The beauty of freezing the dough is that you don’t need to let it thaw out before you bake it. You can put the cold, frozen dough right on the cookie sheet and bake to your heart’s content.

This method is nice because you can make dozens of cookies and then bake them whenever you need them. Sometimes, I’ll cut off only 3 cookies, and make those just for myself.

Hope this is useful to you, especially for the holiday baking season.

How to Freeze Cookie Dough for Cookies on Demand!

Baked straight from the freezer

Below is a link to a delicious recipe that I will share. Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. You can freeze this recipe too – I have done it many times:

Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Table Settings:

Festive Treats:

Salted Pumpkin Caramels

Ghost Cake Pops

Candy Corn Fudge

Decor:

Pumpkin Ice Bucket

Halloween Boo Paper Straws Available Here

Halloween-inspired Mantel

Party Favors:

Pumpkin Pouches

 Broom-stick Treats

*You can also visit my Pinterest page for more seasonal ideas

DIY Bar Cart- Emily Henderson

With the holidays impending and bringing with them lots of guests popping in, dinner parties and hopefully a few quiet evenings near the fireplace, what better idea than to set up your very own old-fashioned bar cart?

Bar Cart Ideas- Lacy Cheyenne

Here are a few gorgeous ideas, whether you have a bar cart on hand or just a tray and some console table space. You could choose a few of your favorite drinks, some gorgeous crystal glasses and get as crafty as you have time for.

Mid-Century Decanters- Jolly Time One

I am really kicking myself because I saw these exact decanters above this weekend at a vintage shop for what turns out was a ridiculously low price… and I passed them up… ugh! These would look great on a bar cart or displayed in the kitchen…. you don’t have to be an avid drinker to appreciate that mid-century graphic text.

Vintage Bar Cart- Starbies and Sangrias

All of these images contain links to some awesome blogs that detail their essential mini bar items or their makeovers of garage sale bar cart finds. I loved reading about them and I think if you are interested in this topic you’ll definitely love these links.

DIY Bar Car Makeovers- Mimosas in the Morning

This was a cute one for outdoors, I’d like to have a sturdy one on my patio one day. I’ll take the pink flamingo too!

Bar Cart- Better Decorating Bible

This one is great and showcases adding little organizers to hold bottle openers, fruit, candy, games etc. Love the idea of ultra-organized entertaining.

Bar Cart Makeover- anh-minh

This is a really simple makeover but I qualify it hugely successful, this bar cart only cost $25!!! wow! And look how the marquee sign above transports you back in time!

Bar Cart- Better Decorating Bible

And lastly, I really like bar carts that are integrated into the room like this one. Check out how the lamp and vase are resting on the cart instead of the normal end table. Ease of use. Lots and lots of great ideas here. Definitely adding this to my list of vintage shop items I need to find.

The guest bathroom was finally decorated.

It was all white – white tiles on the floor with a sheepskin rug beside the Victorian clawfoot tub. In the corner was a painted and lightly distressed wooden chair, on which were stacked a pile of White Company towels.

It remained for her to place the pure white little pouch she had tied up with white satin ribbon, over the taps…..

Great gifts or heavenly indulgence; simple to put together but decadent to enjoy – little pouches of natural ingredients.

Gather together:

Muslin, Organic porridge oats, herbs, ribbon or string

• Cut the muslin into squares, 20 x 20cm
• Place a handful of oats in the centre together with a few herbs.
• Gather together and tie with the ribbon – so that there is enough length to hang on the hot tap.
• As a gift – line a small box with fabric and place a selection of bath bags inside.

Herbs to choose from;

• Lavender flowers (relaxation)
• Mint (invigorating)
• Rosemary (energizing)
• Vervain (calming)
• Thyme (antibacterial)
• Fennel seeds and leaves (cleansing)

The organic oats provide a natural and magical way to soften skin.

Reference Cabbages & Roses, Ocean Organics, Lyonsleaf.

Image

“The art of seduction is knowing what she really wants and slowly giving it to her in a way that takes her breath away”

I have stolen this quote from this very beautiful blog, because it took my breath away.

It’s no secret that love of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the first step in the lifelong journey that made us into the Tower we are today. So we thought it appropriate to give a rundown of their most recent premiere. Quick and easy, the Turtles are back in full force.

It’s fresh yet familiar and fits right into the wave of high quality SatAM that’s been slowly making a comeback. The action is amazing, and intense. And the throwbacks to all versions of the turtles, ’03, ’87 and Mirage, are much appreciated. It’s much lighter in tone than some of its contemporaries, like Korra or Young Justice, but you need some lightheartedness in a kids industry.

We say ‘kids’ with the utmost respect. Like Pixar and other sources of high quality animation, kids genres are really among the best out there. Appropriate for children, but still engaging for adults. And as comics and cartoons have proven, if the source material is strong enough it can really grow into a universally good experience in storytelling, like The Dark Knight Saga. That’s the business we’re in too.

Details after the jump.

Jump! oldschool style.

TMNT is an interesting franchise. Like Batman, it can take on wildly different tones, from dark and gritty to funny and campy. As long as you keep to a few essential characterizations and beats in the origin story (I’m looking at you Alien Turtles…and Venus) you can take liberties with almost everything else and still find an audience.

What’s essential to the feel of Ninja Turtles? Group dynamics. You have the fun guy, the smart guy, the tough guy, and the serious guy. It’s a winning combination not lost on this new incarnation of the fearsome fighting team. “Who’s your favorite turtle” is always the first thing you ask a fan. Nickelodeon’s promotions team wisely picked up on this. (Raph and Leo at the Tower btw.)

Choose Your Character

What’s most different this time around is that the cast reads a whole lot younger than usual. The turtles feel like kids fresh into highschool age instead of older teens. Splinter is middle instead of old aged. Mike is louder and more of ‘the fool’ than usual; Raph is more of a jock than a brooding loner; Leo isn’t an exemplary hero himself yet but is a fan of that archetype; and Don is sarcastic, he’s smarter than the rest and he knows it. But his overt crush on April, who is of course literally aged down to being 16, is admittedly strange.

It’s an interesting shake up to the formula, and the writing makes it work for the most part. There’s room for character development down the line. You could easily see these turtles maturing into their Movie 2007 counterparts.

Decrease Age, Increase Saturation. But come on, not one in the same place in the lineup?

Ciro Nieli’s stamp of teen shows, like Teen Titans before, is all over this set of turtles however. Not a huge fan of the Wingding Eyes, and over exaggerated anime markers but they add a little flavor to a few moments. Still subtlety is best.

Not gonna get too much into the plot but the throwbacks to the 87 series are evident from the hip hop remix theme song. Happy to see that mutant enemies are back in full force, something introduced in the Fred Wolf Turtles that was typically frowned upon by Laird and Eastman but works well.

The only thing that struck out as cringeworthy was the way the Kraang talk, but all in all, there are few things to complain about if you’re a fan of turtles. The animation is slick, the action is intense, and the writing is snappy. The characterizations have changed slightly but the high quality voice acting keeps it believable, and though I have some nitpicks, it was just fun to watch. 

The series can go in any number of directions from here, but for the hour long series premiere it shows a lot of promise. The Tower gives it a stamp of approval, 7/10.

Watch the episode on the official site, (if they don’t upload it themselves, the piraters will)

Cowabunga – I mean, Booyakasha!

]]> http://savvyentertaining.com/2012/09/26/event-ticket-invitations/ Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:45:45 +0000 Shanna Hatfield http://savvyentertaining.com/2012/09/26/event-ticket-invitations/ http://savvyentertaining.com/2012/09/21/chocolate-pavlova/ Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:56:58 +0000 Shanna Hatfield http://savvyentertaining.com/2012/09/21/chocolate-pavlova/ http://savvyentertaining.com/2012/09/18/back-to-school-party-for-parents/ Tue, 18 Sep 2012 14:44:51 +0000 Shanna Hatfield http://savvyentertaining.com/2012/09/18/back-to-school-party-for-parents/ http://entertaininginspirations.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/color-inspiration-for-holiday-entertaining/ Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:25:46 +0000 Debbie J. Elder http://entertaininginspirations.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/color-inspiration-for-holiday-entertaining/

I’ve been thinking about the upcoming holidays and the traditional color schemes for  entertaining this time of year: black and orange for Halloween; gold, cooper, brown for Thanksgiving; and red and forest green for Christmas.  This year I want to incorporate something new, something more trendy so I looked at the 2012 fall fashion colors.  The Pantone Fall 2012 Colors include a bright shade of purple (the fashion trade refers to it as rhapsody, sugar plum, and gothic grape).  I like a little darker shade — more plum and mulberry is more my style.  I’m going to mix up the color wheel by combining olympian blue with ultramarine green (really the shade of billiard tables) together in what I hope turns out to be a smoky teal green.  I’ll add a touch of rose smoke and flashy pink flambe’ for fun, and I’ve found my color scheme for entertaining this season.

As I dream of fall parties, the perfect holiday table for me will be set with a  tablecloth in an almost rose smoke color called Acorn Contour (from BBJ Linens) around $33.00.  Next I’ll add pink flambe’ handmade fabric runners.  Each mat will drape across the table and serve as individual placements (so you’ll only need one runner for every two guests.)  Pick up fabric at a discount online, at Hobby Lobby or any fabric store and make these simple runners yourself.

For an over-the-top tablescape, I’ve chosen Biltmore Inspirations’ Lotus Leaf Platters to serve as the charger plates for each place setting.  Because these platters are so big, bold and beautiful, I won’t be removing them before serving dinner, even though etiquette books dictate otherwise.  Each gorgeous platter measures 12″L x 18″W x 2.5″H and retails for $69.98/each.  With six to eight of these on the table, this will make a dramatic statement.

Lotus Leaf Tableware

On top of each charger, guests will find a brightly colored braided fuchsia placemat with wavy design. Each mat measures 15″ in diameter.  Found online at Gifted Solution (4 for $16.00).

For serving dishes, I’ve incorporated Biltmore Inspiration’s Pisgah Baking Dishes.  The color of these dishes resemble the soft smoky teal-green Blue Ridge Mountains in Asheville, North Carolina, the corporate home to both the Biltmore Estate and  it’s newest division, Biltmore Inspirations.  The single large baking dish measures 11.25″Dia. x 2.75″H and serves  as the dinner plate ($35.98).  The smaller baking dish 10″ Dia x. 2.25″ will be used for any first courses ($45.98 set of two that includes a 8.5″Dia x 2″H dish).  Perfect for serving soup or salad.

Pisgah Baking Dishes

Each of the Pisgah Baking Dishes are separated by an eggplant colored linen napkin that measures 21″ x 21″ at $10.00/each.  This one’s called malbec from Linoto.   A great color for dabbing those Cabernet wine stains off your lips between courses.

I envision the table to be decorated with similar colored fresh farmer’s market produce.  Purple cabbage, purple potatoes, dark kale, Chinese eggplant, asparagus, and leafy green Brussels sprouts should be ideal.

Other decorative centerpiece details include Biltmore’s new Pisgah Canisters ($59.98 for set of two).  Same beautiful blue-green color as the baking dishes.  The large measures 4.5″Dia x 13.125″H, and medium 5″Dia x 8.625″H).

Biltmore’s Pisgah Canisters & Pedestal Dish

Biltmore’s French Market Buckets

Centered on the table are Biltmore’s French Market Flower Buckets $99.98 set of two (large 8″Dia. at top x 6″ Dia. at bottom x 18″ H. and medium 7″Dia. at top x 4.5″ Dia at bottom x 14″H) filled with silk hydrangeas, chrysanthemums, and other favorite flowers and greenery.

A pair of Biltmore’s Courtyard Lanterns (large 5.75″W x 5.75″D x 13″H $42.98 and small 4″W x 3.5″D x 8″H set of two for $32.98) holding mulberry colored pillar candles completes the tablescape.

Biltmore’s Courtyard Lanterns

Ideally, guests this season will include precious little friends wearing matching velvet dresses and jackets and deep eggplant colored bows in their hair like this one.

The finished table setting should bring lots of ooh’s and ah’s to this year’s festivities.  What do you think?

Autumn-Inspired Tablesetting from Biltmore Inspirations

Festive Tablescape from Biltmore Inspirations

Biltmore products can be ordered at my website.

<– Sonic Screwdrivers

Makes 6 – PREP 5 mins plus chilling – NO COOK -Easy

Ingredients

3 cups orange juice

3 ripe peaches, peeled, stoned and pureed

4-5 cups lemonade

few mint leaves

few handfuls ice

Directions

1. Chill the juices, peach puree and lemonade for at least 1-2 hrs before serving.

2. Divide ice and mint leaves between glasses. Mix the juice and puree together and pour over the ice. Carefully top with the lemonade.