World's Best Roast Chicken

This is more of a technique than a recipe--but you'll be glad you know it! Pre-heat the oven to 450. Rinse and completely dry a small chicken. I always use a kosher chicken--it just works much better because it has more or less been brined. Coat the chicken liberally in dry spices on both sides. It doesn't matter what you use. I always pepper and salt and parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Sing Scarborough Fair--it helps! My spices also usually include a bit of garlic and cayenne pepper. Drizzle liberally with olive oil. Take off your rings and rub it in, slipping your fingers under the skin to get the spices wherever you can. Go on and stuff with an onion for good measure! Then Roast, breast up, uncovered for 15 minutes a pound. If it starts to get too brown, tent with aluminum. With the little birds, you are finished in under an hour. It makes your house smell so good, looks great on a platter, and is way better than if it were in the oven all day! Remember, cook on a really high temp:

Coat liberally in whatever spices you have got:

And finally, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty:

I forgot to take an “after” shot because dinner is a bit hectic in these parts, but trust me, it is Norman Rockwell-esque !

Keep Calm at Thanksgiving

I know the whole keep calm thing is over-done. But I created an activity book to keep my kids calm at the table, so you can see why I literally had to do it, right??! I cannot take even one bit of credit for the content of the booklet, which came from various free internet sights (credit given on my scribd page). But I wanted to share in case you needed a little something for your table too. I cannot get the link to work, but here it is on scribd: www.scribd.com/doc/113491971/Keep-Calm-and-Eat-Turkey I also made a little craft paper pocket for crayons for each child using my cutting machine and our existing crayons (I am FINALLY over needing them to be perfectly sharpened). The pockets would be really simple to cut by hand if you were so inclined. You can probably guess by the twine and craft that I am keeping it homey and rustic for Thanksgiving. We will be getting glam for my annual Peacocktail Party next month. By the way, I am noticing peacocks all over town, has my theme flown the coup???

Tin for the Tenth--Part II

Tin is the traditional tenth wedding anniversary gift. We embraced the theme for our supper club (which fell on our tenth anniversary). All of our friends brought dishes that they loved as newlyweds, our wedding songs provided background music, we played a hilarious not-newlywed game, and tin cans graced the tables! My youngest and I decorated the tin cans using washi tape. Since the look was sort of rustic, we incorporated burlap and craft paper into the design. A bar with drinks for “Mr. and Mrs.” completed the look! Here are some photos of the evening:

Tin for the Tenth! Part I

We hosted our supper club on the night of our tenth wedding anniversary. It turned out to be a lovely evening and I am excited to share the pictures over a few posts. First, here is the email I sent announcing our theme: My first thought was to make our theme "wedding feast," and I also pondered tin-can chicken (tin being the traditional 10th anniversary gift). D suggested Italy in honor of our recent trip, but then I got to thinking. We don't need a gimmick because cooking and eating is already of huge significance to our marriage. Cooking was one of the ways we learned how to run our home. Together, we figured out who would do the cooking, shopping, and dishes. We each brought our own ideas to the table (literally) and forged OUR family's culinary palate. His grandma's matzah balls won the first battle! Our first year of marriage did not include the proverbial burnt dinners, though there was an unfortunate fire while toasting coconut. When we married we were already confirmed foodies, though I am not sure the word had been coined. So, our first meals mostly involved me trying to show off for D. I was flooded with many sweet memories thinking about it that I wanted to share them with you: In 2002, I still cared about presentation, and thus, everything was vertical. Trader Joe's was not yet in my vernacular. We still ate potatoes, often wasabi mashed. Salads were bejeweled with berries and nuts, speckled with goat cheese, and dressed in balsamic vinegar (as was everything else in that period). The People at Bob's Seafood knew me by name and gave me the best cuts of sushi grade tuna to be seared and drizzled with soy reductions. Rachel Ray was new to the airwaves, and I did not know what quinoa was. My cakes were the yummiest molten lava. Sunday morning was our breakfast day. The meal was big and eaten in our robes while watching Trading Spaces with no cares at all --there were no birthday parties or t-ball games to fill our day. I skipped red meat and kept kosher. David was sure to order crème brule whenever it was on a menu. We had time to read not one, but three, cooking magazines each month. Times and tastes have obviously changed! The roast chicken I perfected that year on Amherst for my new husband has not. Our life together has been delicious and we are thrilled to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary with you on November 2nd. We hope you will all take a trip down memory lane and bring the dishes that were significant to you as newlyweds. I will make roast chicken, serve wedding cake, and (of course) have champagne for toasting. We want you to have freedom to make what you wish but are hoping for at least two starters, a salad, a starch, a vegetable.. Please let me know what you plan to bring as well as the title and artist of your first dance song!

Fairy Magic!

Yesterday, we enjoyed a little fairy magic. It wasn’t really a party—just a pixie-sized play date that my first grader and her BFF dreamed up last summer. Since it took six whole months for their “fairy godmothers” to get it together and actually hold the play date, we sprinkled on a little pixie dust and made it extra magical.

We were firmly committed to not spending too much money. Much like fairies, we used a lot of found objects and left-over items from the girls’ real parties. My Passover décor is very natural and Springy; it made a perfect fairy garden. We picked pine cones, sticks, and other natural elements and used lots of stuff we found around our houses. We added a few dollar store wings and Sam's cupcakes. Of course, it is easy to do that when you a) have a huge arsenal of supplies from past parties and, b) have Pinterest giving you so many precious ideas!

We sent a digital invitation so it wouldn’t seem as formal as a real party.

When the girls arrived, they selected fairy names from envelopes that contained first, middle and last names to create fun combinations. This, in turn, determined what kind of talent each fairy would have, her wing color, seat assignment, and her team for the scavenger hunt. My little cuties ended up being Tulip Fern Bud (a garden talent), and Ladybug Feather Den (an animal talent):

Each girl wore her fairy nametag as we proceeded to feast on Magic wands (pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and sprinkles), Toadstool cupcakes, Strawberries, and Fairy Punch:

The adorable home-tree was crafted from cardboard boxes by the little hostesses (with help from the fairy godmothers). Plans for a similar cardboard tree-house are available on Disney’s Family Fun website.

As the girls ate, we talked about fairy lore and why each girl believed in fairies. The girls then went on a scavenger hunt that matched their talent (Light fairies’ clues were in the fireplace, lamp, and under light fixtures, while garden talents were directed to various potted plants). Along the way, they spotted some real fairy dust! With each clue, the girls got elements that would attract fairies to their own fairy gardens:

When the girls got back from the scavenger hunt, they got very busy making mason-jar fairy gardens, complete with adorable cardboard houses (cut on my Silhouette):

The day concluded with face-painting and, of course, some good old play. After all, it was just an ordinary play date! The total cost was around $40 (and I’ll need new mason jars when I put up the garden next year), but the afternoon was priceless.

Upcycle!

I turned cotton candy cones leftover from a Sweet Shoppe Party, seen here:

Into This:

Reusing what you already have? Now that's sweet!

Recipe Recap--Delicious Desserts

I used this recipe at our holiday gathering and it was awesome, so I wanted to repost with credit to its owner:

We also had my old standby Mini Cheesecakes from a Memphis Les Passees Cookbook:
24 Ounces soften cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups white sugar, divided, 5 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and preserves or pie filling. Mix together cream cheese, eggs, one cup of the sugar,and 1 teaspoon on the vanilla with an electric mixer. Pour into small foil cups and bake on a cookie sheet at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Mix the remaining vanilla and sugar with the sour cream. Top the cheesecakes with this mixture and bake 5 more minutes to set. At this point you can either top with preserves/pie filling and serve or freeze. If yuo freeze add the preserves when you are ready to serve. This is a great make-ahead dish!!!!

This year we also added mini parfaits to our line-up. They were the true stars of the show, and were made from nothing more than a bunch of pudding mixes, whipped cream and crushed up stuff. My four and six year olds helped. It was the awesome serving cups that gave them the wow factor. I got them at Smarty Had a Party :
I filled them with the following:
Shooters (the adorable cups from smartyhadaparty.com make these awesome)
1. S’mores: Crushed grahams, choclate pudding, marshmallow cream, and mini chocolate chips/marsh on top
2. Grasshopper—crushed thin mints- chocolate mousse with drop of mint extract, , fresh whipped cream, and andes pieces on top
3. Banana pudding—graham cracker crumbs , banana slices, 'Nana pudding, real whipped cream, with a few more graham crumbs sprinkled on top.