early fourth of july bbq

Growing up in the middle of nowhere, my town used to put on a fireworks show a week or so before July 4th (due to fearing the residents would go to a larger fireworks show in neighboring towns instead of ours). In honor of this ritual, we celebrated with a BBQ.

The evening began with some Pimms and cheeses. We continued with hot dogs, cheeseburgers, veggie burgers, potato salad, cole slaw, and garlic basil corn... the usual June 23nd pseudo-July-4th-BBQ spread. We wrapped up the evening with strawberry shortcake and called it a night after relaxing under the lanterns. Looking forward to the real July 4th filled with sparklers and a quiet night in.

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mineral specimen bottle stoppers

A couple of weeks ago I completed the easiest and most hands-off craft project. I was inspired by glass bottle stoppers that used similar specimens...but priced one of their stoppers at $60 each. Eek! For that price I was able to make 12 of these!

 

All you need is some craft glue, corks, and mineral specimens of your choice (easily found on etsy or amazon)! It's very simple: put some craft glue on the larger side of the cork, place flattest section of specimen on glued spot, let stand and dry overnight. Ta-da! Craft complete! Easy way to spruce up your collection.

Tomorrow I have a bridal shower in Western Mass to attend so I am bringing one of my homemade gifts...

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welcome to nantucket

T and I booked it out of Boston on Friday like a 5th grader escaping out of school on the final day before summer vacay. We caught the express ferry and arrived at Nantucket for our 5-year anniversary celebration. 

After a quick bottle of bubbly, we headed out to dinner at Ventuno.

 

After an afternoon of traveling and a filling dinner we called it an early night. Our first full day was filled with exploring the island in my Marc by Marc Jacobs mouse flats.

 

We ended the evening with dinner at American Seasons and ice cream at the juice guys. We rested up for our big lighthouse day the next day!

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restaurant week and easter

Back to the Northeast and back to eating, drinking, and decorating.  Unfortunately I was only able to take advantage of the Boston Winter Restaurant Week for one dinner. Fortunately, it was at one of my favorite places that serve the best range of cocktails that I have found in this city, Marliave.

You can find their extensive cocktail menu here.

I started with the escargot with garlic, shallots, butter, parsley, cognac, parmesan, and toasted bread served in a Staub escargot dish that was gorgeous and super functional:

This was the highlight of the meal (other than the delicious cocktails of course!) but I continued with the chicken and ended with the cheese assortment. The cheese was delicious and the perfect size for an after-meal nibble. The chicken was mediocre, but I am a very harsh chicken-judge after being raised with 1,726 different preparations of chicken for every meal of the week by my mother. Some believe ordering chicken while at a restaurant is a waste, but on the other hand, I believe in order for a chicken dish to make it on the menu at a nice restaurant, there must be a reason...somehow these chefs must have jazzed up the chicken in order for it to make one of the coveted 4-7 entree spots.

On the home-front my newest additions are my meyer lemon, key lime, and olive trees along with my white rose wreath!

 I'm in love with them and am already eye-ing the newly-listed herbs and trees in the new Agrarian section of Williams-Sonoma.

In other news, my mother has always been enthused about every holiday that ever comes around; her favorites include Halloween, Valentine's Day, and Easter. Mostly she loves any holiday that has their own soap or boxer collection.  Every year at summer camp, college, or even after school, I receive an overly-stuffed care-package chock full of goodies and embarrassingly covered in holiday stickers. Yesterday this bad-boy arrived on our porch:

I disposed of the bunny-covered box, and apologize for the poor-quality photograph I was just too excited. The big-hitters include the soap in the chicken container, bunny sour patch kids, bubble gum eggs, socks, a bunny dog-toy for Erin, a bunny cat-nip toy for Moosey, Lindt carrots, chocolate covered Jelly Bellys (which are odd and the verdict is still out on these...), and of course the rabbit stuffed-animal. Happy Easter!

Instructions here

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