This was Sofie’s first real party (her last one was when she turned one and that was more for us than her) so I wanted it to be special – magical. I wanted the party to absolutely delight her and all of our guests, both kids and adults. Yes, if I do something I like to do it right. Every element needed to enhance the theme.

Let’s start with décor

I was going for magical, so first off, I wanted to make the room feel as much like a forest as I could. As soon as I had landed on the theme I knew I wanted to get forest themed wall decals to stick on our 2 sets of large sliding glass doors. I found exactly what I needed at Designed Designer on Etsy. Actually, he customized an order of trees for me since I only needed 5 and let me pick bunnies, an owl, grass and mushrooms from his other designs to add on. They were perfect! Actually, we left a couple birds on the doors because we love them so much.

I wanted something balloon like but did not want balloons. Etsy to the rescue again, the pom poms from Sevyn Designs were perfect. I customized the colors to be forest like, light blue for rivers, green for the forest and then red and yellow for flowers and brightness. Red also happens to be Sofie’s favorite color so I was sure to work it in wherever I could. We hung them around the party space and they definitely made it feel like a party – a sophisticated yet playful party. I also ordered their smaller flowers in red and yellow to attach to some branches I found in my driveway – they looked divine. So nice that they are still in our dining room. Their pom poms would really make a great addition to any party (birthday, wedding, baby shower…) or even as bedroom décor. How darling would they be hung over your child’s bed?

Sevyn Designs also makes banners, and they made me a “Happy 4^th Birthday Sofie” banner which hung over her cake. It too as perfect. They even made sure to make “Sofie” in its own section so we could hang it in her room or playhouse afterwards.

While looking for supplies for the kid craft I found a shop that makes moss letters and had the shopkeeper, Teresa, make me “Sofie”. We didn’t really need them for the party, but I loved the idea so much I splurged.

Beyond that we added little touches were we could, like the tiny squirrels (place card holders from when we hosted Thanksgiving) adorning our kitchen island where we had all of the food.

The right birthday cake should fit right in…

Sofie had requested chocolate cupcakes for her party. I am pretty good at decorating cakes but am limited when it comes to cupcakes. So I went online to see how I might embellish our homemade cupcakes. I found a shop on Etsy (yes, this was an Etsy party!) that made My Little Pony fondant figures! I emailed to ask if she could do Princess Celestia, my daughter’s favorite pony. It would be the first one the artist, Laura, had ever made but she assured me I would love it – so while not cheap I went ahead. It was going to be very special. I was extra pleased when she said she would make it out of polymer so that my daughter could actually keep it forever after the party! It was suddenly much more worth it. To get the detailed required the sculpture would be too large to sit on a cupcake, so I made an 8 inch cake to be the top of the cupcake tower to place her on. Laura crafted a fondant cloud for Princess Celestia to sit on so she didn’t touch the food. She also crafted an amazing Happy Birthday plaque with rainbow for me and coordinated cupcake toppers with butterflies, ladybugs and flowers. Instead of describing how lovely everything was, let me just show you…

If you are in the market for cake décor, check out Laura’s shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KrazyKoolCakeDesigns

The Welcome

Besides feasting on the party décor as they walked through the door, kids were presented with a choice of fairy wings or elf vests as they arrived. I think a fun touch to help everyone get into the theme, whether they opted to wear anything or not.

They were then guided over to the kid craft, which helped break the ice between guests who didn’t know each other that well or kids who were a little shy to start.

Activity – Craft

Every kid party needs some kind of activity. Since Sofie is the crafting type, I landed on building Fairy & Elf Houses as  the activity. It was a huge hit and resulted in engaged kids (and parents) and delightful little houses that each child could take home. It was worthy of its own write-up, so for more details, please read, Kid Craft – Constructing Fairy and Elf Houses.

Besides the craft the kids were allowed free play with Sofie’s toys, each other and even out had fun out in our small yard where they climbed on walls, drew with chalk, played with the cardboard castle Sofie had gotten for Christmas, and met our backyard chickens.

The ever important food & drinks

Food is always at the heart of any of our gatherings. We like to feed people and feed them well! It makes everyone happy and can add to the warmth of a party. Our menu consisted of tea party food (since fairies love tea parties), fairy sandwiches and anything else we could think of that one might eat living in an chanted forest. We also tried to make everything small, just one or two bites and not require utensils. Fairies eat small food and it was simpler for kid sand adults to just use their fingers.

This was our enchanted menu:

• Currant Scones
• Raspberry Bars
• Bagels & Lox
• Ham and Gruyere Croissants
• Mushroom Flatbread
• Elf Bread (Nutella and Sprinkles Sandwiches)
• Fairy Bread (Cream Cheese, Jam and Sprinkles Sandwiches)
• Fairy Pillows (Mochi. Flavors: Red Bean, Chocolate)
• Berries & Twigs (Blueberries, Strawberries and Pretzel Sticks)
• Forest Mash (Olive Tapenade, served with bread)
• Unicorn Delights (Veggie platter with hummus dip)
• Evergreen Tree Bark (Mini Chicken Fingers)
• Forest Snails (Cheese and Spinach Tortilla Rolls)
• Cheese platter with cornichons and crackers

Each item was labeled with the most adorable woodland place cards made by Deep Blue Sea on Etsy. If you need any type of party table décor or cards, please check out her shop. Her work is stellar and she is super easy to work with.

To drink we served hot tea, coffee, mimosas, juice, lemonade and water. Be sure to make your beverage station as self-serve as possible. You want to mingle not be stuck in the kitchen.

And lastly…favor bags

I had looked around online and found favor bags can be quite expensive. Then I stumbled upon the RubyLane Moments Etsy site and found I could get both muslin bags and mini-notebooks custom stamped with each child’s name on them for the same price as purchasing a cloth bag elsewhere. I was sold. I wanted to go with a reusable bag and was going to have to spend some money to do so…this way I got way more! And Anna was very accommodating and easy to work with.

• Muslin bags customized with child’s name and a unicorn or owl stamp from RubyLane Moments on Etsy
• Custom made mini-notebooks customized with child’s name and unicorn or owl stamp (From RubyLane Moments on Etsy
• A woodland creature finger puppet one of a Barn Owl, Spotted Owl or Hedgehog from Acme Party Box Company (these were pricy but so cute!
• A twig colored pencil from Acme Party Box Company
• A pack of 5 mini-seed bombs, customized with Black Eyed Susan seeds, red ribbon and flower by The Big Rock Paper Company on Etsy
• A woodland themed Thank You tag from Deep Blue Sea Designs on Etsy

We placed them in a basket near the door so everyone was sure to grab theirs on the way out, whether we were there or not. And it worked! Everyone left with their favor.

I hope you’ve been inspired by some of these ideas for your own party! I would love to hear if you do. This was sure was fun to throw and most importantly, Sofie loved it.

They are sold at Amazon, Teavana and Williams Sonoma and seem to be about $250 everywhere right now. You can read my original write-up here.

One thing I do differently from my original post, is that instead of using heaping scoops for strong flavor, I use regular scoops and throw in one extra. I read somewhere that was the thing to do, I tried it and it seems to work well. Another good point to know is that if your tea is in larger pieces, then you want to make your scoops a little bit bigger as they will be less dense.

While I’m sharing, let me add that my current absolute favorite black tea to brew is the Golden Langur Blend from The Steeping Room in Austin, TX. A lovely black tea flavor that is strong yet well blended. It is a perfect every day tea. Funnily, I adore the tea but have actually yet to go to the store! I was treated to this new discovery by my husband who travels to Austin often for work. He may regret giving it to me though as he now has to bring home a pound every time he goes there! But he loves me and he now how much I love my tea. Lucky me.

Go get one and make someone happy (you or a loved one).

Our little flock has made such an impact on our lives I can hardly believe they have only been with us slightly more than a year. It is hard to imagine life without them now! They each have their own unique personality, they follow us around the yard and even seem to try to talk to us. I love it. And, they give us eggs! And absolutely the most gorgeous eggs you have ever seen. Yes – those are indeed the amazing color array of eggs we get from our 5 hens. Isn’t is amazing! Their eggs are wonderful to cook with as well.

We have learned some lessons when it comes to backyard chicken keeping, which I plan to share here soon. In the meantime, here are some photos of the HUF girls. More photos to come once it’s a bit less gloomy here.

Looking for a fun and very creative way to occupy kids (and adults) at a party or gathering? How about making darling elf and fairy houses? Whether you want to believe in the little enchanted creatures or not, these houses are fun to build.

I have to admit the original  idea came from this lovely party store, Acme Party Box Company. I was browsing there one day looking for woodland decorations and party supplies. I don’t recall exactly how the fairy house discussion started but one of the owner’s, Lisa, showed me an example of a fairy house and I was sold! It was so cute. A small cardboard “upside down V” frame glued to a flat cardboard piece covered in sticks, moss, acorns and tiny pebbles making it look like an adorable woodland fairy house. She told me they could get the supplies together for me, including the cardboard structures. Done! We had our party craft! My original plan was to have the kids paint terracotta planters at the beginning of the party and then pick and plant plants before they left. But let’s face it, fairy houses are way more interesting!

Over the next couple weeks I decided to amp up the construction supplies. I knew Acme would provide the very important cardboard structures, sticks, small stones and some moss. I also purchased some pixie mushrooms from them. But I wanted to add even more color and fell in love with some felted toadstools I found online. Then I discovered the amazing moss selection at an Etsy shop, Teresa’s Plants & More, which I had to have, along with her too perfect mini-pumpkins and hemlock cones. While buying little containers of glue at a craft store we also found nature colored pom poms, and what kid doesn’t like pom poms? We also complimented the sticks and bark from Acme with items we found in our own yard like pinecones. The final addition were these small wood ladybug stickers my daughter had gotten on a trip to Vancouver Island last summer – I was glad to finally have a good use for them (normally they are strewn on the floor waiting to be cleaned up or just sitting in a cabinet).

To make it even more fun, I had a custom sign made for the table (as seen in the first photo above)! Check out Deep Blue Sea Designs on Etsy if you’d like one too.

Everyone one, young and old, loved the craft. The kids, boys and girls, were very engaged in their creations with eager parents assisting. And each house turned out just darling! I highly recommend your doing something similar if it works with your next party theme!

A few tips:

• Set everything out on a table so it is like a buffet for the kids, with similar items in multiple spots so everyone has easy access. I used some plastic cups to hold sticks and got some clear food containers from Whole Foods to hold small items like the pom poms and acorns. Make it look nice and it’ll be lovely décor as well.
• Be sure to have a protective layer on your table. I taped large sheets of light green craft paper to our table, which was benches put together.
• If you have young kids, be sure to make or buy the cardboard frames so they have a structure to work with. Older kids can probably just build on flat cardboard.
• Get smaller glue containers for small hands. While the 1.25oz glues cost the same as their larger counterparts, it is worth it. They are much easier for little hands to use. And if your kid loves crafts s much as mine, you’ll have many future group crafting opportunities to use them again. Or pass them along to another family for one of their parties.
• Leave a marker out for parents to write their child’s name on their house.
• If I had had more time I would have painted the frames green to make them a nicer base, but I doubt anyone would ever have that much time.

Our backyard chickens have been very productive the last few weeks with some nice weather and we’ve found ourselves looking for good homes to give our precious eggs too. My husband suggested we see if we can swap some extra eggs for other homegrown things. Brilliant! I posted to a couple local food groups asking if they knew about sites where we could post what we had to swap with other locals. Someone reminded me that the Garden Share hosted at Common Ground Garden Supply and Education Center in Palo Alto is monthly, and it happened to be the upcoming weekend! Perfect!!

Meanwhile another woman replied willing to swap eggs for fresh local honey and honeycomb from a beekeeper friend – um…yes please! And she kindly said she’d be at the garden share on Sunday as well!

This morning we gathered up a dozen eggs in packs of 4 (better portions for swapping) and some bay leaves to contribute to the share.  Our remaining 7 eggs went in another carton as a first installment on our honey swap.

As with most things, we were on the early side but soon enough people started rolling in carrying baskets and bags of amazing produce to share. We were part of something special. People, strangers nonetheless, bringing the fruits of their labors to share with each other. No money, no haggling. Everyone added what they brought to the tables, chatted away with each other catching up with friends and making new ones, and selected some of something from the tables to take home. It was wonderful. It was refreshing.

One of the first women to arrive brought a large container full of lush, green round leaves with delicate flowers in their center. We’d never seen anything like it. She kindly told us about the weed, minor’s lettuce, which grows wild with a short season here and makes a wonderful addition to salads. I gently pulled a leaf out and broke it up to share with my husband and daughter. It was delicious with a lovely texture. We immediately knew we’d have to take some home for dinner later. Sofie enjoyed it so much that she ate 2 more leaves, flowers included, before we left! A little while later another woman showed up with her arms full of mache – another salad green we love! Some of it joined the miner’s lettuce in our bag.

My honey woman arrived and presented us with a large chunk of beautiful, intricate honeycomb and a 3-4 pounds jar of delicious luscious honey!! Yes, my giddiness was getting harder and harder to contain. I take honey in my tea every day and end up going through it rather quickly. This large jar of honey which I knew was just poured out of a hive a mere 3 days ago was like gold to me. And the honeycomb! Gorgeous! We’ve never had honeycomb before and were excited to try…if we could bring ourselves to cut into it – almost too pretty to consume. She had advised me that it is best enjoyed fresh and that was our plan, with our friends sure to benefit.

She also offered us some of her 43 year old mother to use to turn leftover red wine into amazing red wine vinegar. Could this get any better? Never something we thought about trying to make ourselves, but how could we pass up this opportunity! As instructed we brought a small jar with some leftover red wine. She showed us her jar with the mother and gave us some instructions on what to do. We plunked a piece in our container…the beginnings of our very own red wine vinegar!!

We headed out soon after that exchange as it was a little chilly. After a stop for lunch and some errands, we came home and I poured the red wine and mother into a half liter Weck jar, attached a paper towel to the opening with a rubber band and put it in a dark spot to brew. So exciting!! Now I need to look up what to do next, with all of my delight I didn’t quite catch all of the details she conveyed about making the vinegar and caring for the mother. A little internet research will fix that. I am SO looking forward to when we’ll have some vinegar to try!

And the fun doesn’t end there! We have plans to swap a dozen eggs for some homemade strawberry jam this coming Saturday and discussions for further swaps. This is so much fun. Our dear chickens have enriched our lives in yet one more dimension. Thank you girls.

I developed a pretty serious addiction to Etsy while planning my daughter’s 4th birthday party. So many wonderful handmade and vintage items!! My absolute favorite shop right now is Fairyfolk.  She has the most adorable hand felted treasures. Just take a peak – you too will fall in love.

Be sure to check her shop out for Easter. Her little felted chicks are too cute sitting in felted nests. She custom made a black and white one for me to resemble my daughters favorite hen in our backyard flock. I cannot wait to give it to her for Easter. She also has felted rabbits which are super cute and fit into felt eggs. She had wonderful gifts for Valentine’s day too. I love her felted pebbled, I gave my daughter a set of 3 in red with a heart. As suggested on her site, they make great table décor, an alternative to a napkin ring or simple used as a weight to keep paper napkins in place. I also gave my daughter the little round mouse pictured above. How can you not smile at its cuteness?

Planning a wedding or a party? She has lots of unique felt décor. From garland to place cards to favors. I order 2 strands of her garland for my daughter’s birthday party, one in shades of green and the other in shades of red. A little pricy for a 4 year old’s party but with the color scheme I can reuse them at Christmas. If you have a small apartment, the garland would be so sweet on a tabletop Christmas tree.

Such lovely things plus, the shop owner, Donni is a real pleasure to work with. Her love for felting shines through in her communication and her meticulous work.

My next purchase will probably be a bouquet of her felt flowers. They are so pretty and delicate  – plus they will last forever. Below is a photo of the flowers from her shop, along with some other eye candy for you. Be sure to tell her I say hello if you treat yourself (or a loved one) to something from Fairyfolk.

I discovered this recipe on one of my go to blogs, Art of Dessert, which features many allergy friendly recipes. I was determined to make egg-free gingerbread men with my daughter this year and this one sounded very doable. I thought they would be yummy for us, and make nice homemade gifts – and they scored high on both counts! My daughter and I had a blast making them. And I even love these little guys just sitting on our counter since one glance and you can’t help but smile, in addition to the lovely scent surrounding them. So, here it is with a few minor changes to suit our tastes and some tips for you.

By the way, the author says the recipe can also be used to make gingerbread house parts! I think I’ll try that next year!

Gingerbread Men (Egg-Free)

Art of Dessert says it makes 4 dozen cookies, 3.5 inches x 3.5 inches in size. I think our cookie cutter is a bit bigger and I let my daughter play with some of the cutout leftovers, we only got slightly over 2 dozen.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1.5 Tbsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
4 Tbsp. corn syrup or honey (we used honey)

Directions
In a saucepan, cook the butter, sugar, milk and honey at low heat until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat then pour into a mixing bowl and let it cool for a few minutes. Sift together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Flatten the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours. Since the dough tends to get too soft at room temperature, take out only a portion at a time. Keep the rest of the dough in the refrigerator. Roll the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out shapes and transfer them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Tips/Notes:

• When flattening the dough to go in the fridge, it helps to try to shape into a square or rectangle since rolling out into those shapes will get you the most cut outs per rolled out dough piece.
• Take a wooden skewer, measure 1/8” on one end and mark it with a pen/marker. Use this to check your thickness when rolling out your dough to cut. Super quick and easy. I saved my little skewer and used it for two batches.
• If you are like me, you have often complained about rolled parchment paper which never lays flat and requires scissors to cut to fit or folding over on every side. There had to be a better way. Turns out, King Arthur Flour makes half-sheet flat baking parchment!! I had never heard of them until I was recently reading Peter Reinhart’s The Baker’s Apprentice. I ordered some and have been so pleased. I do still have to fold over one edge just a bit for our baking sheets. But they work wonderfully and can be used a few times. I used 2 sheets total for these cookies, one for the chilled dough, and the other repeatedly for cooking the cookies on.
• If you are going to make ornaments out of them, be sure to make a whole in the top before you bake. A straw works well for this.
• If you want to imprint eyes and buttons onto the cookies, also do so before they bake. The flat part of a wooden skewer also works well for this. We did a combination, our first batch we left plain and added embellishments with frosting. I then realized that frosting (at least what we used) doesn’t always stay pretty when you try to package and gift. Ours squished a bit. So we just imprinted faces and buttons on our second batch so they looked dressed without needing anything extra. And they looked lovely that way in cellophane bags tied with red ribbon – which is what we attached to the holiday cards we gave our daughter’s teachers this year.
• The flavor of the cookies improves after a day. Store them in an airtight container as they will absorb moisture from the air. On the flipside, if your cookies are a little on the crunchy side, leave them out for a day and they will be perfect. And they last a long time. We made some as gifts and were told they were still tasty a week and a half later!

Through Irish pubs in Boston and my 2 trips to Ireland, I developed a strong love for Irish Brown Bread. You can see and taste the rustic nature of the bread. So simple yet so delicious and satisfying.

On my last trip to Ireland (in 2007!) I scoured bookstores for cookbooks on Irish cooking, determined to learn more about their cuisine and excited to replicate some of the traditional dishes at home. I was, naturally, most interested in brown bread recipes. I ended up taking 3 cookbooks home with me!

Yesterday was rainy and chilly here, which always make me crave comfort food. I decided to make some Brown Bread. I also figure it is about time I share the recipe! You will not believe how easy it is!! 

I’m enjoying my second slice as I write! Perfect lightly toasted with a light smear of butter. I’m planning on having it again tonight along the Guinness Beef stew I will be making later today. Yum. Sometimes rainy days are a good thing.

Irish Brown Bread (Brown Soda Bread)

From Best of Irish Traditional Cooking book

Ingredients

450g/1lb/4 cups whole wheat flour

175 g/6oz/1 1/2 cups plain white flour

1 tsp (generous) baking soda

1 tsp salt

About 450 ml/15 fl oz/ (scant) 2 cups buttermilk)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400^oF. The reaction of the baking soda and buttermilk is swift and the duration of their interaction short – speed is of the essence. Mix the flours, salt and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Add only enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Flour your hands and the work surface and knead lightly by hand (never with a machine) until the dough is smooth. It is important to understand that this is quite unlike making a yeast-risen dough. Shape into a circle about 4cm/1.5 inches deep. Take a sharp, well-floured knife and cut a deep cross in the top. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes. To see if it is fully cooked test by tapping the bottom and listening for a hollow sound. Cool on a rack, or if you like a softer crust, wrapped in a linen or cotton tea-cloth.

Notes:

• It has been so dry here that I had to add an extra cup of buttermilk, and in hindsight realize I should have added more. So while you don’t want to add too much, the amount of buttermilk needed can vary tremendously! So go by your gut and keep adding until you get a nice dough.
• I suggest using a fork to mix the flours to keep everything loose.
• My bread turned out lighter in color than most brown breads since I used King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour, since it is what we had in the house. Still 100% whole wheat, just lighter in color and slightly less whole wheat tasting. The recipe works well with both this flour and regular whole wheat flour.
• Your oven will probably take longer to preheat than it will to make the dough so be sure to get it heating up a bit before you start on the dough.
• I baked my last loaf on a pizza stone and it came out great! Perhaps a slightly harder crust.
• The recipe says eat the same day. It is delicious the same day, but I’m enjoying a slice right now (the next morning) and it is just as good. I left it wrapped in a tea towel overnight.

At $48 per bottle it isn’t cheap but you could pay way more for a less delectable wine. This one is worth it.

For more details, including wine notes from the winemaker and buying info visit Chateau Montelena’s website.

SIMPLE YET TASTY ROASTED ACORN SQUASH

Ingredients

1 acorn squash

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs butter

pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 450^oF. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.

Cut ends off of squash. With a flat side on the cutting board, halve the squash. Use a spoon to scrap out the seeds. Then quarter each half (slicing in the same direction with each slice), you’ll end up with 8 slices.

Melt butter and mix in brown sugar and a small pinch of salt. If you like black pepper (I do not), then feel free to add a small pinch of freshly ground black pepper.

Toss the squash in the butter mixture and lay flat on baking sheet. If you prefer you can also brush the mixture on.

Bake for about 30 minutes until tender and slightly browned on the edges.

Notes:

• One squash makes a good side dish for 2 people (perhaps 2 adults plus one toddler). Feel free to increase accordingly. Just be sure not to crowd your squash, use more than one baking sheet if needed.
• If you have backyard chickens like we do, they’ll love the seeds!
• While this dish is best eaten fresh, leftovers do make a nice afternoon snack.