A Gold New Years Eve

Christmas Recap

So as we say goodbye to December and hello to a new year it makes me think about the all important resolutions we all make and can’t keep. 

So here goes, I resolve this year to require less sleep and do more things that I love with my extra time. 

I’ve been creating more and more crafts at home and for parties lately and I’m going to start sharing some of my hard work on here.  On New Years Eve we had some friends over, only 4 adults and 2 babies total but it was still a party. Even though they all thought I was crazy for trying to theme a party for just a few people I was on a mission to make it just as special as if there were a hundred people attending. So I planned on a gold theme, pretty color, something I have not done before so it was perfect. I found some inspiration on www.pinterest.com for the table setting, thought of some great gold colored recipes to make and I was off. I joke with a girlfriend of mine that I like “renting from her store” meaning her collection of amazing party props, but it’s true, she was the first call for “gold”. She had the perfect pieces to create my centerpiece, a gold square tray, gold napkins and miniature gold Christmas trees of course, no table is complete without them.  The table was perfect. I started with a crisp white cotton table cloth, which I painstakingly ironed, which had the perfect gold stitching. Then came the square gold tray at one end of the table with a white cake stand in the middle. This gave me the perfect variation of height I was going for. After arranging gold glitter covered snowflakes, Champaign glasses and the gold napkins on the tray the centerpiece was complete. I found gold tissue paper at Target and was able to make 3 poms to float on fishing wire above the center piece. With gold and white platters and the “gold” menu, my party was ready.

The gold menu featured mini tender lamb meatballs, luscious bacon wrapped scallops, baked brie, boy was that a beautiful gold color when it came out of the oven, smores with gold sugar atop the marshmallows and some delicious dips that we grazed over all night.  We all had a drink of choice but the delicate Champaign Jello squares and Apple Vodka Champaign martinis were perfect for the theme.

Check out the pictures below of our Gold 2011 New Years Eve. Special thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration and the jello shot recipe, Lauren for the “rentals” and my guest and friend Christy who made the baked brie… boy was that delicious.

Picky Eaters

Evan is a great everything, sleeper, eater, traveler, you name it! But lately as we close in on 18 months he has been voicing his opinion about what he will or will not eat for dinner. I try to offer him choices, both choices are Mummy approved anyway so either way I do get to win the battle. For example, choice like, “do you want broccoli or cauliflower for dinner?” is easy because either is fine with me. It gives him a little decision making power that I think he’s craving at this age.

Bananas and blueberries are the menu selections of choice these days and since he can’t live on bananas and blueberries we had to work with it. I love that he has an opinion and has his favorites, it’s just part of his little personality growing.

We were eating dinner at my in laws and my sister in law says “so what is Evan eating today?” as I announced that he was eating broccoli and blueberries the reaction was funny. Now, my sister in law has just had a baby so she has all of this fun ahead of her, and I laughed as I explained why he was having such a strange combination to her.

When you find something they like that has huge nutritional benefit you really milk it for all it’s worth. He loves blueberries and broccoli!

Recipe:

I use the Beaba BabyCook food maker so all I do is cut up as much broccoli that will fit in the colander, add blueberries in the spaces, probably only 10-15 of them, fill the water up to the #3 mark and presto. I blend to desired consistency and we’re ready for dinner.