DIY Candles

It seems like it's been forever since I've posted about a project. Thankfully, my friend Adrienne got me back on the DIY bandwagon with a fun project--candles!

Adrienne had all the supplies: wax, wicks, scents and even votives. From start to finish, not including curing time, making my candle only took around 20 minutes. It's incredibly simple but so satisfying.

Making a candle is pretty simple. First, you heat wax (we used soy), stirring frequently until the temperature reaches about 170F. Adrienne made a double-boiler with a special pot for the wax and a regular pot underneath. You can also use microwavable wax, which can be found at Michael's.

Once the wax is at temperature, then pour in your oils, using either essential oils or the pre-made candle scent. Take the wax off the stove and continue to stir occasionally until the wax reaches around 130F. Pour the candle wax into a jar that has a wick glued into the bottom, and let it harden for at least 6 hours, or overnight before trimming the wick and burning it.

I chose the Vanilla Hazelnut scent. It's pretty strong, which is nice because it makes the room smell good even when the candle isn't burning.

Big thanks to Adrienne for putting this project together!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

My friends Nick and Laura are expecting their little bundle of joy any day now. Last weekend Deanna and I threw them a baby shower to celebrate. Since they are having a winter baby, we gave the party a winter theme: Baby, It's Cold Outside. Nick even dressed for the occasion.

Nick and Laura wanted a small, intimate party, so that's what we gave them. Just good friends and good food. Deanna and I had a blast planning for this party. My favorite thing we did was the cocoa bar. Inspired by Pinterest, of course, we had a big crockpot of cocoa with a bunch of add-ons for people to "make theirs fancy." I busted out my chalkboard paint to give the recycled salsa jars a little something extra. Deanna made an awesome picture frame with chalkboard paint and Epsom salt. We had mini-chocolate chips; mini-marshmallows; crushed peppermint; whipped cream; Baileys; and candy cane stirrers.

The party was mid-afternoon, so we served drinks and a few dessert items. The peppermint bark was a big hit. I also really liked the winter fruit salad with citrus, apples and pomegranate. It was so easy to make, and really tasty.

Beer and sparkling punch 

Deanna made some fun Epsom salt candles, and her husband Tom made a pinecone garland. I made some paper snowflake bunting to hang from the windows using this technique. You can see it behind Deanna and my adorable baby. (Gratuitous baby picture alert!)
         

The happy couple was showered with wonderful gifts. Guests signed a framed maternity picture of Laura, that they can then hang in the baby's nursery. Party favors were baby bottles filled with peppermint hot chocolate.

I had a great time, and I hope Nick and Laura did too!

Guest Post: Remember, Remember...

A while back I asked my friend and fellow SOS'er Nick to write a guest blog post about the awesome jacket potato bar party he hosted for Guy Fawkes Day. To give you a sense of timing, the Guy Fawkes rhyme goes as follows:

Remember, remember the 5th of November
gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
should ever be forgot.

So, I've been excited to read this post for a while. I'm sad that I couldn't make it to the event, but now at least there are only a few more months until the next Guy Fawkes Day! Here's Nick with more.

Here is one from the archives... except that it was never written, until now! A source of fortnightly mild interrogation from Calli, the subject of this blog post has finally matured to the point that we can crack the seal and enjoy the perfectly (overly?) aged material. This introduction is a touch superfluous, but it's my way of skirting the issue of apologizing to Calli for taking SO long to do a guest post for Calli's Crossing. Without further ado...

To avoid confusing all of us Americans, we used the American 
term "Baked Potato Bar" on all official signage

The Jacket Potato Bar is an ancient Anglo-Saxon rite of passage into middle-age hood. As an adolescent and young adult, one can only handle the concept of individual or perhaps a duo of toppings. The adventurous British soul might even have ventured into a three topping jacket potato, but he was often shunned by his peers and forced to live a solitary life off in the Dales somewhere. There was an archaeological dig that uncovered all this. This is history here, people. I live in England. Wouldn't I know? Look it up... but in one of those research-journal-only paid subscription search engines. Don't have access to those? Well then I suppose you'll just have to believe me.

Another ancient British tradition was annual Blowing-Up Parliament Day. That is, until Guy Fawkes took a triumphant stand on November 5th and said, "Nay! This tradition is barbaric and fiscally indefensible. Instead of rebuilding parliament every year, how about this imperialism thing, or we could decapitate a monarch!? And drinking to excess is good, too." Mr. Fawkes was a visionary that is still celebrated annually on November 5th with a ritual bonfire representing all those years of blowing up/burning down parliament and the lives lost to such a senseless tradition. Wait, I'm being told I may have some of the details wrong. But why else would British people celebrate Guy Fawkes Day annually? Ah well, my memory sometimes fails me. Look that up, too.

Burning an effigy in "honor" of Guy Fawkes' brave stand

Now you see why I chose the ritual Jacket Potato Bar (JPB) to celebrate such a momentous day in British history, in addition to my march forward in my 30s. As this is a DIY style blog, perhaps I should discuss the makings of a good jacket potato bar. One that announces to the world that I've arrived squarely out of young adulthood into... whatever the early to mid-thirties are called. And no, it wasn’t my birthday, I’m holding this story together with tape and chewing gum here people. The village that it took to raise me would be proud.

So back to the JPB. You’re welcome to make it as small or as large as you feel comfortable with. It turns out, no matter whether or not you put out certain... let's say "coordinated ingredients," you're going to have people that take it as a challenge to fit every.single.topping on the jacket potato. You know the type, they were the same ones that can't be trusted at a soda fountain. Cherry Coca-Spri-Monade Dew is not a thing. But don't let these people deter you. Put out whatever you feel like making and embrace the madness. You can eat 3 properly coordinated jacket potatoes and feel morally superior.

Jacket Potato Bar with all the trimmings

Here were the four styles of jacket potatoes I intended with the toppings for each. There is reuse of several ingredients throughout:

The Dirty Frenchman (Xenophobia be damned)

Brie! (Sacrebleu!)

Red wine sauteed onions and mushrooms

Lardons (really just bacon for fancy folk)

Tex-Mex-a-tato

Vegetarian Chili

Shredded Adobo chicken

El queso cheddaro

El Sour Cream

Cilantro-o

Salsa-o?

The Posh Brit

Cranberry sauce

Proper Back Bacon

Brie

And that's it for that one. Brits can't tolerate more than 3 ingredients. We've been over this.

And last, but not least

'Merica!  #!@(& Yeah

Gosh darn bacon!

Gal dern cheddar cheese?

Fancy schmancy chives

Whatever the heck else you want!

* Comes with a side of freedom.

I'm not getting into recipes, here, but do note that something similar to this menu for 30 people will take you most of a day of cooking because it's a lot of stuff, and it's all made from scratch. You can take shortcuts, but won't be as earth shattering, so if that's what you're going for, just keep doing your thing. But here is an idea of how I planned my day.Hopefully this will give you an idea of how to set up for this type of party:

• 8-9am: Wake up to God Save the Queen on your alarm clock, make breakfast, make tea, forget to drink most of tea because you're busy cooking
• After breakfast (2-3 hours of work): Chop the bacon/lardons while it's raw to make the best bacon bits (aka American lardons), and then let the fat render and let the bacon deep fry in its own fat. Because I said so. Trust me.
• While that's going, spice up and sauté off your chicken and let it cool. Shred the cooked chicken. Sweat some onions in the same pan and then add the chicken and simmer it in chicken stock spiked with lots of your favorite Tex-Mexican spices. Simmer... not boil!
• After you start the chicken start your cranberry sauce (sugar, lemon zest, and cranberries, plus a few teaspoons of water to get it started).
• While the chicken is cooking (about an hour): Chop and shred things that don't need to be warm: Cilantro, cheddar cheese, brie, chives. Take the chicken off the stove after an hour or so of simmering. (If you're smart and less of a procrastinator than me, you can do this stuff the day before.)
• Sometime around noon-1pm: Find your tea. Microwave, drink one-third, forget again.
• Early- to mid-afternoon: Start your chili, which, depending on the recipe you're using, should take 1-3 hours of prep/simmer time.
• Mid-to-late afternoon: while the chili is simmering, prepare your red wine onions and mushrooms. This involves sautéing both items in butter with salt and pepper, and deglazing the pan with red wine and then adding fresh thyme and maybe a spoonful of whole grain mustard, but this can flavored any way you like it.
• You probably have a break now, so tidy up and get ready for the party.
• At least 2 hours before people show up: put on a big vat of mulled wine in the crock pot and make sure the beer is on ice.
• 2 Hours before you want to serve the jacket potatoes: start the potatoes baking. I wrapped mine in foil and poked holes in them so they'd stay hot longer when they're put out on the bar. They take longer to cook this way, but it's worth it to buy you extra time with hot potatoes. Without the foil, it will take closer to an hour to an hour and a half.
• Half an hour before party: Find your tea again, feel a little shameful for doing so, but microwave it yet again and proudly finish the cup. This is Yorkshire’s finest, here. No wounded soldiers.

One thing we had to work around was heading out to the celebration of Guy Fawkes for about an hour during the party… I couldn't miss it, after all he did for our host country. Everything had to be as close to ready to go when we got back as possible. British patriotism makes people hungry. We put out cheese and crackers and some dips and breads before people headed out to the Guy Fawkes festivities. That bought us some time on the other end of the outing, but I did still have to head back a little bit before everyone else to reheat items made earlier that day. I used a combo of pots and the microwave to make things go as quickly as possible.

Once everyone has eaten and is happy, tidy up a bit and enjoy the party!Put out the desserts when it feels right. I am fortunate to be surrounded by terrific bakers. My beautiful wife and the lovely and talented Sarah King provided the desserts. Sarah made us a FANTASTIC likeness of Guy Fawkes, in pie form! No one wanted to cut into it, though. It was too impressive.

Sarah King's pie in the likeness of Guy Fawkes.
Not en flambé  but perfect otherwise!

Later on in the evening, if you live within 2 blocks of a pub, make sure everyone gets an adult juice box full of 2 pints of beer. It’s one last element of Britishness you really must fit into the day. If you don’t live within 2 blocks of a pub, make sure to have plenty of British ale stocked.

All the guys with their adult juice boxes full of 2 pints of beer

And that’s all she wrote.  If you drink too much: good, that’s the most British thing you can do.  They’ll hardly notice you’re a Yank if you’re properly slurring that ghastly bastardization of the Queen’s English, know as ‘Merican, and we wouldn't have it any other way.  Health and Safety wanted me to tell you that.

Don't you love Nick? Not only is he hilarious, but is a fantastic chef and host. I can't wait until November for his Second Annual Jacket Potato Bar! Thanks for posting, Nick!

Hola, Alicante!

A couple of weeks ago my S.O.S. friends (minus Nick) went on a girls' holiday to Alicante, Spain. I had never heard of this city before, but Ryan Air had cheap flights there, so we figured we'd check it out. After all, it is in the South of Spain...how bad could it be?

Alicante, Spain

This was one of the most relaxed vacations I've ever taken. I was shocked that even with six girls, there was no drama at all. It was so easy and fun. We realized later that it was because we made almost no decisions our entire trip. Ha! We ate our way through the town, frolicked in the Mediterranean, and watched the sun set from a castle. Life is good.

The weather was absolutely fantastic while we were there. Can you believe it was December and the girls were in the water?! Awesome.

We stopped at a little cafe by the water for some refreshments. That's when we first had Cola Cao--a super delicious chocolate powder. We later found a supermarket so we could buy packets to bring home.

On our first day in Alicante we stumbled upon a cute street market. Booths were mostly filled with tacky European clothes, but there were some gems like the vendors selling tapas, beer, and candy. I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that we visited the candy booth a second time after eating all the candy from our first visit.

Salud!

Photo courtesy of Sarah

Most of our trip was spent eating, as usual. We had some delicious patatas bravas--fried potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce--and some mediocre paella. Rachel and I were really disappointed with our vegetarian version, but the other girls seemed amused by theirs.

Patatas Bravas

Katie may not be as amused

Of course after such a big meal it was time for a little siesta.

We adapted easily to Spanish time. That means that we didn't eat dinner until after 9pm and didn't leave the house until after 10am. It was glorious.

The next day we did more of the same: eating, lounging and eating some more. We found another great market with lots of local meat, produce and sweets.

We did at least one touristy thing though. We went to the top of the Castle of Santa Barbara. It offered spectacular views of the city. Don't you love the combination of mountains and sea?

Our last night in Alicante was one I hope I'll always remember. We spent the night jumping from tapas bar to tapas bar. We ate churros dipped in chocolate, more patatas bravas, fried fish cakes, and more. Everything was delicious and so cheap! I hear the sangria wasn't so bad either.

Photo courtesy Sarah

Laughing so hard we're crying; Photo courtesy Sarah

We managed to sneak in a little bit more beach time before we had to catch our flight.

It was such a fantastic trip! Good food, good friends and good times!

My First 5K!

Well, it happened. It was only a matter of time before the Badass Brigade, a.k.a. my S.O.S. crew convinced me to run a race with them.

Every year cities all over America host Turkey Trots. The races vary in length, but they all take place on or near Thanksgiving day. The base hosted a 5K version on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I was doing my best to stand up to the peer pressure of joining when Dan blind-sided me, saying that he was planning on running it. That sealed my fate. I agreed to run too.

[source]

Since I started running a few weeks ago, I've only run three miles twice. A few people told me that if I feel comfortable running two miles, I shouldn't have a problem running 3.1 in a race. Marathoners often train the same way, running only 20 miles for a 26.2 mile race. I guess they were right. I did it!

It was a very hard race for me. The weather was terrible: cold, windy and wet. The course was very hilly; in fact it ended on a massive uphill. But, I did it! And I did it in great time. I crossed the finish line in just over 32 minutes. Dan did amazing too. His time clocked in at 30:44. Not bad for a first timer, right?

I couldn't have done it without my girls. Katie was awesome and ran with me most of the way until I forced her to leave me. And Rachel provided great moral support before jetting off for her super speedy under-30 minutes finish. I'm not sure that this is the start of a great running career, but I'm proud of myself for doing it.

Guest Post: Adult Halloween Party

Remember the Chocolate Pumpkin Torte I made for Halloween? It was for this epic party hosted by Karen and Katie. These girls really know how to throw an event. I don't know what was more fun...eating, dancing, dressing up...all of it was amazing. I'm already pressuring them to throw another party soon. Here's Karen to give us the scoop.

Katie had her heart set on having a Halloween party for our friends in Harrogate and was looking for a venue. So I agreed to host the party at my house, and thus the fun began. It turns out that we work very well together, with the right combination of creativity and flexibility. Between the two of us, we had ideas for decorations, food, and entertainment. She came over the day before to prepare, leaving party day stress free for a change!

Ahead of time we made two kinds of Halloween cupcakes, both with a pumpkin spice base. 

Candy corns and owls fashioned out of buttercream

We also made maple sandwich cookies. There was onion dip, salsa dip, and buffalo chicken dip. One favorite was Katie's caramel apple bites.

We then decorated the house with her playful ceiling hangers and confetti, while finding spots for candlelight everywhere.

Afterward, we moved on to the pumpkin carving. Katie had two great ideas for a polka-dot pumpkin and an owl over a cemetery. I decided to match my costume with a Queen-of-Hearts pumpkin. Her husband Jon was very helpful with his clever drill.

Carving party

On party day, our advance preparations made everything easy and allowed us time to get in costume.

The hostesses

All our guests were quite enthusiastic with their costumes and tasty contributions.

Dessert table

Some of the party guests were part of an Alice in Wonderland ensemble.

And all of SOS were present for the festivities!

Queen of Hearts; Little Red Riding Hood; Cheshire Cat;
Risky Business; Alice in Wonderland; 70s Aerobics Man

Throughout the evening, we had a costume contest, where each person could vote for the best and sexiest costumes. Pirate Phil and Gaybraham Lincoln took the prizes!

There was also a doughnut-on-a-stick contest, a surprisingly difficult task.

Then during the dance party, the partygoers got low, very low, for the limbo.

Nick, the 70s aerobics man, enhanced his costume by leading several group dances/exercises! 

And we danced until the wee hours thanks to DJ Jay (10 of Hearts)! 

The party was a total blast, and Katie and I look forward to our next chance to co-host together!

It was amazing! Thanks for sharing all the details Karen! I can't wait for your next party, ladies!