began in 1972 as a baking school in Barlassina, Italy, in the Lombardia region. The first Il Fornaio bakery in the U.S. opened in 1981 in California; the restaurants were later added in 1987.

For Halloween and All Saints' Day, Crémant is preparing a special bones and blood menu featuring roasted marrow bones with fleur de sel (hand-harvested sea salt) and grilled bread, and choucroute garnie-- sauerkraut with blood sausage, boudin blanc (white sausage made with veal, pork and/or chicken) and pork loin. Reservations are recommended. Call 206.322.4600.

The roasted marrow bones (os à moelle rôti) is also served with parsley salad ($12) as part of Crémant's new brunch menu and as is during dinner ($12).

Very charming and intimate, Crémant is on 34th & Union in Madrona. The restaurant offers traditional French cuisine.

Combine the classic slider appetizer, with the gross-out opportunity of a Halloween party and you get this clever spin on the miniature hamburger. Grass-fed beef, white cheddar, and a homemade ketchup seem innocent enough until you garnish with your favorite scare tactics.

Maggot Slider Ingredients
Ground chuck (80% lean max), 2 pounds
6oz white cheddar
1/2 cup cooked white rice (aka "maggots")
12 leaves fresh basil
6 brioche or potato rolls
1 cup ketchup
salt & pepper
olive oil
Dijon mustard
12 wooden skewers

Preparation
1) Slice cheese into 12 equal pieces. Form small patties around each piece of cheese with the ground beef.
2) Roll edge of sliders in rice then press with fingers to adhere.
3) Heat olive oil in saute pan on medium high. Cook burgers until browned on each side, being careful not to overcook. Should take about 5 minutes per side max.
4) Cut brioche rolls in half and trim into squares. Toast bread, then dab with Dijon mustard.
5) Add one basil leaf to each piece of toasted bread. Top with a burger and skewer.
6) Place burgers on platter and drizzle with ketchup.
7) Decorate platter with plastic flies, bugs, and clumps of rice (aka "maggots").

Halloween-themed candy doesn't have to be nothing but processed sugar and chocolate to taste great, although it certainly doesn't hurt. Fruit can add a slightly different spin on the Halloween holiday, like in these blackberry bat wings, which are basically a homemade fruit leather or fruit roll-up cut in wing-like shapes. The ingredients and cooking process make it simple and kids and adults will both love them. You can use the recipe outside the Halloween holiday to make homemade fruit leather.

Blackberry Bat Wings Ingredients
Blackberries, 4 pints
3/4 cup sugar

Preparation
1) Puree sugar and berries. Strain the puree into a sauce pan to eliminate any seeds.
2) Cook on medium heat stirring occasionally until the puree is reduced by 3/4.
3) Place a Silpat or waxed paper on a sheet pan. Spread reduced puree on the covered portion of the sheet pan.
4) Bake on sheet pan at 200 degrees for 1-3 hours until the top is almost not sticky to the touch.
5) Allow to cool for 3 hours. Tear or trim with a parring knife into jagged shapes resembling bat wings.
6) Store in airtight container on parchment to keep "wings" separated until serving.

Peanut butter cups have long been my favorite Halloween candy. I'd trade other candies for a Reese's any day. Or I would have until we made these this year. Homemade peanut butter cups beat anything you can buy at the store hands down. And they're incredibly easy to make.

Peanut Butter Cup Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter (all natural)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup ground Graham crackers
8oz bitter-sweet baking chocolate
8oz semi-sweet baking chocolate

Preparation
1) Crush Graham crackers in a gallon storage bag with a rolling pin.
2) In a mixer with a paddle attachment mix peanut butter, powdered sugar and crushed Graham crackers, mixing until you get a consistency that rolls well.
3) Roll peanut butter mixture into balls and flatten. Each disk should be about the size of 4 stacked quarters. Store these on parchment paper in the freezer until ready for use.
4) Boil water in a medium sacue pan filled three quarters full. Place a metal mixing bowl on top of the sauce pan as a double-boiler. Break chocolate into squares to melt in mixing bowl. Melt chocolate, then remove the bowl from the sauce pan.
5) Stir the chocolate until it's cooled to approximately body temperature.
6) Pour a tablespoon of chocolate into a cupcake foil, tilting the foil so that the chocolate coats the sides up about 3/8-inch. When you get a dozen of these, place a cupcake baking sheet in the freezer to cool until firm. Repeat with a second baking sheet of cupcake foils.
7) After chilling, place a peanut butter disk in the center of each foil, then cover the disks with the remainder of the chocolate. Once you cover the full cupcake sheet with chocolate, place it back in the freezer until firm. Chill until serving.