All posts tagged Party
I went to a neighborhood dinner party recently and was asked to do the vegetables. The January weather in Arizona was so perfect I opened all the doors and prepped, chopped, cooked, roasted, grill and combine many of my favorite flavors to create a platter filled with veggies. My goal is always to share veggies with people who think they don’t like them. Everyone at the dinner party said “I have never liked beets nor brussels sprouts but tonight you have changed my mind – clearly I have just never had them cooked right” Goal achieved!
Everyone at the dinner party asked me for the recipes – Here are all of the recipes for everything on the platter. NOTE: I don’t really measure stuff I just eyeball it!
Brussels Sprouts: Wash brussels sprouts, steam them in a steaming tray on the stove top just until you can start to smell them. Then immediately take them off the burner and run them under very cold water to stop the cooking. On a cutting board cut each brussels sprouts in half and chop a half inch high stack of salami into small chopped pieces. Place a large pan on the stove top with the burner on medium. Heat Olive oil (around 2 TBLSP) and garlic (1 TBLSP) , add in brussels sprouts, salami and a handful of slivered almonds. Brown everything in the pan then transfer to a plate.
Roasted Beets: Using fresh beets, wash them thoroughly *NOTE: save the greens on top for cooking too – they are delicious! On a cutting board cut raw beets into quarters, next cut an onion and a few cloves of garlic into small pieces. On your counter lay down a large piece of tin foil, top the tin foil with an equal size piece of parchment paper. Dump the beets, onions and garlic on top of the parchment paper/tin foil combo. Drizzle everything with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper. Fold outer tin foil around everything to make a ‘boat’ throw on the grill for 40 minutes or until everything is caramelized. You could do this in the oven too but it caramelizes better on the grill.
Cucumber, Avocado, Celery, Apple, Pomegranate Salad: Remove outer skin from Cucumber and Avocado, discard pit. Wash and chop Cucumber, Avocado, Celery and Apple (I prefer a Gala Apple for this). Toss in a bowl with Coconut oil and Coconut Vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Pour onto a plate and top with Pomegranate seeds.
Spicy No Mayo Coleslaw: This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman’s recipe. I have simplified it for my tastes. Shred any kind of cabbage you like (Note don’t use bagged – it doesn’t taste as good and has sulfur and other chemicals on it to keep its color – yuck!) On a cutting board chop green onions and one Anaheim pepper. In a bowl combine olive oil, apple cider vinegar, chopped garlic, Dijon mustard, fresh parsley, chopped Anaheim pepper and chopped green onions with salt and pepper. Wisk together, pour over cabbage and fold together – add more salt and pepper if needed. Chill in the fridge and serve when ready. This recipe tastes even better the next day after it has time to marinate.
As a board member of Digital Farm Collective I was very proud of our fundraiser last Sunday night. Set in the lovely home of Aric Mei, owner of Parlor. The amazing dinner was created by Chef Aaron Chamberlain, the wine was provided by Dos Cabezas, the beer and coffee from Cartel, and tequila offered by 3 Amigos.
I had the pleasure of being asked to do all of the decoration and table-scapes. It turned out so lovely I had to share some photos.
If you are interested in learning more about Digital Farm Collective or to Donate to this amazing project Click HERE.
After reading “Kirstin’s Surprise” (an American Girl book) the short one asked if we could celebrate St. Lucia Day, Since I am Scandinavian I thought it would be a great tradition for us to do. I did a little research and discovered many lovely things that were a part of the ceremony. I set to work prepping their dress up clothes to serve as the white dress and added red sashes. I made each girl a crown with electric battery operated lights on it.
I woke the girls early today, December 13 and we bake Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in place of traditional St. Lucia buns. They dressed in the white dresses with read sashes, we read the poem A Nocturnal Upon S. Lucy’s Day, Being the Shortest Day by John Donne and sang St. Lucia songs. They carried the trays with rolls and cocoa (in place of coffee).
St Lucia Day is celebrated on December 13, with the Winter Solstice which, under the old Julian calendar, used to fall on that day. This day is very significant in Scandinavian countries. There, in December, the daylight time is very short and darkness and night time are extremely long, due to their position on the globe. Lucia translates to “lightâ€. After the Winter Solstice the days get longer. So St. Lucia is a celebration of the coming lengthening of the days.
Here is a document called Saint Lucia Notes filled with all the poems, songs and recipes we found online in the research we did.
 
The Smallest one in the house just celebrated her 3rd birthday and for this occasion I worked with a theme of Nemo-esque meets gold fish. We had a lot of fun at the party and having a fish/water theme inside offered a cooling feeling for these 115 degree days we are suffering in Phoenix right now. Here are some highlights:
The Invitation
The Cake
Close Up Of The Cake
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
Gold Fish Crackers In A Bucket
The Favors
V-8 Fruit Flavor Juice Fish Shaped Ice Cubes
Blue Tropical Punch with Fish Cubes
Punch Served with Orange and White Paper Straw
The Birthday Girl
The short one recently celebrated her 6th birthday and asked for a soccer themed party with a twist of girly to it. So I added in touches of pink and flowers. It was a hot dog cook out at a local park and was a big hit! The vases were sports drink bottles shaped like soccer balls, the green underneath were FLOR carpet squares in grass colors. To create to chip bowl covers, I found square bowls at the dollar store and topped them with 12 x 12 paper to look like grass with paper soccer balls and white paper with black stripes created out of colored masking tape, plastic whistles were glued to it to look like a referee. The cupcakes were all strawberry flavored with pink or white frosting, topped with plastic soccer balls from the cake decorating store. The invitation was pink paper with a pink soccer ball on it and pieces of fake grass at the bottom.
