Modern Hostess

Cupcakes are everywhere. While the yummy, sweet ones I now leave to the masters at Clementine Cupcakes and Occasional Cakes, I had to find a new use for my cupcake pans! I came across several tasty, savory ones. Whether you are up for Mexican, Asian or comfort food these cupcake size treats are perfect for your next summer party on the patio, or Sunday brunch.

For Cinco de Mayo tomorrow, try Taco Cupcakes by The Girl who ate Everything along side a pitcher of Margaritas. You could easily try these with ground pork, turkey or make them vegetarian, and maybe add some sliced jalepenos too.

For brunch try Quiche Prosciutto Cups from Epicurious. I might try a green olive tapenade in place of the black olives. Do I hear mimosas calling?

Asian Chicken Salad in Wonton Cups by The Food in my Beard. I really like the look and flavor of the shredded carrots, cucumber and shallots in this recipe.

The crab filing for these Mini Crab Cake cupcakes from Epicurious can be made the day before. I love that the “crust” is made with panko bread crumbs, which are lighter and crispier than traditional bread crumbs.

For colder nights these Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes by Bev Cooks look super easy. I’d like to try them in a cast iron cupcake pan over a summer campfire.

These Mango Curry Shrimp Wonton Cups from Epicurious are packed with flavor and would go great with your favorite Sauvignon Blanc or dry Riesling.

Cheers! Chris

My friend Shayna (aka ‘BFF’ ) just celebrated her Bridal Shower a couple of weeks ago. The maids and I hosted a fiesta lunch for Shayna’s closest family and friends. We decided to go with the fiesta theme for a couple of reasons Mexico is one of the bride and grooms favorite vacation destinations and 2 (the most exciting reason for me personally) the bridesmaids and I needed to get in the groove for our 5 day girls trip to Cabo in April! Why not host a fiesta?! The food was over the top and the margaritas A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Here are the details……

Invitation: The wedding colors are orange and pink so we decided to carry that into the bridal shower, invitations designed by Card Store.com

Party Favors: A family secret of spices from Shayna’s side of the family. We were all excited to have our own jar (I snuck 2, but don’t tell the other girls). Our Modern Hostess Christine of Graphic Bungalow designed the labels (Chris also designed the save the date and wedding invitations- she’s an AMAZINGLY talented graphic designer). Ribbon and wedding favor jars are from Michaels.

Outdoor decor: We rented cocktail height tables from Taylor Rentals for the patio. I’m Pom obsessed as you may know already. I made some bright poms using this tutorial seen here. Super easy and an inexpensive way to add some color.

Appetizers: Individual 7 layer dips & Guacamole Bruschetta {recipe}.

Lunch: Beautiful salad, Mini Taco Bowls {recipe} carnitas, chicken, rice and beans.

Drinks: Iced Tea, Spa Water and Pink Grapefruit Margaritas {recipe}! The outer drink dispensers are from Z Gallerie and the Chalk board tags are from Sur La Table.

Dessert: Margarita Cupcakes {recipe} & Coconut Lime Cookies {recipe}.

The Beautiful Bride (center) and her maids- Teresa, Cortnie, Steph & Katie. Looking forward to the weeks to come with bachelorette, rehearsal and the wedding!

Happy Bridal Shower Shayna! The countdown is on for M-E-X-I-C-O!

Cheers!

~Steph~

I love Cake pops; they make great party favors – so am really excited to bring you this Cake Pops tutorial from our friend Christina at Occasional Cakes in Sonoma, who makes some of the most beautiful and tasty cakes.

First bake & cool a cake. Hand crumble it, and add frosting until it gets to this sort of mushy consistency. The cake balls in the background are not yet refrigerated & hold their shape well.

Refrigerated the cake balls in order to make them as firm as possible. I’ve read 20 minutes in the freezer will do the job – about 1 hour in the fridge worked for me.

I melted the white chocolate in the double boiler. Let it sit for a while, stirring occasionally, until it’s very hot & liquid-like. Dip the end of the popsicle stick, tap off the excess chocolate & push about 1/2-way through the cake ball. They should stand-up like this, no problem.

For dipping of the cake pop, the chocolate should be liquidy enough to dip the entire ball & lift out. It is important to make sure your cake balls are firm and cold enough so they will not break off of the stick. Hold the cake pop at an angle & twirl the excess chocolate so it doesn’t run down the stick. Gently tap the stick against your double boiler so excess chocolate comes off.

I then set them in styrofoam (with pre-set holes). You can also use an egg crate or anything with holes to hold lollipop sticks. The chocolate will set fairly quickly, maybe about 10 minutes. They should be placed back into the refrigerator for “optimal solidness”. Only handle or package after they’re “dry”, or not sticky at all.

I found that placing them back into the styrofoam helped with the bagging and tying stage. These bags are specifically designed for cake pops and the ribbons were custom ordered with the company’s name.

Thanks Christina! Cheers, Chris

Just finished these up last night for B’s 6th Birthday! I am SO late on getting these out as the party is only 8 days away. I’m only human and figure it’s better late than never, right?!

I had a hard time deciding on which direction to go with the invites. I really liked several seen- here, here, and here. But ultimately my inspiration was from the blog- Forget Laundry. She has a fabulous detective party on her site.

Here is my version of ‘The Secret Agent’ party:

And the Birthday Boy Brayden!

Stay posted for The Secret Agent party coming up in the weeks to come.

Cheers!

~Steph~

When an interior designer, cater, and her crafty friends get together to host a baby shower you can believe it is anything but ordinary.  This “Little Man” baby shower was shared by Whitney, an interior designer by day.  The special event was put together with love for a great friend, Stacey.  Many details for the shower were inspired by the father-to-be.  The airplane mechanic Daddy likes: beer, cigars, whiskey, and great food. The colors were pulled from the colors of the bedding in hopes that she could use any of the decor in the nursery if she wanted. Nearly everything was handmade for this shower from the accordion circles to the cupcakes stands.  A time saving tip that Whitney shared with me was how the shower hostesses were able to use group Pinterest board to share ideas and brainstorm and google documents to organize details without having to meet up too many times. Thanks for the tip!  The photos are provided by Sherfield Photography and party details can be found below the great photos.

Party Details
Invitations~ Designed by Whitney

Decorations~
The hanging accordion circles hung with twine, the banner, cupcake toppers, and cards were handmade.  The vintage images were from Graphics Fairy.  (Good to know for future design projects)

Motorcycle Cake~ I love this  “manly” version of a diaper cake

Dapper onesies~ made by Audra

Ammunition cartons~ make a great chip container

Cupcake stands~ pizza pans and glass candlestick from the dollar store, spray painted silver. Crafty!

Stogie ‘Stache Party Favor~ chocolate dipped pretzel sticks that with coordinating sprinkles and some were drizzled with white chocolate.

Mustache Cups~ cups form the Dollar store with mustache stickers cut out with a Cricut machine. Brilliant!

Menu~ this is such a creative menu put together with help from Roaming Bird BBQ
Tri-Tip Sandwiches with BBQ sauce
Little Smokies
Bow-Tie Pasta Salad
7-Layer Mexican Dip
Fruit Salad
Yellow cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
“Little Man Beer” (root beer)
“Whiskey Sour” (iced tea)