Rex & Regina’s Blog

I have fallen head-over-heels for this tray, spotted in Martha Stewart Living. It would be perfect for a teacher appreciation event, back-to-school kick off, or PTA meeting, though I think I could find lots of use for it everyday!

Cookies lined up on the tray from www.fishseddy.com

Memo Notebook Tray Light Yellow from www.fishseddy.com

Off-the-shelf wedding planning guides are helpful ways to keep contracts, fabric swatches, and inspiration photos and articles organized in one place. Often times, however, they don’t fit exactly what a bride needs for her particular wedding.

I love this idea from Martha Stewart, which allows a bride to organize her wedding planning materials just the way she wants them. These decorative folders can be customized with fabric matching the color scheme of the wedding.

The folder facades would be helpful for any party, not just weddings. Get organized today!

Martha Stewart's Folder Facades

My husband and I are not big fans of Valentine’s Day. It’s a little too commercial for our taste. So from the start, we vowed not to make a fuss of the holiday. Instead, we created our own tradition: staying home and cooking lobsters — one of our favorite meals.

This year, our lobster feast was fairly low key. We had spiced shrimp with cocktail sauce to start, a mixed greens salad, lobsters, all followed by strawberry shortcake for dessert.

I often blog about the presentation of a meal — the place setting, the tablescape — the little details that make the event special. While those things are important, the practical work of preparing and cleaning up after the meal should also not be overlooked. Here are a few practical matters we ran across when preparing our Valentine’s Day lobster feast:

serveware and lobster tools

Our lobster platters aren’t used everyday so we keep them stored in a sideboard rather than in the kitchen.  Items you don’t use regularly need not be crammed into your kitchen cabinets. Make sure they are clean before you store them and set them in a sideboard or your storage room. If the item is decorative, you might wish to display it in a hutch or elsewhere in the dining room.

The lobster tools were on our registry.  Knowing we loved lobster, we knew they would be useful to have on hand.  We only registered for a set of 4 tools, realizing we probably wouldn’t be having large lobster dinners at our home. And in the case of lobster and crabs, not everyone always needs their own set of tools. When registering for or buying speciality kitchen items, linens, or serveware, consider how you will use them and only buy what you need.

lobster rolls

We decided to cook four lobsters and eat two for Valentine’s Day and prepare the meat from the other two for lobster rolls — another all-time favorite of ours. I always buy Pepperidge Farm top split buns for the rolls — the sides of the buns are perfect for buttering and toasting. Fill them with some lobster meat mixed with chopped celery, a little mayonnaise, salt & pepper and voila! Decadence!

lobster shells

After cleaning all of the lobsters we were left with a mountain of shells. My husband suggested we make lobster stock. Brilliant! We added the shells to water, chopped onion, celery, and carrots, and a little white wine and let it simmer for a couple of hours. Now, we’ll have homemade stock on hand when we need it.

freezer label for lobster stock

We often end up with a ton of things in our freezer and sometimes it’s hard to tell how long something has been in there. (Scary!) So I’ve started using freezer labels to mark the date on each item. Martha Stewart’s template for freezer labels came in very handy. I printed the template onto full-size label sheets and cut them with paper cutter. I keep a stash in my drawer near my freezer for when I need them. No more guessing how long something has been in the freezer!

Simple things like properly storing serving pieces, making full use of every food item in your kitchen, and keeping food organized and well-stored can make the behind-the-scenes preparations of any party much more enjoyable.

I’ve always been a big fan of the “wedding wish” idea at weddings. Instead of a guest book, set out little note cards for guests to write advice, wishes, or a special memory for the bride & groom. The wishes can be dropped in a beautiful vase or other container that complements the wedding decor. While simple slips of paper would suffice, I do love Martha Stewart’s idea of creating pre-made “conversation starters” for guests to write their wishes on. Martha has made this one super easy with templates in several different colors. After the wedding, having the sweet wishes to read over and over again is far more interesting than just a book full of names!

This fun idea need not be used exclusively at weddings. Why not collect wishes at an engagement party, anniversary, or other major milestone? The “wish station” can add an interactive element to any party.

conversation-starting note cards (via Martha Stewart)

Every Halloween my husband and I stock up on mountains of candy in anticipation of an onslaught of trick-or-treaters. It never fails the next day we’re left with a ton of candy. You’d think we’d learn!

I love this idea from Martha Stewart on what to do with leftover candy — particularly the wrappers. Absolutely brilliant! I could see the cans used as a decor for a children’s birthday party or used next year for trick-or-treat pails.

Martha Stewart's candy-wrapper buckets

One of the most popular Halloween treats out there is candied apples. Granted, they are not the easiest to eat, but the messiness is worth it. All that gooey caramel and rich chocolate covering the crunch of a tart apple = pure deliciousness!

These whimsical fall treats are great not only for Halloween but would be perfect for wedding favors, at a children’s party, or served at a fall engagement party… you name it!

A bride I worked with a couple of years ago gave a candied apple to each of her guests as a favor. It made for a beautiful presentation on the place setting.

Candied apples accent a beautiful place setting, photo courtesy of Kate Triano

Making candied apples is fairly easy and there are many recipes out there to help guide you through the process. To make apples with a little more interest than the standard caramel apples, consider these two recipes.

The first, from Gourmet magazine (don’t get me started… I WILL start crying.) is a true grown-up version of candied apples. Don’t these  red wine caramel apples look amazing?

red wine caramel apple recipe, Gourmet, October 2009

I also love these mini candied apples from Martha Stewart — even easier to eat than the larger versions.

Mini candied apples, Martha Stewart Living

Or, if you don’t feel like making candied apples from scratch, check out this fabulous option from Dean & Deluca:

chocolate covered caramel apples, available from Dean & Deluca

Enjoy!

Looking for a way to add a little punch to the tablescape at your next party? Try a tablecloth embellished with magnet-fitted flowers, a craft courtesy of Martha Stewart. The magnets allow for changing out the flowers according to the season, color, or theme of your soiree. I could see this feminine tablecloth working very well at a bridal shower or afternoon tea.

Martha Stewart Craft: Magnet-Flowered Tablecloth

This week was my mother-in-law’s seventieth birthday and we celebrated with a low-key dinner at a local restaurant and cake back at our home afterwards. While the plan was to keep things casual, I wanted to do something special to help honor my mother-in-law and her milestone birthday. We were on vacation this week, so it had to be relatively easy to do.

I decided to create a special birthday garland that she would see when she walked into the house and would hang by the table as we ate cake. With a little inspiration from Martha Stewart, I created this pale pink and ivory birthday garland.

birthday garland

pinking shears give the letters a festive effect

the letters are strung together with gold ribbon which provides a contrast and punch in color

The garland was easy to make by following Martha’s template and instructions. I modified the instructions by adding a square cardstock backing to the circles to make the garland a little more prominent against the backdrop I was using.

Happy Birthday, Sookie! Wishing you a wonderful year ahead!