MG's Bridal Shower Brunch

This past Saturday, Melissa and I threw a bridal shower brunch for MG! We had such a blast planning the party, and just as much throwing it!

The beautiful bride and her recipe book!

The most delicious cake from Edible Art

Here are some pictures and recipes of the good food we made:

Strawberry Romanoff (stolen from La Medaline):

½ cup sour cream
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon brandy or vanilla
½ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
4 cups fresh strawberries

Mix sour cream, brown sugar and Brandy in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, whip cream until starts to thicken and add sugar--whip until thick.
Fold cream into sour cream mixture and blend well. Serve with fresh strawberries.

I'll be making this for the upcoming sleepover!!

Lemon Poppy Muffins - so yummy! I received this recipe from Jennifer and I don't want to post the recipe, so if you would like it, I can email it to you.

Last, but definitely not least:

The Belinni Bar!!

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 (16-ounce) bag frozen peaches, thawed

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1 (16-ounce) bag frozen strawberries, thawed

1 (16-ounce) bag frozen blueberries or blackberries, thawed

4 to 6 (750-ml) bottles Prosecco, chilled

Stir the sugar and water in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Cool completely.
Puree the peaches and orange peel in a blender with 1/2 cup of the sugar syrup until smooth. Strain through a fine-meshed strainer and into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate. In a clean blender puree the strawberries with 1/3 cup of the sugar syrup until smooth. Strain through a clean fine-meshed strainer and into another bowl. Discard the seeds. Puree the blueberries in a clean blender with 1/3 cup of the sugar syrup until smooth. Strain through a clean fine-meshed strainer and into a third bowl. Discard the seeds and solids. Pour each of the purees into clear glass bowls or small pitchers.
For each serving, pour 2 to 4 tablespoons of the desired fruit puree into a Champagne flute. Slowly pour enough Prosecco into the flute to fill. Gently stir to blend. Garnish with the whole berries, as desired, and serve.

Wedding Album

So we will be married for two years on October 6, 2008, and we finally ordered and received a wedding album!






Go to this 33:9383-tq>2">link at mypublisher and enter the following ID and Password:



Your Order ID # is: M760371


Your password is: 1246619

sarah, a trend setter?

So, Jenny told me this week that I should start a blog because I am quite the trend setter among the NC Nesties, and need a blog to showcase my finds. I had set up this blog account for Travis and I a few weeks ago, but have been so busy with work that I hadn't gotten a chance to create any blogs yet.
So here we go, find number one: The most AMAZING brush in the world (or maybe North Carolina)!
This brush is amazing, and does wonders for thick and curly/wavy hair! You can find it here at Ulta. Make sure you order the brush that has natural boar bristles on one side and ionic bristles on the other side. Honestly, I think I should be in sales for this brush!

And find number two: Florentine Meatballs!

Now this is a RR recipe, and usually, I find her dishes tasteless and fatty. This one, stands out for me though. In her original recipe, RR serves the meatballs in a cheese sauce. I adjusted the recipe and serve the meatballs in Trader Joes marinara sauce.

Florentine Meatballs

1 box frozen spinach, defrosted in the microwave
1 1/3 pound (1 package) ground turkey breast
1 medium onion, finely chopped, divided 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup bread crumbs, 3 handfuls
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 2 palm fulls
Coarse salt and black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1/4 cup parsley leaves, chopped


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Wring defrosted spinach dry in a clean kitchen towel. Place turkey in a bowl and make a well in the middle of it. Add the spinach, onion, garlic, 1 large egg, about 1/4 cup milk, bread crumbs, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper. Mix well. Form into 12 large balls and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Arrange on a nonstick cookie sheet and roast 20 minutes, or until cooked through.

Place 3 balls on dinner plates and top with sauce, garnish with parsley.

Next time I make these for Travis and I, I'll post a picture!

our new half bath!

So after living in our house for 2 and a half years, we decided to finally completely finish one of the many rooms in our house. We made it easy on ourselves and started with the smallest room first - the half bathroom downstairs.

This is what the bathroom looked like when we bought the house:





We are not really sure what she was thinking with the color.





Now this is what we did to update and complete the very first room in the house:







Bernadette gave us this picture as an engagement present, it works perfectly!





The "newly" repurposed bathroom vanity!



So that is it! Next room up is the master bathroom (only a year in the making)!