The Halloween Party Playlist

This week, we bring you the perfect Halloween soundtrack by Randall Poster, one of the greatest music supervisors around (think Royal Tenenbaums, Country Strong, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Boardwalk Empire, and more), and a strangely awesome way to make your party extra cool by the amazing food art duo, Bompas & Parr.

Love,
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Halloween Playlist:

You can listen to our entire playlist on Spotify by clicking here, or click on each individual song to listen.

	"Death Potion" by Early Man from the album Death Potion.
	"Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog)" by Sister Double Happiness from the album Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson.
	"I Walked with a Zombie" by REM from the album Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson.
	"You’re Gonna Miss Me" by The 13th Floor Elevators from the album The Very Best Of: Going Up.
	"Demon Tied to a Chair in my Brain" by Dax Riggs from the album We Sing of Only Blood or Love.
	"Monster" by Kanye West (featuring Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Bon Iver, and Nicki Minaj) from the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
	"Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group from the album They Only Come Out At Night.
	"River of Blood" by The Black Angels from the album Phosphene Dream.
	"Nail In My Coffin" by The Kills from the album Blood Pressures.
	"Blood Moon" by Deer Tick from the album The Black Dirt Sessions.
	"Me and the Devil" by Gil Scott-Heron from the album Me and the Devil.
	"Black Ghost Blues" by Lightnin' Hopkins from the album Double Blues.
	"Death" by White Lies from the album To Lose My Life.
	"I Put a Spell On You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins from the album Cow Fingers and Mosquito Pie.
	"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" by George Harrison from the album Brainwashed.
	"Is There a Ghost" by Band of Horses from the album Cease to Begin.
	"The Ghost Who Walks" by Karen Elson from the self-titled album.
	"Running Scared" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, from the album Kicking Against the Pricks.
	"The Devil" by Anna Calvi from the self-titled album.
	"Heebie Jeebies" by The Boswell Sisters from the album It's You.

Bompas & Parr

A Jelly project by Bompas & Parr. Photograph by Chris Terry.

Sam Bompas and Harry Parr are a London based food design duo. Famous for their jellies (jello, in US English), they also create spectacular feasts and food-related events. Their most recent book, a foray into making the perfect drink, Cocktails with Bompas & Parr, was published in the UK in September. Here are two of their recipes that are perfect for a Halloween party or event.

Glow in the Dark Gin ‘N’ Roses Jelly (take out the Gin for the kids!)

Photo by Charles Villyard

"With jelly, half the fun lies in the spectacle. People always enjoy the wobble, but that’s to be expected. No one is surprised by a wobbly jelly. To really bowl them over, you have to sex it up a lot. One way of doing this is to make it glow in the dark ...

To make the jelly glow in the dark, food-safe quinine is included as an ingredient and the jellies are served in an area where UV blacklights cause them to fluoresce. The invisible ultraviolet light from the blacklights is absorbed by the quinine, which then re-emits bluish light at the edge of the visible spectrum, making the jellies appear to glow in the dark."

Note: To be really effective, you need total darkness save for the UV light.

For the Jelly

• 200ml/7fl oz/generous ¾ cup Hendrick’s Gin
• 300ml/10fl oz/1¼ cups Indian tonic water
• a splash of rose water
• 5 leaves gelatine

Kids version: for a child friendly version, lose the gin and use 100ml elderfower cordial and 400ml tonic. The rest is the same.

For the Glow

• UV blacklight

Note: You can buy UV backlights at places like Home Depot.

Combine the gin, tonic water and rose water in a jug (pitcher) and set aside. Cut the leaf gelatine into fine pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl with enough of the Gin & Tin mix to submerse. Leave until soft.

When the gelatine has softened, melt it by placing it over a pan of simmering water.

Then add the remainder of the gin and tonic and pour through a sieve (strainer) and back into the jug (cup). Now fill your mould.

Unmould the jelly by briefly immersing in a bowl of hot water and inverting over your chosen plates. For maximum effect, turn off all lights to achieve total darkness. Switch on your blacklight and serve the glowing jelly to thrilled diners.

Why does the Jelly Glow?

The quinine in the tonic water is UV-active. When the blacklight is switched on, it will fluoresce beautifully.

Cucumber Ice Cream

We serve the jelly with cucumber ice cream. Harry adapted the recipe for Cucumber Ice Cream from Mrs Marshall’s Book on Ices. Try it, it's surprisingly tasty.

• 2 cucumbers
• 200ml/7fl oz/generous ¾ cup water
• 300g/10½oz/1½ cups sugar
• 600ml/1 pint/2½ cups double (heavy) cream
• 50ml/2fl oz/scant ¼ cup Hendrick’s Gin
• juice of 1 large lemon
• 3 drops of bergamot oil

Start by peeling and deseeding the cucumbers. Chop them finely and place in a saucepan with the water and sugar. Cook gently until the cucumbers are totally tender. This will take about 45 minutes.

Strain the cooked cucumbers and place in a jug (pitcher). Bash them to a purée using the end of a rolling pin. Pass the purée through a fine sieve (strainer) and add the double (heavy) cream, gin, lemon juice and bergamot oil. Give the mixture a thorough stir and pour into an ice cream machine to freeze.

The semi-frozen mixture can be spooned into any mould and placed in the feezer to firm up. To unmould the ice cream, dip briefly in cold water. It should slide out. It’s best to let the ice cream soften for about 10 minutes before serving.

Bompas & Parr’s Glow in the Dark Jelly display. Photo by Charles Villyard.