All Soul's Day Celebration

The day has finally come! Vintage Religion is hosting a Dia de los Muertos ceremony tonight from 5-9pm. There will be a special lighting for the memorial candles that they generously provided for the community (you just had to send in a photo of your deceased loved one) along with food, music, a muertos face painter, along with a sale on personalized sugar skulls and Mexican artwork.

Today, remember the lives of those you have loved and lost... "To live in hearts we have left behind is not to die" - Thomas Campbell


Stop by after work for some Mexican hot chocolate and see their community altar in person. Also, support a local business that is doing something awesome for others. If you missed out on the free candle this year, bookmark their website to remind yourself for next year.

"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow, and I am in them, and that is eternity"
-Edvard Munch

Lastly, thanks for all the positive feedback on my rOctober series! I am glad that I was able to provide some inspiration and ideas for full enjoyment of the best month of the year. The countdown starts now for Halloween 2011!

xoxo jOisyphene

Dia de los Muertos Festival on Halloween

The Dia de los Muertos Festival is happening this year at Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, tomorrow from 10am-4pm. It is a free event that features a parade, a chalk cemetery, altars and vendors selling Day of the Dead merchandise. There is also a lot of kid-friendly stuff like hands-on crafts and a bean bag toss competition. Sounds like a fun way to spend the day and educate your kids about different cultures and their traditions.

By the way, the sugar skull making class at Vintage Religion was not only fun but informative too. I have the recipe now and even bought the mold, so expect to to attend a class by me next year!

Bread of the Dead

Pan de Muertos is a Mexican bread traditionally baked in late October/ early November as part of the Dia de los Muertos holiday. Here is a simple recipe to try yourself...

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of anise seed
2 tablespoons of orange blossom water (can be substituted for the anise seeds to add flavor)
2 packets of dry yeast
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup of butter
4 eggs3-4 1/2 cups of additional flour
confectioner's sugar or colored sugar (optional)


Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients together except the 3-4 1/2 cups of flour

2. In a small pan, heat the milk, the water, and the butter. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture.

3. Beat well.

4. Mix in the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of flour. Beat well.

5. Put in the rest of the flour, little by little.

6. Knead the mixture on a floured board for 9 - 10 minutes.

7. Put the dough in a greased bowl and allow it to rise until it has doubled in size (about an hour and a half).

8. Punch the dough down and reshape it as bones or easy shapes like hearts, or bones, or if you have molds you can use those to make skulls and/or just form medium sized round balls.

9. Let it rise another hour.

10. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

11. After baking, sprinkle it with confectioner's sugar and/or colored sugar.

If you are like me, with a tendency to burn things, you can just pick up an already made Pan de Muertos at Con Pane in Point Loma inside Liberty Station. They are baking loafs October 29th through November 2nd, and like all their other brioche's, are delicious, filling and affordable.

Vintage Religion hosts festive craft classes

Vintage Religion is a cute little shop located just behind the newly opened Fresh and Easy store in North Park. For the remaining month of October they are hosting some fun classes that will get you in the mood for the upcoming Dia de los Muertos holiday.

Sugar Skull Making Workshops

Saturday's (2pm - 4pm) October 16, 23 & 30

Thursday's (6pm - 8pm) October 28

Sunday's (2pm - 4pm) October 24

$20.00: In this workshop you will receive a short lecture on the customs of Dia de Los Muertos and the symbolism of the sugar skull. This "hands on" class allows you to prepare the sugar mixture, mold, assemble and decorate a sugar skull. Each student will leave with a completed skull they have decorated. Taught by Ana Ibarra and Maryann Luera.

Masters Sugar Skull Workshop

Thursday, October 21 (6:00pm - 8:00pm)

$40.00: In this advanced Sugar Skull Making class students will be decorating an extra large Oaxacan Sugar skull with rhinestones, sequins, pearls and semi precious stones. Each participant will leave with a one-of-a-kind art piece that they have created. All of the materials are supplied by the instructors (Maryann Luera and Ana Ibarra). Students are welcome to bring their own stones, jewelry, etc to embellish their skull.

Altar Making Class

Friday, October 29 (6:00pm - 8:00pm)

$50.00: In this class we will be discussing the meaning and importance of altars or shrines as they pertain to Day of the Dead. Each person will assemble and get to take home a mini version of an altar, using as a model the traditional ones constructed in Mexican homes and cemeteries. We will provide the altar base as well as a variety of miniature items to decorate and embellish with. Feel free to bring your own items to personalize it.

For more events and info, click on October (above) for the full calendar!

El Camino, not just a bitchin' ride

Last night I went out to my favorite local restaurant in South Park, the Dia de los Muertos themed El Camino. Since opening last year I have been a few times, but have yet to visit their other location in Little Italy. This place rules for several reasons:

Awesome decor! Every inch is covered with something to look at, and if you're into the Day of the Dead this place will tickle your fancy. Murals on every wall...

A trippy holographic Mary art piece... (that after a few margarita's can be nauseating to watch)

An altar with handmade sugar skulls right outside los bano's, which has silver glittered floors by the way (and looks like a galaxy when you pee, hehe)

And plenty of Spanish lingo to learn, written even on the ceilings.

Besides the decorations, they have great food at affordable prices. Starting with a tray full of 6 different salsas to try, and authentic jicima with chile and lime, their menu has an appreciated variety of vegetarian meals and traditional Mexican favorites. I love their sweet potato flautas, which are sweet and spicy. (I did not get any photos of the food because we pretty much scarfed it down) but between their sopa de Fideo (soup), and Nachos El Camino, there were no complaints.

They also have an adorable bar area that is small but cozy, with vintage buttoned bar stools I want to take home with me.

They don't offer a full bar variety, but the select drinks they have are pretty nice, could be a little stronger but it makes up for it by being served in a boot glass!

I love this place year round, but during October it tends to be much busier than usual, so if you go just beware you may have to wait a little longer than usual for service. Totally worth it though for good food and a good time. Plus, the Whistle Stop is right across the street and has free events during the week like trivia night and my favorite, Booty Bassment! Great date night activities, if you ask me.... especially if you show up in one of these bad boys.

Create your own Mantle/ Altar Part 2

So yesterday I showed you how I created my own mantle from scratch... today I am going to help you make your own Dia de los Muertos altar!

The Day of the Dead is a Mexican Tradition that happens every November 1st and 2nd. It is said to symbolize the passing of loved ones, and the rebirth of their spirit in the afterlife. The holiday traditionally is celebrated by families getting together to eat, and create altar's to memorialize the lives of the deceased. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, to reconnect with their earthly families by being present for food, festivities, music and often storytelling.

I like to create an altar every year as part of the Halloween spirit, although the two occasions are completely unrelated to serious Dia de los Muertos participants.

For my annual altar, I usually use my mantle since it is a focal point in my home, although since I have been collecting for years I have enough knick knacks to make several!

Here are some images from last year:

(I used gauze cloth to decorate the existing window treatments in my dining room)

(I got this catholic lamp at a thrift store for a few dollars, and use it year round, but this time of year it fits nicely on the mantle)

Bella, enjoying the candlelight

If you don't happen to have a fireplace in your home, you can still make an altar using a sofa table or bookshelf to serve as a mantle, or basically any spot in your home that it out of the way and/or can be cleared off for display would work. It would even look cool from the outside in if you set up a display on a small table in front of a window for the trick-or-treater's.

Anyhow, once you have the area, it's easy from there on. Start by building with a few items you probably already have; if you have kid's get them involved by leading a scavenger hunt around your home to collect some items.

Here are some suggestions to use:

* Old photographs of deceased family members or pets, or buy vintage snapshots from antique shops. I shop at the Newport Avenue Antique Center in Ocean Beach, since they have an enormous selection at various prices, most under $5.00 each


* Candles (make sure they aren't going to trigger your own death day! Keep them contained!) I purchase my Sacred Heart candles at 99 cent stores, but Pier 1 has an amazing selection as well if you're willing to spend more.

* Skeleton sculptures, or Mexican styled figurines. Catrina dolls can be found online, or if you're up for a quick trip across the border, many street vendors in T.J. have all kinds, and are the real deal. You may also include rosaries or religious figurines.

(This is me when I was a Catrina Doll for Halloween a few years back)

* Floral such as marigolds, mums, baby's breath, lilies or roses. Can be displayed with feathers or leaves.

*Miniature bottles of alcohol (BevMo has a whole rack of tiny goodness)


* Fruit (the self contained kind like oranges or apples)

* Sugar Skulls or candy

*Tarot cards, post card's or hand written notes

*You can also make your altar into an interactive experience by having small slips of paper nearby where your friends can write down the name of their favorite deceased celebrity to add to it. Or, have a party and invite guests to bring an image of their favorite ghost.

* If you are doing an altar for a specific person and/or people you can customize the altar with items that person in particular liked. For example, if he/she was a photographer, use old camera's or spools of film. Or for a Pisces who liked water, make it beach themed as use shells or coral.

Have fun with it, and don't spend a lot of money! Just look around your home and outdoor environment and I'm sure you already have much to use. The finished result should be eclectic and colorful, and kept up until at least the 3rd of November.