Valentine's Wrap-Up

Valentine's Weekend was super busy and great fun. I was asked to help out in designing table decorations for our church Valentine luncheon. My friend decided that cherubs would be our theme. She found the white cherubs below and the antiqued statue to use. Personally, I would have simply crowned the beautiful red glass candle holders with candles instead of the cherubs, but I decided not to fight in that battle. :)

I created the floral centerpiece with pink lilies, red roses, white mums and greens.




To decorate each plate, I found small brown paper boxes which I painted red, decorated with ribbon and craft punched a tag with various sweet sayings. I filled each box with white shred and later the boxes were filled with delicious chocolates. Each box was surrounded by sparkly gems.


Playing off of the idea of conversation hearts, I cut out circles from pretty papers and printed off sayings and glued them to the back of clear gemstones. We sprinkled them all over the table and they turned out to be very popular at the luncheon. They sparkled in the lights and everyone really enjoyed reading all of the different sayings.

Here is the *almost* completed table, minus the temporary scribbled place cards. We started with a white tablecloth, then added a runner fashioned from a tablecloth someone brought from home, which doubled as two placemats. We added red scalloped placemats to the rest of the place settings, lovely white square plates, the painted boxes and red napkins draped between the dinner and salad plates. I probably failed to mention this was a table decorating contest and it is taken very seriously! People really go all out. We even went out to rent chair covers and sashes. Judging was based on not only on decorations but also desserts and appetizers, which are not seen here. We won most beautiful dessert for the chocolate with chocolate dipped strawberries on top. I added the roses and greenery as the crowning touch. The food was catered and delicious! My husband's band provided the music and everyone had a wonderfully sweet time. :)

By the time the luncheon wrapped up, we were pretty worn out but decided to stop by the market to pick some ingredients for our Valentine's dinner at home. We decided to go easy on ourselves. I had planned to make Chicken Scallopini, but honestly, I wasn't up for it by then and Michael wasn't either. We chose a roasted chicken, fresh asparagus which I drizzled with olive oil, kosher salt and cracked pepper and Michael grilled. We added baked potatoes and dinner was ready!

The table set for our candlelight dinner!


The little arrangement I made from the leftover flowers from the luncheon. I want to get to the point in my budget where I can buy fresh flowers for the house every week. That would be so awesome!

Delicious!

After dinner we reconvened in the living room for chocolate fondue! Michael gave me a fondue set for Christmas a few years ago and we had never used it before. I have no idea why because it was so much fun to have fondue at home! I used a mixture of dark and milk chocolate along with heavy cream and the chocolate came out glossy and perfect. We dipped pineapple, strawberries, pears and grapes. So yummy.

Berkley really wanted to get in on the action.

Michael and I enjoyed a very relaxing and delicious evening together and it was such a great way to end the weekend. It's so hard to believe it was our 9th Valentine's Day together!

Hey, Cupcake!

I found this Martha Stewart cupcake book at Sam's recently and could not resist. It has 175 different recipes and all kinds of different creative decorating ideas.

So. Much. Fun!

I can't wait to start whipping up some of those sweet little cakes and posting pictures and reviews. Yay! I'm sure one can tell by my blog that I am a big fan of the cupcake. I even enjoy buying different wrappers with fun colors or polka-dots. I'm all for finding cuteness where ever possible.

Who doesn't love their own little cupcake?! It's the best and I love them so much because having a cupcake in hand with the paper wrapper and swirls of frosting just instantly takes me back to childhood. They are just sweet goodness.

I am also feeling very inspired to learn how to decorate cakes myself and I am considering taking a class either late this summer or early fall. There are several different levels of classes so I can keep learning new techniques if I so choose. Sounds like fun and I need to find additional outlets for my creativity. No one seems to be pounding on my door looking for a floral designer these days. I'm thinking it would not hurt to add another skill to my repertoire.

Another thing about cupcakes....

Don't you just love how they are already portion controlled?

Image via Wikipedia

So diet friendly! :o)

A Little Slice of Heaven

Image by The Pug Father via Flickr

I envision the pizza pie as art. Think of all the creative options that exist in the crust alone.

Thin. Thick. Hand-tossed. Crispy. Chewy. Chewy on the inside, yet deliciously crispy on the outside. Sourdough. Wood-fired. An on and on we go.

Don't even get me started on toppings.

My pizza tastes have certainly changed over the years. As a kid I LOVED the pizza my mom used to make from the Chef Boyardee box. Maybe it was because mom made it and that fact alone made it golden. When mom moved to making her own pizza crust, I moved right along with her.
No more am I swayed by pies from the freezer aisle at the supermarket.
Little Caesar's? No, thank you.

Yes, I have moved far beyond the commercial pizza chains. Pizza Hut, Domino's, Papa Johns....eh.
I would rather make my own. And I do.

My favorite pie to make myself is a thin crusted number with no sauce. Sometimes I think sauce gets in the way. It can be too thick, too pungent and just overtake all of the other flavors.

I make my crust from scratch. Sure, it's a bit of effort, but then again I only embark on a pizza making endeavor on the weekends. This is not a meal for a weeknight.

I always prebake my crust. This ensures crispiness. Right out of the oven I drizzle a bit of good olive oil, followed by fresh minced garlic, a bit of kosher salt, dried oregano, freshly chopped tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh baby spinach, feta, and sometimes olives if I have them. I will also add pepperoni for The Husband (What is it about men that they just have to have meat?) but honestly the pizza is so good, you don't need the extra calories. Sometimes I add other veggies if I have them. Top it with good mozzarella cheese, pop it in the oven to get it all gooey and folks, you have a winner.

I don't always have time to make my own pizza. Thankfully, I live in Austin which is chock full of interesting and wonderfully Austinish local restaurants.

Like Frank & Angies in downtown Austin, where you can get a pie called the Pavarotti--whole roasted garlic cloves, portobello mushrooms, feta, spinach--which is so good that I don't even mind smelling like garlic the rest of the day. I like it so much that all the times I have been there it is the only item I have ever ordered.

And Niki's NY Style in North Austin. They have the nicest people that will let us in even if they are already closed for the night, superb value and seriously good pizza. They are also The Husband's absolute fave.

I am thinking after today though that Niki's may fall down a notch in the ranks.

Enter Home Slice Pizza in SoCo. This place wins on three fronts:

1. Very cool atmosphere. Kind of retro, kind of modern, and kind of funky, but definitely fun. It was a little dark and moody in there, but with the bright stained glass wall dividers, those cool round brightly colored lanterns hanging from the ceiling--oh and my favorite--those plastic and metal chairs that we used to have in school--it has a nice comfortable vibe. We sat in one of the those booths that wraps around so everyone is facing out. Very cool.

2. Super nice staff. These people are so friendly and kind of goth all at the same time. Which, honestly, is not a combination often seen. These folks are serious about their pizza. It's obvious they love it and want the public to love it. And they do. There was a line waiting outside before they even opened for the day. At 11:30. On a Thursday. In downtown Austin. That's craziness.

3. Deliciousness. I teamed up with my friend and we ordered a large with pepperoni and mushroom. Probably would have been happy with something a bit simpler like the margherita--tomato, basil, mozzarella--but I went all in this time. We also ordered an appetizer called garlic knots. They were scrumptious little yeast dough balls with great buttery garlic flavor and when dunked in marinara--fantastic! The pizza crust was perfect--crispy and chewy and even though it had sauce--I loved it! Very nice and rich with great flavor. Good stuff all around.


I am thinking this is now the best pizza I have experienced in Austin thus far.

If the pizza pie is an art--- Then Home Slice is a master at their craft. Gotta take The Husband and get him converted.
Maybe tomorrow....11:30?

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Welcome to my blog! I have been pondering starting a blog for awhile now. It's my little spot to talk about the latest life happenings, favorite recipes, creative ideas, and in general, all the things I love! Feel free to stop in and post comments or just say hello!