Six recipes fit for a ghoulish Halloween meal

I love Halloween, and always have. As a kid, I loved dressing up and going trick-or-treating, and today I still enjoy masquerading and going to Halloween parties. However, despite my appreciation for costumes, I am not a fan of ghosts, zombies, and the best way to make me leave a room is to turn on a horror movie on TV.

So naturally, I was a bit apprehensive when I was invited to dine at a Cleveland, Ohio graveyard two weeks ago. The event, Feast of the Deceased, held in the historic Cleveland Monroe cemetery, is one of many "destination dining experiences" held by a local culinary and event company, Emerging Chefs. I decided to muster up my courage and joined 99 other foodies and - gulp! - 31,000 spirits for what is now definitively the 'spookiest' meal I've ever eaten.

The meal started off with an amuse bouche of "True Blood E Marry Oyster Shots"

Then we were treated to an appetizer of "Raw Flesh Carpaccio & Tombstone Crostini" (how clever are the tombstones!)

The spookiest course (I think) was the "Foie Gras & Rabbit Liver Ravioli with Fava Beans and Chianti Reduction", a tribute to the movie Silence of the Lambs! (Eek)

And the finale was a dessert worthy of TV's favourite serial killer, "Dexter's Blood Spatter Dessert" - complete with sugar blood slides. (I also happened to find a great blog post online on how to make your own sugar blood slides at home!)

Photos courtesy of Joe Hakim/TheHungryDudes.com

Now that I've had my fill of Halloween, here are six recipes to make your meal the most ghoulish:

Start your spook-tacular dinner with your own Bloody Mary oyster shots using our spanish oyster shooters.

Your guests won't be the only ones in costume tonight - dress up some burgers with a bloody mary salsa

Dessert will definitely be sinful when you serve up these devilled chocolate lava cakes.