Rivian People Do Spooky Season Right
This is our third year with the R1T, and the Halloween update just keeps getting more fun. For whatever reason, we regularly receive our update a bit later than others, so we just got 2024.39.01 over the weekend, featuring the “costumes,” and they’re actually pretty entertaining! Last week, the Rivian Forum conducted a completely unscientific survey to determine the average age of Rivian drivers. The age ranges don’t map perfectly onto generational cohorts, but the results show that about half of Rivian owners are firmly Gen Xers. And much like the music used to sell pretty much everything these days, KITT and the Flux Capacitor speak directly to our generation. Let’s just say the folks at Rivian know their audience.
Halloween is arguably the most important holiday in San Francisco. Kids and adults alike go all out. In the past, Matthew and I would spend the week before Halloween working for hours to make elaborate costumes for our two kids. There were architectural costumes, like the year El was a porkchop and the year Henry was a steam locomotive. Then there was that punny costume when we made Henry into an Oh Henry bar, plus a whole series of homemade Star Wars costumes.
This year, everyone’s going in different directions, and the kids don’t want or need help with their costumes anymore. The Rivian “costumes” got me thinking about how we could incorporate the Camp Kitchen into the festivities. But what to make? It had to be something that added to the spooky vibe of the holiday and took advantage of the induction cooktop. After scouring the internet for inspiration, I settled on spiced apple cider with floating shrunken heads.
Usually, we ride our bikes up the hill to help friends pass out candy. They live on the famous Wiggle bike route, and their street has less car traffic than ours, making it perfect for trick-or-treating. But this year, I think we’ll take the Rivian and set up the Camp Kitchen to serve some delicious spiced cider (with an optional shot of bourbon for adults). This recipe would be a great addition to a Frunk-or-Treat event!
Recipe and Instructions:
For the Shrunken Heads:
- 3-6 firm apples, like Granny Smith
- Juice from one lemon
- Whole cloves for decorating (optional)
- Preheat oven to 250°F. If you have convection, that will help dry the apples more quickly.
- Cut each apple in half from stem to end.
- Peel the apples, dipping them in the lemon juice to prevent browning.
- Use a paring knife or other small, sharp tool to carve faces into each apple half.
- Place each carved apple flat-side down on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat mat or parchment paper.
- Bake in the oven until the apples seem dry and a little browned, about 90 minutes. (I may have baked mine a bit too long, but they still look cool).
For the Spiced Cider:
- Unfiltered apple cider
- Cinnamon sticks
- Whole cloves
- Whole star anise
- Zest from one orange
Amounts of spices depend on your preferences and the volume of cider. Start with 2-3 cinnamon sticks, 1 tablespoon of whole cloves, and 2 star anise “flowers.” Use a vegetable peeler to remove strips of zest from the orange. Alternatively, you could stud a chunk of orange peel with cloves, making it easier to remove the cloves later.
Bring the cider and spices/orange peel to a low simmer (do not boil). If you prefer, you can remove the spices at this point. Float your apple heads in the cider, then set the heat to low to keep the cider warm for serving.
Happy H-A-double-L-O-double-U-double-E-N!
