Lumberjacks and Dairymaids Party

 For the hubby's birthday this year, I decided on a lumberjack theme and asked guests to dress the part with beard preferred. I made little apple kits with peanut butter/chocolate spread, caramels, almonds, pecans, and coconut.

 Testing out our beards

 S'more cupcakes. These were actually vegan so I had to hunt for vegan marshmallows. I had a bar of 80% cocoa which I found too bitter to eat so I drizzled it on top since the frosting was so sweet. Don't they look like toasted marshmallow?

 These were falafel sliders with avocado hummus and tahini sauce. Loved them.

 The woodsmen

There was only one Dairymaid. She was pretty darn cute though. =)

Diner En Blanc: A Baby Shower for Kate

I read Tori Spelling's party planning book recently and she says that when you plan a party for a friend you should really think about what they like to get ideas for themes. As obvious as that sounds, I havn't always done that. I usually have a back burner idea for a theme and then I just coincide it with someone's birthday or whatever excuse I can find to do it. This time was sort of like that. Ever since the blogosphere has been obsessed with France's Diner En Blanc (Dinner in White) I have been thinking about it. I also really wanted to throw Kate a baby shower this time since family usually get that right the first time around. After I read Tori's advice, I thought about Kate and came to the conclusion that she is beautiful, simple, and classic in all the best ways which matches well with an all white dinner.  I wanted to serve a wow dessert, preferably Ombre, so I asked Cassie to make a cake with layers of gradation in blue or green. She made an amazing coconut lime cake and decorated it herself! It really was the talk of the shower.

 I really wanted to add some texture since I didn't want the all white to read flat so I found wooden bowls, basketweave chargers, and added candles. The napkin has a stamped pineapple which is a symbol for welcome.

 We served pasta and veggie salads and all kinds of pickled things, olives, dips, cracker, bread, etc.

 Along with the cake we had almond chocolate milk with peach stripey straws.

 Everyone wore white!

 And our guest of honor wore pink.

 Because of the intense sweet and salty foods, I served a lime cucumber flavored water. I blended 2 cucumber, 2 green apples, a bunch of lime juice and some mint leaves and mixed with water. The ice cubes have mint and cucumber slices in them.

 The ombre cake!

An Invitation...

Delivered white helium balloons with extra swag tied on and an invitation to a "Diner En Blanc". Stylish, if I do say so myself!

Golden Girls Party

I am too lazy to put these in chronological order so you'll just have to look at them backwards. lol This was a party that had been brewing in my head for over a year. I really wanted to do one with lots of gold accents so I spent time searching for gold flatware on ebay and other things. Then last spring mint green was on the radar for trends and I thought it would look lovely in the white/gold mix.
I made flowers out of tissue paper and created these floral headpieces for everyone to wear, just to give it more festivity.
meringue cookies from trader joes
pistachio bundt cakes with coconut sauce and pomegranate seeds

potato fondue
artichokes with lemon garlic aioli and pears with fig butter

creamy cauliflower soup with roasted red pepper

Belgian endive with a tofutti cream cheese mixture and beluga lentils (veggie "caviar")
basmati rice, baby bella mushrooms, rosemary, olive oil