Peruvian Aji Verde Sauce

One of the things I miss about living in the city is the vast choices of restaurants. It was great being able to walk out our apartment door and have every possible cuisine only a few steps away. 

Pio Pio was a favorite "go-to" of ours. We would get the rotisserie chicken, bowl of rice and beans with the spicy green sauce on the side. Lot's of spicy green sauce. 

I have been craving that famous green sauce ever since we moved and finally decided to attempt to make it on my own. I don't know if it is quite as delicious as the famous Pio Pio but a good second place. You can pretty much dip anything in this stuff!

recipe below.

Peruvian Aji Verde Sauce 

Ingredients

1 heaping handful of cilantro
4 scallions 

2 jalapeños, seeded and diced

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt (you may want more after tasting it)
pinch of pepper

1/2 cup extra light olive oil

2 tablespoons mayonaise 

Directions

Roughly chop the cilantro and scallions and set aside. De-seed and chop the jalapeños. (make sure to wear gloves and throughly wash your hands after)

Throw all of the ingredients in a blender and puree until a smooth consistency. Taste as you may need to tweak and add some additional salt and pepper. 

coffee table decor

A coffee table is an essential piece of accent furniture in any entertaining space. Centrally located in the seating area, its contents are often the focus of the room once everyone is seated. Below are some of my tips and tricks to creating the perfect chic coffee table decor. 

The first step is of course the coffee table itself. I'm really loving free form wooden tables right now. This walnut one from chairish.com is a perfect starting off point. Chairish is a great online vintage marketplace. I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't already. Everything is one of a kind and at really great price points.

My first "go-to" when accessorizing a coffee table is always a great tray.  West Elm has a great selection in various sizes and finishes. 

Large Rectangular Lacquer Tray

Unique objects are a great addition to any coffee table. I like to stack one or two on top of some coffee table books.

Gold Urchin Antique Objet

Which brings me to my next must. A stack of chic coffee table books. Tailor these to your taste. Decor, fashion, travel... 

Amazon is a great source with competitive prices. 

Big Book of Chic

I can never get enough candles. Pick your favorite scent and light it up.

The BAIES scent from diptyque is my all time favorite. 

diptyqueparis baies

A chic box of matches will take it to the next level.

I love these Hot Hot Hot ones from Lulu and Georgia.

hot-hot-hot-matches

You can't go wrong with a ceramic vase. I am in love with this stoneware set by NY based artist Judy Jackson.

jury-jackson-vase-set

Another option is a potted succulent plant. If you are like me and can't keep an orchid alive for the life of you this is the way to go. Super low maintenance and great looking. 

The below one is from target but believe it or not Trader Joe's has a great selection in fun, bright colored pots.

succulent

And here is a snap shot of my own coffee table. My biggest piece of advice is have fun with it! 

Hazel turns ONE

It's been close to a year since I have written on here so it seemed only fitting to "get back into it" with a post on Hazel's 1st Birthday. Not quite sure how a whole year has flown by but here I am a year later and ready to get back to it. That being said i'm excited to start with Hazel's first birthday.

We had our family over for a "Woodlands Brunch" to celebrate. Mimosas and Bloody Mary's for the adults, hot chocolate for the kids. Lot's of yummy brunch foods on the table including deviled eggs, smoked salmon, quiche, a blueberry strata and a winter salad. For dessert I made "s'mores on a stick, Magnolia's famous banana pudding,  a "woodlands" birthday cake and fresh berries.  I also made a "bear hugs" trail mix for everyone to take home with them. 

And of course the celebration wouldn't be complete without cute "fox socks" on Hazel's cute chubby legs. I could kiss those "foxy" legs all day!

Below are some pictures from the special day. 

                         

Hazel's Nursery

We welcomed little Hazel into the world in January and I wanted to share a peek inside her nursery. As soon as I found out I was having another girl my mind starting automatically brainstorming what I wanted her room to look like. I'm excited to share the finished product with you below.

Since Harper was no longer sleeping in her crib I was able to pass that down to Hazel, as well as her rocker and changing table. They're all white so I pretty much had a blank canvas to work with. I found this rug at anthropologie and knew right away that I wanted that to be the focal point of the room. Ironically I found this turkish throw pillow on etsy that just happen to be a perfect match to the rug! I worked the rest of the colors of the room around the rug; pops of fuchsia, coral and accents of gold.

Most of the little trinkets and personalized decor I found on etsy.com 

The adorable moccasins are by freshly picked and were a gift from a good friend.

The bed sheet is from aden and anais and the bed skirt is from Restoration Hardware Baby

The silver star and gold heart throw pillows are also from Restoration Hardware Baby.

The cloud with hearts mobile is by Baby Jives Co.

I had this framed baby lamb print over the crib when it was in Harper's room. I loved it so much I ordered four more baby animal prints from The Animal Print Shop that I hung over the rocking chair.

These gold and white book shelves were exactly what I was looking for to display family pictures, books and other trinkets. I found them at the land of nod

This gold sunburst mirror that sits over the changing table is also from anthropologie. 

We painted the wall Benjamin Moore Pale Almond. It's the perfect neutral shade to compliment the rest of the room.

Memorial Day BBQ

This was a perfect first weekend to kick off summer. We spent time upstate with my family which consisted of a lot of time by the lake; boating, bon fires and of course, making s'mores. Then on Monday we had friends over for a BBQ. After a long and busy winter (which included having my second daughter in January... Hence why I haven't been on here very much in the past few months) 

I'm so looking forward to the warm summer days ahead and getting back into cooking and entertaining. 

For our BBQ today we served ribs and burgers and kept it simple for sides; tomato & mozzarella, Cole slaw and a deconstructed Mexican street corn salad. It was so delicious and really simple to make. I'm sharing the recipe below. I insist you try it for your next BBQ, or even for dinner tonight.

Your guests will thank you!

Deconstructed Mexican Street Corn 

What you'll need:

6 ears of corn, husked 

4 tablespoons mayo

3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon paprika, plus more for garnish

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish

salt & pepper

Directions:

Husk and boil corn for about 12 minutes. 

Prepare the grill and grill corn, turning occasionally, until charred. (about 10-15 minutes). Take off and let cool. Cut the kernels from the cob and transfer to a bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk together the mayo, lime juice, paprika, Parmesan cheese and cilantro. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Add this mixture to the corn and toss. Top with a sprinkle of paprika and cilantro. You can also add a few extra pinches of Parmesan cheese on top.

Enjoy!

Minted.

Some of the art I ordered from minted arrived today. I'm so excited to get these framed and up in our bedroom. If you haven't already I highly recommend checking out the site.

By shopping Minted, you support a community of thousands of artists.  Artists from all over the world enter their competitive design challenges. Every limited edition art print has been voted on by artists, designers and shoppers.

Right now they have a promotion going on; 20% off Art with promo code GIFT20 and free 2-day shipping (on order over $75) with promo code GIFTFS2

Stay tuned for these framed and hung!

Harper's 3rd Birthday

My daughter Harper turned 3 in November. 

She loves all arts and crafts so we decided to do an "Art Studio" theme. I was a little nervous that the arts and crafts wouldn't hold the attention of 30 three year olds but it ended up working out perfectly.  Everyone not only had a blast but got to take home their own painted canvas. 

I purchased individual canvas's for each kid at Michael's to decorate with washable paint, glitter pens and foam letter stickers. So the parent's wouldn't totally kill me for their kids making a mess I got each kid their own smock to wear while painting.

I wrapped a smock around each canvas and a little custom tag that read "Paint, Glitter & Stickers too, Create your own canvas to bring home with you".

In addition to the canvas painting I set up a table with play doh and play doh accessories. This happened to be a huge hit!

I also got a bunch of boxes of noodles and died them the colors of the rainbow. Each kid made a "noodle necklace" to take home with them as well.

To tie in with the "Painting" theme I hired Maria Rocco to do face painting. She did an amazing job. Each kid left looking like a princess or super hero.

 For dessert we had a paint palette birthday cake, paintbrush pretzels, mini rainbow cupcakes and paint dipped strawberries. All of them home made.

As a give out I ordered a water color paint set for each kid and wrapped it with a paint palette lollipop and custom tag that said "Thank you for making my birthday a masterpiece".

The party was a huge hit! Harper had a blast and we now have enough paint supplies to get us through a very long winter ahead!

Invitation

Swanky Press

Custom signage
Invitation Celebration

&
Larkspur Studios

Canvas's

Michael's

Smocks

amazon

Face Painting

Maria Rocco

Water color paint palette

shindigz

Rainbow Table Cloths 

shindigz

Paper goods

shindigz

All desserts were home made