Friday Roundup

Here are my favourite Pinterest finds this week!

Best dessert idea

Favourite casual look

New way to wrap wine

Beautiful vintage wedding dress

List of Italian cheese

Nails, nails, nails

It seems like now, more than ever, people are getting quite creative with nail polish. I love it. What a cheap, chic way to instantly update your look. Here’s a few ideas to get you started!

 

Friday Roundup: Easter Edition

Happy Easter everyone. I am super pumped about my four day long weekend! Hope you all have a wonderful break filled with sweet treats, family and great food. To get you in the spirit here are a few Easter finds from Pinterest:

Easter Brunch (stawberry stuffed french toast):

Easter laugh (poor kid):

Festive nails:

Easter treat (cake pops!):

Prettiest egg decoration (damask):

Friday Roundup

Happy Friday! I can’t wait for this weekend to start, I have so many fun things to look forward too! Tonight I am going to see The Hunger Games (yay), Saturday I am going to the ballet (Swan Lake) followed by a birthday party for a friend, and Sunday is the 2 hour season premier of Mad Men. So, all in all, I have a fun filled weekend ahead of me. Hope you guys have something fun planned too! Here are my favourite finds around Pinterest this week:

Cutest photo:

Best idea I never would have thought of (put your strawberries and melted chocolate in an ice cube tray, freeze and serve, genius!):

Cutest easter egg idea (thanks Martha Stewart):

Best party idea (a pizza party):

Favourite outfit:

Friday Roundup

Thank god today is Friday. I have had the craziest week at work, I feel like its been about three weeks since last weekend. On Saturday night I have reservations at Corso 32, I’m so excited. If you are from Edmonton and haven’t been yet I highly recommend it. It is authentic Italian food and utterly amazing. It’s nearly impossible to get a reservation though; I made this one about two months ago! I’ll try to remember to take photos and do a review here on Monday! In the meantime, here are a few of my favourites from Pinterest this week:

Silliest pet

Cutest housewarming gift (Italian pasta night)

Best laugh (and oh so true)

Favourite painting

Dream kitchen

How to: Create a cheese plate your friends will devour

If you’re anything like me there’s nothing better than a well thought out cheese plate. Cheese is basically its own food group in my world, and I think that no dinner or cocktail party is complete without a proper cheese platter. Anybody can go to a local grocery store and pick out a few blah variations of pre-packaged cheeses. A good host will take the time to go to an actual cheese shop (fromagerie) and pick out a few beautiful cheeses and accompaniments.

To start, you should always attempt to create a plate that has an assortment of textures and flavours, hard and soft cheeses and buttery and sharp flavours for example. You want your plate to be exciting! If you are not overly familiar with the different varietals of cheese you local cheesemonger can be your best friend.

Choosing your cheese:

As I mentioned before, you should ensure a variety of different cheeses end up on your platter. Make sure that there is something for everyone, so something mild, like a brie for the less adventurous and something strong, and exotic for those adventurous cheese lovers you’ve invited over. I like to keep my numbers odd, as it’s more visually pleasing, and I believe five is often a good number. I suggest trying to include at least one cheese each from: Aged (e.g. Aged Cheddar, Smoked Gouda), Soft (Brie, Camembert, Cherve), Firm (Manchego, Parmigano-Reggiano), and Blue (Stilton, Gorgonzola Dolce). As a ball park figure you should normally buy one ounce per person per cheese, but you know your guests best, if you think they will eat more or less, buy accordingly.

Choosing your accompaniments:

While I have no problem eating cheese alone, the proper accompaniments can enhance the flavours of your cheese even more. Make sure not to include too many sides, or sides that are flavoured (e.g. flavoured crackers or sourdough bread).

Carbs – Offer a selection of breads such as thinly sliced French baguette, and an assortment of plain and seedy crackers.

Fruits – I like to offer a small selection of both fresh and dried fruit, such as grapes, strawberries and dried cranberries or cherries.

Condiments – Sweet preserves such as honey, chutney, or caramelized onions.

Extras – While this is not a charcuterie plate, it is nice to include a few salty items to complement the flavours such as salami, prosciutto and almonds.

 How to serve:

Let’s start with the plate itself. Serve all the cheeses on one big board, I think that a wooden platter or cutting board lends an authentic, rustic vibe, which I love. One of the most important things to remember is to never crowd your cheese platter, its looks awful and inevitably, you’ll end up with someone’s fingers or knuckles all over the cheese. Also very important is to never cube or pre-cut your cheese. Set out a separate knife for each cheese. Soft cheese spreads well with a butter knife; firm cheese might require a paring knife; and aged cheese often requires a cheese plane.

Your cheese should be served at room temperature, so it is imperative that you remove it from the fridge about an hour before you plan on serving it. In terms or arranging the platter, you want your guests to start with the mildest and work their way up to the strongest, so make sure to separate your cheese in that manner. Then, make up a label for each cheese, so your guests know what they are eating and where it is from. I then like to spread the accompaniments out around the board to break it up a bit.

Make sure to keep your eyes open for a future post on the best wine and cheese pairings!

For those of you from Edmonton my two favourite cheese shops are:

1.       Paddy’s International Cheese Market: 12509 102 Ave NW, Edmonton AB
T5N 0M4, (780) 413-0367

 

2.       Everything Cheese: 14912 45th Ave, Edmonton AB, T6H 5T5, (780) 757-8532

Beautiful ways to organize your jewelry

If you are anything like me you have copious amounts of jewelry scattered around the house, with only a few places to store it. Jewelry is great, because it can often be an inexpensive way to spruce up an outfit, or take a look from day to night. Which is why most of us girls end up with piles of it. And how annoying is it when your necklaces get tangled or you can only find one earring! Pinterest has tons of ideas of unique and pretty ways to keep your accessories organized and neat, best part is, most of them are DIY! Which idea is your favourite?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday Roundup

Well, we made it through another week…pat yourself on the back! I love Fridays, one because it means the weekend is here and two because it’s causal Friday at work and I love wearing jeans. Below are a roundup of five of my favourite Pinterest Pins this week:

Favourite Breakfast: Orange cinnamon waffles with dark chocolate hot fudge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite Drink: Pink grapefruit margarita (love the glass too)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite DIY: Glitter champagne glasses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite Photo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite Painting: Abstract landscape by Erica Kirkpatrick

Friday Roundup

Well, despite the fact this was a short work week, it felt mighty long. That first week back after the Christmas break is always a bit tough. But…today is Friday, yay, I survived the week! Here is week’s roundup of my five favourite Pinterest finds:

Antipasto Skewers:

 

 

 

 

Favourite Colour Palette:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite Getaway:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite Outfit:

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite DIY: