{host your own series: importance of a toast}

For the newest post in our Host Your Own series, Kevin is talking about the importance of a toast during a dinner party or gathering- even if you aren't celebrating any particular special event.  Head over and check out his advice, then head back here tomorrow for the full post on our most recent dinner party including the full menu!

{simple late winter floral arrangement}

The past weekend, I headed out to the flower mart to pick up supplies to create a small arrangement to set our table for a dinner party.  My normal go-to flower is white hydrangea since they are so large that you only need one bunch of them to really fill a vase and the look is very classic and fresh.  This time, I really wanted to branch out and create something that felt a little more organic and natural.  I ended up with two bunches of ranunculus in peach and white, blue thistle and some seeded stem to add greenery.  

One of my favorite wedding blogs, The Wedding Chicks,  does a weekly "bouquet recipe" feature that breaks down exactly which flowers make up a certain type of bouquet.  Inspired by these posts, I thought it would be fun to share the arrangement I made and even break down the exact flowers I used...

{friday cocktail: mandarin honey sparkler}

I am always on the hunt for new champagne cocktail recipes and while nothing can beat the original, this week's recipe is definitely one of my new favorites.  Always Order Dessert just featured this recipe for gin and honey soaked mandarins for use in cocktails and I figured this would be the perfect cocktail to greet our guests with at an upcoming dinner party we are hosting this weekend.   The original recipe calls for mandarin sections canned in water not light syrup, but since my local store had no less than SIX different canned options in light syrup and not one option in water I figured my chances of finding the correct version elsewhere was going to be slim.  While the resulting cocktail is sweet, it is definitely not overpowering so I would say you are fine to substitute the mandarins in light syrup so long as you give them a good rinse in cold water after draining the syrup. 

 

The original recipe also suggested trying this with raspberries, which I thought could lend itself perfectly to some sort of muddled cocktail (perhaps this will be next week's recipe). Oh and also just so you know- these soaked mandarins are like candy when eaten alone using a fork to fish them out of the container- just saying.

First whip up a batch of the soaked mandarins at least 24 hours ahead of

 time and then follow this recipe:

Cheers!