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Archive for the ‘Entertaining at Home’ Category

Party Buckets are a Must for Summer Entertaining

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Party Theme, tagged , , on June 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Ever had guests over for an outdoor meal and couldn’t figure out a way to serve individual bottles of beverages?  You wanted to create an elegant atmosphere and pulling out a cooler for the drinks just didn’t seem to go with your theme.

One fun and easy way to keep beverages cold while maintaining a classic look to your event is with party buckets.

You can purchase buckets from companies like Entertaining at Home, at department stores or even use containers you may already own. Think outside the box and see what you can come up with.

If your theme has more of a casual or western tone, think about using a small wash tub. You can find these at feed supply stores. Tie the handles with a raffia bow and it fits right into a country theme.

Big planters or flower pots can also be put into service. Make sure they are sparkling clean then fill with ice. These could work well with most any theme.

A child’s wagon is also a fun way to present beverages. Again, just fill with ice, tie the handle with a ribbon and you are set.

If you can find a party bucket on a stand, that is even better!  The stand allows any condensation to drip down and frees up table space for more important things… like chocolate.

Be creative and have fun with this. You can be as elegant or as whimsical as you desire!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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Strawberry Bliss

Posted in Beverages, Easy Recipes, Entertaining at Home, tagged , , on May 28, 2010| 2 Comments »

If you are somewhere in the world where the sun is shining and it is warm and lovely heading into this Memorial Day Weekend. Enjoy it!

With our gray skies and rain, it doesn’t seem like it can be the end of May.

Here is an easy and fun drink that tastes best on hot days, but if you are being forced inside by the weather this weekend, plan an indoor picnic, cozy up by the fire and enjoy. This drink is also family friendly so the kids can smack their lips over it as well.

Ingredients

Sugar the rims of the glasses.

Scoop the slushy mix out of the pitcher and into the chilled glasses.

Strawberry Bliss!

Strawberry Bliss

1 can of Bacardi Mixers Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri concentrate

1 1/2 cans of water

1 bottle of Club Soda

granulated sugar

Mix concentrate with 1 1/2 cans (using the concentrate can) of water. Stir and freeze for a couple of hours, until it starts to firm up.

Wet the rims of your glasses and dip in sugar. Just put a teaspoon or so of sugar on a flat saucer and dip away. I like to put the glasses in the freezer after I sugar them so they are frosty when I serve the drink.

When you are ready to serve, remove the glasses and strawberry mix from the freezer. Scoop slush into glasses and fill about two-thirds full. Pour in enough club soda to fill the glass. You can garnish the glasses with a strawberry if you so desire or  a sprig of mint.

Sip, savor and smile!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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Memorial Day Entertaining Tips

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, Party Theme, tagged , , on May 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Here we are headed into Memorial Day weekend – the official kick-off of the summer entertaining season. Dust off those barbecues, clean off the patios and invite over some friends.

Keep your weekend entertaining simple but fun. Let the holiday guide you as a theme in choosing patriotic colors and decorations.

Proudly fly your flag and incorporate miniature flags into your decorations.

Use a white or blue tablecloth (inexpensive sheets work well) and top with red, white and blue accents such as streamers, ribbons and pots filled with red and white geraniums.

Use white dishes or serving pieces. They don’t have to match. If you have red and blue pieces, mix those in with the white.

Make large star-shaped sugar cookies or a star-shaped cake, frost then top with sliced strawberries on each arm of the star and a cluster of blueberries right in the center.

Put votives in old glass canning jars and tie rims with a red or blue ribbon. If you want to play it safe, use battery-operated candles.

Purchase red poppies from the American Legion for everyone to wear or give them to guests as they are leaving the party.

Stock up on ice and have plenty of beverages on hand. Use a big bucket or container to keep beverages cold.  Just fill with ice and nestle in individual cans and bottles. Another fun alternative is to fill a wagon with ice and set your cold foods or beverages inside.

Make sure you have garbage cans that are clean, empty and placed in areas handy for guests to find. Line with garbage bags as this will make your clean up go much faster.

Follow this link for 10 great condiment tips.

Be safe, be smart and have a great Memorial Weekend Celebration!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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It is NOT Chocolate

Posted in entertain, Musings, tagged , on May 20, 2010| 11 Comments »

When I was 11, my mother decided to bring my world crashing down around my ears and declared I had an allergy to chocolate. Since I was plagued by a variety of food allergies I didn’t question the decision. I wasn’t able to in my traumatized state.

The problem was that I was genetically programmed to crave chocolate. Several members of my dad’s side of the family have the same affliction. We crave chocolate. We love chocolate. We are chocolate addicts. We need chocolate. Chocolate is a key ingredient in our happy existence. This goes beyond the normal really liking chocolate. I mean we honest-to-goodness need chocolate.

So with much crying and whining, I spent the next 12 years without chocolate. Trying to make it up to me, my mother attempted multiple times to convince me that carob was just as good, if not even better than chocolate. She was so wrong.

A great definition I found of carob is this:

“Carob is a tropical pod that contains a sweet, edible pulp and inedible seeds. After drying, the pulp is roasted and ground into a powder that resembles cocoa powder, but does not have the same flavor and texture of chocolate.”

Okay, so you read that part about it not having the same flavor or texture of chocolate. That is putting it mildly! Carob, in my opinion, has a similar flavor and texture to that of cardboard being finely shredded  and then dusted with a generic brand of cocoa powder.  It is NOT a substitute for chocolate.

My mother got creative with her attempts at helping me find peace with carob. There were carob-chip cookies (blech!), carob-covered peanuts (double blech!), and carob cake (I won’t even try to describe that one). She finally gave up. I was forever grateful and accepted my chocolate-less existence.

Then I met and married Most Wonderful Hubby. One day he casually asked why I was allergic to chocolate. I didn’t know. My mother said it was so, and so it was. He gave me half of his chocolate candy bar and I ate it. Then we both waited for me to break out in hives, collapse in a heap and in general do something that required a trip to the emergency room. When nothing happened, I think I heard a chorus singing hallelujah.

Suddenly the world was a happy place again, one filled with chocolate. Do you know how many new kinds of chocolate things are developed in a 12-year period? A lot! And I’m pretty sure I tasted every single one of them. I’m still on a quest to make sure no chocolate is left untasted. After all, I’ve got the rest of my life to make up for those 12 lost years.

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