Tag at your risk.

I've been working on a few projects for the wedding and have been testing out some different spray paints. I found the best spray paint I've ever used at one of the art stores in Cambridge. It is Montana Spray Paints. This artist grade paint could make the graffiti on the side walks in Central Square look like pure art! They have the most saturated colors and a great matte finish. It makes me want to go tag a wall somewhere. So if you see a small curly headed girl with great shoes in a hoodie around town defacing public property, stop me! Just kidding, I'll try to control myself. So, try out these paints next time you are doing some aerosol painting. I think you will fall in love too... just don't go tagging walls or anything. Leave that to the "Krylon touch"...this stuff is too good for that.

Oh My! Mai Tai!

All the great weather this week has gotten me in a very summery mood! So of course my thoughts turn to ideas of barbeques and fruty beverages. Here is the dessert and drink pairing we had this evening. Both are a take on old classics. The drink is a mango mai tai and the dessert is a mango-pineapple upside down cake. I garnished the tasty cocktail with a skewer of mango mellon balls and pineapple chunks for a refeshing fruit treat. The cake was made in a cupcake pan for an adorable individual serving. Both items went over with a splash! Try them yourself! Delicious!

Mango Mai Tai:
1/4 c. Tropicana Mango-Passionfruit-Peach juice
1/4 c. Pineapple juice
1 oz Light Rum
1 oz Peach Schnapps

Shake together with ice in a cocktail shaker. Pour over ice to serve.

Pineapple-Mango Upside Down Cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 can pinapple rings
1 mango "mellon balled"
1 c. dark brown sugar
1 stick butter

Melt butter and brown sugar in sauce pan until combined. Pour brown sugar mixture into bottom of baking pan. Arrange pineapple rings on bottom of baking pan. Prepare box cake mix with pineapple juice from can instead of water. Pour cake mix into baking pan over pineapple rings. Bake as instructed on box. Allow to cool completely before turning out cake on serving plate. I found great results using a flexible silicone pan for this, because the cake just pops out easily. If you don't have one of these great marvels of modern technology, use parchment on the bottom of your pan and butter liberally. Bon Appetite!

Paper...and more!

I found a great source for beautiful paper for our invitations, and thought I would share! I love their metallic card stock and matching metallic envelopes! It's great for those of us who want lots of options for color and weight. I'm sort of picky with those things ;-) Check them out for all your paper needs:

www.paperandmore.com

Invite Marilyn to Dinner

CB2, as you all know, is one of my favorite online purveyors of all things for the home. It's the cooler (and in my opinion more stylish) sister of Crate and Barrel. I have to share these super cool Marilyn Monroe glass plates that I've found, only $3.95 at CB2! This iconic Andy Warhol image would look great on my table! Now next time you come over our place for dinner, you might get to have dessert with Marilyn too!

www.cb2.com

Headpiece Headstart

I've gotten some questions about my progress on my headpiece for the wedding. I was waiting on some additional materials I had ordered, and they finally arrived! I wanted to get some white peacock sword feathers, as seen in the picture in one of my previous postings. These were remarkably hard to find. Who knew albino peacocks are not all that common. I finally found them from a woman in Oregon that raises peacocks and sells gorgeous feathers! I received my package of feathers this week!! WOW! I highly recommend her for your peacock feather needs: http://www.peacocksforever.com/pwhif.htm

I'm also including a picture I've been looking to for inspiration for my headpiece! Enjoy!

The Black Keys: Attack & Release

The Black Keys are the guitar and drums duo that made me believe that rock-and-roll was not dead. On the contrary, they have brought it back with a such a hard driving soul that I am now a true believer. Their prior albums possess a raw rock honesty that had me at "thickfreakness". Their newest album, "Attack & Release," is the first album which has been produced with "Danger Mouse". You might remember "Danger Mouse" from his 2004 project with Jay-Z that remixed the revered Beatles' "White Album" with Jay-Z's "Black Album" to create the "Gray Album"... a risky move, but brilliant nonetheless. So back to the Keys... The new album definitely possesses a polish that had yet to been achieved on their earlier albums. The result is a much more hard rock meets psychedelia feel reminiscent of Black Sabbath. I also like their added instrumentation. The banjo is not-to-be-missed on "Psychotic Girl," and the flute line on "Same Old Thing" would make Ian Anderson proud. The new tracks and polished sound on "Attack & Release" makes me even more excited to see The Black Keys again when they come to Boston in May! Mark your calenders, kids, they will knock your socks off!