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By Brianna, on October 21st, 2011 Let us face one important truth. Food that looks good often seems to taste good. Otherwise why would food packaging ‘enlarge’ to show texture. Please understand that a beautiful display is not going to make a really awful dish taste good, but it might take a so-so dish and trick us into mentally feeling better about it.
Two quick tips to ‘fancy’ up your food display: White & Height
White Dishes Make It Simple
I’m a huge advocate of white or mostly white dishes for displays. First, because there is no need to worry about the color of the food
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By Brianna, on October 20th, 2011 When I think about past events I have attended they almost all have a few items they serve. I’m going to call these your staple party foods.
Staple Party Foods
Dip with chips, crackers, vegetables, or pretzels
Cheese ball
Nuts
Cheese plate
Mints or candy
Sweet item like cookies, brownie bites, or cupcakes
Drink
Of these items you only need recipes for the dip, cheese ball, sweets, and drink. I asked some of my more of my culinary inclined counterparts for their easy recipes. I made sure these were items that guests ask for again and again. It was amazing
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By Brianna, on October 19th, 2011 
This weeks DIY project shows how to make some easy gravestone treat bags for Halloween. I am assuming you are making these for a party or small number of kids. We had over 150 trick or treaters last year so clearly they aren’t each getting hand made treat bags. However, some select family and friends will be getting Halloween favors.
Gravestone Treat Bags
Materials:
Basic paper treat bag (Grey would speed up the process but good luck finding that)
Black & white acrylic paint (cheap is fine)
Old paint brush
Scissors
Optional:
Printer & stencil plastic
Repositionable Adhesive
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By Brianna, on October 18th, 2011 Since I do not avail myself of my ability to cook on a regular basis, I don’t have a good library of stored recipes in my noggin. I have some good general cookbooks, however, when I am trying to create party food these cookbooks are light on the appetizers and drinks.
I have found most general cookbooks are light on ideas for events and parties simply because they are geared for everyday cooking. Obviously you can get some great cookbooks solely devoted to party/event drinks and food, but I prefer to save my shelf space for items that will be
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By Patrick, on October 18th, 2011 It’s been another stellar year at the Roadkill Cafe this year. If you’ve been driving around western North Carolina, you’ve probably noticed the plethora of roadkill samples. We’ve seen everything from raccoon, cat, rabbit, dog, squirrel, deer, groundhog, and of course, the ubiquitous opossum.
I could have picked out a much more gruesome image for this post. Count yourself lucky.
Now, if you’re like me, and you notice things like this, sometimes it’s a bit difficult identifying what kind of roadkill is lying in the road. The decomposition of the critters can sometimes leave you wondering to yourself, “What
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By Brianna, on October 17th, 2011 
Instead of being an entire party mood board I thought I would get myself psyched for this week’s topic of food and libations. Enough talk, lets see the fanciful treats for your next Halloween party.
Starting in the upper left-hand corner (click the links to see the recipes):
Cheesy Bones: Look easy and cute. From Kraft Foods Black and Red Candied Apples: I just can’t help thinking ‘Twilight’. From Matt Bites Moldy Cheese Balls: Use your favorite cheese ball recipe and change the coating. From Better Homes & Gardens Candy Corn Cocktail: I am one of those that hates
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By Brianna, on October 16th, 2011 
I feel like we just got started discussing decorations for parties and events, but alas I have set goals for myself. The main goal was to focus on a different part of event and party planning each week during my 31 Day Challenge. To recap:
Week 1: Guest Lists and Invitations 10/1-10/8
Week 2: Decorations 10/9-10/15
Week 3: Food and Libations 10/16-10/22
UGH! Food is by far my weakest link. While I have the ability to cook, it is not something that I enjoy. Subsequently I don’t have a lot of go-to recipes in my arsenal. As far as I
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By Patrick, on October 15th, 2011 Here’s a bit of a few of our conversations this week. As you can see, we’re quite colorful.
Brianna: “Why is “auto-erotic asphyxiation” one of our tags on the blog?” Patrick: “Because David Carradine is one of the most awesome badasses of all time. Perverted, but awesome.”
Patrick: “What is so evil in Listerine that makes your tongue burn like the fires in hell but makes your mouth feel so good? What has your tongue ever done to it? It’s just not fair.”
Brianna: “I’m so flattered some of our friends forgot I was pregnant
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By Brianna, on October 15th, 2011 
I love to come up with themes and matching decorations for my parties, but I always wonder can you over do it? Obviously there is a short time as a teenager when theme parties are totally uncool, but we seem to loose that by college. Ever been to luau night at a fraternity?
Now that I am getting older and less self concious I have been considering doing some real theme parties beyond just color coordinated decorations. I like the idea of doing a wine tasting (after baby #2 makes their entrance), chocolate party, or board game night but always
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By Brianna, on October 14th, 2011 
I’ll let you in on a little secret: There are a number of people that have an ‘eye’ for decorating. However, there are even more people that know design tricks that allow them to effortlessly throw together some pumpkins or vases to make an interesting display. Today we are going to learn two different techniques that I was taught in art school. Used they can instantly take a simple three item arrangement and make it much more interesting.
For the purposes of illustration I am using three colored blocks. You can pictures these as three vases, candles, pumpkins, branches, etc…
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