Spring Wedding Shower

Yesterday I talked about a wedding shower we hosted for my good friend Allison. She's getting married this June and we had so much fun celebrating her! Her wedding colors are pale blue and coral, so we tried to use a lot of those in the shower. I love that color combo, don't you? Fun was had, gifts were opened and tons of sugary sweets were consumed.

Here are some of the snapshots I took...

Daisies in vases from Fish's Eddy

Wedding monogram cookies made by my very talented friend Sarah

Gorgeous roses that I decided to color block

Repurposed pouf from Alice's shower paired with a girlie wreath I found

The drink station

The bride loves Diet Coke, so we made sure to have plenty on hand

Southern bridal shower staple, pimento cheese finger sandwiches

The bride (center, in seersucker) with all of the hostesses

Wooden spoons as parting gifts

The beautiful bride to be

xo,

The Canary Diaries

Party Time!

Three of my besties are getting married this year and I could not be more excited to celebrate! The first wedding commences in mere days and to celebrate we threw the bride, Alice, an Alice in Wonderland-themed bash, complete with tea, mismatched linens and tons of delicious food. It was whimsical and fabulous just like the bride to be. Some snaps...

Congrats to my sweet friends!

xo,

The Canary Diaries

13 Days of Christmas: Day 7

I used to live in a very small studio apartment, I had something like 700 square feet to my name, which wasn't a big deal because it was just me and Benji most of the time. The only obstacle was when I wanted to entertain, which I am prone to doing.

So what did I do? I entertained anyway, and I think if you have the inclination to host a party nothing should stop you.

Not even a 247-square-foot apartment. Yes, that's correct, 247. This Refinery29 editor hosted an amazing holiday soiree by being resourceful (i.e. placing grapes or other snacks on a nightstand). The trick is being organized and having a place to store everything. Even if that place is under your bed!

xo,

The Canary Diaries

13 Days of Christmas: Day 10

The Recipes

As promised, here are the recipes from Monday's post.

Fig Crackers

Wheat crackers (I used Carr's, but any plain wheat will do)

Ricotta cheese

Figs sliced in half

Salt 

Honey

These are so easy, perfect for an impromptu get together. Scoop a small spoonful of Ricotta cheese onto the crackers, place the fig on next with seed side up. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with honey.

Fizzy Punch

(Serves 8-10 light)

Cranberry ice (just add a few cranberries to regular ice in a fun mold)

Zest of one orange

2 Cinnamon sticks

2 1/2 cups of cranberry juice (sweetened, but not cocktail, it will be too sweet)

1 1/2 cups orange juice

1 bottle of Prosecco

1 orange sliced

Put cranberry ice, zest and cinnamon sticks in a punch bowl or pitcher, slowly add juices, Prosecco and orange slices. Stir. Serve cold. 

Recipe from InStyle magazine December 2011

Tarragon Chicken Salad

(Serves 4-6)

1 3/4 lbs. cooked chicken

1 cup of walnuts toasted and chopped

2 celery ribs cut into 1/4-thick slices (about 1 cup)

2 TBSP finely chopped shallots

2 cups halved seedless red grapes

3/4 cups mayonnaise

3 TBSP tarragon vinegar

2 TBSP finely chopped fresh tarragon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until combined. Refrigerate until you need it. I served it with mixed field greens tossed in olive oil and red wine vinegar and lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.

I'm a big fan of this chicken salad for two reasons: 1) It can be made in advance, I made this on Saturday 2) It's got a bit more of a kick than traditional Southern chicken salad to it due to the tarragon flavoring.

Recipe via Epicurious app. Love it! Originally published in Gourmet magazine 2003.

Popovers

(Makes 6 popovers)

2 TBSP unsalted butter cut into 6 equal pieces

2 large eggs, lightly beaten at room temperature

1 cup whole milk, at room temperature

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Place the pieces of butter in the bottoms of a six-cup popover pan. Trust me, you have to have a popover pan for this recipe. A muffin tin will not work, as the popovers rise considerably while cooking. Place the popover pan on a baking sheet and set aside. 

In a smaller-sized bowl lightly whisk the eggs until they change color--we found this color to be light yellow. Whisk in the milk. In a larger bowl, whisk together the flour and the salt until well blended. Gently whisk the egg mixture into the flour mixture until only small lumps are left and set aside.

Place the popover pan and baking sheet in the oven for four minutes. At three minutes give the batter a light whisk. Using an oven mitt, remove the hot tin from the oven and immediately divide the batter among the prepared cups. Bake for 25 minutes without opening the oven door. Serve immediately.

Recipe via The Tea Deck: 50 Ways to Prepare, Serve and Enjoy, January 2009 by Sara Perry. This recipe was also on Epicurious.

Also fun to make to accompany your popovers is some strawberry butter (one part strawberry jam, one part room-temperature butter) whip together with a handheld mixer.

Chocolate Fudgies

(Recipe makes about 36 cookies)

1 12-ounce package of semisweet chocolate chip cookies (divided into 2 cups)

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 TBSP butter

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a cookie sheet and set it aside. In a medium saucepan, heat and stir 1 cup of the chocolate pieces, the unsweetened chocolate and the butter until melted. Remove from heat; add the eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla and baking powder. Beat with a wooden spoon until combined, scraping the sides of the pan. Stir in remaining 1 cup chocolate pieced and nuts. 

Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the surfaces are dull and cracked. Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. One of my favorites for any type of dessert.

Happy cooking!

xo,

The Canary Diaries

13 Days of Christmas: Day 12

After our Christmas lunch we channeled our inner 5-year-olds and made Gingerbread Houses. Everyone brought their favorite candies.

I bought the houses pre-assembled from a local bakery.

It was really fun to see all of the original ways everyone decorated their houses using the same candies

Check out Jacquelyn's sweater--so cute!--from J. Crew.

Voila! Looks good enough to eat!

xo,

The Canary Diaries

13 Days of Christmas: Day 13

With just less than two weeks until the big day, I thought it might be fun to do a spin on the classic 12 Days of Christmas and go big with 13 days of fun. I'm really in the Christmas spirit, if you can't already tell....thank you, Rockettes!

A few of my friends who live in the area love to get together to celebrate the holidays each year. In the past we've done fun dinners. This year we did a brunch.

The first thing I like to do with any event is pick some kind of theme, even if it's something small. The theme for our lunch was silver and gold, just slightly more girly than the traditional green and red. 

I used the china and silverware I already had, and added these silver honeycomb chargers from One Kings Lane. The napkin rings were actually just gift box ties that my mom had, but were much more festive than the normal napkin rings I usually use.

I got the scalloped-edge place cards from Paper Presentation in New York. I spray painted the real pinecones in a gold sparkly shade.

I used all white and green flowers (with some pine for good measure) and put them in silver water cups we already had. The table runner is a last-minute purchase from Target.

For appetizers, I made fig crackers and fizzy punch. I'll post recipes soon!

Lunch was tarragon chicken salad on mixed greens with a simple olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing.

Megan helped make the popovers at the last minute--they were great, thanks Megan!

For dessert we had chocolate fudgies and milk. Blue and white straws below are also from Paper Presentation.

Everyone came in cute Christmasy clothes. I wore an early Christmas present from my mom from our New York trip. The dress is from Zara, belt from Target, wedge booties by Sam Edelman. Elsie refuses to wear clothing, which is such a bummer, but she likes to pose for the camera.

Yay Christmas!

xo,

The Canary Diaries