Fashion MacGuyver

No clear nail polish. No hairspray. My fix for stopping a run in my stockings today.

Culinary Adventures: Making Cheese!

For Christmas I got my boyfriend this adorably packaged cheese making kit from Make Cheese on Etsy. All you need is a gallon of milk and everything else is in the bag. The particular kit I purchased can make 8 batches of mozzerella.

This is what an entire gallon of milk looks like in a cast iron pot in case you were ever wondering.

After a bit the curd starts to form and you being to think about Little Miss Muffet. So this is what she was eating?

Then you drain off the excess whey and it begins to take on a more cheese like consistency.

Eventually you end up with mozzerella. I'm sorry to say ours ended up looking a little bit like brains, but it was still very tasty.

You can then make ricotta with the left over whey and oh my goodness this was so delicious. It was so creamy. Definitely my favorite part.

The finished ricotta. We didn't actually eat it with the avocado. I just thought they looked cute together.

Finally you can make a norwegian cheese called mysost with whatever is left over. I don't think my mysost was made correctly as I kind of ended up something that had the consistency of dried plaster of paris. Not exactly what you want in your cheese.

So that was our culinary adventure last weekend. It only took about a half an hour to make the mozzerella and ricotta and I think they turned out pretty well. I'm definitely looking forward to the next seven batches!

Not related to the cheese, but also a culinary adventure in and of itself we also made pizzas from scratch. Really, though, I just wanted an excuse to post this picture because I think it's awesome.

Snow!

It snowed for just a few hours in DC on Monday and I had a chance to snap this pretty, pretty picture of the Library of Congress. I was kind of sad the snow melted so fast. I haven't had a chance to wear my snow boots at all this year.

Outfit Snapshot

Smocking and polka dots

Nail Fun

Two tone metallic nails using OPI's Keep Me On My Mistletoes and Already Famous with a matte top coat.

For New Year's Eve I Pretended to be Martha Stewart

Inspired by the book "Atlanta Cooks for Company" published by the Atlanta Junior League Music Club in 1968 my Boyfriend and I decided to throw a 1960s themed New Year's Eve Party. We had a menu of throw back cocktail party foods based on the menu provided in the book and I made most of our decorations by hand. Everyone dressed up in their best swanky 60s cocktail attire. It was a really fun way to ring in the new year.

The Menu:

Bacon Wrapped Tidbits (basically different stuff wrapped in bacon and baked. Yum!)

Deviled Eggs

Cocktail Wieners wrapped in Puff Pastry

A Good Old Fashion Cheese Ball (So easy mix two packages of cream cheese with 2 cups shredded cheddar, splash in so Worcestershire and hot sauce, form into a ball and roll in crushed pecans. It was a hit!)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Crudites (in a top hat no less) with three types of dip

Shrimp Cocktail (served on a shell shaped platter of course)


As you can see we weren't the first ones to use the New Year's menu

For the decorations I scoured the Internet for home made decorations that would fit into the look I was going for.I decided on a red and gold theme to match our vintage cocktail glasses.

First up a banner saying "Cheers!" I wanted something that could work for both Christmas and New Years. It really made our apartment feel festive. For this I just created a pattern and printed it out on alternating red and gold paper. Then I cut the circles out and used double sided tape to fix them to the wall. I think it came out great. Also, we had the Yule Log up during the entire party and it added a nice cozy atmosphere. Did you know that the Yule Log has credits? It totally does.


Next I used the excess paper to create a garland. I used this tutorial as the basis for my garland. My boyfriend was big help on this one. It was actually somewhat tedious cutting out all those circles and gluing them to the string. Luckily we had plenty of "It's Always Sunny..." to get us through.


We put the garland on our little tree before Christmas and then moved it over the bar between our kitchen and dinning area for the party. I like that it was so versatile.

Finally, I fell in love with these tissue paper pom poms that I saw at a party store a few months ago and figured there had to be a way I could make them myself. Of course Martha Stewart, ever so reliable, has a tutorial for them on her website. I loved having the option of choosing the colors I wanted for them. It was pretty easy to do as well. Probably the most difficult/annoying part was ironing the sheets of tissue paper. You probably don't have to do that, but I think it makes them look a little bit nicer. I love how this look so much I may keep them up permanently.

So that's the run down on our party. I was excited that everyone was game for participating in the theme. It was a great group. I've already started planning next years. Any suggestions on the theme? Great Gatsby perhaps?

Outfit Snapshot

Patterned tights for work. Love 'em