The Blues Jean Bar & Fondue Party

I hosted a Blues Jean Bar event for 30 lovely ladies in my local mothers club the other night.  For some crazy reason I thought fondue would be fun.  Indeed it was fun, but a bit challenging as well thus I only managed to snap a few pictures. Regardless of my fondue hiccups everything tasted great and everyone seemed to have a great time mingling and trying on blue jeans.  I found myself a fantastic fitting pair of MiH Paris jeans.

The Menu

Gruyere and Comet Fondue

• Traditional Swiss cheeses with white wine and a little brandy
• Paired with bread, Bosch pears and baby carrots

Cheddar, Gruyere and Beer Fondue

• Cheddar and Gruyere cheeses, beer and a little brandy
• Paired with bread, Fuji apples, polish kielbasa and broccoli

Chocolate and Orange Fondue

• Bittersweet chocolate, Cointreau and cream
• Paired with dried apricots, fresh pineapple, pretzel sticks and mini-marshmallows

The Setting

I placed the three fondue pots on pieced of left over slate from a recent renovation in the mud room and used left over bathroom tiles and chalk to note what was in each fondue.

I didn't have any cake stands so pulled a couple of logs from the wood pile which my husband leveled for me.  They came out pretty cute and will come in handy in the future for sure.

Wooden skewers and napkins for easy self service

Flowers from the bar.  Unfortunately I didn't manage to get

a picture of the full bar set up.

Favorite Recipes - Butternut Squash Enchiladas

During the autumn and winter when squash is in season one of my dinner favorites is butternut squash enchiladas.  I made some the other night and finally wrote down the recipe.  I will not claim this is light because it does have a lot of cheese, but it is a good vegetarian treat for meatless Mondays.

Ingredients

1/2 cup cooked corn kernels (fresh is best or frozen)

1/2 cup black beans

2 lg tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

1/4 cup finely diced red onion

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

1/2 cup softened light cream cheese

1 1/4 cup roasted and mashed butternut squash

12-14 corn tortillas (I love Trader Joes corn and wheat blend tortillas)

12 oz salsa verde (salsa with tomatillos)


Preparation

Preheat oven to 350

• Half squash, clean and roast at 350 until soft (approximately 30 minutes).  This step is good to start early or roast the day before and save what you need for the enchiladas.
• Cook corn (if fresh) or warm (if frozen) 
• Reserve 1 cup of shredded cheese for on top
• Mix corn, beans, squash, onion, cheese and cilantro in a large bowl
• Coat the bottom of a large pan lightly with salsa (approx 16x10 with at least 2 inches depth)
• One at a time put 2 heaping tablespoons of filling in each tortilla
• Roll and lay in the pan with seams facing down. If tortillas are stiff warm them in the microwave for 15 seconds so they don't split when you are rolling.
• Once you've filled the pan top with the remaining salsa verde and reserved shredded cheese
• Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Serve with chips, Spanish rice or a fresh salad.

Redecorating the Boys Bedroom

No more toddler beds!  The odd couple got big boy beds and moved in together last week.  Holden is so concerned with making a mess that he has been sleeping on top of the blankets.  James's blankets, pillows and clothes were on the floor immediately.  I'm afraid a tape line may be in our future, but it is so sweet to hear them chattering and giggling as they go to sleep at night. 

It was fun to decorate, but also very challenging.  I was surprised by how few contemporary furniture options were out there.  Also, doubling everything gave me a bit of sticker shock so we decided to do a mini-splurge on the bed frames and were super budget conscious on everything else.

• Oak Park Elementary Bed from Land of Nod - Beautiful, sturdy and I think they will transition well into their teen years.
• Gray and Navy Washable Wool Blanket from Ikea - sheds like crazy, should have spent a little more money on this one.  They are already folded up and in the closet.
• Blue and Red Woolrich lightweight comforters - I got these at Target a while ago.  They are fabulous.  I'm tempted to get rid of the Ikea blankets and splurge on their beautiful Civil War blankets.
• I got the bed side table $50 from Home Goods. It  is a combination of metal and wood and heavily distressed
• I was inspired by JKizzle's post with nail and string letters which I found on Pinterest, but was a bit hesitant to make so many holes in the wall .  I changed it up a bit and used some left over birch wood we had and did the boys initials.  

Printed and taped letters onto the board and put 1.3/8" nails 

around the letters

Wrapped yarn around nails.  Three times around each letter.  

Attached chain for hanging. Love that I can just cut the yarn and restring in 

a different color if we change up their bedding.

• My husbands childhood captains chest of drawers (below)
• Route 66 picture w/little license plates and mounted the boys California plates on some wood.  (I don't feel up to photo shopping out their actual names so I guess this is a bit of a reveal)

They boys are loving their new room and haven't gone to bed before 10 pm since they became room mates.  

Humpty Dumpty Birthday Party

It was recently James 3rd birthday. He loves to recite nursery rhymes, so we had a party based on one of his favorites Humpty Dumpty.

Here are the highlights:

• Cake - my sister and mother-in-law are the official birthday cake makers.  I can not follow directions and am a terrible baker.  Thankfully they are amazing and make the most memorable cakes for the boys.  This one was an engineering marvel.  They made it so you could actually knock Humpty off the wall and his body would break into large segments.  To top it all off it was delicious.

• Egg Hunt - we hid eggs throughout the yard as you would for Easter.  I put eye stickers on the eggs so they would look a bit like Humpty and filled the eggs with "all the kings horses", "all the kings men" and the puzzle pieces to "put Humpty together again".  I tried like crazy to find white eggs, but couldn't find any in stock.

• Table Puzzle - at the last minute I realized I didn't have anything interesting for the tables so I used the left over felt from Halloween made a few of my own Humpty puzzles.

• Humpty Dumpty Piñata - I've decided along with my in-laws amazing cakes I want to have making pinatas become and birthday tradition. The boys had so much fun with the paper mâché and I loved having control over the goodies inside.

How to Make Your Own Piñata:

• Thank you to Piñata Boy for the instructions and tips 
• This is a multi-step, multi-day process so make sure to start at least one week prior to your party 
• Select what you want to create 
• Blow up balloon(s) to the sizes and shapes you want 
• Wrap the balloon in newspaper with masking tape 
• Get ready for the mess! Work in a space you don't mind getting dirty. I liked the comfort of working outside where I knew I could just hose things down afterward.

• Paper mâché paste formula is 1 part water to 1 part flour. Make sure to make a good amount of paste and use a large wide bowl. 
• Cut newspaper in approximately 4 inch strips and layer the balloon in 3 to 5 coats of paper mâché 
• It's nice to have two different colors of paper so you can tell when you have completed a layer. I alternated layers of newsprint and white copy paper. Make the top layer be a color close to the color you are decorating. I used white copy paper for Humpty so I wouldn't need to paint him. 
• The larger your balloon the more coats you'll want to ensure it doesn't collapse in on itself 
• Set it to dry in a warm place for 1 to 2 days. If you can put it in front of a fan it will dry quicker. 
• Pop the balloon inside and pull it out of the body 
• Attach hook to top of body and any additional appendages/parts 
• Score (or stab) the body to make sure it can break easily. For little kids score it a lot, for older kids or adults just a little. My goal was to ensure each of the 15 kids got a shot and maybe half the group gets a second shot. Nothing is worse than trying to get kids to wait in line when they know there are treats coming. 

Since this was for mainly 3 year old's I made some pretty large holes

Arms and legs fashioned from construction paper 

and covered later with streamers

Used a brown paper bag for the wall and stuffed it 

with paper so it would keep its shape

Humpty assembled pre-decorating

• Decorate the body with paint and colored streamers. I used streamers I bought at the dollar store and one of the kids glue sticks. 
• Stuff the piñata with the treats of your choice and decorate over the hole in the top 
• Step back, admire, take your pictures and say goodbye!

Advent Calendar

It has been a busy couple of months.  Clearly work and the holidays got the best of me.  Better late than never I'm posting the advent calendar I put together for the boys this past holiday season.  It was our first year with an advent calendar and I took inspiration from Martha Stewarts magazine article featuring an Advent chain.

I collected small candies and toys like super balls, spinning tops, and crayons.  All valued under $2.  Since I have two children I put 2 presents in each box and let them alternate who opened each day.  I tacked heavy duty wire ribbon over the window in our dining room and attached each gift in date order with a brad. It was a lot of fun and I hope I'm able to keep it as an annual tradition.

The Artist and the Farmer

For Halloween this year Holden (4 years) wanted to be an artist and Old MacDonald obsessed James (almost 3 years) wanted to be a farmer.  For the farmer it was pretty easy to find some overalls, a checked shirt, hat and bandanna. The artist costume naturally allowed me to be a bit more creative so I thought I'd share.

The Artist

The Farmer

How to Make the Artist Costume

Supplies:

• 1 yard of white or neutral color felt for palette
• Various colored pieces of felt for paint splatters
• Matching yarn, string and needles to stitch the paint and body
• Stuffing for the paint brush
• Black clothes
• Black beret
• Stick on mustache, eyeliner or face paint for mustache
• Extras: colored beads and glow bracelets

Steps:

1. Fold body felt in half and cut neck hole in the middle along the seam and cut one arm hole where the palette finger hole normally would be

2. Find a good picture of a palette you like and draw onto body felt and cut out

Here is the picture I used to get an idea of the shape

     

3. Make paint splatter template, trace and cut out your colored paint splatters, make enough for the front and back of the costume.  Holden is into rainbows right now so I stuck with primary colors and tried to put them on in standard spectrum order for fear it would otherwise be rejected as faulty.

4. Stitch paint palettes on.  I did five knots on each with a matching colored bead.  I initially thought fabric glue would hold it together, but tried and realized my thinking was flawed. It would fall apart quickly in Holden's picky little hands so I resorted to stitching.

5. Stitch the sides of the body leaving opposite arm hole open.

6. Make optional paint brush or just have them carry a real one.  I also had ambitions to get an empty paint can and decorate as his candy gathering basket, but didn't manage to finish that part.

My biggest mistake was making the body of the palette too large (it was so large it fit me so I may be wearing this as my costume next year).  Total assembly time was about 4-5 hours.  Mainly because of the hand stitching.  If you have a sewing machine or have found a good felt adhesive you probably could make this in about 2 hours. 

The final touch was on Halloween night I looped matching glow in the dark bracelets around each of the splatters on the front and back so it had a fantastic glow and was a big hit with kids and parents as we strolled door to door. 

The Fall Garden: Week Nine

It's been a rough month in the fall garden.  October is so full of sun and fun on the Northern California coast that I have essentially neglected to give it any attention.  It was attacked by pests and is crying for regular watering.  The areas in the flower beds that I cleared and planted in are overgrown with weeds or didn't sprout at all.  So sad, but I am headed out to give it a little love and care.  Here is the update:

Beaten but proud broccoli.  Attacked by pests and overrun 

with weeds, but still determined to make it.

Can you see the sad cauliflower among the weeds.  Still just a few leaves.  

I don't think we'll see any blooms on these.

We had a week of rain and winds that toppled our red runner bean bush.  

After being eaten by pests this was the final blow.  

 The carrots are the bright spot.  A bit crowded and in need of thinning, 

but they are thriving with their independence.

Beets aren't looking too good, very dry and weak.  

A few of the cabbages have continued to grow.