Bridal Shower

I threw a bridal shower for my brother's fiance yesterday. Sarah is lovely, I am really happy to welcome her into the family. I have been anxious to throw a Valentine themed party and this was a great excuse.With a little help from my mom and aunts, it was a fun afternoon. 

The bride isn't a fan of shower games so we kept things simple. I had the guests write a card with their best advice about love. 

I used the cards as a drawing for door prizes. That way Sarah only had to read a few aloud. My favorite pieces of advice came from her littler sister "Take care of the cows together sometimes" (her parents have an acreage...) and my sister, Rose, who demanded "Make babies, so I can be an aunt!"  I laughed until I cried. Rose (who is only 9) has baby fever. Hopefully Sarah took it in jest. 

My mom was a huge help. She baked champagne cupcakes for me since I was running low on time. I was surprised how strong the champagne flavor was.  Sarah found the recipe on this blog and may use them for the wedding reception. I am definitely in favor!

My mom also helped me set up a craft station for the little girls. They made little treat baskets and Valentine cards. It kept them busy most of the afternoon. 

I found sweet vintage Valentine post cards for the invitations and used the rest as decorations. Sarah is an avid reader and big fan of all things literary so we used an old book of poems that was falling apart to make the centerpieces. 

Mom cut out little hearts and glued on cute phrases from the poems. This one was my favorite. My brother (the groom) is named Edward, so she couldn't resist incorporating this line.

My little sisters were so excited to help with everything.  I love their enthusiasm. It will be bittersweet when they aren't little anymore. They bring so much joy to every family event. 

Sarah's sister is only four and she was a doll. She calls Sarah "Sissy" and she helped open all the gifts. She was beaming the whole time.

I felt so warm and happy that my brother found such a sweet girl with such a wonderful family!

A long, long week

Sam was up late every night this week studying. Being a dutiful, loving wife, I stayed up with him. I started a new book, My Life with the Saints, which has been awesome so far. I joined pinterest. I read Real Simple. I planned a bridal shower.

Just as I was out of ideas, I remembered that Thursday was my coworker Agnes' birthday. So on Wednesday as Sam was hard at work, I made a cake. Agnes is so sweet and kind, I wanted to bake something special for her. With a little help from pinterest and Martha Stewart, I decide on a lemon cake with lemon zest butter cream, and a lemon curd topping. I won't lie, it was tasty!

I leveled off both layers so it would stack evenly and I was left with a lot of cake. I have been wanting to try cake pops so I mixed the rest of the frosting in and rolled little balls. Much to my dismay, it wasn't as easy as it looks. My cake pops are lumpy, strange shapes. I was planning on serving them at the bridal shower- now I am not sure if they are passable. A few have already fallen off the lollipop sticks.

We also had the treat of watching our nephews tonight. My sister-in-law had a beautiful baby boy, Oliver James,  a week ago, so we took her three older boys to our apartment for dinner and a movie.  They loved the new attachment on our faucet which changes colors with the temp of the water. Thanks, Whit, for that awesome gift!

Sam had the brilliant idea to set up our tent  in the living room. 

He even let them eat a snack as if they were camping.

They requested Japanese food for dinner. Sam and I were both tired so we served Trader Joe's California rolls, frozen pizza and mochi- I had to try it. It was a great end to the longest week ever.

Snow

It snowed yesterday. The first real snow, 13 inches of it. I took advantage of the quiet and considered myself snowed in. 

Just as soon as I had snuggled in to the couch and started crafting, Sam got cabin fever. He ventured out into the great white to play with our nieces. He came home four hours later with a bright red nose. He was halfway through construction on an awesome igloo. 

I spent my day cuddled up working on decorations for a bridal shower I am throwing. In four hours, I made 60 feet of garland (and got through my back log on Hulu.) I could get used to this...

Cooking for newlyweds

I've been having a lot of fun in the kitchen lately.

It all starts at the grocery store. I am slowly improving as a thrifty shopper. Last week I used a calculator and the cashier couldn't get over how little my groceries cost and how much produce I bought. 

But I guess I should also mention that I bought kidney beans instead of black beans. To add insult to injury, I confused them not once but twice at home. I learned that when life hands you kidney beans, you make pasta e fagioli (and salad, and burritos...) 

Tonight I hit the jackpot in the produce section. 

Apples, oranges, grapefruits and bosc pears were all on sale. I found lots of good deals, bought the store brand, resisted the cute displays and behaved until I saw this. 

I like to think that the Bonne Maman is a dumpling of a french woman who makes every batch on an old fashioned stove.  I couldn't bear to pick up the sad looking off-brand raspberry jam.  Score one for the Bonne Maman marketing team, you won me over. I came home armed with my cute preserves and got started on dinner. 

Before I was married, I was a sporadic chef. Sometimes I would get really into a new recipe or try my hand at fondant. There was also a week when I ate nothing but spaghetti-o's. Any cooking I did was from a recipe. I was especially particular to recipes with lots of photos so I could check my work. 

My husband, on the other hand, cooks off the cuff. His specialty is making delicious Sunday brunches out of a seemingly empty fridge.  His skill for improvisation is slowly rubbing off. 

Last week I made a split pea and vegetable curry soup.  I wanted a yummy side so I tried making biscuits. Ok, I know that sounds more like culture clash than creative fusion cuisine, but the combination was not bad. I was surprised to find that I had all the ingredients for a basic biscuit in my cupboards and the whole project only  took twenty minutes. 

On Saturday I made spicy mac and cheese for lunch. The key to the recipe was a simple cream sauce. It was so yummy, I began to think of other uses for the cream sauce. 

Tonight I combined the two new finds and made chicken pot pie with a biscuit crust. 

I shredded a rotisserie chicken, sauteed some onions, celery, and carrots, stirred in some frozen peas and corn and folded it all into a cream sauce with thyme and rosemary. These cheery yellow ramekins belonged to my grandmother and they are the perfect size for a single portion. 

One on the many perks of being a newlywed is that no matter how humble dinner may be, I have pretty tableware to serve it with. 

Dinner is not always like this. I default to black bean burritos more often than I should and we eat a lot of "snack dinners" (like chips and salsa or crackers and cheese.) The only constant is my total disdain for doing the dishes. 

A day off

My husband was busy watching football at a sports bar so I spent my day making a yummy lasagna. I needed something light and easy for desert...

Chocolate covered snow peaks with crushed candy cane. Fairly simple to make, light, sweet and tangy. Sam made a little espresso and they hit the spot! I can't wait to have one with lunch tomorrow.

I found the recipe here.