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 

Winter ONEderland

Yesterday was my friend's son's 1st Birthday Party. 

The theme was Winter ONEderland. How cute and apropos considering this frigid weather we've been having. She did such a cute job with all of the little details.

The lunch was right out of a ski lodge.  She served mac & cheese, chicken pot pie and chili, and had a hot chocolate station and an array of wintry sweets for dessert.

To add to the sweet smorgasbord I made s'mores cupcakes. 

They were adorable and delicious!

recipe below.

What you'll need:

24 cupcakes

Frosting

Box of honey flavored Teddy Grams

Bag of large marshmallows

Hershey chocolate bar, broken up

Directions:

Make 24 cupcakes, chocolate or vanilla. I used vanilla.

Frost cupcakes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

On a baking tray roast large marshmallows for about 5 minutes, until they get a little golden.

As soon as they come out put on top of each cupcake.

Squeeze in a little teddy gram in the marshmallow. I thought it was cute to use Teddy Grams since it was a 1st Birthday but  you can most certainly use regular gram crackers and break them into smaller pieces.

Put one piece of Hershey's chocolate behind the marshmallow.

Try to make as close to eating time as you can, they marshmallows tend to harden up as time goes on.

I got the adorable red tartan plaid baking liners on etsy.com

They went perfect with the theme! 

Harper holding hands with the adorable Birthday boy!

Happy 2014!

Happy New Year!

This New Years we had over our friends and their son and had a nice low key evening. We nibbled on a ton of appetizers and had a lot of decadent desserts post midnight. 

For cocktails (what's New Years without a festive drink?) I rimmed champagne glasses with gold sugar I got from dellcovespices and filled them with prosecco and pomegranate seeds.

I found these "Pop Fizz Clink" balloons on etsy from The Flair Exchange and the Happy New Year Garland at The Land of Nod

For one of the many desserts, I baked cupcakes with gold sprinkles. I got the gold confetti plates at The Land of Nod as well.

Harper and Hunter had so much fun playing together and almost made it to watch the ball drop. 

Wishing everyone a fabulous 2014 filled with much health and happiness! 

Elmo & Cookie Monster Cupcakes

I recently made cupcakes for a 2nd birthday. Elmo and Cookie Monster were requested so I went to work researching the best way to make these guys come to life. 

For Elmo I made red frosting and used a star tip to get the "fur" effect. 

I used wintergreen mints (laid backwards so you can't see the type) and chocolate chips for the eyes. I used a little bit of white frosting to adhere the chip to the mints so they didn't fall out.

For Elmo's nose I used orange peanut m&m's and for the smile an Oreo cookie cut in half.

For his friend Cookie Monster I made blue frosting and used the same star tip. I did the same eyes but tried to make Cookie Monster's a little more "googly".

He has no nose, so that was easy. And for his mouth, of course a Chips Ahoy cookie cut in half! 

How did I do?

Fall Farm to Table

This past weekend we did our seasonal Farm to Table dinner with our friends Lisa & Paul.

We came up with a Fall menu consisting of in season items like mushrooms, figs, fresh sage, walnuts and butternut squash.

We added to the "fall flare" by decorating with leaves gathered from my back yard and constructed to make a sign that read "Farm to Table". My friend Lisa, who owns Larkspur Studio NYC, designed a chalkboard menu and coordinating chalkboard Fall 2013 sign. Other details were leaf place cards wrapped around fresh herbs, fresh sunflowers and pumpkins on the table. 

For the fresh herb bundle I got fresh sage and thyme. Using jute string we wrapped each bundle and tied it to the personalized leaf place cards. This sat on top of linen napkins with red trim

To start the meal we made a mushroom soup. We topped the soup with sauteed mushrooms, fresh chives and a chive & hazelnut oil. 

We then served broiled honey and fresh ricotta stuffed figs with prosciutto and walnuts, atop of a bed of arugula. 

For the main dish we did a fresh pasta with roasted butternut squash and burrata in a sage butter sauce, topped with a pistachio pesto.

On the side we grilled up two kinds of sausage; a classic spicy sausage and a chicken and prosciutto sausage. 

On the table we had mason jars and farm jugs filled with fresh sunflowers, mini pumpkins and little glass jars with tea lights. 

I always look forward to our Farm to Table dinners. Aside from eating great food I love spending the day chatting, cooking and being creative with my friend. The best part is all sitting down together, even the babies, and enjoying the meal we just spent the afternoon preparing. 

recipes below.

Mushroom Soup with Hazelnut Gremolata and fresh Chives 
recipe from epicurious
What you'll need:
1 1/2 ounce package of dried porcini mushrooms
1 cup hot water
4 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced peeled carrot (about 1 large)
1 pound crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced (about 6 cups)
3 cups (or more) vegetable broth
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted
chives, chopped to 2 inch pieces
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, chopped
12 ounces assorted fresh wild mushrooms (about 5 cups sliced)
Directions:
Place porcini in 1 cup hot water. Let soak for about 20 minutes, until soft. Strain, reserving soaking liquid. Coarsely chop porcini.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add in onion and carrot and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add 1 pound crimini mushrooms and sprinkle with salt. Saute until mushrooms are soft and browned, about 5 minutes. Add porcini and saute 3 more minutes.
Add the 3 cups of broth and reserved porcini soaking liquid and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to med-low; cover and simmer until mushrooms are soft and flavors blended, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly. Using an emersion blender, blend until smooth, adding more broth 1/2 cup at a time, as needed.
Mix the parsley, oil, hazelnuts and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.
Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a heavy large saucepan over med-high heat. Add 12 ounces assorted mushrooms & fresh thyme and saute until soft and browned, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide among soup bowls. Top with sauteed mushrooms, gremolata and then garnish with 2-inch chive pieces. 

Honey Broiled Figs with Ricotta over Arugula

What you'll need:

1 cup fresh ricotta

2 tablespoons good honey

12 large figs, cut in half

Arugula

Prosciutto, sliced thin

Candied walnuts

A baguette sliced into rounds

Olive Oil

Lemon

Salt

Fresh ground pepper

Directions:

In a food processor combine the ricotta and honey. Pulse until very smooth.

Arrange figs cut side up on a baking sheet. Dollop 2 teaspoons of the ricotta mixture on top of each fig and drizzle with honey. Broil for about 3 minutes, until just browned.

Toss the arugula with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, good quality salt and fresh black pepper. 

Arrange on a long plate. Arugula on the bottom, top with the figs, prosciutto and candied walnuts.

Place sliced baguette rounds around the plate.

Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Burrata

What you'll need:

1 pound fresh pasta such as rigatoni 

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup EVOO, plus 2 tablespoons

Half a stick of unsalted butter

5 fresh sage leaves 

5 cups 1/2-inch cubes of butternut squash

Sea salt

Fresh ground pepper

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

1/4 cup grape seed oil

1 1/4 teaspoons red wine vinegar

2 balls of Burrata cheese

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the squash with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. 

Roast till tender and crisp on the sides, about 30-40 minutes.

While the squash is cooking make the pesto. In a blender combine 1 garlic clove, 1/4 cup EVOO, 1/4 cup grape seed oil, vinegar, pistachios, 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Puree until smooth.

In a separate saucepan melt the butter. Add in 1 minced garlic clove, the sage leaves, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes on a low heat. 

In a serving bowl combine the cooked pasta and roasted butternut squash. Pour the sage butter over and toss well. Quarter the Burrata and place on top. Drizzle with the pistachio pesto and serve immediately.

Harper's Barnyard Bash!

This past weekend was my daughter's 2nd Birthday Party.

Of course I went to town with the details and enjoyed every second of planning.

We did a Barnyard Bash theme since she absolutely loves animals. I found a local petting zoo, Pied Piper who comes to your house and sets up a pen with a little petting zoo. 

They brought bunnies, ducks, a sheep and a goat. Harper was in Heaven!

My friend Lisa, from Larkspur Studios, made me adorable food and drink signs.

I purchased the red and white picnic tablecloths, bandana print cups and cow print plates from shindigz.com

I took regular mason jars I purchased at Michael's and jazzed them up with some jute and bandana print ribbon and filled them with adorable cow straws I found at Party Delights

Fresh sunflowers adorned the tables in farm vases that I found at The Christmas Tree Shops

For the kids I put out juice packs and Horizon milk packs in Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla.

I filled a mason jar jug (also purchased at Christmas Tree Shops) with fresh apple cider.

As a fun Fall activity I purchased little sugar pumpkins at a local farm and put them out for the kids to decorate. I got cute letter and farm foam stickers; a fun and no-mess way for the kids to decorate.

For a creative way to display dessert I got styrofoam rectangular boards and Michael's and hot glued little wooden fences on. 

I used peeps for baby chicks, made mini apple crisps and home made farm animal cupcakes.

I did a candy buffet with different color M&M's (Harpers favorite) and cow tales.

I got these adorable Candy Bags from The Trendy Butterfly

As give outs for the kids I got books and tied each one with red baker's twine a little tag that said "Oink, Cluck, Baa, Moo, Just want to say Thank You!"

We also had face painting and balloon twisting from Blue Balloon Parties

The kids had a ball getting their face painted like their favorite animals. 

Harper decided on a butterfly. Not exactly a farm animal but she still looked super cute!

 I know the party was a success because Harper has been asking me for "another birthday" everyday since Saturday, which of course makes it all worth it!