Cube of Conversation

Party Game/Activity.

Do you ever have those last moment panics before a dinner party when you're not sure if your guests are going to hit it off. Will there be those uncomfortable moments of silence? Will you spend your entire dinner keeping the conversation going and thus not eating a single bite of the food that spent all day preparing?

No need to worry any longer, Table Topics has created conversation cubes that are sure to keep the banter booming. TT's newest cubes are titled Dinner Party or Not Your Mom's Dinner Party and contain 135 thought-provoking questions.



I personally love the idea of the Not Your Mom's Dinner Party Cards, because I would love to know the answers that my guests would provide to any of these examples:

Is public nudity beautiful or inappropriate?
What song would you like to sing at karaoke?
What’s the biggest crime you’ve committed?

And don't forget to check out the Table Topics site for some of their other great products - from place cards to coasters to wine napkins.

Stylish Stool DIY

DIY.

I saw this project in the May issue of Instyle Magazine and thought it would be such an easy and inexpensive project to do. And talk about adding some personality to your home!

All you need is:

an inexpensive stool (I happen to like this $13 option from Ikea)
decals (try carstickers.com, isymbolz.com, mainelysign.com, and identicards.com)
craft knife
paint (if you don't like the base color of your stool).

With the craft knife, trim along the edges of the decal (in the case of this photo, all of the black edges). Remove the paper backing and apply to the stool (which you should have painted before). Carefully peel away the matte top layer.

Who knew that fun, stylish, and frugal could be so easy?

Rosemary Flatbread with Blue Cheese, Grapes and Honey

Food.

The Italians serve focaccia or schiacciata, which means “smashed” or “flattened” in Italian, as a way to use leftover grapes from harvest. This intrigued me because with fall fast approaching I have been searching for alternates to my normal summer appetizers.

When I saw the below recipe in Food and Wine magazine, I knew I needed to give it a go. The results where phenomenal, each bite has a contrasting flavor of sweet and salty and the bread is just the right thickness for the perfect amount of crunch.

Normally, when entertaining I like to have the meal prepared and ready to go. But this bread is worth breaking the rules. You can prepare the majority ahead of time and have the oven pre-heating so that when the guests arrive it just takes a quick 15 minutes from oven to table. The smell of fresh baked bread is so comforting and inviting.

A couple of tips:
If you don’t have a pizza stone you can heat up a baking sheet in the oven before placing the flatbread.

If the thought of yeast makes you uneasy you can cheat the system and shave off some valuable time by purchasing ready made pizza dough. The results are not quite the same but still delicious.

If you would like to serve this as more of a meal then you can easily reduce the salt and add Prosciutto or any other cured meats. I like to serve with a side of honey.


Ingredients
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling
3/4 cup warm water
2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound red grapes (1 1/2 cups)
Coarse sea salt
3 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon snipped chives

Directions
In a large bowl, whisk the yeast and sugar with 1/4 cup of the flour. Stir in 1/4 cup of the warm water and let stand until slightly foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the rosemary, fine salt, pepper and the remaining 1 3/4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of water; stir until a dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a draft-free spot until billowy and doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450°. Place a pizza stone in the bottom of the oven, and preheat for at least 30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Press and stretch the dough into a 13-inch round, then transfer to a lightly floured pizza peel. Press the grapes into the dough and sprinkle with sea salt.

Slide the flatbread onto the hot stone and bake for about 12 minutes, until the crust is golden and the grapes have begun to release some of their juices. Sprinkle the blue cheese on top and bake for about 2 minutes longer, until the cheese melts. Slide the flatbread onto a work surface and drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with the chives. Cut into wedges and serve.

Coffee Cuff

Maybe it’s my love of coffee…but I find this genius. Who wouldn’t like to have a cool bracelet and a coffee cuff in one?

Contexture design has come up with an elegant wooden bracelet that can slip off your wrist and onto your coffee cup. Fashion + function. Plus it is handmade from reclaimed architectural veneer offcuts.

It is a bit of a splurge at $68 Canadian, but totally worth it when you imagine the scenario. You have just grabbed a cup of coffee with your co-workers after receiving compliments all day on your swanky new bracelet. Then the barista hands you your cup of joe with the cardboard coozy. To which you reply, no need to waste paper, I have my own. That is so James Bond!

Where do you find inspiration?

I am a morning person…I love to get out of bed, fix my cup of coffee and search the internet in total peace and quiet before the phone starts ringing, blackberry starts buzzing and my husband and dog arise. It is easily my favorite hour of the day.

I realized today that in this early morning zen moment, I usually find myself drifting towards the Bellocchio website. It’s funny because most of what they have is beautiful yet totally impractical for me at this moment in time. I dream of one day having a room filled with treasures like straight pins with Murano glass heads contained in a small, shagreen-style box with a blue label. And to go with the perfect straight pin you would also need a European flat head construction safety pin, with a tiny ball at the base that is made in France and contained in the perfect little green box.



I would also definitely need a pair of Charles X scissors complete with mother of pearl handles.


And who doesn’t need a Navette with cotton twine? Even though I am not sure what it is the presentation is fantastic.

And just in case a non-beautiful object might make its way into an otherwise perfect room. Of course, I have red and aqua boxes for just such an occasion.

Even though this might seem insane to some, I assure you it is what keeps me sane in many ways. I would love to know your favorite indulgent websites?

Link Love.

Tuesday Inspiration.

Design Sponge

This DIY is a fantastic way to spice up an outdoor party.

Chubby Hubby
Spiked French Toast as a hangover cure. Bring it.

Simple Song
I’d find it hard to rip open a gift wrapped in these beautiful papers.

Weekend Hostess

Pops of color on white are always fabulous…but this fushia pendant shade is doubly fabulous

Spotted: New Shesham Collection at West Elm

On hot days, one of my favorite things to do is cut through West Elm to get quickly and coolly from 18th Street to 17th Street. The only problem (if you can call it that) is it never goes quickly, because I usually get sidetracked by the new wares at this reasonably priced home goods store.

This time my reason for a self-induced traffic jam was the new Shesham Collection. Each item has a patchwork appearance to it with the wood grains pieced together in a random pattern. This alignment gives it a slightly rustic charm, but the smooth finish and clean lines are all modern. Of course my favorite part of the collection is the cake stand, but you should check it out for yourself.

Think Outside of the Box

Design idea.

Oh how I love beautiful packaging. A beautifully packaged item in the window of a store will stop me mid-sentence and full stride as I walk down the busiest streets of Manhattan. What can I say? I'm a marketing team's dream.

Which brings me to something that happened in my household last year. As my husband and I were receiving our wedding and shower gifts in the mail, we were pleasantly surprised by some wonderful packaging. When we picked our Nambe flatware set, we had just seen it in a case at Bloomingdales. We had no idea that each set would be packaged in a lovely, hinged box. As each set came in the mail, we stacked up the empty boxes because we just couldn't stomach throwing them out.

And then I remembered a few pages that I had pulled from past Domino Magazine issues (RIP). First, is this office with piles and piles of books and Hermes boxes (too bad I don't have a stockpile of those). This is way too messy for me, but I like the concept.



And then there is this apartment, where the designer neatly stacked an odd array of coffee table books to make impromptu side tables. We're getting closer...


And so we ended up with this. My beautiful, modern Nambe boxes made the perfect side table. And the best part is that each box contains things that I was hopelessly trying to organize in my very small space (playbills and tickets, birth announcements, memorable greeting cards, etc).

So for those of you that are receiving wedding or housewarming gifts, think outside of the box. You might be able to put that beautiful packaging to work in your home too.

Flirty Aprons Contest

Contest.

I love to watch old movies or tv shows, but what cracks me up about them is how impeccably dressed the Hip Hostesses of their time were when doing house chores. If my husband thought he was getting the put-together June Cleaver before we got married, I'm sure it came as a shock when he had to look at me in my ripped up sorority t-shirts and track pants while cooking dinner.

But one cannot always wear our "comfy's" when cooking. With open layouts in so many houses and apartments, entertaining for a crowd means being a virtual Food Network TV Host. You have to balance looking good, being charming, and cooking up some impressive grub all while entertaining your guests. Luckily our newest find, Flirty Aprons, will help you keep that balance.

Practical and fashionable, Flirty Aprons has an amazing assortment of adorable retro-inspired aprons to choose from. With great color combos and contrasting patterns, you'll look just as put together as our 50's Hostess counterparts. I recently got my very own apron in the cherry pattern and I just love the quality of the fabric and the fabulous attention to detail.

And now you have a chance to win one of these wonderful aprons too. For a chance to win your choice of any Flirty Apron, just leave a comment below telling us what you like best from the Flirty Aprons site. The last day to enter is August 31st. We'll announce our winner (chosen at random) on September 2nd. Good luck everyone!

Hudson Chalkboard Paint in Color

Fun Find.

My day just got a little brighter after seeing that Hudson Paints has added acid green, bright orange, hot pink, turquoise, purple, red and many more to their line of chalkboard paints. The price per gallon is only $24.99. You can order from http://www.hudsonpaint.com/ or if you live in the NYC area it is available at Tivoli Mercantile in Red Hook. Check out a few of cute projects that Raina Kattelson already crafted.