Saturday, November 5, 2011

TRICK OR TREAT



My earliest recollection of Halloween was 1983 at the height of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". As a recent transplant from the Philippines to San Francisco I was well aware of the concept of Halloween, but never participated until then ~ and what a treat it was! Where and when else could you knock on a stranger's door and receive candy? Certainly not in Manila for fear of being branded a beggar and certainly never in my formative elementary years.

Fast forward to 2011 to my condo complex-wide sponsored Hallway Halloween for our condo-mmunity's children. In addition to the the typical fare of store bought candy, chocolate dipped Ritz Crackers and white chocolate drizzled brownies were the perfect personal touch. The unexpected ritzy treat's sweet and salty combo was appreciated by the parents more than the kids, but just as well for showcasing the fruits of my labor born of my recent baking hobby. Based on the parade of toddler trick or treaters, I learned that our condo-mmunity is comprised of young parents with the most adorably costumed children seemingly on their maiden voyage of this American tradition.

"You guys win!" cheered one of the parents who snapped away with his camera. One would expect that a grown man who buys a child's medium sized Superman costume at Target would look to be a trick on me, but to my most pleasant surprise it was the best treat of all to have this fit like a glove (except the legs which were slightly shorter, hence the cropped pics). My dear cohort Tonya joined me as Wonder Woman, making it so much more memorable for the Hallway Halloweeners who were greeted by Super Friends!