Entertaining

Confetti Plates DIY.

Nothing says “it’s time to party!” like a handful of confetti — which is what inspired today’s DIY project! To get that festive look I used Chinet’s Cut Crystal to make confetti plates and cups. To start, I cut my own confetti using several colors of tissue paper. Then I spread a thin layer of clear-drying glue on the plates and for the cups, I painted a think layer about half way up the cup walls. Next comes the fun part — tossing the confetti over the plates, and into the cups. Using a second plate and cup, lightly coated with the glue, I pressed the plate down to seal the confetti in between the two plate layers, and repeated with the cups, stacking them to tightly seal the confetti between the cup walls. Finally, let them dry before using. I paired the cups with my confetti cocktail stirrers and was ready to party!

(Psst! Enter to win a $100 Amex Gift Card and Chinet Cut Crystal Party Pack so you can throw your own party!)

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Please note, this post and giveaway is sponsored by Chinet, and all opinions are my own.

Life

Whiskey 101 at Saloon.

Last night Boston Bloggers hosted an event at Saloon, a cozy speakeasy-style bar, located in Davis Square.  The folks at Saloon invited us in for a Whiskey 101 tasting, and it was such a fun (educational!) experience. Our expert for the evening, Manny, was so knowledgeable, and it was a treat to hear him tell stories about each of the distilleries and histories of the brands. I learned a ton, including the different types of whiskey (we tasted four kinds: Bourbon, Rye, Irish Whiskey, and Scotch), fun facts about some of the regional differences (did you know that Irish Whiskey is spelled with an “e” and Scottish Whisky is spelled without one? Americans spell it both ways, because we do what we want).  I know I’ll be a little more adventurous, and knowledgeable, next time I’m picking a whiskey cocktail off the menu!

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DIY

Confetti Drink Stirrers.

What’s a girl to do when she has some extra confetti lying around? Make some confetti drink stirrers, of course. I was working on a project this weekend and had a little bowl of leftover confetti that I didn’t want to go to waste, so I DIY’ed some festive little drink stirrers that were so simple to make. I pierced a tiny styrofoam ball with a wood skewer and covered the ball with glue. Then I just rolled the styrofoam in the plate of confetti until it was coated, and in any places that looked a little bald, I added on some more glue and dunked them back in for another coating. Then I just let them dry and they’re ready to adorn some tasty cocktails!

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Life

Bliss Celebrations.

Well this was one of those “oh-em-gee” moments! It was beyond surreal to open up the pages of a magazine and find our happy little wedding celebration in print. The lovely folks at Bliss Celebrations magazine shared our wedding pictures in their ‘curated color’ section, featuring the color palettes and inspiration behind the big day. It makes me so happy to see these pictures and know that the day came together exactly like the vision I had when I bought my kelly green wedding shoes that inspired it all. And I’m not going to lie, I brim with pride thinking they might help another bride find some inspiration for her wedding day too. Thanks to Bliss Celebrations for including us!

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Life

Scenes from the weekend.

This weekend zoomed by, partially because I had a packed weekend full of parties and to-do-lists! On Saturday I went to a baby shower for one of my girlfriends, and it was beyond darling. My dear friend Taz was the hostess with the mostest and made an amazing layered blue ombre cake topped with bunting made from her gigantic fabric collection! I found myself hanging out near the mimosa bar, which was so darn cute and delightfully tasty (and lead to a solid post-shower afternoon nap before I headed out to my next party!)

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Life

Sweet Cupcakes.

Last week we had our latest Boston Bloggers event at the Sweet bakery. Sweet had a handful of bloggers over for a whole night of cupcake tasting. So, yes, in case you were wondering, it was awesome. We heard from Sweet’s lovely founder and learned all about how the bakery got started, and how it’s evolved over the years. And then we dug-in and taste-tested lots of their classic flavors (like, oh boy, some of the most delicious carrot cake and cream cheese frosting I’ve ever had!), and a few of their new and seasonal flavors — like Guinness butter-cream for St Patty’s day (yum). I think one of the biggest surprises was tasting their gluten-free cupcakes, I had no idea I was eating a gluten-free cupcake until someone told me — they were some of my favorites from the whole event! Thanks to Sweet for hosting us, and letting me fulfill my fantasy of an all-you-can-eat cupcake feast!

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DIY

A Dip-Dye DIY.

My friend over at Wayfair invited me to participate in a crafting challenge and sent me a plan basket to DIY as I please! I picked a basket that was made of a braided wool, and knew I wanted to try a dip-dye technique. To dye it, I filled up a plastic storage bin with water, vinegar, and fuchsia dye. Then I dunked the basket in and let it sit  for about four hours until I got the color I wanted. Then comes the hardest part, waiting for it to dry! I hung the basket over the bin and let is drip dry for another several hours. After it dried completely, I used the rinsed out bin and refilled it with water to dunk basket in and wash out some of the dye and fully set the color. The result is a really pretty pink color with a touch of ombré fading at the edges. The basket is the perfect size for gathering our ever-growing shoe pile in the bedroom, and I’m so happy with how tidy the corner I placed it in looks now!

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Note: I was gifted this basket from Wayfair.com. The DIY, ideas, and opinions are all my own. 

 

Recipes

Chicken Champagne.

I love digging through my Grandma’s cookbooks to see the little notes and edits she’s made to the recipes over the years (inside the front cover of the book we borrowed is a note to my Grandmother from sister-in-law, and it’s dated 1967, when she received it as a gift!). When I was home at my parent’s house this weekend, my sister and I decided to borrow an old cookbook from my Grandma and make a family favorite recipe — Chicken Champagne. Her version has those little notes written in the margins of the pages (for example, her version omits the chicken livers, PHEW!), and I’ve adapted it a little bit more to omit some of the hard to find ingredients (like shaved truffles). Excuse the grainy cellphone pictures I took of our version — we were in quite the rush to dig in — it’s far more delicious than it could ever look in a photo! Find the full recipe below:

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  • 4-5 boneless chicken breasts, cut up into bite-sized pieces
  • All-purpose flour
  • Jarred mushrooms, drained
  • 1/2 cup of butter
  • 5 thin slices of prosciutto, diced
  • 1/2 cup of heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup of good Champagne (drink a little while you’re cooking too!)
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Serve with angel hair or thin spaghetti  (fresh is best if you can find it, it absorbs the sauce so well)
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Instructions:

  • Toss chicken breast pieces with flour until lightly coated, season with salt and pepper.
  • In a large pan, melt 1/2 cup of butter, and add chicken. Cook chicken in butter until browned.
  • Once chicken is fully browned, add in mushrooms, prosciutto, and heavy cream. Stir to combine and simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Add champagne, stir, and cover for another 10 minutes.
  • Season with additional salt and pepper as needed, and toss with fresh grated parmesan.
  • Serve over fresh pasta with additional parmesan cheese on the side, and don’t forget to pour a glass of champagne to compliment the meal!

Note: The sauce doesn’t reduce as well if you double the recipe, instead, use 2/3 of champagne and cream. 

Life

Scenes from the Weekend.

It was my Mom’s birthday last week, so my sister and schemed all week and surprised her on Saturday by coming home and making her a tasty birthday dinner. I’m kind of terrible at secrets, so to pull this off I basically had to avoid my Mom’s phone calls for 3 days — but it was worth it, she was super surprised and we had so much fun celebrating. I love  getting to set the table at my parent’s house too — my Mom has quite the collection of dishes and linens and accessories, so picked out the very a Spring-y of combination of place settings to match the cheery daffodils she had growing on the kitchen counter. And of course no birthday celebration is complete without  sweets — my sister brought a big box of Baked by Melissa cupcakes and I ate them by the handful!

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