"Was that barman giving me a funny look?"

"No. But the drink is..."

I don't generally go in for Halloween much these days, but when I saw a suggestion in a magazine for this somewhat creepy garnish for a cocktail, I couldn't resist. Not because I like macabre things, but because it calls for a tin of lychees to create the effect - and I just happened to have one in my stash. And as I haven't posted anything on this blog for months, I felt now was the time to get back on it.

I suppose you could use fresh lychees if you really wanted to, but then you'd have to peel them, and dig the stones out yourself, whereas with a tin, it's all done for you. They don't have quite the same heady, floral aroma of fresh ones, but it's not far off at all. In terms of texture, I think you'd be hard-pressed to notice the difference; possibly ever-so-slightly softer, but that only increases their eyeball-like quality.

All you need to do is stick a blueberry in the pit...

...et voila! Instant eyeballs.

With a bit more time you could even add a bit of strawberry or raspberry jam around the blueberry, to give a more gory, bloodshot effect, but I didn't have any to hand.

The original cocktail suggestion was for Cointreau, cranberry juice and prosecco; not having any of those ingredients either, my eyeballs were simply floated in a glass of gin with raspberry lemonade (for a very vaguely blood-coloured drink), plus a splash of the syrup from the lychee tin. I was half-hoping some trick or treaters would come and ring my doorbell, so I could answer the door with the drink casually in one hand and see if they noticed the eyes staring at them, but none came in the end.

Not quite sure what I will do with the rest of my tin of lychees yet, but there's always the option of a lychee martini.

I was also quite tempted to give these pumpkin-shaped breadrolls a try, which use canned pumpkin puree in the dough, but thought I might wait until Thanksgiving is over - I think my local Whole Foods may have been a little optimistic in their order of tins this year, so I may well be able to pick up one at bargain price soon. I'll be keeping an eye(ball) out...