We hosted a baby shower yesterday for friends Amanda and Jonathan. It was a blast, from the planning with a cool friend of the mom-to-be to enjoying the company. And the parents-to-be took away some nice loot and heartfelt well-wishes that I hope helps them feel prepared – and maybe even more excited! – for the arrival of their baby girl.
Doilies don’t seem like the most modern of party decorations (and I was trying to avoid anything over-the-top girly, since that’s not really Amanda and Jonathan’s style), but I thought they contributed an interesting visual element to the dots and circles in the ribbon and other decorations, inspired by this modern baby shower.
I made the mobile-esque hanging decoration out of an embroidery loop and some paper circles glued to ribbon.
Honey Baked Brie: Just bake a honey-drizzled round of brie on parchment paper at 350 for about 20 minutes. It sounds weird and looks weirder, but trust me on its tastiness! I meant to add thyme as well but forgot.
The dining room setup: even the high chair was put to use.
The den is just to the right of the living room and on the way outside. We had The Red Balloon movie looped and playing in here (at my desk) to set the scene. Because there is very little dialogue in the movie, it served as background music as well. Balloon garland and paper lanterns from Pearl River.
These “red balloon” mini sandwiches were an idea I got from the wonderful Party Perfect blog, the readers of which helped me brainstorm. These photos show the toddler-friendly cream cheese version. Paris plates from Marshall’s.
I also had an adult version: ham and swiss cheese with French mustard on pain au levain (French sourdough bread we are lucky to find at our farmer’s market, along with those olives in the foreground).
The inside menu: cupcakes, mini “red balloon” sandwiches, the all-important fromage plate, salad, and sangria.
I made the pennant bunting myself out of heavy scrapbook paper and embroidery floss. It was easy to divide the 12×12″ pieces into triangles, dividing in half lengthwise and in thirds crosswise and drawing long diagonal lines from top to bottom (does that make sense?), resulting in 10 triangles per sheet. The whole bundle of paper, cutouts, labels, stickers, and punch-outs were in vintage 50s prints. I used less than a quarter of the stack and created a whole party from it: liners for the invitation envelopes (above), the “Happy Birthday” garland hanging from the window in the center, and photo “frames” for baby photos adorning the wall.
Outside we had the non-alcoholic drinks: lemonade served in a this dispenser, Orangina, Perrier, apple juice boxes, milk boxes, and sippy cups for the little ones. Our wonderful next-door neighbor Jane let us borrow the beautiful folding bamboo chairs. She even had a 1-year-old-sized version. {I didn’t take any photos during the party, so I’ll post more outside pictures when I get them! Edit: See below!}
The red balloons were a huge hit with all the toddlers.
{Hint: when mylar balloons are popped, they don’t become choking hazards as the rubber ones do.}
Update: Some more photos from Grandma & Grandpa Weintraub show the scene outdoors!
Toddler sized French bistrot chair
One of the most fun activities for the little ones was to smash those balloons!
They played in a band, too
A lone balloon at the end of the driveway let arriving guests know they were in the right place.
What a wonderful day! Thai food lunch with Seth and Corry (who’s visiting from Paris), then dessert at Magnolia bakery:
Then a trip to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio (where I picked up some bamboo yarn):
Then some afternoon shopping, a wonderful experience with a friend who will open doors, push the stroller, and entertain a cranky baby… Thanks Corry!
I was in the mood for French food for dinner, so we scoped out a couple of restaurants yesterday. We decided on Jean-Claude. It’s literally just down the street, incredibly reasonably priced, and authentic. I had: a salad of haricots verts & walnuts & bleu cheese, Steak-frites and a glass of Côtes du Rhone, tiramisu and a decaf cappuccino. Seth had onion soup, mussels (moules) and fries, some of the tiramisu and most of the wine.
A fantastic day. And of course I’m reminded of my 30th birthday, when I saw this just before hopping on a train from Paris to London:
This past Tuesday was Cécilia’s birthday, which brought back memories of last year’s celebrations {which I never really blogged about!} For her 30th birthday her chéri Séb organized a surprise birthday party in the countryside for the weekend of May 3rd. Since it was also the year of my 30th {May 13} and Julie’s {July 19} the two of us were also honored at the dinner and served the most beautiful desserts. I got in on the dancing, enjoyed a sip of champagne, and have such wonderful memories of that weekend with friends old and new.
I was 4 months pregnant at the time, and this year it’s Cécilia & Séb’s turn to be awaiting a baby boy – and in just a couple months! Today I’ll share 31 photos for 31 years. Joyeux anniversaire!
Julien
Julie
Cécilia’s parents have a pond in their backyard. How awesome is that?
New Yorkers in the French countryside
Waiting…
Surprise!
This photo is the reënactment of another moment, from the summer of 2002:
Everything was pink, Cécilia’s favorite color.
Paëlla!
These sugar sculptures were made by the most talented {17-year-old!!} pastry chef:
What a month March has been! Seth’s family was in town, and then my parents came, and between the two groups, Seth and I drove all around France, from Normandy to the Mediterranean Sea. Since Easter weekend is still fresh in my mind (probably because I’ve never eaten so much), I thought I should post about that first.
Seth, my parents, and I spent the weekend in Roanne, which is a relatively little-known city near Lyon. Most outsiders know Roanne because of the famous restaurant Troisgros (150€ lunch, anyone?), but to us, it’s the place I was warmly welcomed as an exchange student for the 1996-1997 school year. I stayed with three lovely families, and am thrilled we’ve kept in touch. Because we only had about 24 hours in Roanne, we visited two of my three host families.
We started out Saturday chez Gérard and Josiane, my first host parents (their daughter, Julie is a good friend of mine and lives in Paris – lucky me!!) , along with their son, Francis (it was his 27th birthday! Joyeux Anniversaire!), and his girlfriend, Laura. We ran into a little traffic on the Paris side of the trip, so we didn’t arrive for lunch until about 2pm. Everyone held out and when we arrived, the feasting began!
The apératif (pre-meal drink course) was served with the most amazing spread of appetizers: endive with herbed cheese, crab in home-made mayonnaise, toasted spiced bread with goat cheese, dried sausage, and the original version of pigs in a blanket: delicious sausages in a puff-pastry.
On to the main course: two different kinds of pork (the mustard sauce was particularly memorable), potatoes, and green beans. Seth looks overwhelmed!
I don’t know how I missed taking a picture of the cheese course. It was a beautiful spread on a rustic wooden cheese plate. I also missed photographing the wine, which was made my a family friend. My parents loved it (I think they’re wine drinkers now!) and Gerard & Josiane sent them home with a bottle. We were so stuffed after the cheese that we decided to take a walking tour of Roanne before the dessert course. Julie and I showed my parents the center of Roanne, with its pedestrian walkways, and most importantly, our high school (Lycée Jean Puy). The bar near the high school is called “Bar du Lycée” which always made me laugh, since in the states you can’t drink until college.
Roanne’s most famous bakery is called Pralus, inventor of the original Praluline, which is a brioche with candied nuts (almonds? pecans?). We picked up a small one to try later on, since we knew we would not need to eat anything for days.
Back at the house, we moved on to the dessert course. It was an especially vast spread since it was Francis’s birthday and his girlfriend made a special crumble for him. I thought the Easter-themed papillotes were cute. This is the first year the Révillon chocolate producer has made them for Easter (they are usually a Christmas & New Year’s tradition).
Josiane made my and Julie’s favorite dessert: the île flottante (“floating island”). The island is made of sweet whipped egg whites, floating in a sea of custard.
The chocolate mousse was a hit, and my mom got away with the recipe for both that and the île flottante.
Dad played a couple of tunes after dessert.
By the time “lunch” was over it was about 9pm! Our hosts:
It was time to move on to Renaison, chez Michel and Martine, where we spent the night and Easter Sunday.
We had mini pastries for breakfast Easter morning and tried not to overdo it, since we knew we were in for another delicious meal. If the size of the bread loaf alone was any indication (about a yard long by maybe a food wide?), we were not going to go hungry.
Michel took this picture of the group enjoying the apéritif of champagne.
With the apéro we had crab in a cream dip with avocado and toasts with tapenade and a fish spread.
The first course was escargots. The sauce is amazing! Put anything in butter, parsley, garlic, and shallots, and I’m sold. This photo shows just one of the two trays of escargots we ate.
The traditional main dish for Easter in France is lamb. This lamb was tender and delicious, served with green beans wrapped in slabs of pork breast akin to bacon. Martine served it with whipped mashed potatoes.
After some salad, guess what was next?
A spread of regional cheeses and yogurts, as well as some camemberts (one of them aged in calvados, a liquor from Normandy).
To finish it off? Warm Tarte Tatin. The name comes from the Tatin sisters who first made a homemade apple tart in this method. Served with some crème fraîche, it was a delicious finale to an afternoon feast.
These beautiful flowers are not Valentine’s related, however: they’re from my friend Julie, who gave them to me a week ago. Admire how beautiful they still look!
When we were kids living in Los Angeles, our favorite treat in the whole wide world was fresh strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar. So simple, yet so delicious. I didn’t have sour cream (or crème fraîche), but yogurt was just as good. I’d take this over the chocolate-dipped variety any day. Happy Valentine’s Day to us!
We are back from a wonderful trip in Barcelona, and I have a lot of blogging to do about that. But first, look what came in the mail today! Probably one of the best ever issues of my favorite magazine, Marie Claire Idées.
Why is this one so awesome? For starters, there is a whole section on crafts inspired by cabbage and broccoli. Who would’ve thought of that? A crochet cabbage purse? Awesome.
French samplers always seem to look cooler than the ones I grew up with. While I am not as ready as my friend Julie is to take on one of these, I do think the cross-stitch looks chic, and quite lovely over the beige fabric.
Maybe I’m getting a little excited for nothing big, but as some of you know, I have been collecting teacups from all over the world for the last 15 years. This issue devotes eight pages to English teacup-inspired crafts, from candelabras to mosaic dressers to a lamp made of stacked teacups and pots. Heaven!
As always, the photography is very inspiring and makes me want to paint the walls pink and embroider every cloth in sight. I’m looking forward to reading the article on organic and natural cosmetics, as well as turning your kitchen “green” (literally and figuratively), with lots of crafts using recyclables. But first, I should really get back into organizing my Barcelona photos!
Giordano’s, home of the original Chicago deep dish pizza.
We are looking forward to many exciting things: Seth’s family is coming in mid-March, and my parents are coming just after, at the end of March. It’s been fun reserving a rental car, making calls to friends and planning for the trips. By the time they get here, our itinerary will be as packed as the Griswald’s.
In the midst of the excitement of planning and the need to get some serious work done, we tried a quick new recipe the other night. We decided to make pizza. We got all the toppings and our grocery store, Champion, even has its own brand of dough made without poly-hydrogenated oils (the bad dangerous fatty stuff found in most pre-made doughs). The only problem is that our oven is the size of a toaster and the only pan resembling a pizza pan is the one I use for quiche.
Thinking back to our trip to Chicago and the pizza we had at Giordano’s gave me the idea of going “deep dish” and just piling all the toppings in and baking the pizza for a bit longer than usual.
The result? When cutting and serving, the cheese all came off and the mushrooms slid out, but in all, a delicious slice of home-made pizza we’ll be trying again.
The holidays last and last when you’re living in France: here, they celebrate Epiphany with a kings’ cake, usually a layered cake flavored with almonds. Inside is a hidden bean (or now, usually a porcelain figurine). If you find it in your slice, you’re the king. The glory of wearing a metallic cardboard crown is surely worth a chipped tooth, n’est-ce-pas?
With Epiphany already almost a week over, we were happy to still find these galettes des rois sold in pastry shops and grocery stores. But if you’re not living in a place that sells galettes, or if you’d simply like to try to make one yourself, check out Richard Nahem’s recipe over at Eye Prefer Paris. By the way, if you’re looking for an entertaining, knowledgeable custom tour of Paris, Richard’s talents as a guide are as awesome as his cooking ability.
I am still aiming for a home-made Christmas, and who doesn’t enjoy sweet treats? Help your friends add a festive touch to a cozy cup of hot cocoa with a chocolate-dipped spoon. I made 30 of these spoons to give away to our friends in Paris, along with some good ol’ fashioned chocolate chip cookies. To the left are caramels from La Cure Gourmande.
What you need:
Disposable spoons (I considered using inexpensive metal ones, but didn’t know if the chocolate would stick, so I stuck with plastic.)
2 bars chocolate, the darker the better (in my opinion); I used 76% cocao organic chocolate bars from the grocery store)
What to do:
Break the chocolate up into chunks and put them in a non-stick sauce pan. I skipped the complicated procedures of using a bain marie (double boiler) and instead just melted the chocolate on the lowest heat setting.
When the chocolate starts to melt, be sure you are stirring fairly constantly to help all the chunks soften.
When the chocolate is melted, keep the heat on low and dip each spoon into the chocolate, using a twisting motion. I found it easiest to scoop the chocolate in the spoon and then twist the spoon around and around until the front and back were covered. Lay each spoon onto wax paper or a greased sheet of foil.
I had a lot of extra chocolate, so once the spoons were laid out, I spooned more chocolate into the scoop part of each spoon. Let the chocolate cool and harden, about one hour.
