Perfume

I love perfume.  I have summer perfumes, autumn perfumes, winter perfumes, you get the picture.  I wore Calvin Klein’s Obsession and Eternity and if you’re a child of the nineties, admit it, you did too. I wore Sunflowers and Tommy Girl in college and Chanel’s Mademoiselle and Chance not too long thereafter.  These are just to mention a few.  Each perfume is like a chapter of my life.  Even the slightest scent of one I’ve worn can instantly bring me decades back.  I’ve now moved on to Jo Malone and am obsessed with a random one I found from Anthropologie.  As I said, I love perfume.

So - it’s no surprise that I decided to test a couple the magazine promoted.

First came Chanel’s Coromandel.  As you now know, I’m no stranger to the Chanel counter and since I hadn’t heard of this one, I was intrigued.  The ladies at the Saks Chanel counter were mystified - no one had ever heard of it.  Huh?  I thought, OK there’s a photo of the bottle in the magazine, it must exist.  Luckily, there’s a Chanel boutique in the same shopping mall, so off I went. And there it was in all its spicy, warm yumminess.  However, sprayee be warned, this is some heavy stuff - people are gonna know you’re coming.  It. is. strong.  I could still smell it on my skin the next day, and yes, I had showered.

Then came the Bottega Veneta.  I love the brand’s leather goods and thought this may very well be a possibility.  And then I smelled it.   There’s nothing modern about this scent.  There’s actually something reminiscent of my early childhood, like the scent of an elderly neighbors house in the 1970s... probably not something I’m going to wear on Valentine’s day.  

Ali 

Sweet Treats for Valentine's Day

I thought Martha's idea of cellophane bags stuffed with treats with matching clip-art was really cute, but the candy was too hard for Benjamin and his little friends.  So, I unabashedly stole a similar idea from Creative Party Idea’s by Cheryl (thanks, Cheryl!).  I wasn’t able to use her template, I have no idea why, so I just made my own and eye-balled the whole thing. They didn’t come out too badly.  

Now, a day before Valentine’s day, I’m thinking - Starburst??  They’re two and under - can you think of a candy more appropriate for little guys just mastering feeding themselves? Yes, that’s a fail.  They’re done now, so apparently, I made Valentine’s treats for all of Benjamin’s friends’ parents.  Oh, well.  I hope they like them.

I was also was going make Martha’s version of 3-D valentine’s day cards.  Benjamin loves trains. Actually that’s an understatement, he is obsessed with trains.   Perfect, right?  Wrong.  I printed this out from the template about three weeks ago and it has sat here ever since.  

It’s my nemesis.  I don’t know why.  It’s just a little boring. Could I have colored it?  Yes.  I didn’t.  I finally folded the paper in half, but that didn’t inspire me either.  Surprised?  No, I’m not either.  So instead I went out and bought this card for Benjamin.  Yes, you didn't misread and it wasn’t a typo, I bought a card - may lightning strike me now.

...and Benjamin's going to love it.

Here’s the link to Martha’s project: http://www.marthastewart.com/873639/basic-card-making-tips?czone=holiday/valentine-center/valentine-cnt-gifts&center=276967&gallery=873560&slide=873599

May it inspire you more than it did me. 

Ali

A Chocolate Worth its Weight in Gold

It seems that in February we're inspired by chocolate... lets be honest some of us are always inspired by chocolate.   Anyway, page 34 is dedicated to editors' picks of chocolate with interesting flavor combinations.  While they all looked decadent, one particularly caught my eye - it was Miranda Crowell's pick - caramel marshmallows from Vosges Chocolate.  Yum!  Chocolate, sea salt, caramel, and marshmallows... hello, friend!  

I quite innocently went to their website and had somehow already justified the $13 price tag for four of these little puppies... don't ask me how.  I put them in my cart and went to check out - only to find that shipping was $10.  That, I couldn't do.  

Being stubborn and always up for a challenge - I thought, really, how hard it they possibly be and off I went in search of gourmet marshmallows.  I found some at Balducci's.  

I stuck two marshmallows to a quarter of a graham cracker with Wilton's white Candy Melts. 

I then made caramel by melting little store bought cubes with some cream.

Next, my favorite part: Salt!

I melted Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate mixed with cream and piped it across the caramel.

I call them, A little more than a s'more.  While I don't know how they compare to the ones worth their weight in gold, these were excellent.  Ben's not keen on marshmallows, so off they went to the office.  They were demolished in about 10 minutes... and they're still being talked about.  If I were to change anything, I'd have used Ghirardelli milk chocolate instead.  Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Ali

Tissue-paper Decorative Heart

I love stationary, wrapping paper, ribbons, and all the associated accoutrements.  The tissue paper heart seemed to be a perfect project for me.  I think these little beauties have been made by every little girl in the Western hemisphere and it's been about 30 years since I made my last one.  To say the very least, with this project I've made up for lost time.  

Now, Martha suggests buying four of her pom-pom kits (2 large and 2 medium).   However, when I looked them up, they weren't cheap, so I thought I'd dust off my talents at folding tissue paper back and forth.  Yes, I know, quite impressive, aren't I?

Countless hours and what seems to be hundreds of pieces of tissue paper later, I finally had 14 flowers and enough to cover my white construction board heart.  

My advice to you is to follow Martha's advice and buy the kits. :)

Ours now proudly hangs above the fireplace.

However, it likely won't make it to Valentine's 2013... just saying..

Here's a link to Martha's project: http://www.marthastewart.com/874449/tissue-paper-wall-heart

 Ali

Coconut and Salted Caramel Cookies

I couldn't resist trying these little cookies - I love coconut and caramel - such a combination couldn't be anything but amazing. 

Martha's predicted amount of active time, about an hour, is just about right. I'd recommend using about half the amount of coconut, I used a whole bag and ended up throwing more than half of it away.

They don't expand all that much - so you can squeeze quite a few on your baking sheet.

I wondered whether repressing the thumb print indention was necessary half way through the baking... it is.  They puff up quite a bit and in fact, I pressed them again once they were done baking completely.

Don't forget the salt on top of the caramel - it makes the recipe.

I think these came out every bit as pretty as those in the magazine..

and, these did not.

Then came the taste test.  My husband initially said he thought they were a bit bland, yet he managed to choke down 6 in less than 15 minutes. It would be suspiciously quiet in the kitchen and there he'd be popping yet another one in his mouth. Who knows how many he would have eaten if they hadn't been bland. 

I brought the ones that managed to escape my husband into the office.  The response was overwhelmingly positive.  Even those I very rarely interact with stopped by to say how good they were.  Perhaps they were surprised I could cook or even follow a recipe.  As Jacq and I continue on this journey, my colleagues are going reap the benefits of my labor and this little cookie has set the bar quite high. 

Would I make them again?  The butter content alone is enough to give me pause... really? three sticks of butter for 40 odd cookies...  With that said though, they are little beauties, so I would definitely make them for a party or a baby/bridal shower.

Here's a link to her recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/874528/coconut-thumbprint-cookies-salted-caramel

Ali

Here we go!

Deconstructing Martha is about whether two average girls—decent cooks, relatively crafty, with fairly stylish homes—can tackle the monthly creations of the thoroughly un-average Martha Stewart.  We have full-time jobs, husbands, kids, homes, chores, and various obligations of daily life.  We’re exactly the women Martha Stewart Living targets each month, and we have a decade’s worth of magazines with dog-eared pages of never-attempted crafts, recipes, and other projects to prove it. A lot of these were projects we really wanted to try, but a lack of time and motivation just always seemed to get in the way of inspiration. We are about to rectify that.  We are going into this with the knowledge that some projects will be just too difficult.  We don’t have a workshop stocked with table saws and belt sanders and unfortunately we don’t have a crew to call upon to assist us with our every whim.  If a particular project or recipe doesn’t appeal to us, we’re not going to make those either – but we’ll offer an explanation.  Let’s face it, after decades of putting out a magazine, not every project is going to be a winner.  Also, we’re just too old to have to make and eat things we don’t like.  But, by and large we’re going to work our way through the latest issue of Martha Stewart’s Living Magazine and write about our progress.  It will be kind of a review of the various projects with honest descriptions of how they turned out, how long they took to make, and whether the final product was worth the time and effort.  Hopefully, we’ll not only revamp our dwindling social lives by sharing food and fun with friends, but we’ll also help interested followers save their time for those projects that are truly “good things.” Can two normal women work through the monthly crafts, recipes, patterns, and occasional chicken coop created by the domestic diva and her staff of hundreds?  Perhaps not, but we’re going to have fun trying.