Mardi Gras Party!

Not many people celebrate Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday, or know much about it but I thought I'd stop and make a post on it for the holiday. I love Mardi Gras because the festival happens in New Orleans (and other places around the world) and is Louisiana is steeped in the French languages and traditions. I'm a big fan of France and all its traditions, the language and the food.  Fat Tuesday falls on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. During the 46-day Lent period, many Christians forego the eating of meat, either completely or on Fridays.

The traditional Mardi Gras colors are purple, green and gold. Purple is meant to stand for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. The bead throwing started in 1900's with plastic beads and now you never know what you'll get, beads are pretty traditional at Mardi Gras though you don't have to flash anyone to wear them! Masks are also very traditional at Mardi Gras, originally meant to hide the faces of the "krewes" who made the floats in secrecy. Doubloons are also a Mardi Gras tradition, handed out to the revelers by the "krewes" who made the fantastic floats.

I love food and dressing up so this is really a great holiday for me. Lots of foods that are Creole, Cajun, or French can be considered traditional to Mardi Gras. King cake is common at Mardi Gras and traditionally has a token (usually a small plastic baby to represent Christ as a child) that, when found, gives the finder good luck for the upcoming year.

Recipe for King Cake

PASTRY:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup melted butter

FROSTING:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon water

purple, yellow and green food coloring

Directions

1. Scald milk, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup of butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir in the remaining white sugar, salt and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
5. To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.
6. Roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10x16 inches or so). Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Push the doll into the bottom of the cake. Frost while warm with the confectioners' sugar blended with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.

Fried Oysters

2 quarts vegetable oil for deep frying

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

12 ounces shucked oysters, drained

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup fine bread crumbs
Directions

1. Heat deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Combine flour, salt and black pepper. Dredge oysters in flour mixture, dip in egg and roll in bread crumbs.
3. Carefully slide oysters into hot oil. Cook five at a time until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain briefly on paper towels. Serve hot.

Easy Jambalaya

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can fire roasted or regular diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup water

1 (8 ounce) package ZATARAIN'S® Reduced Sodium Jambalaya Mix  

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 (12 ounce) package andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil in large deep skillet or 5-quart Dutch oven on medium heat. Add onion and bell peppers; cook and stir 7 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften.
2. Stir in tomatoes, water and Jambalaya Mix. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Stir in shrimp and sausage. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer or just until shrimp turn pink and rice and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

As far as decorations for a Mardi Gras party, stay simple. Scatter beads, masks, gold coins and stick to the colors purple, gold, and green. Streamers and balloons with noisemakers would be more than sufficient. Don't forget to have some upbeat jazz music in the background too!




Here is a link where you can get 144 Mardi Gras colored necklaces for $10.50
Here is a link to some feathered Mardi Gras masks 15$ for 12
Here is a link on the same site to all their CHEAP Mardi Gras decorations
Here is a link to fake doubloons for Mardi Gras festivities 5$/144
Here is a link to chocolate doubloons 10.50$/60

Useful Links:
The History of Mardis Gras
Mardi Gras Around the World
30 Classic Mardi Gras Recipes from Southern Living!

Valentine's Day

Like my mother, I decorate for everything. I don't know why I do it, I just do. This includes Valentine's Day. I normally don't get into Valentine's Day but this year I'm going to make some decorations for it, might as well. I don't have any any more- therefore, I need some. This is the way I feel about holiday decorations.

Yarn Wrapped Letters:

I love yarn wrapped letters, and these letters from My Sister's Suitcase are really cute and perfect for Valentine's Day! However, I'm all about saving money and I would change this slightly by using cardboard letters. To get the thickness with cardboard all you need to do is cut out the same shape repeatedly, stack them together, and glue. No one is going to be able to tell, the cardboard will be covered in yarn. If you really want to be sure the cardboard is completely covered, paint it in a corresponding color. At My Sister's Suitcase she also used cardboard, but she used 3D cardboard letters. I don't know that our craft store here sells these, but I'd much rather make mine, I'm too much of a penny pincher. There's also another trick she used that I'd definitely have to agree with. On the ends of the letters that you're unable to wrap you're probably going to have to glue the yarn down. In any case you might want to do that every couple of inches on the flat sides as well to ensure stability in your project. The link will take you straight to her project if you need more of a visual. 

Heart Door Hangers

Aren't these cute little heart ornaments from The Creative Place adorable?! I am absolutely in love with these. The link will again take you to a full tutorial. I love these as door hangers and will probably hang them on every door in my house. I'm also seriously considering putting a few drops of essential oil inside, probably lavender.

Decorative Valentine's Bottles:

These decorative bottles are actually left over sparkling cider bottles from G*Rated. All they did was take a hot glue gun and "write" the words on the bottles, then paint them. The tops are wrapped with twine. These are fun, easy, and cheap which everyone knows I love. I'll definitely be adding these to my Valentine's Deco box.

I Love You Blocks

I love these I love you blocks from I Candy Handmade, they're easily handmade and go well with other V-Day decorations. The sign behind them says "I love us". I'm definitely going to do these as well. They're also pretty durable and will last a long time, making them perfect for my V-Day Deco box. Wood blocks are pretty easily found/ made and I've definitely got the skills and paint to make them!

Felt Arrows:

These felt arrows from Carolyn's Homework can be made with cheap felt and twigs even with very little crafting skill. If you're going to use hot glue with felt, be careful. Depending on the thickness of the felt it may or may not do one of two things (or sometimes both). It will seep through the felt and burn your fingers and/or leave a flat kind of ugly spot on the outside so be careful with these!

Felt Valentine Envelope:



This envelope from The Crafting Chicks, was love at first sight for me. I love it so much. However, I don't currently have stairs to hang it on and I am bent on the little heart door hangers above. So, my solution for what to do with this envelope, once made, is to hang it in the middle of my Valentine's Door Wreath featured below. With just a little tweaking on the colors it will be perfect and so cute. I love this. Again, click the link for a full tutorial. I love these guys. Did I mention how cheap felt is and how easy it is to work with? I think it's going to add the perfect "kick" to my wreath.

Argyle Heart Valentine's Day Wreath:

Wow, I love argyle and this wreath from Mine for the Making is definitely for me. I'm going to have to make this, without a doubt. I still like a little more fullness to my wreaths, if that makes any sense and that's why I'm going to add the felt envelope from above. Again, when using yarn to wrap something, stop and add a little glue every couple inches, or rows, to add stability. I don't know how the boys in the house are going to feel about all these hearts! :)













Tissue Paper Candle Holders:  

I'm not sure who to give credit to for the tissue paper candle holders, but it's basically just tissue paper and mod podge (the link will take you to the recipe) over a glass jar with a votive inside. I suggest using battery operated tea lights to minimize fire hazard :)        

            Countdown To Kisses Board:

 

I really do like this board from Infarrantly Creative, the numbers are actually Hershey's kisses. However, this board is actually a bit harder to make than the previous projects, by far. We currently don't have an electric drill so I'm going to have to find another way to do this, I'm just not sure how yet. I'm sure I'll be able to do it though, no problem. I'll definitely let you guys know when I'm done and the entire project is completed- I'll include a step by step guide as well for everyone.


I've also seen some adorable garland's and I like them all but I haven't seen one yet that I felt was really my style so I'm going to put a hold on that one and wait to see what I can come up with on my own. I'll most likely be using paint chips and pom pom's but I'll let you guys know what I decide on!

UPDATE: All I've managed to complete so far on this is the painted bottles, will be posting pictures soon!

New Years Eve Part 4: Alchohol

Now, I really don't believe every party should have alcohol. I'm also a form supporter of the idea that you don't have to be intoxicated to have a good time. However, I do enjoy a little drink every now and then. That's very, very rarely mind you- it's hard for me to be kid free and I don't ever drink around my kids. Not even in the slightest. It seems that a lot of people do drink in some form at New Year's Eve celebrations. I thought I would go over some of the recipes here for your tamer drinks, nothing too hard or anything with too high of an alcohol content.

The Jello Mold:


This I got from the Jelly Shot Test Kitchen.  They basically layer alcohol infused jello in a bundt pan, one layer at a time and chill in the fridge. Now, I've done jello layers before and let me make sure you take note of this. Take your time with these! Let each layer solidify before adding the next one or it just won't be as pretty as this one!
Here's the basic recipe for Jello shots:

• 3 oz Jell-O or other gelatin (any flavor)
• 6 oz water
• 6 oz vodka (or other distilled spirit)

1. Pour gelatin into a bowl.
2. Add boiling water, stirring until the gelatin is dissolved.
3. Stir in liquor. Make sure it's not too hot when you do this.
4. Refrigerate until cool.
5. Pour into shot glasses, molds, or a baking pan for a sheet of Jell-O to cut up once set. Tip: The small, plastic shot cups are perfect because the drinker can just squeeze the shot out.
6. Refrigerate until the liquid sets. (At least 2 hours, but overnight refrigeration is recommended)
7. Serve cold.

*****Now, the above recipe is a tad strong on the alcohol content, you can adjust it with more or less****

Drunken Gummy Bears:



Did you know that gummy bears will soak up alcohol? No? Well now you do. So do gummy worms but I somehow find these less appealing. They also swell in size, as portrayed in the above picture. Drunken gummy bears are also a lot easier to make than jello shots. For this project, you'll need a glass bowl, with a lid if you have one. Fill the bowl halfway with gummy bears and then pour vodka over the top of the gummy bears, just barely covering them. You don't want to use too much vodka or they will disintegrate. Due to their size, gummy bears can only hold so much alcohol. Let them sit in the fridge over night. When you pull them out the next day you'll be able to see how much they soaked up. Drain the left overs and drink or do whatever you'd like with it.

Champagne:

Champagne tends to be a classic at New Years parties, as does wine. Both can be picked up at any store that sells liquor and spirits. Just stop by and ask the attendant for any suggestions on what to buy. Don't be afraid to ask, it's their job- they will know what to do.

Beer:

Beer is pretty common at parties these days and it comes in all shapes and forms. You can get all kinds of different beers with different flavors. Beer tends not to be that strong of an alcohol as long as you don't consume too many. Beer is also a really cheap alternative when compared to hard liquor and almost everyone that drinks will have a beer. Some people won't drink beer but odds are the same store you purchase the beer at will also have some form of wine cooler or other alcohol like the flavored Smirnoff's and the Jack Daniel's hometown punch.


As always, drink in moderation. Do not drink and drive. Do not serve alcohol to minors and please don't serve the jello shots or drunken gummy bears around children- it's an accident waiting to happen and way too appealing to our younger generations.

New Years Eve Party Part 3: the Games!

No party is complete without some fun! There are lots of fun games you could play for New Years Eve, but I usually don't see them circulating around. So I found some ideas after a little research and I'm letting you know about the best of them.

Resolution:

The more people participating in this game the better. Basically everyone at the party takes a strip of paper and writes down the funniest/craziest/strangest New Year resolution they can think of. Fold up the piece of paper and put it in a hat, bowl, or whatever you have laying around. Then you take the hat, mix up all the resolutions, and go around pulling one back out for everyone. Then each player gets to open up the resolution and read it out loud to the group. The player can also try to guess which other player came up with that particular resolution. Some resolution ideas can include:

• I will think of some better excuses to call into work
• I will do less laundry and use more deodorant.
• I will try to conserve more water by taking less baths.
• I will not tell the same story at every get together.
• I will stop talking on my cell phone while using the bathroom.

You see how fun this could get, don't you? There could definitely be a lot of laughs with this one. Especially when grandma gets the laundry one and has to read it out loud :)

Charades of the Past:

For this game you will separate your group into smaller groups of twos and threes. People could also play this by themselves, depending on the event. Have a bag/basket/bowl ready with several events from the previous year and have each team/person draw and event. You could have a large paper drawing pad and marker set aside to use as well. Then, it's just like playing charades. Each team/person must convey the event for the previous year without saying a word. Make sure you use events that were big enough everyone or at least the majority would be able to figure it out. You could take it a step further if you wanted and hand out a prize to the team/person who guesses the most events.

True or False:

Write down each persons name at the party and beside each one of their names write down several "facts" try to make all the facts strange but have the strangest fact be the truth and the others all be false. For example, my mother hates cheese. I think this is weird. I have a friend who won't eat anything on his plate if even one thing has touched mustard. I have another friend who no one would ever guess has a tattoo. Have each guest write down a T next to the fact they think is the real one. Then, when everyone has voted sit down and go over the paper letting them know which facts were actually true. This could get really fun as long as you keep all the "facts" nice and don't tell any thing they don't want everyone else knowing.

Ping Pong Shake:

This game is a blast! All you need are some ping pong balls, a Kleenex box (empty) and some rubber bands or string. Poke a hole in roughly the same places on each square end of your Kleenex box and thread through your string or rubber bands and tape it down securely to the inside. Now, put several (3 or 4) ping pong balls in the Kleenex box and tie around a persons waist with the box in the back. The bottom of the Kleenex box should be against their clothing, the opening facing out. The box should rest on their butt. Make sure it's tied securely. Now the person wearing the box must shake their hips and butt and try to get all of the ping pong balls out. Take turns going around each player and time to see who can get all the balls out the fastest. This is guaranteed a laugh!

Is the New Year Here Yet? Part 2 for this Holiday!

I couldn't leave you guys with just one post about a New Years Eve party! These types of parties can be fun and a great way to spend time with friends. We covered decorations and food in the last post, but there are still so many possibilities. What about noise makers? Oriental Trading  sells lots of New Years party supplies including party poppers 10$ for a dozen, assorted noise makers at 19$ for 50, and the paper blowouts 8$ for 72 and the list goes on and on and on. You can also make these at home if you'd like a New Years type craft to do with your kids.

Here's one type of noise maker you can make yourself and have a lot of fun doing it!

Here's what you'll need:

• a small bag of noisemakers. OT sells them as "whizzers" and you get 72 for 6.25!
• double sided tape or elmers glue
• colorful paper (maybe some left over wrapping paper from Christmas?)
• streamers or pieces of ribon (left over tinsel would work awesome)
• scissors

Directions:

• First you'll want to roll your paper into cone shapes. I honestly couldn't think of a way to describe this but it would look something like a party hat with an open end. Here's a template that I got from here and she got it from Martha. We're not going to fold this though, hers is used for a different project. I like this one because of the scalloped edges. It just adds something to it for me :)

• Be careful when rolling your cones as you want the small end to be large enough to fit your whizzers into, tightly.
• Now that you have the perfect size attach your whizzers to the smaller end with glue or tape
• Fold your sides (the flat ones) around to meet each other, again making sure that the paper wraps snugly around the whizzers, and glue or tape the seam down so that you have your basic shape.
• After letting your noisemakers dry take your streamers, ribbon or whatever you'd like and glue or tape them around the circumfrence of the larger end of your noise maker. The streamers/ribbon/whatever should be hanging out of them and then just blow into the end with the whizzer and you're done!

They should end up looking something like this:


The same concept can be applied to party hats, they're just a paper cone only the tinsel would be applied to the smaller end of the hat. Stretchy elastic can be tied onto the larger ends with slack (through holes made with a basic hole punch) to hold onto peoples heads. Both of these projects are also great for birthday parties!

Happy New Year!

I feel that I really missed out on my chance to get out all my Christmas decor and craft ideas so, I have decided I'm really going to go all out with New Years. Not everone celebrates New Years but some people do and it's really a great idea. I think that some people don't like to celebrate it because they don't drink and don't want to. That's ok, it's your party, you don't have to serve something you're not going to consume. These are the rules with being a host(ess) in my opinion: Do what you want. It's your venue, your money, your work, your everything so do what you want. If they don't like it, they can find the way out just as quickly as they found the way in, right? Who really gets offended by what's served or not served at a party anyway? If you do... you need to see a therapist about your control issues. Rambling again? Ok...moving on...

Most people want to decorate for their New Years Eve party, but they don't always have a lot of money or any inspiration. I've found that New Years is on my list of parties that not very many people come up with creative ideas for. I have searched and searched however and have found a few.

Decorations:

First of all let me say stop it to the people using gold, green and purple. Just stop it, now. Those are Mardi Gras traditional colors. Most people tend to decorate in gold and silver, black and white, or any mixture. There are several popular themes that I've seen- mainly clocks and numbers. Here are some templates for clock faces or you can copy an image from Google images (search: clock face template and copy and paste the one you want). You can also group dollar store (or thrift store!!!!) clocks as centerpieces and use them as gifts at the end of the party. Baloons and streamers are also a popular decoration as they're cheap and very versatile. Sparklers can be bought online here and used in a lot of places with decorations. Really cheap decorations can also be purchased at www.orientaltrading.com .
 




Foods:

There are lots of foods you can use to celebrate that still have a New Years Eve kind of theme. Fortune cookies are very popular for this particular celebration and can be bought cheaply at Wal-Mart. You can dress these up by dipping them in almond bark and then candy if you'd like. I've also seen clock cakes, which are just your basic cake with a clock face iced on the top. Cookies can be decorated the same way. If you are serving alcohol you might want to keep the food to a minimum, serving just appetizers which are highly appropriate in this type of social gathering anyway. Dollar stores sell packets of several champagne glasses for dirt cheap and these can be filled with anything. If you're using metalics fill them with Hershey's kisses. Use a sharpie or permanant marker to draw numbers on the outside of the glasses, like the ball drop countdown. Coincidentally, cupcakes look amazing on top of candies and fit well in those glasses- especially with an added spark from sparklers in the cupcakes. As far as drinks go you can serve anything you'd like. If you want to give the look of serving alcohol you can use sparkling juices. Fill a galvanized tub with ice and stick in several bottles of sparkling juices and ciders.


Lucky Food:

If you really want to have fun with your food you can go all out and serve traditional "lucky foods"

• Ring shaped cakes are on the list as they represent how the year has come full circle. Donuts would work well here.
• Dumplings- the asian kind. They represent the currency china used to use and represent hope for a good fiscal year.
• Fish- In China, a whole steamed fish symbolizes a long and healthy life and oysters and prawns are lucky, too. In Poland, one serves pickled herring at midnight; in Italy, dried salt cod stars in a variety of holiday dishes; and in Germany, you simply can't celebrate the day without noshing on carp, which often appears in a stew. Germans take it one step further, though — many tuck a few carp scales into their wallets afterward to keep from running out of money in the following year.
• Grapes are popular in Spain. You're apparently supposed to pop one in your mouth with each chime for luck.
• I saved my favorite for last black eyed peas and collard greens. I'm from the south and dishes like Hoppin' John are popular. There are also ways to make Hoppin' John with the greens in a crock pot.

So take a second thought about throwing a New Years party. I hope I was able to give you some inspiration and have a great day!