Lily chan’s first birthday party

February 3, 2017February 3, 2017 Caitlyn3 Comments

Last year on January 29th I had resigned to thinking I’d have to be induced because I was already four days overdue with Lillian. We went out for some okonomiyaki in Tokyo and I planned on visiting the cute little old Japanese lady’s bakery around the corner for a croissant the next morning for National Croissant Day. But then the contractions started, and you know the story from there.
This year on the 29th, on the other side of the globe I was busy with our Lillian’s first birthday party in Michigan (though her actual birthday was Monday, the 30th). After lots of prep and planning, I was super excited to celebrate our daughter’s first year with some friends and family.
These flower decorations were really easy to make once I got the hang of it. You can find the tutorial here!Chocolate and (pink) white chocolate dipped madeleines, white chocolate frosted animal cookie bark (you can just see the bark peeking at the top of this photo, but the recipe can be found at Sugar and Cloth, here) and white chocolate raspberry cupcakes rounded out the desserts after a taco bar lunch. My sister in law made the delicious cupcakes!
I loved how the photo booth props I made turned out, and they only took about an hour to make!
I also really loved these guestbook pages I made to go in Lillian’s scrapbook. Everyone could write a special birthday message for Lily on the cherry blossoms.
I made a poster all about Lillian inspired by this one, and although we found out we were a little off on her height and weight at her one year checkup on Tuesday (she’s actually 30 in long and about 23 lbs!), I thought it turned out pretty cute, even if it wasn’t perfect.We of course had to do a little cake smash, even though Lillian *did* have a super adorable cake smash photo shoot with Kara Hanes Photography the day before (more on that in a future post, soon!). Lily seemed to get right into her cupcake, which we think had something to do with the frosted circus animal cookie on top.
My other sister-in-law made Lily’s pink and gold tutu. Isn’t it super adorable!?
I still cannot believe our little girl is already one! She was such a champ at her birthday party despite the business of the day. We were sure to relax a lot with her the rest of the night and the next day on her actual birthday (though we sang Happy Birthday many times, of course!). We are so grateful to all who came to celebrate with us.

Thanks for letting me share!
xx Caitlyn

Food & Cooking · Party

Wine and Cheese Night

January 18, 2015 Caitlyn3 Comments

Next weekend, Chad and I will be moving to a more long-term apartment, and we are super excited! We’ve been talking about how nice it will be to set up a routine in our new neighborhood, to explore together, and to start having friends over. One thing we’ve been talking excitedly about is hosting another wine and cheese party, which got me to thinking I should share pictures from our last one! Now, in advance, I must apologize for the blurry photos, but to my credit, we WERE leaving for Japan in only a few days, and we were also drinking delicious wine!

Throwing a wine and cheese night is a really fun way to get friends together, try delicious wine and cheese, and still keep the cost relatively low for the evening. We asked each guest to bring a bottle of wine and/or cheese, and we provided fruit, chocolate, crackers, bread, summer sausage and olive oil. We also contributed a bottle of Pinot Noir and some Aged Havarti.

As you probably know, although I like drinking wine well enough, beer is more my forte. I barely know anything about pairings for wine, etc., I just know that I like dry reds (and that unfortunately dry reds tend to make me break out! *cries*). This was a fun way for me to expand my horizons!

Havarti is probably my favorite cheese, though raclette comes as a close second!

As the evening progressed, so did a couple selfies…

…and apparently Chad thought it was necessary to balance wine glasses on Ariel’s head…It was really nice so many people were able to make it out–not only for enjoying the wine and cheese, but so that we could say goodbye before leaving (and give away some of our kitchen foodstuffs we were going to be parting with!).
Before the next party, I’m going to research the pairing we choose a little more so I can try and sound really impressive and snobby 😉

What’s your favorite wine and/or pairing?
xx Caitlyn

P.S. Take a look at some of the other parties we had over the last year in the links below!

A Raclette Party (via Amanda) – you KNOW you want to know what a raclette party is!
A Ramen Party – click to learn how to make amazing pot stickers with your friends!
A Hobo Stew Party – sort of like potluck stew 😉
An Oktoberfest Party – amazing food & beer, and fun dessert!
A Parisian-Themed Baby Shower – so beautiful and sweet! You’ll love looking at the food and decor!

Autumn Bucket List · Food & Cooking · Party

Let’s Make Gyoza!

November 3, 2014November 3, 2014 Caitlyn2 Comments

Hi everyone! Last Friday we decided to have a ramen party on Halloween. Not necessarily the most traditional approach, I’ll give you that, but it was definitely awesome. When I posted pictures from our last ramen party, several people asked me about the recipe I used for the gyoza, or pot stickers. I’ve decided to share the recipe with you today, as well as the system my friends and I used to make the gyoza together!

Add a bottle of sake and some nappa cabbage, then subtract the bananas and you’ve got a good start with the ingredients above.

For my version of gyoza filling, I took parts from a few different recipes to create a version that seemed most similar to what I had while living in Japan. What’s really nice about this recipe is that you basically combine all of the ingredients, let them sit in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes to let the flavors meld, and then you’re ready to start preparing the gyoza. Pretty easy stuff!While setting up an assembly line for the gyoza, I remembered the first time I ever made gyoza at a music party in Matsusaka, Japan. (I wrote a rather lengthy post about that Golden Week back in 2009 that was fun to revisit when writing this post 🙂 ) Ariel was in charge of putting water around the edges of the rice paper wrappers, my friend Tia added a spoonful of filling, and I pushed the dumplings together with a gyoza mold I had brought back from Japan.

Sorry for this terrible picture. I blame my brother because he took it 😉

If you don’t have a mold, you can always just assemble the gyoza by hand, pinching together the edges. The mold does make things go much more quickly, however, so you could consider either buying one or being really nice to me so that I send you one. They are pretty inexpensive!

We made an awesome gyoza-making team!

Once you’ve assembled your gyoza, you just heat up a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan, fry for a couple minutes, add hot water, and simmer until cooked through. Meanwhile, you can prepare dipping sauce and snack on other available treats (I made crab rangoons and Amanda made rice balls). Here is our first finished batch of gyoza. So yummy!

Also, because I know you want to drool a bit, above is a picture of one of the bowls of ramen Chad prepared. Now for the gyoza recipe!

Pork Gyoza

Ingredients
8 ounces ground pork
1 large egg
1 Tbs finely chopped ginger (or about a tsp dried ginger)
2 tsp grated garlic (from about 3 large cloves)
1 1/2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp sake (you can also use dry vermouth)
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 c. shredded napa cabbage, blanched until tender yet crisp in boiling salt water
1 green onion, diced
34 gyoza wrappers or round dumpling wrappers
4 Tbs. vegetable oil

Directions

1. Mix together the pork, egg, sesame oil, ginger, scallion, soy sauce, sake, cornstarch, sugar, napa cabbage and onion together in a bowl and refrigerate for twenty minutes.

2. Once the flavors have melded together, place a small bowl of cool water by your work surface and prepare plates on which to place wrappers before and after you’ve assembled the gyoza. Place several wrappers on your first plate and brush the edges of each with water using your finger or a pastry brush.

3. Put a mounded teaspoon of filling in the center of each wrapper, bring the edges together, and seal the edges by using a mold or by making 4 to 6 pleats. Set the completed gyoza on a separate plate, and repeat until you’ve used all of your filling.

4. Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet, and quickly arrange half of the gyoza, cooking until golden brown on one side, about one minute. Add 2/3 cup water to the skillet (it will spatter, so be careful!), cover tightly, and let the gyoza cook until tender, about six minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook until both sides of the gyoza are crisp, and then repeat with the remaining prepared gyoza.

5. While the gyoza are cooking, you can prepare a simple dipping sauce by combining two parts soy sauce, one part white rice wine vinegar, and ginger to taste. Then once everything has been cooked, you’re ready to enjoy!

I hope you like this recipe, and that you try gyoza-making at one of your future get-togethers!
xx Caitlyn

Autumn Bucket List · Party

Autumn Bucket List: Hobo Stew Party

October 23, 2014October 23, 2014 Caitlyn4 Comments

Every fall, my grandparents host a Hobo Stew Party at their lovely home up north. If you don’t know what a Hobo Stew Party is, you’re about to be introduced to a simple, fun gathering in which everyone participates in the main event: the stew!This year’s party took place a couple of weeks ago, and the main idea (as always!) was this: each person attending the party brought their own additions to add to the stew, and after the flavors had a chance to meld together and everything had been cooked through, it was time to eat!Chad and I brought tomatoes from our garden, kidney beans, and a light dessert. Yum!Above is the dessert I made: Mini Santa Maria’s (little cream puffs with shortbread bottoms). They turned out a little eggier than I would have liked, but they looked pretty at the very least! I love this picture of my brother and Ariel at the party.

After eating, a walk was definitely in order, and it was a gorgeous fall day. I finally got to cross blowing dandelion seeds off my list 🙂

We had a really nice time at the Hobo Stew Party. What is your favorite dish or addition to bring to a party?

xx Caitlyn

Food & Cooking · Party

Beer Mug Pretzel DIY

October 15, 2014October 15, 2014 CaitlynLeave a comment

When I was planning my Oktoberfest Party, I scoured the web for fun ideas. I was quite surprised that there wasn’t a whole lot out there for decor and party ideas, so I ended up figuring out a lot of it on my own. One fun idea I did come across was for beer mug pretzels, but I could only find a picture without instructions or more information. Thus, I bring you today: an easy tutorial!

You will need:

*Pretzel Rods
*Mini Pretzels
*Chocolate and White Chocolate Candy Coating
*White Pearl-Shaped Sprinkles
*Food ColoringStart out with a pound or so of chocolate candy coating (depending on how many beer mug pretzels you want to make). Melt the candy according to the directions, and then coat about 2/3 of each pretzel rod. Let the candy harden on parchment paper while you prepare your remaining ingredients.Next pour some of your sprinkles into a bowl so it’s easy to dip your pretzels, and break “handles” off of your mini pretzels. Then melt your white chocolate (you won’t need nearly as much white chocolate as you only put a little on the pretzels). Add food coloring until the “beer” is the color you like. Coat a small portion of the chocolate-covered end of your pretzel rods with the “beer,” and then dip the top in the white sprinkles to make foam. Lastly, add a mini pretzel handle, dipping the handle in a little of your “beer” to help it stay on if necessary.

Let your beer mug pretzels dry on parchment paper or upright in a cup, and then enjoy! I think these could be great for all kinds of parties–perhaps even a tailgating party! What are some of your fun party treat ideas?

xx Caitlyn

P.S. I’ve started one of my thrift store challenge projects, and I am getting super excited! To give you a hint, it has involved a lot of sanding so far! Can’t wait to hear more about what you’ve been coming up with!

Autumn Bucket List · Party

Oktoberfest Party

October 14, 2014 Caitlyn3 Comments

Over the weekend we had an Oktoberfest Party at our house, and it was full of amazing food, good beer, and lots of laughter. It was a smaller sized party, but I loved how relaxed it was. We were even able to hang out outside by a fire in our new fire pit!

As always, I had a lot of fun decorating for the party. I bought the glass jars above from the dollar store, filled them with raffia, and then used glue dots to attach the ribbon and bottle caps. Then, I used the completed jars for utensils.

For good measure, I also tied a ribbon around my mums. Amanda came through with a few pretty pumpkins and some gold beads to add some charm, too.

The most memorable part of the evening was the food. Let me tell you, I could. not. stop. eating. Above you can see some homemade bread, a veggie platter, and a German Stir Fry that my coworker Jake made.

Next up: yummy guacamole made by Chad’s mom, potato salad made by the lovely Ariel, some chex mix, sour kraut and other condiments, and the best brats I have ever had in my life.

I couldn’t get enough of this Oktoberfest Stew Amanda made either!

For dessert I made these fun Beer Mug Pretzels (I’ll have a brief and simple tutorial on how to make them soon!).

Chad’s mom also made this yummy Black Forest Cake for dessert. (I almost forgot to take a picture, and by the time I remembered I may or may not have had a couple of beers, so I apologize for the poor photo.)

Michael was a classic photo bomber.

Amanda was good at it too… 😉

Jake, Amanda and I toward the end of the party

I had a lot of fun preparing for and attending our Oktoberfest Party. I found out that the following day (Sunday, October 12th) was actually the anniversary of the very first ever Oktoberfest. We had great timing!

xx Caitlyn

Food & Cooking · Party · Projects

A Parisian-Themed Baby Shower

September 8, 2014 Caitlyn2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, my coworkers and I decided to throw a French-themed Baby Shower for our friend Caitlin. I am so excited to share pictures from the shower with you!

First off, here is a picture of the gift table. (Can you see that awesome I ❤ Paris bag one of my coworkers made? It turned out so great!)

I made a bunting for the gift table that said “Merci.”

I also made bunting that said, “Bonjour” to go above the food table. To eat, we had cream puffs, skewers with melon, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and pepper, chicken salad-stuffed croissants, mojito fruit salad, a big chicken, bacon and egg salad, and a red velvet cake.

There were three different fillings for the cream puffs: white chocolate, French vanilla and cheesecake. I tried to make the colors red, white and blue for the French flag, but they turned out to be a bit more pink, white and teal. We tried to pretend the colors were to represent our curiosity about whether Caitlin would have a boy or a girl instead (nice way to improvise right?).

I thought this cream puff top looked like a heart, so we saved it especially for the momma-to-be.Is this cake not beautiful!? My friend Amanda hand-painted the cake after making it herself. Magnifique!

Amanda also made this smaller cake to go with the bigger one with the Eiffel tower. Caitlin and her husband Chris decided to save the little cake for after the baby was born.

After admiring the cake and the rest of the beautiful spread, we began to eat. It was at that time I was explaining the flavors of the cream puffs and decided to STICK MY ARM IN THE EIFFEL TOWER. Talk about embarrassing. I was laughing, but trust me, my heart hurt at the thought of even the slightest smudge in the cake Amanda painstakingly made for HOURS. I decided we should get the cake far away from me and have someone responsible cut a few slices out.

Amanda did the honors…

…and the inside of the cake was pretty, too (and delicious!).

As a sort of guest “book,” I drew a little baby wrapped up in a blanket hanging from a few patterned balloon cutouts I made. I wrote “bonjour bébé” on the side of the baby bundle. Then I put a Winnie the Pooh quote at the bottom: “A great adventure is about to begin.” I cut out a bunch of balloons in the same colors as the buntings I made, and then put them in a dish with a marker, glue and instructions nearby. The instructions asked each guest to sign their name with a little message before gluing on the balloon and “attaching” it by drawing on a string.

I think it turned out pretty cute, especially once everyone had added their balloons!

Since it was a coed baby shower, I tried to think of games to play that weren’t too cheesy or girly. On the gift table I set up two baskets, one filled with diapers and one empty. Guests wrote out jokes or other thoughts for Caitlin and her husband to keep them entertained during late-night diaper changes, and then put the diapers in the other basket. I also got M&M’s to do a guessing game (our friend Natalie was kind enough to count them as she arranged them by color to resemble the French flag–there were over 600!).

Lastly, we asked Caitlin for an ultrasound we could use to “Pin the Beret on the Bébé.” We had a lot of fun with this! Here’s Caitlin having a go–she got really close!

I just love this picture of Caitlin laughing while our friend and coworker Dona tried the game!

This one is nice, too!

We also got some really fun pictures of Caitlin opening some of the gifts. Above, you can see that she got a Madeline collection! Lastly, above you can see the pretty invitation Amanda made for the shower (click on it for a larger view). I edited out my address, but you can still get the idea of how fabulous it looked! We have a talented group of friends and coworkers, that’s for sure. The shower would not have been nearly as beautiful and fun without them.

Above is a picture of some of the ladies at the shower with Caitlin in the middle. We had tons of fun celebrating with Caitlin, and were super excited last Tuesday when she finally gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Félicitations!