An Elegant Evening Out

My husband and I recently enjoyed a magical evening at the Chicago in White event (inspired by Diner en Blanc). An elegant picnic where everyone wears all white, brings along their own table, and dances to a live jazz band under the stars. The fun part is you don't know where you are going till you meet up with your group.

I made my own white wrap skirt out of a beautiful white satin with a silver brocade design. The simple tablescape included elements from my wedding (the small white vase and the LED light inside it). We ate our gourmet food from Whole Foods off real china and drank from real glasses. To start off the dinner, everyone twirls their white fabric napkins in the air.

The Meet-up

Before the train got more crowded

The table and you can kind of see my skirt

Waving napkins

Tuck in

Everyone puts their tables together in a row, like one long banquet table

Surrounded by city and siting by the river at the Merchandise Mart

The Baseball Themed, Baby Boy, Baby Shower

As I posted a few weeks ago, I hosted a baby shower for my friend who is having her first baby, a boy, in September. I didn't want the usual theme of Baby Boy Blue. Inspired by my southern view of the stadium the White Sox play in, the fact that it's baseball season, and that my friend and her husband are die hard Sox fans, I decided on a black and white baseball theme. I made the decorations myself, mostly just a simple pennant design I created on the computer. I had a large banner of the flags which read "BABY BOY MAS" (short for their last name, and what they are calling him for now). I had welcome pennants on my door so guests knew they were in the right place. Finally, I made small flags to stick in food and to wrap on straws.

I found the perfect plates and napkins at Michaels, plus a cute deck of baseball playing cards. You can see them under the glasses. I scattered them all around like giant confetti. 

After I got home from the big shopping trip for food the night before, I realized I had forgotten to buy flowers, so I made a ballon bouquet. 

We had baseball themed food: nachos, peanuts, homemade soft pretzels, hotdogs, and cupcakes decorated like baseballs. Even the specialty drink shared the theme; it was a lemon chill slushy. 

I used a tall cylinder vase as a stand for the hotdog buns. Can you see the little ducky floating in it? It's a cute baseball themed ducky from the same section of Michaels. I mean it's like my theme was meant to be!

I used Alton Brown's recipe for homemade soft pretzels. I had never done anything like it before. Not necessarily hard, just very different from any other baking I had done. The boiling water part with baking soda sure makes a mess. Here's a link to the recipe.

I used some techniques and ideas I found in the book Hello Cupcake that my friend gave me for Christmas. I softened the frosting in the microwave for like 10 seconds and then dipped the cupcakes face down in it to create a smooth surface. I did give it a layer of icing first before dipping so that there was a good amount on the finished cupcake. For some reason, the nearest cupcake in this picture doesn't look like it got dipped. Then I cut strips of Twizzlers (make sure it's the kind you can peel) to form the red laces. Simple design, but effective.

The List

Inspired by many other bloggers who have posted on this recently, I would like to compile my own list of all I need to get done. I'm throwing a baby shower for my best friend next month, and in August I will have family coming to stay. It will be their first time for seeing our new place and I'd like it to be as put together as possible. Also with my summer vacation coming up, I'm starting to plan out my usual summer project list.

Before Baby Shower:

1. Cull and organize closet. This is a big one. My closet has overflowed to the futon in the second bedroom. I need to downsize and organize my beautiful closet (one of the big selling features for me
2. Finish my big organization of files and stuff in the second bedroom.
3. Make art for bathroom. I was thinking a painting using all the sample paints we decided against (we have 13, they need to be used for something.)
4. Hang light in second bedroom. I have it, just need to do it.
5. Hang hooks somewhere for my husband to hand his jackets. He is currently putting them on hanger hanging off my beautiful entry library shelves. He likes to let them air out.
6. Buy more curtains, figure out the hardware to use, and hang curtains in living area. We've picked out what we want, we just need to figure out how to hang them. When you live in the city (unless it's new construction) it's not always strait forward as to how to get things on the wall.
7. Replace bulbs in tack light. Not an easy task since they are 15 feet up and the only way to get up there is with the shaky wooden latter in the recycle room.
8. Continue mural behind the TV (or this can wait)
9. Plan menu! This is the fun part
10. Plan theme! It's a boy, but I don't want to be the traditional blue, I'm thinking black and white, White Sox theme (she's an avid fan)
11. Make a gift for her
12. Deep Clean

Before August family visit:

1. Buy more lighting
2. Pick out draping fabric for our canopy bed.
3. Paint bathroom
4. Get at least a new towel hanger for the hand towel if not all. (they are all these weird hooks and the hand towel won't stay on.
5. New bathmat
6. Plant an indoor herb garden (This is going to take some research to figure out. I've never had even indoor plants myself)
7.  Paint second bedroom?
8. Hopefully get shades restrung.
9. Maybe find awesome deal on perfect low china cabinet. (a girl can dream)
10. Do something awesome to my bedside table. I'm thinking mirrors!
11. Buy or make behind the couch console/desk table
12. Refinish dining room table and reupholster chairs. (hopefully, I might have to call in an expert for this one)
13. Have best 30th birthday ever!

I think that's everything.

The Best Method for Making Homemade Burgers

I grew up disliking homemade burgers: big, overly think, tasteless, and tough patties. When I grew up and tried to make them on my own (usually with turkey), I would used the only method I knew, making a ball and shaping it into as thin a patty as I could, which would just bulk up anyway. I gave up on the whole idea. Then one day, I was watching one of my favorite cooking shows on PBS, Everyday Food. They were making classic cheese burgers. Lucinda talked about the common problem with homemade patties that I had always experienced. She then presented a different method that keeps the patties tender and delicious.

Best Burger Method:

• Lay out wax paper onto your counter (I will use plastic wrap in a pinch) 
• Simply pull off the amount of ground meat you want for your patty, do not form it into a ball, keep it loose 
• Place the meat onto the wax paper and continue pulling and placing meat onto wax paper, leaving space between each mound 
• After all the patties-to-be are laid out, place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the meat 
• Use a rolling pin or wine bottle to lightly roll over the meat till it is about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick, don't worry about the patties not being perfect circles. If any little pieces look like they will fall off in cooking, just gently squish them on. Remember, the key to tender burgers is handling the meat as little as possible. 
• Pull off the plastic wrap and then generously salt and pepper the top of the patties 
• I like to use a nice wide spatula to gently move each patty to the (preheated to medium high) grill. You can use a skillet or griddle, but I like to use the cast iron stove top grill we have. Turn over the patty as you put it on the grill so the seasoned side is down, then season the other side 
• Cook about 3 minutes and then turn and cook a couple more minutes (add cheese about 1 minute from done if you want). The most important thing is to keep watch over them, they cook pretty quickly.  

I made sliders with this method for the Super Bowl this year. I put the mini cheese burgers on Hawaiian rolls, made my own thousand island dressing, and set out a build your own slider bar with all the fixings. They were a hit! Those little tasty, tender patties on those soft, sweet rolls just melted in your mouth. I paired them with kettle cooked potato chips. I made sliders with this method for the Super Bowl this year. I put the mini cheese burgers on Hawaiian rolls, made my own thousand island dressing, and set out a build your own slider bar with all the fixings. They were a hit! Those little tasty, tender patties on those soft, sweet rolls just melted in your mouth. I paired them with kettle cooked potato chips.

-Home Sweet Loft