Party Planning Via Lonny Magazine

I was clicking through an old edition of Lonny Magazine and came across this great piece on party planning. I for one love hosting parties both big and small and enjoy adding a special touch to each event to make it unique.

Whether you're hosting a dinner party for 6 or a big soiree these tips will for sure help you along the way.



• You want to make sure that you have all your accessories picked out before hand to decrease your stress level on the day of. The last thing you want is to be running around like a crazy person trying to find glasses or linens.
• Whether you're preparing the food or you've hired someone, make sure the menu is finalize beforehand. Also make sure the grocery shopping is done a day or two before so you can spend the day inside and not worrying about making numerous trips to the grocery store.

• Set your table. If you're going to be using formal menu cards make sure each guest has one on their place setting. This adds a personal and special feel to your table.
• In the end the most important thing is that everyone has a fabulous time!

I know this is tough to read so make sure to click over to the Nov/Dec 2011 issue of Lonny Magazine for the full scoop on Party Planning.

Do you enjoy hosting parties in your home? What size are you most comfortable with?

Thanksgiving Recap

I hope all you Canadians had a fabulous long weekend. I could totally use another day off but I guess I can't be greedy.

For our family dinner at my parents house yesterday, I was in charge of the table decor. I'm not super crafty in the DIY sense but love a nicely set table.

I headed out to Loblaw and bought 25 mini white pumpkins for the 25 people, a bunch of bouquets of flowers, corn and other decor items. Here are a few pictures of the finished product.

We're not usually a family who has assigned seating but I really wanted to use the white pumpkins as place card holders. They would have been cuter if I had nicer paper but what can ya do!

How was your Thanksgiving dinner? Full for a week?

Fall Soups

Are you a soup lover? On a gloomy day like today who wouldn't love a hot bowl of soup for lunch? I came across these 31 recipes on Chatelaine and had to share them.

I've actually never made a big pot of soup from scratch but it's something I plan on doing this fall and winter more then once.

Here are a couple soups I'd love to tackle.

French Country Chicken Soup

Ingredients

• 6 bone-in chicken thighs or 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
• 2 900-mL cartons chicken broth or 8 cups (2 L) chicken bouillon
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon
• 2 tsp (10 mL) dried tarragon
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) each ground nutmeg and white pepper
• 6 baby potatoes
• 4 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 3 leeks 

Squash Soup with Smoky Bacon

Ingredients

• 1 large butternut squash or 5 cups squash pieces
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• 5 thick slices of bacon, preferably double-smoked
• 1/2 tsp each dried sage leave, oregano leaves and salt
• 900 mL carton chicken broth or 2 284 mL cans undiluted chicken broth
• 1/3 cups shredded fresh basil (optional)

How delicious do these soups look? For the full list of recipes click here.


Fancy Potatoes

I'm back! I can't promise I'll be back to posting every day but I'm back.

It's been a while since I feature some tasty eats and thought I would today. Potatoes are very fall to me and I love fall, if you haven't already notice. There are so many different ways you can cook a potatoe that will make your guests ohh & ahh.



Gwyneth Paltrow's No-Fry Fries



Jamie Oliver's Perfect Roasted Potatoes

Potatoe Dominos

How delicious are all of these!

Are you a potatoe lover? Are you thinking about adding any of these to your next dinner party?

Artichoke Pesto Zucchini Bites

This summer I have fallen in love with zucchini. I've never liked it but something changed this summer and now I can't get enough of it.

We're having a dinner party on Sunday and I plan on making a new recipe my mom got that I'll be sure to share next week.

In the meantime, how amazing do these zucchini bites looks. We're also having people for dinner on Friday night (yes, two dinner parties this weekend) and I think I'm going to try these.

Via

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs zucchini (about 2-3 large zucchini)
• 9 oz package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and squeezed of excess water
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• the leaves of half a bunch of parsley (about a cup)
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 oz parmigiano reggiano, grated (about 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Cut the stem off the zucchinis, then use a mandolin to slice them into long thin ribbons. They should be about 1/8 inch thick, if they're too thin they won't stand up on the own, but if they're too thick, they won't be flexible enough to roll. Give each one a little sprinkle on both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Heat the grill to high, and do a quick sear of the zucchini. Since they are really thin, they should only be on the grill for about 30-60 seconds, just enough to take the raw edge off and give them some pretty little grill marks. Remove the grilled zucchini ribbons to a plate.
3. In a food processor, throw in the artichoke hearts, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, walnuts, and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Let the food processor run for a good 20 seconds, until everything is chopped up, and be sure to stop and scrape down the sides from time to time. With the food processor running, stream in the olive oil. Scrape the pesto out into a bowl, and stir in the grated parmesan. Taste it to check for proper seasoning.
4. Place a spoonful of artichoke pesto into each zucchini ribbon, and roll it up into a little roll. The artichoke pesto is sticky so it should stick together well. Serve and enjoy!

For a play by play with images click here.

Is there a new vegetable you're loving this summer? What's your favourite vegetable dish?

Dinner Parties

If you know M & I you know that we're always entertaining and hosting a rather large group and this past weekend was no different. Friday night we had 10 people for dinner and Sunday 12, including ourselves.

A big thing for us me is cooking dishes that aren't going to stress me out. For instance, I made rapini for the first time on Sunday and I cooked it ahead of time to make sure I wouldn't screw it up in front of everyone. Side note, we had Michael's aunts & uncles for dinner on Sunday and cooking for them was not stress-free.

Brussels Sprouts & Mini Potatoes. If you're looking for a new recipe for either let me know and I'll post them or email you.

I'm also very big on serving some yummy appetizers before dinner. It gives everyone a chance to chat and have fun. An appetizer I usually make is white pizza - foccacia for anyone who doesn't know what white pizza is. The red sauce in the little bowl is La Bomba. It's a spicy chili pepper oil that tastes amazing on the pizza if you like spicy food!

Let me know if you'd like the white pizza recipe and I'll send it too!

Last but not least, the table. We don't have a big house by any means but it's ours and we love it. We have this massive piece of wood that we put on top of our table and voila, we can fit 13+ people around our 6 seater table. We have to angle the table when the table top is on but it works.

And that my friends is how we host our dinner parties!

Basic Pasta Sauces

What a crappy weather day here in Toronto; it's cold, damp and pouring rain. When the weather is crappy like this my stomach craves comfort food and pasta is one of my favourite comfort foods.

I found this on Rachel Ray and immediately thought this would be great for a day like today.

VIA Rachel Ray

One of the first things I want to do when we're settled into our house make a big pot sauce and freeze it.

What type of pasta sauce is your favourite?

Chocolate & Fruit

I am a big fruit lover and chocolate's not too bad either. What do you think of these dessert ideas - something you'd try?

VIA Little Cakes

This seems like the perfect dessert or snack ever. I'd suggest making sure the raspberries are very dry before putting the chips in.

How about this one. Angel food cake (my favourite), strawberries and chocolate skewers. Can you see yourself serving this at your next event?

VIA Pinterest

Enjoy the Party,

Nicole ;)

Fall Table Decor

I love decorating the table with gorgeous fall pieces. Fall is my favourite season as I may have already mentioned. There is just so much you can do with fall decor.

Check out these tables and ideas:

VIA Just a Little Vintage

VIA Style Me Pretty

VIA S R Gambrel

What have you done this season to decorate your table?

Enjoy the Party,

Nicole :)