On our honeymoon in New Orleans, we were served the loveliest of appetizers at the Marigny Brasserie. Warm figs, wrapped in bacon, then topped with bleu cheese. Or, at least I think it was bleu cheese. I obviously didn't even care enough to pay any attention, they were so good. I think we almost fought for the last one.
So, we replicated that appetizer this weekend. We had another couple over for dinner on Saturday, and these figs - boy, they were a hit. I was going to be all fancy and draft up a recipe, but seriously, these are easy. We are lucky to have a fig tree in our neighborhood - we walk by it every night on our hour-long strolls, and we had been plotting to borrow some figs as soon as they became ripe.
It's so simple. Use ripe figs (you can tell - they are very soft, but still supple). Instead of wrapping an entire piece of bacon on each one, we sliced up stips of bacon into 2" long pieces, then tooth-picked it into each fig. Bake at 350 degrees for at least 20 minutes (it will take awhile for the bacon to get to that perfect crispy but-not-too-crispy stage). Right out of the oven, drop a small piece of bleu cheese (or feta? I think you could use lots of different kinds of cheese) right on top of the hot bacon. The heat will sort of melt it in place. Then serve! It's so easy, yet so impressive. Our guests were delighted (and can't stop talking about how good they were).
Pretty neat. Would you do this for your wedding? Like some of the commenters have already said, I think I'd have to add a lining. It works on the model, but she is very thin and doesn't have any curves or bulges to hide! What do you think?
I have to say, some aspects of my job are pretty neat. We get to see the newest design products, and I am always amazed at how the designs mimic things that are current in fashion, art, graphics, etc. Granted, I think interior design products may be a bit behind the fashion train, but they are pretty close.
I came across these mosaic tiles from Ann Sacks while I was searching for a mosaic tile for a specific project. A lot of these tiles incorporate the geometric/trellis/herringbone pattern that I've been seeing a lot lately in fashion. But get ready to take out a loan for these - they aren't cheap.
For economic options (at only $70 per square foot!), try these.
{herringbone}
{kilim}
{interlocking oval}
For you big spenders, try these options. Starting at only (ONLY!) $132 per square foot.
{ocheydan}
{peacock} I think this one is my favorite.
{champagne}
{quince tree} Can you imagine a whole wall of this? Stunning.
{circle square}
{interlocking square}
All images are property of Ann Sacks, and all of these tiles and additional information can be found here.
This makes so much sense! Why wouldn't you dance your way up the aisle on the best day of your life?
{Even though I'm sure they meant this to be entertaining, I also found it very touching - for some reason I sort of got teary-eyed at the end! What's wrong with me? I guess I just love weddings.}
Check out this inspiring blog that I somehow stumbled upon today. This gal is pretty talented - she's got an Etsy shop, fabric shop, and a very lovely blog.
And look at this tutorial! I never would have thought of this. So creative! {before}
Once I saw this post over at Smitten Kitchen, I knew had to steal Deb's recipe and try it this weekend for mom's 60's birthday celebration (side note: sure, I've never met Deb, but I still like to call her by her first name like we're friends. Because I would love nothing more than to meet this gal. She seems funny, smart, and pretty good in the kitchen to boot. Hi Deb! Be my friend!...just kidding). Anyway, my parents and my sister drove down from Ohio to spend the weekend with us, and to mark my mom's birthday, and of course this called for a layer cake. From scratch. With homemade icing. Oh yeah.
If you make this recipe, don't even bother to think about how many calories are in this. Tw0 and a quarter cups of sour cream, and 15 ounces of chocolate - just in the icing. But it is totally worth it. I refrigerated the iced cake until we were ready to eat it, and my only regret is that I didn't leave it out to sit a bit longer. The cake was good, but the flavor was muted a bit due to the refrigeration. I think the buttery yellow cake flavor would have been more pronounced at room temperature. I am pretty sure that the refrigeration was necessary because of the sour cream in the icing - do any bakers out there want to weigh in?
P.S. Did you notice how I even stole Deb's sprinkle look? (I know my pictures are terrible, but you can see the sprinkles there on top). I wasn't planning on it, but part of my parent's and sister's visit involved a quick trip here, which I wasn't even aware was in Memphis. It's a crazy small bake supply shop, and I found it because I knew my sister would want to go there, since she's graduating in December as a pastry chef and wanted to check out any Memphis bake supply places. They had these sprinkles there, and I couldn't resist.
First of all, I don't think I ever showed off our photographer's lovely photo of our wedding centerpieces. I blogged about them here, but her picture is much more lovely.
Second...check this out! Etsy is teaming up with Martha Stewart to have a contest for handmade wedding crafts. So cool.Here is a link to the page on Martha's website.
And...here is the link to my submission! It looks like this contest isn't determined by votes or anything, but I'd love if you hopped over there and left a comment/rating. And check out the other submissions...there are some pretty neat ideas out there, for any of you planning weddings. Gah, don't you just love the internet?
At our local Kroger, they almost always have a bin of discounted flowers sitting out front. Most of them look slightly wilted, and some have discolorations or other blemishes that deemed them not worthy of full price anymore. I love this bin. Every Sunday I buy flowers from this sale cart, and two weekends ago I picked out these roses. A dozen for four bucks! They were a lovely pink color, but had some brownish discoloration around the petal edges. I took them home, and they have been slowly opening and becoming more beautiful. And they have lasted over two weeks.
Holy smokes, have you seen this? This brilliant gal has somehow written code (or a computer program? I have no idea how it works) that categorizes fabric on Etsy and organizes it by color. I want to hug her.
First of all, I can now say that I've conquered sewing...well, purses and clutches at least. Clothing is another story. I finally figured out a clutch pattern that works, and is awesome. I made three this weekend, and I am thrilled (they involve some awesome pleats, and use of some very cool vintage skirts that I bought.) I need to photograph them so I can show them off here, don't I? I was going to list them on Etsy, but...we got a booth at the Cooper-Young festival this year! So I'm going to save them to sell there instead. I'm so excited!
I've done this festival in the past, and, while I had a great response to my jewelry, I just wasn't completely satisfied with it. My booth setup was severly lacking, and I just hadn't thought everything through (branding, booth decoration, table display, etc.). And making jewelry was fun, but I just wasn't really into it. I couldn't say that I had made that jewelry from scratch. It would be one thing if I was forging my own earwires, so I could say that yes, I really made that. But I wasn't. I was pretty much buying the parts, then assembling and selling them. And really, making earrings is so easy once you have all of the components. It involves threading a few stones, turning a couple loop turns, and BAM you're done. So I wasn't too proud of it, even though, like I said, everyone seemed to love it. But this year...we're going to rock. I'm very much inspired by this gal. So I have lots of plans for the booth. And I can now proudly say that my clutches are made entirely by me, from scratch, and they are all one-of-a-kind. My husband has even jumped in on this, and is super excited. He's going to be making and selling stuff as well!
So if you're in Memphis on September 19, please stop by! We're at booth B16...across the street from Java Cabana and Casablanca (see map below).
These clothes are fantastic. Fantastic! I adore everything in her shop. I constantly am drawn to her designs and just her sheer...I don't know...daring way of putting things together. Rompers? A babydoll dress sewn on the front of another dress? Crazy and amazing.
Here is her sweet summary of her work:
"neneee focuses on featuring comfy and fashionable daily wear for extra awesome girls and smart, fragile women. i draw most of my inspiration from street style, art, eccentricities, music, movies, literature and the like. unless noted otherwise, all clothes are made by yours truly; this includes everything from sketching to pattern drafting, cutting and finishing."
