Scary Treats and Good Eats from GourmetGiftBaskets.com

 These BOOS are Best From GourmetGiftBaskets.com! Trick or Treating a little different this year? Send your favorite kids and loved ones a gift from GourmetGiftBaskets.com! Specialty candy, popcorn, nuts, cookies...even a special Brews Boos for your adult friends with beer, popcorn and candy. 

GourmetGiftBaskets.com, which was honored as a top food site by Newsweek earlier this year, has just unveiled some new offerings for Halloween that are SCARY GOOD. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!).

 

These are the TOP FAVORITES flying off the shelves at this family-owned company already...

 

BRAND NEW: EAT, DRINK & BE SCARY BEER BUCKET, $69.99, SKU 4757 

Hey, given this challenging year, parents sure need something to make them happy this Halloween and THIS GIFT is a step in the right direction. 

Super delicious treats like handcrafted Kettle popcorn, peanut butter cups, and Halloween Junior Mints, the fun & functional black cauldron pail holding everything is loaded with 6 great drinks. 

Most of them have Halloween themes:
Magic Hat #9, Crisp Apple Hard Cider by Angry Orchard, Oktoberfest by Sam Adams, and Pumpkinhead among others. 

 

BRAND NEW: BOO BAKED GOOD GIFT BOX, $29.99, SKU 8980

Nothing feels better during the fall than some fresh baked goods, and do we have some great items in this very affordable gift box. 

This includes delectable, chewy chocolate chip cookies, fudge brownies and Candy Corn crispy rice treats (shaped like Candy Corn). 

You need to see it to be sure your eyes aren't tricking you. Anyone would love this gift for Halloween. 

 

BRAND NEW: GOBLINS GRUB POPCORN TIN --
2 Gallons Of SALTY-SWEET GOODNESS, $59.99, SKU 7240A -- This wonderful tin includes three yummy, small-batch popcorn flavors created by our Popcorn Aficionados: White Chocolate Candy Corn, Worms In The Dirt (chocolate-covered popcorn with gummy worms), and the taste bud-tantalizing Caramel Apple popcorn, only offered during autumn. 

LOCAL PUMPKIN EATS

PUMPKIN EATS START NOW

Sweet Aloha Bowls of Royersford Autumn Creations

The leaves are falling, the air is crisp, and pumpkin spice is de rigueur and we are starting our autumn eats right now.

Start with a slice or two of seasonal toast from Sweet Aloha Bowls in Royersford. Slathered with delicious pumpkin butter and topped with crushed pecans, apples, cinnamon and a vegan caramel sauce drizzle. Or how about the pumpkin bowl with maple syrup, granola and pumpkin seeds, or the apple pie smoothie with apples, almond butter and oat milk. Can you say ahhh-pple?

At A Taste of Britain, the Pumpkin Pie Black Tea sets the mood with a spicy autumn bite plus their Fall scone-Pumpkin Granola with a Maple Glaze. The scone has pumpkin, oats, golden raisins, sunflower seeds, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds.

Steel City Coffeehouse Spooky Latte

Looking for a fun place to curl up with a good book and get a unique coffee beverage or a craft beer, like the new American Brown Ale created with malt from Deer Creek Malthouse and honey from Breyer Apiary? Steel City Coffeehouse has the drinks to warm you, like local apple cider, Apple Pie Chai, S’more Latte, and Butterbeer Latte. Stay for the live music while you nosh on home-baked creations.

Looking for a hearty fall meal? Look no further than the Railroad Street Bar & Grill- their stick-to-your-ribs grilled cheeses are thick and substantial, and combine top-notch breads, cheeses and meats. Don’t miss the Thanksgiving Day Grilled Cheese (everyone loves gravy!) or the Octoberfest Grilled Cheese.

https://www.valleyforge.org/editorial/post/autumn-has-arrived-pumpkin-eats-start-now/

When it’s time for dessert pop into the Iron Abbey Gastro Pub for their adorable and delicious autumn tarts. Their Pumpkin Tart is baked spiced pumpkin pie filling topped with a whipped cream rosette and a chocolate pretzel; their baked Apple Mini Pie is made with homemade pie dough wrapped around smokehouse apples, cinnamon nutmeg tapioca and a scoop of vanilla ice cream; and their Pecan Tart is homemade traditional pecan pie filling glazed with apricot preserves and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Relax at home with the ultimate autumn dessert: Pumpkin cheesecake.
Kriebel’s Custom Bakery whips up a rich cheesecake loaded with pumpkin nestled in a crisp gingersnap crust, while their apple cake combines a delicious crumb cake with cinnamon and apples.

So while the leaves are falling and the sun is shining, grab a latte and a scone and enjoy autumn—it’s the best Montco has to offer!

The baked Apple Mini Pie from Iron Abbey Gastro Pub is made with homemade pie dough wrapped around smokehouse apples, cinnamon nutmeg tapioca and a scoop of vanilla ice cream;

Sweet Aloha Bowls
324 Main St
Royersford, PA

Iron Abbey Gastro Pub
680 Easton Rd
Horsham, PA

Black Powder Tavern
1164 Valley Forge Rd
Wayne, PA

Railroad Street Bar & Grill
36 Railroad St
Linfield, PA

A Taste of Britain
Eagle Village Shops
503 West Lancaster Avenue
Wayne, PA

Steel City Coffeehouse
203 Bridge Street​
Phoenixville, PA

Kriebel's Custom Bakery
3140 W Ridge Pike
Eagleville, PA

*Originally ran on Valley Forge Tourism Website: https://www.valleyforge.org/editorial/post/autumn-has-arrived-pumpkin-eats-start-now/

Author: Christine Tarlecki

Christine Tarlecki an entertainment and food writer seeking out the best bites and writing about them. She also pens an award-winning food & lifestyle blog. Most weekends you can find Christine in Montco trying out local cuisine or curled up with a good book. She also teaches small business social media marketing classes. Christine can be reached under @engchik on all social media. #LocalLove

October Goals!

Ahh good bye September you served me well!

I hit most of my goals:

Stayed at EXACTLY my budget, got a new writing client, took a great vacation and spent most of the month outside when I wasn’t working, swam more, said lots of prayers thanking God and the universe for what I have, and seeing family more.
We also cut a lot of clutter at our neighborhood yard sale.

Now onto October! Goals!

• Kayak one more time
• Hit up the beach one more time (NOTE, GORGEOUS DAY IN AV FOR SEAFOOD FEST ON OCTOBER 11)
• Blog every week in both blogs (note- so far so good!)
• Pay down debt of course
• Cut clutter- working on it! 

Plus I’m looking forward to events every weekend, crisp air, bright leaves, pumpkins, Halloween parties, festivals, family and friends!

HELLO OCTOBER! WE ARE READY FOR YA!

WHAT ARE YOUR OCTOBER GOALS?

Pennhurst Asylum: A Haunt of Epic Proportions

A deep sense of foreboding. A sinister rustling of the breeze through the trees. 

Countless empty windows, behind which anything may be watching you. 

These are what greet you as you uneasily make your way onto the grounds of the now-defunct Pennhurst State School (originally called the Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic).

Rotting buildings dominate the landscape. A ruined, abandoned playground calls to mind the troubled youngsters who may have played here, long gone.

Opened in November of 1908, Pennhurst was once heralded as a progressive treatment center for the more troubled members of our society. Completely self-sufficient, the institution boasted its own power plant, farm for growing food, and medical staff. 

Over the decades, allegations of mismanagement and cruelty to the patients doomed the facility and it eventually closed permanently in 1987. It quickly fell into disrepair and became an overgrown wilderness, its buildings decaying rapidly into shadows of their former selves.

Now, new life breathes at Pennhurst. Five years ago, Bates Motel Productions, LLC, saw an opportunity for a one-of-a-kind Halloween haunt on these grounds. A partnership was formed and great sums of money was spent on renovation and safety, recruitment of actors, makeup artists, and managers, brought in state-of-the-art props, equipment and decorations, and thePennhurst Asylum was born. Now, it rivals Bates Motel as perhaps the most intense frightfest in the country, and it draws thousands of eager adrenaline junkies on each of the seven weekends per year that it opens its horrifying doors. Only open for a few more days, until November 2, it continues to scare the unsure. 

On a gloomy Saturday morning, our tour guide is Pennhurst Asylum Operations Manager Michael Majewski, Jr, who graciously offered to give us a tour of the grounds—except, of course, the operational haunt itself. For that, he says, we’ll have to come back during business hours and experience the terror for ourselves.

The slogan of the place is “The Fear is Real,” and we can believe it as we make our way first to the hospital building. We can’t go in many of the buildings, because they’re simply uninhabitable. 

But as we walk around the 634-acre facility, it’s easy to see why its owners saw such an opportunity for a haunted attraction. Pervading the place is a sense of restlessness, as if the spirits here still wander, searching for someone, anyone, to save them from eternal damnation.

We walk the path through the morgue drop-off center, and our unease deepens.

We ask Michael if the place is really haunted. “There are plenty of people who claim they’ve seen and heard the supernatural and paranormal.” We have no trouble believing that.

One building to which we are allowed access is called Mayflower. The owners and curator Ruth Himes have worked hard to accumulate original components from the facility and turn one of the many labyrinthine rooms into a museum exhibit, showing what an actual room at Pennhurst may have looked like. Also included are many photos from the original facility, as well as medical and therapeutic equipment. When the haunt is open, this building serves as a “Ghost Hunt,” where patrons see if there are any REAL ghosts still at Pennhurst.

As for the haunted attraction itself, there are four components: Pennhurst Asylum housed in the main administration building,the Dungeon of Lost Souls and the Tunnel of Terror, in which the extensive warren of tunnels underneath the facility are used to frighten you out of your wits, and the aforementioned Ghost Hunt. We were able to catch a short glimpse of the Tunnels—and it was enough to make our hearts skip a beat.

In a few days, we’ll be returning to Pennhurst to take in the haunted attractions, so stay tuned for our review. For today, our broad-daylight tour was enough to fill us with a deep sense of unease. It’s safe to say that Pennhurst is the perfect place for the most terrifying haunted attraction on the East Coast, if not the world.

 

Photographs and Article By Stephen Trimble and Christine Tarlecki