“Excuse me, miss? There seems to be a mistake. I believe I ordered the “large” glass of wine…Hello!”

Dec 022012
 

Win­ter is here and what bet­ter time to start cozy­ing up to your favorite red! Today I’m shar­ing my beloved wine glass with you. Friends are always ask­ing me where they can get one. What makes it so spe­cial? It fits an entire bot­tle of vino!  I must con­fess I do not drink an entire bot­tle of wine at once, how­ever I’m a sucker for a great nov­elty.  It’s now my “go to” host­ess gift or “bud­get gift” that is very “rich in style”. Stock up and have them on hand for that per­fect gift.

CLICK ON PHOTO TO PURCHASE GLASS

 

The ideas are endless:
  • Get them etched with Mr. and Mrs., a spe­cial date or a wine quote at your local engraver for a one of a kind gift. (or etch them your­self if you’re the crafty type)
  • For dual usage fill the large wine glass with can­dies, nuts or a dip at your next cock­tail / wine party.
  • Use them as can­dle hold­ers or a flower vase.
  • They make a great ves­sel for wrap­ping gift cer­tifi­cates to your local wine tast­ing bar, restau­rants or home decore stores.
  • They make the per­fect stor­age for used wine corks too!
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The Perfect Lasagne

Jun 272012
 

I’ve fallen in love with the quirky cook­ing show, Extra Vir­gin, star­ring Debi Mazar and her Ital­ian native hus­band. I recently tried one of their mouth water­ing recipes, bolog­nese lasagne with a besci­amella sauce. It is divine! I’m going to be upfront with you, it’s a sim­ple yet time con­sum­ing recipe. How­ever, one bite and you’ll know it was worth all the effort.  The main thing you’ll notice that sets this recipe apart from most, is the lack of cheese. Instead you use a besci­amella sauce that is made from but­ter, flour and milk. It turns what would be an ordi­nary dish into an extra­or­di­nary one!

I fol­lowed the recipe as directed, except I omit­ted the nut­meg sim­ply because I don’t like it. If you need a meal to impress, look no fur­ther… Serve it with a sim­ple salad and rus­tic Ital­ian bread. Of course, don’t for­get the vino!

Recipe Here

(cour­tesy of Gabriele Cor­cos and Debi Mazar)

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Outstanding In The Field

Mar 182012
 

 

Look­ing for some­thing dif­fer­ent that you haven’t expe­ri­enced in your culi­nary life as of yet?

Out­stand­ing in the Field is a rov­ing adven­ture – lit­er­ally a restau­rant with­out walls. They set the long tables at farms or gar­dens, on moun­tain tops or in sea caves, on islands or at ranches. Occa­sion­ally the table is set indoors: a beau­ti­ful refur­bished barn, a cool green­house or a stately museum. Ingre­di­ents for the meal are almost all local and gen­er­ally pre­pared by a cel­e­brated chef of the region. This really is a great way to expe­ri­ence the farm to table trend.

I per­son­ally have not had the plea­sure of shar­ing a meal at one of their tables. They’re not always in your area and dip deep into your pock­ets. How­ever, it is on my list of things to do…eventually. I’d also like to men­tion I have no finan­cial gain by shar­ing this infor­ma­tion with you. It’s just some­thing I found to be inter­est­ing that I wanted to share with my read­ers. MARK YOUR CALENDAR, MARCH 20th TICKETS GO ON SALE! Look at their sched­ule now and plan ahead. Tick­ets sell out in minutes.

 

DIYD: (do it your­self dinner)
  • If you know the day you can burn a few hun­dred bucks is not in your near future, but you’re inspired by the idea, why not try to recre­ate your own “farm to table” dinner.

 

What to do:
  • Loca­tion! Loca­tion! Loca­tion! Find a spe­cial space whether indoors or out that is a lit­tle more adven­tur­ous then the din­ing room. Think-the beach, along the river, in a cac­tus for­est, on a ranch, at a local park, in a pri­vately owned library, under a big tree, in the mid­dle of the street at the end of a cul de sac, on a basketball/tennis court. Think out­side the box and have fun!
  • After your loca­tion is estab­lished, decide on how many guests you will be serv­ing. A roman­tic din­ner for 2? A fam­ily reunion for 20? You decide! Once the num­ber of peo­ple is estab­lished be sure you have enough long ban­quet tables and fold­ing chairs to recre­ate an out­door din­ing room.
  • Cus­tomize the din­ing décor to your own indi­vid­ual lik­ing. For me, I would use as many can­dles as would fit! Oth­ers may use hay stacks for the benches with crisp white linens drap­ing the tables. Have fun and remem­ber there are no rules! (Martha won’t be attending)
  • Next, decide on your menu. Choose sea­sonal items that you can get at your local farm­ers mar­kets. If you really pre­pare in advance, you can even grow some of your own ingre­di­ents your­self.  Try to select items that can be pre­pared fully in your kitchen and brought to the sight in cool­ers or warm­ing bags.
  • Remem­ber the details such as weather con­di­tions, bugs, restroom avail­abil­ity, park­ing, dietary restrictions/allergies , wine pair­ings, music, throw blan­kets, etc…
  • If you like the idea but don’t want all of the work, cater the event and have it deliv­ered to your site.  Try to find a store or restau­rant that makes farm to table meals. The con­cept and ambiance will still be enjoyed by all.

 

Buon Appetito!

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Fake It: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Mar 142012
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As many of you may know, I am more of a savory gal than sweet. ( I’m not talk­ing just per­son­al­ity here!) So when and if I rec­om­mend some­thing on the sug­ary side, you’ll know it must be really good and rel­a­tively easy to make. I love to cook, but hate to bake. Who needs to bake when you have your sis­ter liv­ing down the street that could give Eliz­a­beth Falkner  a run for her money?

Today, you’re in for a treat (no pun intended)! I’m shar­ing my sis­ters “fake it, choco­late peanut but­ter cup­cakes”. She (Colleen, a.k.a. my sis) cuts some cor­ners to save you time and energy, with­out sac­ri­fic­ing taste and qual­ity. I promise you won’t be dis­ap­pointed with these mouth water­ing, belly bulging cup­cakes! I never said, low-fat, just really yummy and easy!

Happy bak­ing!

RECIPE HERE
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The Perfect Make Ahead Dinner-Chicken Marbella

Feb 292012
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, I must thank my dear friend for treat­ing us to such a fab­u­lous din­ner! I must admit the thought of prunes and olives was not mouth water­ing at first. If you can get past the ingre­di­ents list and just make it, you’ll be in for a deli­cious sur­prise, I promise. For those of you look­ing for the per­fect make-ahead dish, look no fur­ther. You mar­i­nate this the night before and just pop it in the oven the next evening. It’s so easy but will taste like you spent an entire day slav­ing in the kitchen. Don’t for­get to serve it with some fresh Ital­ian crusty bread for dip­ping in the juices. (the best part) My friend made a fresh green salad and oven roasted aspara­gus on the side. It was the per­fect com­bi­na­tion! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did…

Buon Appetito!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECIPE HERE
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The Perfect Party Mix

Feb 142012
 

Ina Garten’s Rose­mary Nuts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look­ing for an easy, gourmet pro­tein to have on hand for your next cock­tail shindig? Look no further…Ina Garten’s rose­mary nuts are the bomb! They only take a few min­utes to make and your guests will devour them.

Recipe:
  • 3/4 pounds cashew nuts
  • 3/4 pounds almonds
  • 2 table­spoons coarsely chopped fresh rose­mary leaves
  • 1 tea­spoon cayenne (less if you don’t like spicy)
  • 2 tea­spoons dark brown sugar
  • 2 tea­spoons kosher salt
  • 2 table­spoon melted butter

Pre­heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the nuts on an ungreased bak­ing sheet and bake for about 10 min­utes until they are warmed through. Mean­while, com­bine the rose­mary, pep­per, sugar, salt and but­ter in a large bowl. Remove the nuts from the oven and coat with the mix­ture in the bowl. Serve warm or room tem­per­a­ture in a bowl. Gar­nish with a fresh sprig of rosemary.

Ina Garten’s orig­i­nal recipe here. I made a few changes to her recipe as you will see. I add almonds, more cayenne and but­ter. At this point I really just “eye” my mea­sure­ments. Once you make them a few times you’ll end up putting your own spin on the recipe.

nuts cartoon joke

would make cute gift tag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra:

Make a batch of these for the per­fect host­ess gift. Pack­age them as “nuts and bolts” in a can. For an eas­ier option, grab a clear bag and tie it with a string that has a few con­struc­tion nuts attached. Sim­ple, fast and cre­atively cute.

nuts and bolts in a can

 

 

 

 

 

 


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The Next Iron Chef Party

Nov 302011
 

wine charms with the next iron chef photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently threw a shindig to kick off the new sea­son of The Next Iron Chef. Although it’s too late to repli­cate this for a pre­mier party, you can take every­thing I did and use it to throw your own sea­son finale party. The finale will be aired Decem­ber 18th.
Make your guest list and send out an Evite. If you want some sug­ges­tions on what to say on your invi­ta­tion click here.

evite invitation example

A copy of my Evite. Click on to enlarge.

a clothes pin stamped, eat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What went down:
  • Every­one chose a chef from this sea­sons NIC and made an appe­tizer from one of their recipes.
  • After hav­ing fun tast­ing all of the gourmet good­ies, we voted to see who was “our” Next Iron chef.
  • I made wine charms with all the con­tes­tant chefs pho­tos on them. Also attached to the glasses were mini keys that unlocked a box with a secret ingre­di­ent for them to take home. You had to take your key and keep try­ing to open locks until you found the one yours opened. This was a lot of fun and a great party favor for the occasion.
  • After eat­ing and min­gling we watched the sea­son pre­mier together.
mini locks you can find at the dollar store

minia­ture locks that I found at the Dol­lar Store

photos of the iron chefs on tags for the wine glasses

small ship­ping tags with chefs photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

diy wine charms with photos of the different chefs

DIY wine charms with keys to unlock their secret ingre­di­ent box

different unique food items for secret ingredient party favors

“off the beaten path” secret ingre­di­ents for the party favor box

 

 

ballot to vote for your favorite appetizer

bal­lots for guests to choose they’re favorite appe­tizer of the evening

party favor box filled with a secret ingredient

DIY party favor boxes filled with a secret ingredient

 

 

 

 

 

mini skewers with food tags for the appetizers brought

mini skew­ers with my guests (chefs) names to place on their appetizers

 

 

 

an apron that a guest wore that says, "may the forks be with you"

“may the forks be with you” apron a guest wore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you will be inspired to host an Iron Chef party for your fam­ily and friends!

Party food pho­tos here.
Free down­loads here to help you make your own party.
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Sunday’s Supper: Chicken Tacos

Nov 262011
 

 

 

This Sun­day, I’m hon­or­ing my favorite con­tes­tant on The Next Iron Chef, Michael Chiarello, by mak­ing his chicken taco recipe. One taste and you’ll be watch­ing with me as I cheer him on.

Recipe here

I don’t take any Nel­lene short cuts with this recipe. I make it just like Chef Chiarello does. You can decide on which condi­ments you’d like to serve on the side. I like to offer sour cream, fresh cilantro, red onions, cheese, avo­cado and home­made salsa.

Next week I’ll be doing a post on how to throw a Next Iron Chef finale party. Be sure to stay tuned…

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Sometimes Less Is More

Nov 232011
 

I’m cur­rently obsessed with minia­ture appe­tiz­ers. Here is some inspi­ra­tion for your next cock­tail party. I’m def­i­nitely giv­ing the tiny tequila bot­tles and tacos a try!

mini bot­tles of tequila with tiny tacos

projectwedding.com shares short ribs in a glass

Marthastewart.com show­cases indi­vid­ual crudites

milk and cookie shoot­ers from Audreymagazine.com

dough­nut love by Martha Stew­art Weddings

 

 

 

 

 

 

pound cake in Chi­nese spoons by Mad­dy­cakes Muse

We received a set of these mini appe­tizer dishes as a gift last year from super sweet friends! I’ve been putting them to good use. If you’re inter­ested in buy­ing some, I believe they came from Pier One’s tast­ing col­lec­tion. There are also some great mini dis­pos­able dishes for larger cock­tail par­ties. I know my sis­ter picked some up at Party City recently.

Petite Buon Appetite!

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Sunday’s Supper: Easy Bolognese

Nov 192011
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the meal to make when you’re crav­ing that Sun­day sup­per that tastes like you spent all day slav­ing over the stove. I found a per­fect com­pro­mise with Ina Garten’s Bolog­nese recipe. The good news is that it only takes week­day effort to make. I was pleas­antly amazed by it’s rich, robust fla­vors that came together in such a short time.

Recipe Here

Tips:

  • Dou­ble the recipe (I did) and freeze the sauce for a future easy week­day dinner.
  • Be sure to print this one out and add it to your recipe file labeled, “company’s com­ing over for din­ner”.  It’s so easy to make the day ahead. On the day of you can just make a fresh salad and boil the pasta.
  • Put together a gift bas­ket. Most of the ingre­di­ents are dry and can be bought and assem­bled in a bas­ket. Include the recipe and what they need to add. (the beef) Keep it sim­ple or add a lit­tle extra with wine glasses, vino to drink, cloth nap­kins, can­dles, Ital­ian music cd, etc…


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