I volunteered to make a pasta salad for a friend’s Memorial Day BBQ and decided to dig for inspiration to mix up my stand-by recipe. I found an old Martha Stewart antipasti pasta salad recipe and gave it my own spin with a few different ingredients. It wasn’t an exact science — I tossed radiatore pasta with balsamic vinegarette and lots of salt and pepper. Then I folded in a handful of chopped tomatoes, capers, provolone cubes, a jar of green olives, diced salami, finely minced red onions and lots of torn fresh basil leaves and chopped chives. It was a hit and will likely be the new ‘stand-by’ pasta salad for BBQs this summer!
Radio silence here usually means things are happening elsewhere for me, and for the past two weeks a lot has been happening. I left my job working on the social media team for Liberty Mutual Insurance — it’s telling that as I write that, it’s actually the first time I’ve ever talked about my ‘day job’ on this site. It was truly sad to leave my amazing, smart, funny, caring co-workers (tears were shed, people! Real tears!). When I’ve been telling people about this departure, the first question I get is “wow, are you blogging full-time now?” Nope! For the first time in my life I actually think I’m doing something better than the prospect of blogging full-time — I found a new job that totally aligns with my passions and excites me so much I have been springing out of bed in the morning (a true novelty for a morning-monster like myself). I joined the team at Ellie Kai, an amazing women’s fashion brand that creates made-to-order dresses and clothing in powerful, bold prints. I have my first two weeks on the job under my belt and it’s been an awesome experience and a great learning process. I’m going to be working from home part-time, and traveling down to Cape Cod a few days a week to work out of their corporate offices. Driving (quite far!) to work has been a totally new experience, as has working from home for this social butterfly (please someone stop me if I start talking to my cat). I’ve already had so much fun in just a few short days though — including popping over to Nantucket to help set up one of the summer showrooms. Spending the day working from the wharf in Nantucket was all I needed to experience to know I had hit the jackpot. The very best part of this new role is that I have been feeling really well-balanced — just being able to talk about my job here and on social media feels pretty freeing, and I think the role will offer me a lot more opportunities to cross-pollinate my passions at work with what I love doing here on my site — I feel so very lucky! So that’s that — except to see some more behind-the-scenes over on my Instagram account soon!
If I was queen of anything, I think I’d probably be the queen of the last-minute DIY. I wish I was one of those bloggers that plans her awesome ideas months in advance so I could just hit publish a week before an event, but my best inspiration always seems to pop up the day before a holiday! Case and point: my derby day DIY epiphany popped into my head earlier this weekend. The good news is that this DIY concept can be used in dozens of different ways for many holidays to come, using gold clay and wooden skewers to make some horseshoe drink stirrers.
The instructions are simple: roll out modeling clay to about 1/4″ thickness and use an exacto-knife to cut out your shape — in this case, a simple horseshoe. Next, use a small wooden toothpick or dowel to add details before popping the pieces in a 275 degree oven for 15 minutes. Once the pieces have cooked, hardened, and cooled, use a tiny drop of hot glue to affix to a wooden skewer. Let the glue set and you’re ready to pop them into a mint julep or cocktail of your choice!
Why is it that of all of the party wares you can buy, that drinkware is always the most plain and boring? I mean, what’s more fun than DRINKS people? I have found it quite tough to find fun, festive options for disposable glasses, so I decided to come up with a way to make them more festive on my own — this is such a simple idea that I’m kind of kicking myself for not coming up with it earlier. I purchased simple clear plastic cups from the party store and then used printable colored labels from Paper Source to write out a fun phrase (since these were for a morning event, I wrote “good mornin’ sunshine” on the stickers). After printing them out at home, I simply adhered the stickers to the cups before serving a tasty rosemary lemonade in them. I’m positive I’ll be replicating this idea for many parties in my future!
This past weekend I was delighted to partner with one of my favorite brands — Madewell — for a fun spring shopping event. I became a Madewell convert the day I walked into their Natick store and was completely deflated that I couldn’t find denim that fit my body anywhere. One of the lovely stylists helped me try on their denim line until I found not one, but two! perfect pairs of denim; now every pair of jeans in my closet is from Madewell now. While everyone shopped they sipped on mimosas and a rosemary infused lemonade I mixed up. EAT Boutique was also on site hosting a pop-up shop with spring treats, and Maggie of Eat Boutique made some pretty tasty tomato tarts from her new cookbook: Food Gift Love for everyone to enjoy — it was a fun little fete to cap of the weekend!
I think we all deserve a little extra perk of Spring-y goodness in our Easter celebrations this weekend after the winter that we’ve had, right? So I thought up a fun party detail: bunny straws! The assembly is simple: cut out a small white outline of a bunny head; using a glue stick add on small nose and pinks of the ears. Finish them off with a hand drawn set of eyes and whiskers. Then glue the bunnies right to the striped straw (I chose pink and green ones!), leaving enough room so that they’ll pop out of the glass, but don’t touch the top of the straw. I can’t wait to pop these cute little guys into a mimosa this weekend!
Do you have one of those family recipes that is a given menu item at every gathering? My husband’s family always makes a special chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, our neighbors growing up always served rice krispy treats at every birthday party, and at our house that dessert item is Chocolate Chip Cake. This cake is the one that gets requested by everyone for their birthdays, and it’s such a crowd-pleaser. I think the sour cream batter is what makes it so addictive. It’s one of the recipes that’s been around forever — so long in fact that I wasn’t even sure where it came from. I had to call my mom, who in turn had to call my grandmother to find out. It turns out it was from a neighbor of my grandparents who made the cake for parties, no frosting meant it was less messy for the kids! And now it’s my turn to pass it along, full recipe below! (PS: see that lovely cake stand pictured? I’m partnering with the fine folks at AHeirloom to give one away on my instagram account this week — be sure to head over to enter to win!)Ingredients:
1 stick of butter at room temperature
1 cup of sugar, plus 1/4 cup for topping
2 eggs
1 cup of sour cream
2 tsp of vanilla extract
2 cups of flour
1.5 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1 package of chocolate chips
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream together 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of sugar, and 2 eggs with an electric mixer.
Add in 1 cup of sour cream and 2 tsp of vanilla extract, continue to mix together.
Sift 2 cups of flour, 1.5 tsp of baking powder, and 1 tsp of baking soda; stir dry mixture into wet ingredients.
Pour half of the batter into a 9×13 baking dish and then layer half of the chocolate chips on top.
Add second half of batter and top with the rest of the chocolate chips. Sprinkle the top with 1/4 of sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, let the cake cool before cutting.
Alright friends, I’m in a winter-cooking slump and I’m calling out for help. I’ve been through my Pinterest boards, my favorite cookbooks, and even that pile of torn-out recipes I keep in a binder in my kitchen. Sure, I’ve found some ideas for dinner parties or a leisurely Sunday afternoon of slow-roasting something decadent — but I’m looking for weeknight recipes that I can make in 30-40 minutes after work (oh and somewhat healthy would be great too, since I’ve been eating like I’m already storing up for calories for next winter). So — can you help me? Would love your ideas! Leave them in the comments!
I needed a sweet treat to snack on during the Oscars and thought I’d have a little fun updating a classic: the chocolate chip cookie. Martha Stewart’s soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe is just about the most perfect cookie specimen there is, but I couldn’t help but mix it up for the biggest movie night of the year with some movie theater candy. I followed the original recipe, and then swapped out the chocolate chips for a mixture of M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, and Raisnets. Spoiler alert: they were crazy tasty. I’m thinking these will be an annual Oscars night staple!
I don’t know about you guys, but this Boston winter is kicking my butt. The snow is overwhelming, the commuting has been a nightmare, and I have been soothing my winter-blues with a heck of a lot of couch-time and junk-food. More than anything, I’ve been feeling a little … well the best word I can think of is: Meh. Uninspired, unmotivated, and overall just … Meh. So I thought I’d put together a list of ideas for how we can all stay sane and a little more chic during this insane winter weather. Please do share you ideas with me too! 1) Don’t be one of those suckers stocking up on bread and milk. Hit the speciality food store and get your artisan marshmallows (I love Apotheker’s), macarons, chutney and cheeses. If you’re going to be stuck inside, you want to have quality rations. 2) Go ahead, do it — call yourself an Uber. Sure, it’s surge pricing — but there’s nothing chic about the MBTA this winter. 3) Order that Hudson Bay wool throw you’ve been eyeing for years, consider it an investment in your snuggling game. 4) Wine. Do it. Buy the whole case, you know you’ve already drank as many bottles this winter hiding from the storms. 5) Host a shoveling soiree and go dig out some elderly neighbors — there’s nothing more chic than being a good samaritan! Bonus: it’s a great work out to burn off all that wine. 6) Get out there and support the small businesses that are hurting from having to close during the storms. The great news is that you’ll be one of the brave folks to go out in the cold to try that impossible-to-get-a-reservation-at-restaurant, finally easy to get a seat at the chicest spots in the city. 7) Just dress the part — bean boots and fleece lined wellies are now acceptable attire at 99% of occasions. My advice? Invest in some cute boot socks in case you have to pop them off to change shoes! And don’t forget a sassy pom-pom hat and smart mittens. 8) You’ve probably already reached the end of your Netflix binge-watching queue, so start to dig into some classic old-school movies. 9) Consider this snow-bound winter a great excuse to start that resolution to read more this year, you’ve got plenty of time on the couch to start chipping away at your reading list. 10) No shame in channeling your energy to start thinking about, praying for, even begging a bit for spring. It’s got to come sometime!
Nope! For the first time in my life I actually think I’m doing something better than the prospect of blogging full-time — I found a new job that totally aligns with my passions and excites me so much I have been springing out of bed in the morning (a true novelty for a morning-monster like myself). I joined the team at 
Ingredients:
