Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Entertaining at Home’ Category

Holiday Scents

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, tagged , , , on December 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

During the holidays I like to fill my home with scents that accent the season.

From candles to soaps, it is all about making this cozy and inviting. Some of my favorite products come from Bath & Body Works and Yankee Candle.

winter spice soapWinter Spice Vanilla  from Bath & Body Works is a great soap scent for the kitchen. Warm and soft and wonderful.

candy cane bliss soap

Another good choice would be  Candy Cane Bliss.

holly berry wreath

For the bathrooms, I like Holly Berry Wreath.

vanilla bean noel

Vanilla Bean Noel is a great lotion choice to have on hand for guests to use because it has a light, warm fragrance that isn’t overpowering, yet still offers a hint of holiday cheer.

spice candle

One of my favorite, favorite candle fragrances is Spice from Bath & Body Works. It makes me nostalgic and wistful.

red berry candle

I also love Red Berry & Cedar from Yankee Candle.

home for holidays candleHome for the Holidays is a scent that makes you think of Christmas Eve at Grandma’s house. Old-fashioned and delightfully wonderful.

 

pomegranate cider

Pomegranate Cider is a fresh and updated scent that still has a lingering hint of Christmas past.

cinnamon twist

And my latest find from Yankee Candle is their room fragrance twists that smell divine. The Sparkling Cinnamon was my first choice!

However you decide to scent your home for the holidays, remember to stick with one main (and predominant) scent or your house will smell like a batch of potpourri gone bad. Look at the description of your scent and find the strongest scent then look for scents that accent that, not compete with it. Or just go with the same scent throughout your home.

She Who Loves the Scents of Christmas

25 days 2011

 

Read Full Post »

Ethel M Chocolates

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining at Home, Holidays, Travels, tagged , , , on December 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

PENTAX Image

When we were in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago, we made time to visit Ethel M. ® Chocolates.

About 15 minutes south of the Strip, the facility is owned by Mars, Inc., the people that Make M&Ms® and other yummy treats yours truly should stay far away from.

The Mars tradition of candy making began in 1911 in the kitchen of Frank and Ethel Mars home in Tacoma, Washington. Their son, Forrest Mars. Sr.,  retired to Henderson, Nevada in 1981 and created Ethel M.® Chocolates to honor his mother by creating a line of gourmet chocolate candies that reminded him of how he learned about quality chocolate making. Ethel M.® Chocolates are sold in various locations throughout Las Vegas, and via the web at www.ethelm.com.

The factory is still located at its original location at Two Cactus Garden Drive in Henderson, where gourmet chocolate gifts are made from Ethel Mars’ original recipes. Captain Cavedweller and I were completely enthralled with the pecan brittle. It was beyond wonderful.

Guests to the factory can take a self-guided tour and also stroll through the cactus garden. At night, the garden comes alive with hundreds of lights and decorations artfully placed along the three acres of beautiful and rare plants.

Although we went during the day, we did have fun checking out the garden.

PENTAX Image

PENTAX Image

PENTAX Image

PENTAX Image

PENTAX Image

She Who Enjoyed Seeing the Exotic and Interesting Plants – and Sampling the Chocolate!

25 days 2011

 

Read Full Post »

Holiday Favorite Sweet Treats

Posted in Christmas, Cookies, Holidays, tagged , , , on December 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This weekend, I finally got around to baking sugar cookies.

I was pretty sure one of us was going to founder on them and it wasn’t me.

Despite the fact Captain Cavedweller isn’t a big sweet eater, there are a few treats that he can’t pass up.

Sugar Cookies are definitely on the short list.

https://savvyentertaining.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ta-da.gif

Here is the recipe. These take a little time and effort but it is well worth it!

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

dash of lemon juice

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups flour

Frosting

Cream together butter and sugars. Add in eggs, vanilla and lemon juice. Mix dry ingredients together and gradually add into creamed mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Generously flour a flat surface and your rolling pin. Scoop out half the dough and roll until about 1/4 inch thick. You want to work fairly quickly at this point because the warmer the dough gets the stickier it becomes and you don’t want to add more flour. Cut into shapes and bake about 6-8 minutes or until cookies are just set. You do not want them to get brown at all. Cool in pan for one minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Frost and decorate then watch them disappear.

You can use a royal icing if you are of a mind to stir up a batch or, if you are a lazy slug like me, I whip out a can of Betty Crocker vanilla frosting and frost away. I also like to use decorator gels, especially the sparkly variety, along with sprinkles!

Here are a few links to some of our other favorites!

Gingerbread Bars

Nut Goodie Bars

Pumpkin Roll

Seven-Layer Bars

25 days 2011

 

 

Read Full Post »

Christmas from Pinterest

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining at Home, tagged , , on December 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

northpole cupcakes

Most of you already know I’m obsessed with Pinterest.

There is so much cool stuff there, just waiting to be pinned! How can you not love it?

Anyway, here are some of the fun Christmas things I recently discovered and had to share. Click on the photos and check them out!

white snowflake cookie

hot chocolate

 

snowman

centerpiece

winter scene

sled and skatesrope wreath

Happy Holidays!

She Who Loves this Season

25 days 2011

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »