Potent Potter Potions (i.e. HP-themed Cocktails!)

I'm going to borrow heavily from the internet, because there are people out there with much better stocked cabinets than me and they have made some AMAZING Harry Potter-themed cocktails. I will not post other blogger's recipes here, but I will like out like crazy and give descriptions where appropriate.

ACCIO COCKTAILS!

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As this is by far the most ample selection of cocktails I have seen, we'll start with the drink stylings of one "Little Pink Blog," where there are whole themed posts on the subject.

The pictures alone are worth following one of all of the links below. I'm impressed, amazed, and will likely be having a Bellatrix Lestrange in honor of the movie this week:

from Little Pink Blog

DEATH EATERS COCKTAILS:

• Death Eater Cocktail - a caffeinated shot with an ominous red hue; sounds tasty
• The Bellatrix Lestrange - think creamy, chocolately vodka martini (see picture)
• The Lucius Malfoy - this is that rare combination of slightly manly but girl-drink friendly: it uses a mildly masculine liquor at its base, but a sweet citrus for mixer ... mmm...
• The Peter Pettigrew - rich, mouse-colored dessert-in-a-glass

THE GOBLET OF FIRE - CHAMPIONS COCKTAILS:

• The Goblet of Fire - FIRE DRINK! What more do you want?
• The Fleur Delacour - dainty and refreshing-looking
• The Viktor Krum - Beer-based and simple, yet intriguing 
• The Cedric Diggory - This is a must-try for me: kind of like a margarita, but without the tequila. Very tempting to see if it would layer with Blavod and call it a "Hufflepuff"

WIZARDING WORLD COCKTAILS:

• Butterbeer - an adult version of the popular Hogsmeade brew
• Firewhiskey - FIRE DRINK! And almost exactly what you'd expect from the name
• Pureblood - clear, sweet, bloody-looking drink that sounds delicious
• Mudblood - muddy, creamy, and (I can tell without even trying it) delightful

MY FAVORITES (not what the blog-author calls this page, but since that's exactly what we have here... my favorite characters minus Severus and Bellatrix... let's go with it!):

• Fred and George Weasley - look, if you are a fan of the brothers this is just brilliant -- the rimming "sugar" is inspired. 
• Luna Lovegood -- lovely, and includes Elderberry
• Neville Longbottom -- oh how I had hoped that Neville would be the one to kill Voldie! But he does well in this final installment, and he definitely deserves his own drink. Herbology-focused, just like my man Neville!
• Draco Malfoy - dirty martini -- very fitting, but I'm wondering if there is a way to work green in there... maybe some absinthe (yuck, but.. .you know?)

That girl is brilliant. That takes us to the end of our first stop on the Harry Potter Cocktail tour (and what a stop it was!).

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Next up is the Backyard Bartender, who puts a lot of thought behind the drinks created for the Potter cast of characters named in the post. I like that. It's lovingly thorough.

The Backyard Bartender Main Character Themed Drinks:

• Hermione Granger - I'm very Hermione-esque, so I guess it makes sense I would drool over a cocktail named in her honor; gin-based and  fruit-filled
• Ron Weasley - the poster describes this one as 'potent' and 'manly,' but a hit with the guys. It is red, and it sounds pretty intense... 
• The Harry Potter  - the one we've all been waiting for (and seriously, how did it take me this long to find someone blogging a drink with this name?), and it sounds well considered: like candy in a glass, but with just "a hint of something sinister" (to borrow the poster's phrase)

HISTORICAL BUTTERBEER

• Butterbeer - and not just any butterbeer, but a 400 year old butterbeer recipe; desribed in the blog as "hot, buttered heaven. Like liquid french toast..." Well, don't mind if I do, then!

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If you like theme parks (Disney/Universal) and drinking, Party Through the Parks wants to be your guide. As someone who enjoys those things, I am happy to let them walk me through some Harry Potter drinks that don't yet exist, but I can make at home.

Party Through the Parks Suggestions:

• Golden Pumpkin - warm and pumpkiny
• Pumpkin Cobbler - requires you to have/make pumpkin juice (a recipe is at the site linked above), but could be quite good!
• Potterpolitan - I'm noticing a Pumpkin theme developing here, and that makes me happy...
• Potterita - Margarita with Pumpkin juice? I could get into this!
• Hot Buttered Pumpkin - A drink that involves melting butter and will happily blow my diet
• Spiced Butterbeer - adding spiced rum to butterbeer isn't my personal cup of tea, but then I don't like cream soda

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And finally, some general witch-and-wizard appropriate fare:

Merlin's Love Potion

2 oz watermelon schnapps
1/2 oz lemon vodka
1/4 oz strawberry brandy
Read more: http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink5511.html#ixzz1Rj2P0mJd

Polyjuice Potion

1 oz Kahlua® coffee liqueur
1 oz vodka
1 1/2 oz coffee liqueur
1 oz amaretto almond liqueur
1 splash Coca-Cola®
Read more... the directions are important: http://www.drinksmixer.com/drinkrq15460.html#ixzz1Rj2wMnDa

Frisky Witch:

1 part black sambuca
1 part vodka

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Well, I hope you've all enjoyed this educational mixed drink journey as much as I have. Now, if you'll excuse me ... it's getting close to celebration time!

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UPDATE (7/15/2011) : For those who don't know that I sometimes post my blogs in advance... surprise! I do! Which, in this case, led to already being out-of-date. Little Pink Blog added some more niceties to enjoy...

THE HOUSES:

• Gryffindor House - sweet and rightly colored
• Hufflepuff House - sugary sweet, kind of like Hufflepuff... I still think we need a layered drink with some Blavod for them
• Ravenclaw House - Simple, clean, and full of blueberries!
• Slytherin House - a champagne drink with a little bit of a green tinge

THE TEACHERS:

• Albus Dumbledore  - I just wish this had a lemon drop in it somewhere...
• The Remus Lupin - Luxurious coffee drink; maybe a little rich for Remus, but it would surely delight me
• Minerva McGonagall - It uses tea! So nice for one of my favorite Hogwarts teachers
• The Severus Snape - hahaha. Bitters

OUR HEROES:

• The Rubeus Hagrid - Very fitting bit of beer and mixer for this big, lovable guy
• The Hermione Granger - Very ladylike drink with a touch of toughness
• The Ronald Weasley - A little too girly for Ron, if you ask me, but the drink sounds delicous
• The Sirius Black - Beautiful. Will have to give this one a try (while toasting my dearly departed Sirius)

THE BOY WHO LIVED, THE WIZARD WHO WOULD KILL HIM, AND SOME RELATED DRINKS:

• The Lord Voldemort - He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named must have his own cocktails; and this one sounds like pure, delightful basilisk poison
• The Horcrux - 7 ingredient drink that sounds just dark enough to try 
• The Harry Potter - Apparently, the Boy-Who-Lived just begs for a sweet and creamy drink; sounds like something you'd enjoy on a trip to Hogsmeade
• The Golden Snitch - quick shot; maybe not my favorite, but see what you think?

DIY Spectrespecs

Luna is kind of my Harry Potter fashion hero.

Make your own Spectrespecs! They won't help you with the 3D, but they'll look really radical.

Little Pumpkin Pasties

Perfect for fall, Halloween, or a Harry Potter party, you should totally try to keep in mind the recipe for Little Pumpkin Pasties!

You will find no end of inspiration on the internet for this dish. Pumpkin Pasties are a stand-out food item in the Harry Potter series, IMHO because that sound darling and tasty. My particular version is envisioned as a sweet little snack with mild creamy punch, just bite-sized enough.

Here's the recipe, which makes about 24 pasties (up to 28 if you're thin with the dough):

• Step 1: Turn on the soundtrack to "Goblet of Fire," because HEY: Weird Sisters.
• Step 2: Spin around like a crazy elf
• Step 3: Bake

Filling:

• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1 TBS brandy (optional)
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1/2 cup (or a little less) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon

Whip cream cheese. Add brandy (if you are using it), whip some more. Add everything else and mix until fully combined. Filling fulfilled!

Pastry (or you could go pre-made route)

• 1.75 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/4 c vegetable oil
• 3 tbl unsweetened almond milk
• 3 tbl cold water

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the oil. Stir (or mush with your hands) until crumbly. Add milk and water, and mix until a nice dough forms

Roll out until thin (1/8" is typically recommended ... I just make it thin, but not unworkable). Using a large-ish biscuit cutter, cut out 24 - 28 circles.

Pre-heat over to 350 degrees F.

Dab 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp in the center of each circle of pastry dough. Wet the edge and fold over to make a half-circle; crimp the edge with the prongs of a fork to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut 1 to 3 small slits for venting.

Place all pasties on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them lightly with a mixture of whole egg and a pinch of salt (this will make them shiny), and bake for 30 minutes.

The outcome is a slightly sweet, slightly savory collection of pasties that will be eaten in two bites. If you like pumpkin pie and a mild cheesecake flavor, I think you'll enjoy them. :)

More Pasty Recipes from Around the Web!

• Britta.com (the original Potter-recipe place, at least for me) -- also found at The Leaky Cauldron -- and they sound GOOD
• The Geeky Chef -- practically the same as above. But with a really pretty picture.
• Diamonds for Dessert -- another with ingredients similar to the above (adapted from Geeky Chef, in fact, but this time with an illustrated guide to filling them!
• Dumbledore's Vegan Army - VEGAN, and slightly more savory
• Food.com - well rated, but not with many ratings. This one looks safe, if not a little like pumpkin-pie pockets
• Instuctables - I love it when Instructables does things.
• Anticraft - Anticraft does it in the round! Nice touch.
• Mugglenet - this version is probably the down-right easiest, as it uses canned Pumpkin Pie mix and pre-made pastry crust
• Good Food (?) - I don't even know what this site is, but BLESS THEM: this is a non-Harry Potter, non-American take on Pumpkin pasties. It has CHEESE and it is SAVORY and I am going to try it soon.

Mmm... I hope by this year's trip to Hogsmeade that the Three Broomsticks will add Pumpkin Pasties to the menu.

Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook

I broke down over the weekend and bought the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook by Dinah Bucholz after sitting at the bookstore thumbing through it for 45 minutes. I'd been avoiding this purchase for some time, and it turns out that was just silly of me.

My assumption was that this cookbook was going to be the something in the vein of the Star Wars Cook Book, which is to say: all gimmick and little substance.

That assumption was totally wrong!

Here is a book written by a true Potter fan who also likes to cook; it's just loaded with recipes to accompany every explicit food reference in all 7 stories! There are explanations about why she chose each recipe along with factoids on the food-stuff in question. What it lacks in pictures (which, incidentally, there is a page for on the website) it more than makes up for in thoroughness.

Are the recipes any good? That I'm not sure yet. So far they look heavily researched, so I'm going to assume it's full of solid and tasty starting points, but not seared with true foodie panache. The book was worth it to me if for nothing but it's thoroughness.

Expect some Pottery treats, posted soon to a blog near you!

We Are On Harry Potter Lockdown, Witches!

You best be respectin', because it is Harry Potter Countdown Week, and I am ALL IN.

There will be SNAPE. And lightening SCARS. And PARSELTONGUE. And sexy, sexy BELLATRIX LESTRANGE. There may even be some WIZARD PEOPLE, DEAR READERS as part of the self-inflicted pre-show.

And I will be reading DAN BLOGS HARRY POTTER all, week, long, yo, (!). Dan is pictured, and I did not know until last Thursday that he was starting up this particular blog series.

How stoked am I?! The man who gave us the laugh-riot that was "Blogging Twilight" now approaches, comedically but respectfully, Potter-mania.

And I'm gonna be reading it. Because this coming Friday: I'll be crying my eyes out. Bring me the laughter, Dan!

Pudding Cauldrons

Instructables has a great project for Pudding Cauldrons.

Balloons, pretzels, black candy melts, pudding and food coloring... and you're good to go. Rad, no?

Harry Potter Pole Dance

Pole Dance to "Harry Potter and the Half-Dub Remix" by Terabyte Frenzy.

Safe. but not suitable, for work:

Harry Potter Wedding Theme

I don't know why a Harry Potter wedding has never occurred to me before, but it simply hasn't. (go to that link right away if you don't believe it could be stunning)

Any manner of dress would do, from a Fleur-imitation to your customary bridal gown decked out with an elegant accessory (say, a Golden Snitch Necklace? Tell me that isn't gorgeous):

The wands are a great thank you gift for guests, or you could make little broomstick treat bags:

At the reception, you could have hanging candles -- reminiscent of those floating ones in the great hall:

• Another Great Harry Potter Themed Wedding
• More Inspiration for an HP Wedding
• Just for fun: check out Pottervore to get inspiration for clothing and accessories to all those pre-wedding parties

Kind-of-Cornish Pasties (Vegan and Harry Potter Party Friendly!)

You may not know this, but I've gone full-on vegetarian. It's true! Since last Thanksgiving I'm no longer eating meat, not even socially. I also spent some time participating in a Vegan food exchange at work; it was delightful, but I think we all lost steam and the group has since fizzled.

One thing that lasts, though, are the recipes! And now that I'm getting all geared up for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, I'm finding that all I have to work with are meaty or sugary dishes. So I'm turning back to one of my Vegan Exchange recipes: "Kind-of Cornish Pasties."

"Kind-of" because I'm not in or from Cornwall, and also because I didn't use meat. I did use rutabaga, though, and that's an important bit.

They serve Pasties at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, so I figure this--and maybe vegetarian Shepard's Pie--will be good pre-movie dinner selections. :)

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium rutabaga, diced (about 1 ½ cups) (also nice? Yam/Sweet Potato)
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 2 small Yukon gold potatoes, diced
• 2/3 cup frozen peas
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast (optional)
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce (or tamari)
• ½ cup mock-beef broth (or water)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a large, large pot. Sauté ingredients: onion through yukon potato for 6 to 7 minutes. At the 5 minute mark, add nutritional yeast (if you've got it. Which I didn't). Add everything else to the pot, cover, and cook on medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until everything is tender.

Pastry Dough:

• 3 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ½ cup oil (canola recommended)
• 6 tablespoons water
• 6 tablespoons soy milk

Mix flour and salt; add oil a little at a time and mix by hand until crumbly. Mix in liquids.

Divide into 6 balls; roll into circles on a lightly floured surface. Use a plate to cut nicer, even circles. Transfer to a well-oiled baking sheet.

Fill with yummy filling on one half, fold over, and ruin your nice, neat circles by crimping the edges (fork it if you've got it!). You may have to wet the edges to get it to stick.

Vent it by cutting a few slits in the top.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Serve hot or cold!

Makes 6 pasties.

Harry Potter Deathly Hollows Movie Trailer

We are so excited for the first movie of the last Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It will be one of the biggest movies this year and definitely one of the most highly anticipated from Potter Fans around the world. What does that mean for us at Extreme Halloween? We're stocking up on Harry Potter Halloween costumes not only for Halloween, but for fans to wear to the movie premieres November 19, 2010.

Harry Potter Costumes & Accessories Video Feature

In celebration of the new Harry Potter's Wizarding World opening at Universal Orlando, we are featuring some of the most popular costumes and accessories. These are official Harry Potter licensed merchandise.

Enjoy!

Harry Potter Costumes Among Favorites Again This Halloween

The Harry Potter francise has seen 7 best selling books come out and this summer the 6th movie was released. The Harry Potter Halloween costumes are more popular than ever for 2009!


The books and movie are so popular and so widely known that most anyone you speak to will know the wizarding terms created in the book by the great J.K. Rowling. Several years ago, we didn't know what a "muggle" was, what "the dark arts" are, or how to play a game of Quidditch.

From Wikipedia about the Harry Potter Book series:

"Since the 1997 release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. As of June 2008, the book series has sold more than 450 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages, and the last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history."


From Wikipedia about the Harry Potter Movie series:


"The Harry Potter films are a fantasy series based on the seven Harry Potter novels by British writer J. K. Rowling, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.
The Harry Potter film franchise is the highest grossing film series of all time when not adjusted for inflation, with over $5 billion in worldwide receipts. The series consists to date (2009) of six motion pictures, all of which are among the worldwide top twenty five highest unadjusted grossing individual films of all time. The latest instalment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released in cinemas worldwide on 15 July 2009. Warner Brothers is currently producing the remaining novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which will be split into two films: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is due out on 19 November 2010 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is due out on 15 July 2011."


The Harry Potter Costumes and Accessories are available for both children and adults. Amazingly, the series has enamored people of all ages and is responsible for a reading renaissance and sparking the imagination of so many other fantasy related books and movies.


AnniesCostumes.com is proud to carry Official Harry Potter costumes, Harry Potter Costume Accessories and even a movie prop of Dobby, the beloved House Elf!



Harry Potter Gryffindor Robe
Costume Tip: The Gryffindor Robe can be used for any of the Gryffindor characters. You don't have to be Harry, you can be Hermoine, Ron or any of your favorites!




Harry Potter Child Size Dementor Costume






Hagrid Latex Mask with Hair




The Hogwarts School Sorting Hat from Harry Potter.



Adult Size Voldemort Halloween Costume

Bellatrix Lestrange Costume... There is a new movie coming up

A couple of years ago I went for Halloween as Bellatrix Lestrange (see this post for a picture, details, more tutorials and how-to information).
This post is just a collection of pictures and videos I gathered together for reference. I had no intention of being fully authentic, but I did want people familiar with the movies to have a chance at guessing who I was supposed to be.

Since there is a new movie coming out soon I think some of you might find these references (and again, the tutorial post from before) very, very helpful.

Happy Harry Pottering!

Where to get the ring?

It takes to the end, but there we go.





This has nothing to do with the costume, but I'm in love with Sirius.

Update (30Jun2011):: For those of you interested in some additional how-to's, I found a nifty Dark Mark one and something on her make-up and posted it as I was getting ready for Deathly Hallows Pt 2 (Bellatrix Lestrange Costume information)

Harry Potter Box Office Magic

The movie 'Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix" is breaking box office records around the world! J.K. Rowling's boy wizard has surely cast a spell on movie goers everywhere. According to the BoxOfficeMojo.com website, 55% of movie goers this weekend saw Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix"

Here are some more magical stats and records for you:

MSNBC.com reports: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" took in $44.8 million in its first day, the best single-day gross ever for a movie on a Wednesday.
That included $12 million from screenings that started at midnight Tuesday!

USAToday.com reports: Box office for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix since Wednesday's opening: $140 million.

Reuters in the UK reports: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth film about the boy wizard, set a new British box office opening record over the weekend, taking 16.4 million pounds, Screen International said on Tuesday. Including Thursday previews, it was the highest-ever four-day weekend take in UK history. Taken over just Friday to Sunday it took 13.0 million, a figure which has only ever been beaten by one other film -- its predecessor "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," in November 2005.

BoxOfficeMojo.com reports current box office totals as of July 15, 2007:
Domestic: $139,715,157 42.0%
+ Foreign: $193,000,000 58.0%
= Worldwide: $332,715,157

DOMESTIC SUMMARY For The Order of the Phoenix:
Opening Weekend: $77,108,414
4,285 theaters, $17,994 average

More Harry Potter News by the Numbers-

The First 4 Movies:

$1.175 billion total U.S. box office for the first four films since 2001.

Books:
121.5 million in print in the USA for first six books. First printing for seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 12 million.

And according to the Motley Fool website, As of July16, 2007, Amazon.com alone has received over 1.3 million pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The company guarantees release-date delivery to anyone who orders by noon on July 17th, so expect that number -- updated hourly on its Muggle Counter -- to keep inching higher. Globally, Amazon has received more than 2.1 million pre-orders.

Merchandise:
$18.8 million spent in USA on cookies, candy, gum since June 2002. Dozens of products available, including bookmarks ($3.49), Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans ($3.99), Harry Potter action figures ($12.99), Harry Potter's wand ($5.95), the Sorting Hat ($39.99), and Harry Potter Costumes (starting at $19.95).

Harry Potter theme park:
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be built on 20 acres within Universal Orlando Resort's Islands of Adventure theme park. Opens in late 2009.

It is so easy to get lost in the world of Harry Potter, it is fascinating, mystical, magical, captivating and one of the best written stories I have ever read.

Harry Potter Fever!

Are you ready? Can you feel it?

With the Harry Potter Movie coming out next month (July 11, 2007) and the final installment of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling being released on July 21, 2007, the fever is high and the anticipation is thick. So much is in the news about Harry Potter, the boy wizard. Never before has a simultaneous movie and book release caused so much pop culture hub bub. Kudos to J.K. Rowling, one of the most creative authors in the universe and one of the luckiest women in the world. Like Harry Potter, she has her own rags to riches story herself, which is amazing. Her creativity and writing talent has transformed her from a struggling single mom to one of the richest women in England. Not bad for a muggle, eh?

You can get in on all the wizarding action by dressing up in costume. AnniesCostumes.com has Harry Potter costumes and Gryffindor robes so that you can also dress as Hermoine Granger, Ron Weasley or your favorite Hogwarts student!