Harry Potter Countdown

I decided to do something drastic. And I am so glad I decided to make that decision.

I am having/have had a Harry Potter marathon, one move a night, for seven nights, until the final film comes out!

I may or may not have taken the projector I had in my classroom and used it to watch HP in my back yard on a nice big screen. It is so much cooler to watch HP outside.

Let's share the recipes I used!

Butter Beer

The first night I had cream-soda floats (vanilla ice-cream and cream soda) then you mix in butterscotch topping. Then I made something from scratch which peeps seemed to enjoy as well:

What you need:

1 cup light or dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

6 tablespoons butter

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cider vinegar

¾ cup heavy cream, divided

Four 12-ounce bottles cream soda

Make it: In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer. Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and ¼ heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature. In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining ½ cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.

To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about ¼ cup for each glass). Add ¼ cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each. — By Heather Witherspoon, McClatchy Newspapers

After a few nights of Butterbeer, I thought I'd try making Pumpkin Juice! In Harry Potter world, it is served in a bottle with the ingredients listed. I thought it was repulsive to be honest with you. Too strong! The spices were overpowering my pumpkin pumpkin! But I remember the first ingredient was apple juice, so I bought a gallon of that, mixed in a half can of pumpkin pie filling, added a heaping teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, and mixed it all together with a beater. I am off sugar so I never tasted it, but the guests said it was good! I'll take their word for it.

I also had:

• Licorice Wands (strawberry twizzlers)
• Chocolate frog kisses (hershey kisses)
• Every-flavor beans (jelly beans...the real ones are costly)

My mom showed me this blog and it blew me away. And I thought I was being creative!

I get to see HP7 part 2 at 6pm tomorrow! Before even you eastern time peeps! I am so excited. But sad that it's the last.