Inspired Goodness

Chocolate Candy Favors

I saw a tutorial a while back on how to make chocolate candies using plastic molds and thought, "how easy!"  and, it really was!  My bridal shower is this weekend so I began making the chocolate favors this evening.

All you need are chocolate pieces, candy molds (I found mine on eBay for $2.50 and a local bakery), plastic baggies, and maybe some embellishments.  Here are a few photos of the process...

some of the chocolate in our wedding colors


mmm chocolate :)


melting the chocolate in a double boiler worked wonderfully!


yes, those are squirrel molds :)
yes, I ate the reject one on the bottom- perk of the job!


some of the finished product!

I can't show you how they look packaged yet...but I will post pictures after my shower.

Have a lovely week :)

Spring Has Sprung

With today's nearly 70˚ weather and the start of Cherry Blossom season, I hope everyone is enjoying our first real-deal day of spring. Upon spotting these adorable cookies over a j.chong, I have tons of creative ideas for the summertime entertaining we're planning throughout the summer.

available here

And speaking of Cherry Blossoms, we took a visit to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens last Sunday and snapped a few photos of the first blooms of the season.

There were magnolias, narcissus, tulips and pansies everywhere, although if you're planning a visit soon, I'd give it a few more weeks before the Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom. You can also check their progress online here.

we took a walk through the Celebrity Path - where Brooklyn's famous are inscribed in stones along the path.

close-ups of flowers from the fragrance garden

John standing around in the Magnolia Plaza

Tulips!

And this duck was keeping everyone entertained - both kids and adults alike while swimming at the Lily Pool Terrace.

Easter Peeps

Since we don't technically celebrate Easter in my family, I don't have any amazing photos of a glistening ham or pix of us collecting eggs in the park...

But I think these DIY Homemade Marshmallow Peeps by Twig + Thistle would be just the project up my alley for an Easter celebration.

For the full recipe and step-by-step instructions, click here.

Rustic Wedding Accents

The recent issue of Vermont Vows is packed with so many inspiring stories but this one was begging to be shared. 

Isn't this outdoor appetizer set-up is divine? Love the ice tea inside old mason jars and the awesome bamboo cutlery I'm dying to buy for a summer-time outing. Such a pretty use of rustic and farmhouse materials - I would adore to recreate this for any bride.

photo by Michael Riddell

Another great shot  includes this creative display produced by Creative Muse Floral Design for escort cards. Love, love, love it!

photo by Curran Photography

Island-Inspired Cupcakes

No wonder brides and party planners alike are still obsessed with the cupcake. Even if you take easy route - and opt for a box mix here's a fun way to put your stamp on everyone's favorite treat.

A few years back, I hosted a luau-themed birthday party complete with plastic leis and help of some colorful cocktail umbrellas. For these cupcakes, I picked up a box of standard yellow cake mix and added a few drops of coconut extract to the batter. 

After baking, they were topped with shredded coconut. To add color to the coconut, place about 1 drop of food coloring to 2 cups of coconut. Stir throughly with a fork (so you don't dye your fingertips). 

Top the cupcakes with a white frosting - you can also add some coconut extract to this too, place a cocktail umbrella and a cocktail mermaid to enjoy.

Brooklyn Flea in DUMBO

Living in Brooklyn has been full of so many wonderful weekend adventures for me and one of my favorite outings was this past weekend, when John and I made a trip to DUMBO for Brownstoner's Brooklyn Flea.

Since the weather is too chilly for these crafters, makers and shop keepers to be outside, they've set up in some empty storefronts along Front Street and are there every Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 6pm.

We saw a lot of great stuff, but these were the items that stood out most in my mind:

Birdhouse Jewelry by Amy Lapierre - make sure to check her Etsy store for some fun handmade jewelry (all with outstanding prices)

Christina Stankard, another Jewelry Designer whose earrings I adored. She doesn't have a website, but I found some items for sale here. Email her at ctstankard (at) hotmail (dot) com for inquiries.

KG + AB make amazing ceramic figurings mostly of animals) - I fell in love with this owl and the 'Bears in Love'. You may remember the Porcelain Pug from the same company we featured in our holiday gift guide.

And last but not least, I can't fail to tell you about the most amazing tiny cupcakes we saw from Kumquat Cupcakery. I just loved the look of these pretty treats and hope to get a chance to use them in an upcoming event. In all, Kumquat offers over 17 flavors like Lemon + Lavender, Pumpkin, Coffee Caramel Burbon and Peanut Butter Banana Honey.

On a special side note, it looks like Kumquat's owner Keavy Landreth is also an alumni of the same college as moi, so there's a total soft spot in my heart to see other Parson's grads taking their creativity to the next level.

John's Birthday Dinner, The Recap

Last night's dinner celebration for John was so amazing - I have to share some of the photos with you all! Since all of our friends came out to help us celebrate, I made amazing Bacon + Sea Salt Chocolate Bark favors for everyone. We got there a little early to place one at each setting.

To package, I bought a set of cellophane candy bags, scored blue notecards in half and cut along the edge with scallop scissors. After stamping the design, I placed a few staples along the bottom to secure.

They chocolate was a HUGE HIT - and if you're curious to recreate, here's the recipe:

Inspired Goodness' Bacon & Sea Salt Bark

• 3 bags of Ghiradelli 60% chocolate chips 
• 1 lb. of Applewood Smoked bacon 
• 1 tbsp. Sea Salt

1. Fry bacon until extremely crispy  
2. Drain strips of bacon on paper towels  
3. Once dried, cut the bacon into tiny bits 
4. Prepare large sheet pan with layers of aluminum foil 
5. Set up a double boiler by adding 2" of water to small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and place a glass bowl atop of the saucepan. 
6. Add chocolate to glass bowl and stir thoroughly until melted
7. Add 2/3's of the bacon bits into melted chocolate
8. Pour mixture into sheet pan and smooth with a large spatula
9. Sprinkle remaining bacon bits and sea salt over top of wet chocolate
10. Refrigerate 30 minutes until hardened. 
11. Break apart, package and enjoy!

 {the bacon bits}
  

{presentation of the main attraction, they took the pig into the back to then prep it for us}

{placing the pig at the table}

{my plate with lots of goodies!}

{those are some good-looking pig lovers!}

{of course, I picked up some silly pig-inspired additions to make the night even more silly}

The pig itself was definitely the hit of the evening - along with beans, kale and a dessert of apple crumble with vanilla ice cream, we were all stuffed!

  

John's Birthday Dinner

Today is my amazing husband's birthday and to celebrate, 12 friends are going to a grand dinner at Back Forty in the East Village.

We've booked their farm table and with the help of 10 our closest friends, plan to devour a whole pig that’s been stuffed with herbs, garlic, and seckel pears, and oven-roasted. The $600 fee includes a seasonal salad, two sides, and a whole pie.
 


If you'd like to try it sometime yourself, but don't like the hefty pricetag, stop by on a Monday night, when chef Shanna Pacifico will serve thick porchetta-style slices of the pig, along with black beans and sautéed greens, at the more modest price of $24.

{photos via here and here}, thought I would spare y'all the photo of a roasted pig!

Polka-dot Inspired Party

Love these beautiful party photos from Inchmark.

Thanks to Claremont Road for the find!

Holiday Hangovers + Leftovers, 2009

For the past few years, we've thrown an after the holidays party and spend weeks planning, cooking and preparing for this fun event. The goal is to try to get all our friends over to our place - and re-celebrate the holidays. We keep up all the holiday decorations (except our Xmas tree - since its needles decided to flake off way too early) and create a festive atmosphere all around our apartment. (Special thanks to Brooke for all the amazing food labels and to Nick for his help setting up!)

For the signature cocktail, we created a fun Rum Punch.

Here's a look at the food spread:

Including some crudites with French Onion dip (I hollowed out a purple cabbage to hold the dip)

Some cheeses, sausages, pita chips and hummus:

We made a delicious ham - and decide to serve them as sliders paired with 3 choices of mustard:

John recreated his X-mas Dinner Trifle in handy parfait-style servings. These were a hit!
(They include layers of ground turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce {jellied of course}, gravy and stuffing.)

I spent most of the week fashioning marzipan mushrooms, holly leaves, berries and a pine cone for cream-filled Yule Log. A shredded coconut floor of "snow" and covering of frosting and powered sugar brought the dessert to life. (check out eHow Video for more Marzipan tutorials)

Deviled eggs completed the spread:

  

And of course, there was a fully-stocked bar:

Dave and Amy brought honey covered bacon that we dipped into whipped cream. Sounds totally gross, but I swear you have to try it - yummy!

It got pretty crowded in the dining room once the bacon and whipped cream made the rounds. (ah - look how cute everyone is!!)

For the second year in a row, we had a gift exchange and asked everyone to bring their least favorite gifts for a little re-gifting. Items ranged from a Hockey puzzle, action figure and some of the best Inventions of 2008. I ended up choosing #10 from the gift raffle and snagged myself an awesome new gift:

  

A Snuggie - and yes - its really THAT BIG!

A close-up of the action figure (sans sword) that Doug received - next to the award-winning Gingerbread house.

And...

Here's a few shots of everyone who came out to make this year's party a great success. Can't wait to celebrate again with everyone next year!!

  

For a little more info on the gift exchange, check out Brooke (aka Miss Cupcake's) new blog, Claremont Road!