Party recap... finally!

Well, now that I have at least figured out how to work around Google Chrome's evil hijacking efforts, I can finally post about the two parties I threw during the week of sheer madness. The week of sheer madness resulted from the perfect storm of a combination of things. I was out of town the weekend before, had a work event on Tuesday night, and birthday party number one on Wednesday night.

One of my best friends was hitting the big 3-0 in August, and I had been planning a big surprise party for her when we both got the ultimate surprise - she was moving to Washington, and is it turned out, would be leaving the week before her actual birthday. So I moved the celebration up, changed the plan a bit, and ordered catering to make it easier on myself since I would be coming straight from work to church, and then the party afterwards. The party ended up being lovely, it was intimate, memorable and fun... And put a smile on the birthday girl's face!

Here are the party details:

DECOR:
I am SO bad at remembering to take pictures of parties, usually because I'm busy doing something else, I definitely need to improve on that! Anyway, for decor, I went with a simple, bright color scheme. Turquoise is one of the birthday girl's favorite colors (by chance, she wore a dress that matched the party!), so we decorated with turquoise, using hot pink napkins and pink roses for accents. The picture below (from Pinterest) shows my color scheme inspiration :)

I set up one long banquet table, so everyone could sit together, and added tea light candles for pretty lighting.

FOOD:

This is the important part, right?! :P Most of it, I ordered from Chicken Maison, which is yummy and an extremely affordable way to feed a crowd. Here's the menu for the dinner:

Appetizers

Caprese skewers**

Stuffed dates**

Stuffed Grape leaves

Main course

Rotisserie chicken - spicy lemon and original

Rice pilaf

Veggie kabobs

Pita and hummus

And birthday cake for dessert!!! Aside from the caprese skewers and stuffed dates (recipes at the end of the post) and the veggie kabobs, everything else came from Chicken Maison, and we just plated it and added garnish. 

PARTY FAVOR:

I wanted to make sure everyone left with a little treat, a reminder of a sweet evening spent with the birthday girl. I had been thinking of macarons, but when I realized one of the guests attending has a severe nut allergy, I figured I'd save that for a future party. Look how cute that idea is!!

Anyway, so macarons were out, and I immediately thought of yet another Pinterest inspired favor that seemed easy enough to pull off in the extremely limited time I had to do everything. 

These were adorable, easy to make, and I will DEFINITELY be using this idea again in the future! I put each oreo pop in a clear plastic treat bag and tied a bright pink ribbon around each stick, and by all reports (I didn't get to try one! But my hubby is my favorite food critic, and the fact that there were none left to try speaks for itself!), they were delicious! For a great tutorial, check out this website!!

So that's the first party recap! The second party recap will have to wait, as the few pics I took are on my other (good!) camera, which I am trying to use more! All in all, it was a lovely night and fairly easy to pull off on a work night :D 

Caprese Skewers

I love making these! They are easy, they look pretty, and people LOVE eating food on a stick. Even salad. It's TRUE! 

Ingredients:

mozzarella cheese (cut into 3/4 inch chunks or buy the little mozzarella balls)

grape or cherry tomatoes

basil leaves

balsamic dressing (or just balsamic vinegar)

skewers

Onto each skewer, thread a tomato, then a basil leaf, then a piece of cheese. Keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, and before serving, bring to room temperature. Drizzle with balsamic dressing (or vinegar, I also add a little pepper), and enjoy! :) 

Stuffed dates

These are DELICIOUS. They might sound a bit odd, but the flavors go so well together, they are yummy at room temperature, or you can make them ahead and then put in the oven right before serving. I made extra of these, and saved some for our beach picnic birthday dinner the following night!

Dates (pitted)

Cheese (goats cheese, blue cheese, parmesan cheese, manchego - I've tried all of these, they're all good!)

Prosciutto

Cut prosciutto slice into quarters. Stuff each date with a piece of cheese, then press the date closed and wrap with prosciutto. You can secure the prosciutto with a toothpick, if you'd like, I don't find that to be necessary. Put the stuffed dates on a tray, and bake at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes (or until the prosciutto looks a little crispy). Transfer to serving plate and enjoy!!!

National Hot Dog Day ~ Sonoran style

Well, I'm not the biggest fan of hot dogs, but while living in Tucson, I had the opportunity to try a local delicacy - Sonoran Hot Dogs (or as some people call them in LA, Danger Dogs). I am sure they're bad for you in every single way possible, but they are delicious, and in honor of National Hot Dog Day (apparently - according to a google search fueled by a facebook post), we had a bunch of friends over yesterday and celebrated with Sonoran Hot Dogs. If you've never tried them, you should! Just not too often :P 

You will need:

Bacon

Hot Dogs

Buns

Tomatoes (diced - I used 3)

Onions (diced - I used 2 smaller ones)

Mayo, mustard, ketchup, relish, chipotle mayo etc. (whatever else you want!)

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Wrap half a piece of bacon around each hot dog (don't overlap it too much as you want it to crisp and cook evenly) and set aside. In a little olive oil, saute the onions until the are softened, then add tomatoes and stir. Cook on medium high heat for about 10 minutes, adding a little garlic salt for extra flavor, if you'd like. While the tomatoes and onions are cooking, cook bacon wrapped hot dogs over medium high heat, turning as the bacon cooks. Place buns on a tray and heat in the oven for about 5 minutes. When the bacon is done on all sides, remove the hot dogs. To eat, pile hot dog buns high with condiments, sauteed onion and tomatoes and enjoy! If you're lucky, your homemade Sonoran hot dogs will come out looking something like the real deal! Yum!!

Mad Hatter's Valentines Tea Party... The Plan

Well, last night I ran a bunch of errands and this morning I worked on my lollipop bouquets. They are pretty adorable - I will post a picture, just didn't have a chance to take one as I rushed out the door for work! I am SO excited to use my new three tiered cake stand ~ it was a Christmas gift and I have wanted one for so long! Here's the menu for tomorrow:

Tea Sandwiches - Chicken salad, ham and cheddar with dijon mustard, roasted turkey with cranberry thyme spread, and open face cucumber sandwiches
Mini quiches
Cream scones with strawberry jam, lemon curd and whipped cream
Brownie bites, lemon squares and some other tiny dessert
Bowl of fresh strawberries (or maybe chocolate dipped strawberries if I have time)

Not sure what the other tiny dessert will be. Maybe I'll make my mini cheesecakes, or else some little fruit tarts, like these:

Or if I run out of time, then maybe some mini cupcakes. I am serving icea tea and lemonade, in addition to hot tea, since I know not everyone is a fan :) Can't wait to post pics of the party tomorrow - I know it will be a lot of fun! Here's the recipe I'm using for the cream scones:

Cream Scones

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and position a rack in the top third of the oven. Thoroughly combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of this mixture, add 1 1/4 cups of cream and stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a fork. Work quickly, stirring as little as possible, until a soft, shaggy dough forms. Add more cream, a tablespoon at a time, if the dough seems too dry.

2. Use a large serving spoon or cup measure to drop the batter onto an ungreased baking sheet, allowing at least 2 inches between each scone. Brush the top of each with heavy cream and bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 8 large scones.



Weekend whirlwind...

Well, as it tends to do, this weekend flew by! I didn't get a chance to try the cake in a cup (yet - but I will!!), nor did I make a nice big vat of this yummy butternut squash soup, but I cleaned my poor neglected house, spent a lazy Sunday afternoon on my deck with my sister and my Mum - and the young pup! And I spent a relaxing Saturday evening with my hubby, puttering around the house, shopping for art and sharing a late night dinner at Eatalian Cafe's newly expanded Crenshaw location - it's only been open a few days! And now I'm planning a Mad Hatter's Valentines Tea Party for a bunch of ladies this weekend. I love parties, and there are so many cute ideas out there for Valentine's themed desserts, decorations and crafts. I'm limited on time, but I'm going to try and incorporate some of these ideas:

These yummy mini cheesecakes - I am not a fan of cherry, so I top them with strawberries instead and they are delicious and embarrassingly easy to make...


These adorable centerpieces (I have a bunch of pretty lollipops I ordered for a New Year's party that didn't arrive in time to be used, so I've been saving them for something just like this!)...

And a few of these easy to make decorations to add some color and to cover the hole in my living room ceiling that we are still waiting for the insurance company to send someone to fix.

Over the next few days, I'll probably be posting a few more details about my upcoming soiree this weekend ~ I can't help it, I love parties!