{moroccan mint tea}

As I mentioned in yesterday's Marrakech itinerary, we drank a lot of mint tea during our time in Morocco and it turned out to be one of my favorite ways to end a meal or wind down in the afternoon. Moroccans take a lot of pride in their own individual way of preparing mint tea and no two places served it quite the same.  After trying mint tea about 6 or 7 times throughout our 4 days in Marrakech, I have found I prefer the ones that are prepared a little more on the sweet side and are garnished with fresh mint.  I enjoyed the traditional tea so much I made sure to pick up a set of 6 gold rimmed Moroccan tea glasses from the souks.  Read below for the recipe on the correct way to prepare Moroccan mint tea- perfect for your next lazy Sunday afternoon!

 {moroccan tea glasses I brought home from Marrakech- find similar ones here or here}

Traditional Moroccan Mint Tea

what you need:

• 1 bunch fresh mint leaves
• 6 teaspoons gunpowder black tea - I used this one since I couldn't get a hold of gunpowder black tea. 
• boiling water: 6oz per serving of tea
• 1/4 cup cane sugar

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of loose tea to teapot for every 6oz of water (6oz = 1 serving of tea) you plan to make. 
3. Pour in about a cup or two of boiling water and let the loose tea steep for 1 minute.  Pour out water, but leave steeped loose tea in teapot. 
4. Add a healthy handful of fresh mint leaves and the 1/4 cup of sugar to the tea pot.  
5. Pour in boiling water - 6 oz for every serving of tea.
6. Leave tea to steep for 5 minutes.
7. Pour out one cup of tea into a glass and then immediately pour it back into the teapot.  This will help dissolve the last of the sugar. 
8. Garnish tea glasses with a sprig of fresh mint and pour tea into each glass until it is about halfway full.  Not filling the glass all the way to the top allows for the mint aroma to build in the top of the glass.
9. Enjoy!

{friday cocktail: a trio of sugar rimmed recipes}

At first when Fresh Origins offered to send me over a pack of their crystal cocktail rimmers I didn't exactly jump at the idea since sugared glasses remind me of bad cocktail bars, but then when I took closer look at the intriguing flavor line-up they have I couldn't resist!  I enjoy the chance to add flavor elements to otherwise simple cocktails through the use of bitters and I figured these herbal/floral sugar crystals in flavors like fennel and cilantro could serve a similar purpose.  

For this Friday's cocktail post, I whipped up three different drinks using the rose petal, fennel and basil crystals.  Of course I love how all of these turned out, but the refreshing Garden Tonic using the basil crystals was by far my favorite.  You could easily substitute champagne in the place of the tonic for this one if you wanna get a bit more fancy with it.

Cheers!

{sequins & bow ties party recap}

The weekend before last, we hosted our "sequins & bow ties" themed going away party.  I absolutely loved this theme from the very beginning and was so excited to see what our friends would wear.  Who doesnt want an excuse to break out some sequins?!?!  We started this party later in the evening and served all our favorite party snacks like our burnt habanero crema salsa and sausage bites (both of which are always picked clean by the night's end) along with some new additions like a gourmet popcorn spread.  For drinks, we kept it simple with everyone's favorite whiskey punch recipe and various champagne cocktail supplies along with the usual selections of wine and beer.

In lieu of a photobooth, we picked up 10 packs of Fuji Instax film and let all of guests capture the night as well as display the shots on our kitchen chalkboard.  Nothing can really replace a photobooth in my heart, but this set up came really close especially since guests could check out all the snapshots up on the board as the night progressed.

Although I did not take as many photos as I normally do since I was trying to spend time saying our goodbyes, I was able to capture some of the little details from the party including all the party food and decor to share with you along with some instagram shots near the bottom...

{champagne cocktail supplies}

{glitzy bar set up}

{simple snacks sprinkled around the loft}

{all the savory party staples: burnt habanero crema, bacon wrapped dates & sausage bites}

{gourment popcorn bar including parmesan seaweed popcorn, funfetti popcorn & sriracha

 lime popcorn (the hands down favorite of the evening)}

{red velvet whoopie pies- same ones we served at our housewarming party for the loft so it seemed fitting to pick them up for our going away bash}

{so much sparkle!}

{some of the guests' instagram shots}

{all the instax shots from the evening}

{easy and inexpensive decor for the deck: alternating metallic gold and white fringe drape}

This party was an amazing send off and a great way to get in some quality time with our closest friends while forcing them to dress up!  We are truly lucky to have had the new and old friends we were surrounded with in our 4 years in LA and I can't wait to see what Chicago holds for us!