Fun with Paper at a Dinner Party

I was in bed, but had to get out because I kept coughing. I've had a cold for ages now, and it doesn't seem to want to totally go away. So I'm sucking on a cough drop, and thought I'd just do up a quick post while I'm waiting.

This weekend, my sister Selby and I, and our two cats, Trotsky and Oddly, went home to visit our parents. Oddly curls up in her carrier and falls asleep as soon as she gets into the car, but Trotsky is a bit more a nervous traveler. He will have none of a cat carrier. I can't even force him into one! So he just gets to roam around the car. Finally he found a spot he was comfortable in.

Look at all of his fur on the car seats! Little gaffer was shedding up a storm!

Our parents have some great friends who live across the street from them: a mom, a dad, and a little boy. (P.S. Go on over and give the mom some blog love! She's new to the blogging world!) It was Sandi's birthday on Friday, and her wish was to have a big family dinner at our house. What I mean by that is that we consider them family, so it was the joining of our two families for a fun birthday fest. We also invited some other dear family friends, one of whom has a one-year-old little girl.

Selby and I took the reins and got to work. My dad has some clients who are Hutterites, and they give him gifts from their farm every so often. He got a big turkey from them that was taking up room in the freezer, so we decided to have a pre-Thanksgiving turkey fest.

The food was amazing, but my table concept was really fun, too! Not a novel idea by a long shot, but I covered the table in kraft paper, and put plenty of crayons on the table for everyone to decorate it with.

 

And bunting for the birthday girl's chair!

I traced a big circle for each place setting and then wrote each person's name above it. Here's my place setting before dinner:

And here it is after:

Everyone had fun, especially the kids. The 6 year old Daniel created a Harry Potter masterpiece:

That is Professor Quirrell with the big purple turban, a marauders mask (MM), Professor McGonagal (M), Lupine (L), and Black(B)

And Rachel, the one year old had fun too:

The next time you're having a dinner party, consider using paper as your tablecloth. So much fun! But you might want to state this rule in writing as well:

(This rule was meant for my father, by the way, not the kids)

P.S. And at your next dinner party, you should definitely make Spiced Pumpkin Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, too. Yum!

Mmmmm pizza

I've always wanted a wood oven. Basically, just to make pizza. We have this great pizzeria in Calgary called Pulcinella's Pizza, which makes Napoleon-style pizza. And they have this amazing open kitchen where you can watch them cook in the wood oven. The basic reason why a wood oven is good for pizza is because it can get really, really hot. Like 700 or 800 degrees hot.

Well guess what? So can your home oven! But only when you run the self-cleaning cycle. Kitchen Sidecar tells us how we can hack our own ovens to cook in the self-cleaning mode. And would you look at her pizza!!!

From KitchenSidecar.

Skirt skirt skirt!

It was a rainy day yesterday, so I made a skirt.

I am not confident enough in my sewing skills yet to actually use a pattern. I tend to get all confused by that type of precision work, though I think I'll challenge myself with one soon. Anyway, instead I used Freshly Picked's elastic waist skirt tutorial. I've made several skirts using this tutorial, and they're SO easy and SO cute. This time, I decided to add a little sash that can be tied in a bow!

So I followed Susan's pattern, except for one part.

I freehand cut these out of the leftover fabric. Four pieces total.

Then I pinned & sewed the ties with the wrong sides of the fabric facing outwards. I left the small end unsewed, and then flipped them right side out. I measured my waist, and cut a piece of elastic, then cut the elastic in two.

Next step was to sandwich the tie between the two pieces of elastic and pin.

And you have this silly looking thing.

Then all you do is sew the skirt as you would in the instructions. Take care to make sure the right side of the elastic is matched with the right side of the skirt fabric.

And you have a cute little bow! I need to practice tying it. It's a bit cockeyed there.

I like the Ikat-esque fabric I got in the bargain section at my local fabric store! I am all for prolonging summer as long as possible!

Tonight, my sister and I are having a friend over for dinner, and I am going to make a cozy roast beef. It's rainy again today and somehow called for that kind of meal. I'll make hericots verts and oven-roasted three potatoes (yellow, sweet, and yams) to go with it. Mmm.

Oh Yum: Brioche with Chocolate Ganache

There's nothing better than French pastries, is there? And unlike Rachel, I do love chocolate.

I went to Paris in the summer of 2007, and my favourite pastry has got to have been les pains au chocolat.  I imagine the ganache in this recipe tastes a bit like that.

Here's a link to Rachel's post with the recipe and instructions.

Traditional brioches, with their little nobblies on top, are so funny-looking, don't you think?

Photo from here.

Which, actually, is an adorable little blog! The author is a teacher in France. Sign me up! I want her job!!! I may have to add Castles Crowns and Cottages to my already-overflowing Google Reader! I mean, look at this picture she posted on her blog! I want to be right there right now!!!!

Le Château et Les Jardins de Marqueyssac