Winners, Links, and Wrap-Ups

I'd like to give a big thank you to all of you who came out on Wednesday night for the bake-off event. We tasted some incredible treats (I've linked some of the recipes below for you as these things were A-mazing! Katy and Jen: I couldn't find links to yours, please share if you can!). The winners of the night were Jen from Local Appetite NY with her delicious (and beautiful!) seasonal strawberry cheesecakes, and Esther Chai, whose chocolate chip cookie won the audience vote.

I'm also still daydreaming about Katy's rich mocha brownies, that delicious salty-sweet butterscotch sauce on Emily's Not Yo Mama's Chocolate Chip Cookie, and the amazing filling inside Anna's perfect little salted cashew turtle cupcakes (Anna, if you're reading, can I just have a bucket of that filling? Cause that would be awesome...)

I also had a blast yesterday morning at TECHmunch food blogger conference here in NY. I moderated a panel called "Building Community and Gaining Momentum" featuring the bloggers behind This is Why You're Fat, Urlesque, and Fancy Fast Food. We talked about the tools that help us build and maintain a community beyond the site.

There was also a wacky Microsoft party, and (highlight!) a delicious dinner party at a new friend's beautiful home. She made a seasonal vegetarian spread that was as wonderful as it was beautiful.

I haven't done weekend links in a while, but as this week was a particularly busy one, it seems like the perfect time to bring it back. I love sharing the things that have caught my eye or inspired me. And I'll be back next week with more recipes and ideas.

(Needless to say, I'm sleepy and will be spending the weekend lazy-ing about. What do you have planned?)


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Florida's fishing community after the spill.

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Homemade yogurt in a Crock-Pot!!

Pretty farmers market cards

Ruffled yellow dresses

Lovely blue things

The Barstool Romantic

Handpainted porcelain charms

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Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

I'm running a bit late today with my weekend links, but I'm hoping that you'll take a peek at these over the coming days. Perhaps over a lazy cup of tea tomorrow morning?

Sunday is Mother's Day so our weekend will be mom-centric. First dinner at Brasserie 8 1/2 with Eugene's mom and family, and on Sunday we're going to church and brunch with my family.

I'm also working on a piece to submit for the 48 Hour Mag project (which is just fantastic!) and am planning to sit down and work out my calendar for the summer. I can't reveal full details yet, but I'm working on some really exciting events that will be open to all of you!

Things like a live cooking demo at the New York Botanical Gardens, my 2nd annual Always Order Dessert Food Blogger--and food lover!--Picnic (I'm actually thinking of hosting two this year!), and an entertaining workshop that I'm currently developing. I'm also helping a bit with the planning for a very cool food and media-related benefit/bake-off taking place next month. I should have more details for you about all of these events pretty soon, and am hoping that I'll see some (or all!) of you there!

So while I head off to work on this stuff, here are a few cool things I've spotted this week.

Enjoy your weekend, and Happy Mother's Day to the moms among you (and to the moms who made you)!


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Gorgeous photos of homemade chilaquiles by Channelle.

These are supposed to be cookies, but they look like potatoes to me. Either way, very cute poster.

I am in love with these blooming champagne cocktails with wild hibiscus. I kind of want to drop these little blossoms at the bottom of everyone's glass at my wedding.

And buy your own preserved hibiscus flowers here.

Make your mother (or yourself) a batch of homemade vanilla salt.

Or maybe some of these macadamia maple sticky bars? (Man, do I love macadamia nuts!)

I love this little envelope necklace.

I keep hearing about Toasted Marshmallow Milkshakes. Seems like something I need to try soon!

And another delicious pistachio cake!

Wouldn't this make a fun (and adorable!) centerpiece for a party? Photo Pinwheel Garden from Photojojo.

I want to make some of the Paper Curtains for my library. (via Snippet & Ink)

On eating alone.

Love these food-related watercolors from Vanilla Bug!

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A Little Weekend Link Love

This weekend, Eugene and I will be checking out a couple more wedding venues, and hopefully doing a little baking (well...I'll be doing the baking; Eugene will be doing the eating.)

I'm also hoping to make it to the farmer's market and for the weather to stay lovely so that I can continue to wear my clothing swap finds! (I've worn at least one clothing swap item every single day this week; awesome!)

Below are a few of the things that have caught my eye this week! As always, if you have any cool suggestions for me to include in my weekend link lists, please email me at alejandra@alwaysorderdessert.com. And don't forget to tell me what your plans are for the weekend; I love knowing what other folks are up to!

Xoxo

Alejandra

P.S. If you're wondering, those are vintage Mrs. Butterworth's bottles I spotted at the flea market last weekend. I don't know why they are all missing the face, but suspect it has to do with the sugar content in her syrup. ;)


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I raved about this on Twitter yesterday, but it begs repeating. Cucumber Sangria via Fare a La Femme. How fab is this idea?

Five tips from Jamie Oliver (via Delish.com)

Fellow retro food fanatics should check out this very cool timeline to food in the 1950.

Purple (Moon & The Stars) Watermelon!

Chorizo Quesadillas!

Gorgeous Chocri Customized Chocolate Bars (via Pie of the Tiger)

I love these Vintage Silverware Garden Markers

Coconut Peanut Butter is a favorite of mine

I’m always inspired by the ideas and sentiments in Makeunder My Life

Beautiful colorful doors

Cute summer romper

I love open kitchen shelves (I...err...Eugene just installed one in our kitchen a couple months ago). Here is a great DIY project

The Waffle & Dinges truck parks in front of our office every Friday and it now has me thinking about making them at home. I need to get a waffle maker so I can make these Pecan & Banana Bread waffles from Everybody Loves Sandwiches.

LOVE this tree wall

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What are you up to this weekend?

You have no idea how excited I was to wake up this morning and realize it was Friday. It kind of snuck up on me this week, which makes it all the better. Almost like checking the mail and finding a package you forgot your ordered.

I’m hosting my little ladies Clothing Swap Brunch Party tomorrow at my apartment, and have been spending all my evenings this week running around preparing for it. Eugene has been an absolute saint; even giving up a night out with the boys last night to help me carry packages home from Bed, Bath & Beyond and Pottery Barn. And then he happily drove me to Target & BJs on what was quite possibly the worst night EVER to go to Target & BJs due to the fact that it was both the 15th of the month (AKA the day many families in our neighborhood get their grocery money) and the Yankees were playing (our local Target & Bjs is next door to Yankee Stadium).

This means it took us two hours to, essentially, buy a ham and some grapes. Eugene was starving by the time we got home so I made us lobster ravioli in Newburg sauce for dinner. We ate it sitting on the couch while watching reruns of The Real Housewives of New York. At midnight.

Here are the things that have caught my eye this week. I hope you have a great weekend planned (tell me what you're doing in the comments, Ok? I'm nosy!) As for me, I'll be spending most of tonight and tomorrow morning in my kitchen cooking for the party (that's my kitchen in the photo up there).

xoxo

Alejandra

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I love vintage etiquette and educational videos. Here is a fabulous Emily Post video from 1947 on dinner party etiquette.

Did you love that cooking flash mob in Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last week? Yeah, I did too. And now I can't stop listening to the song they danced to. It's called Jungle Flames by the band The DNC. Listen to it here.

By the way, you DID sign the petition to support the food revolution already, right? Right?

How to make your own lunch box ice pack. (Or "bump in the head" ice pack.)

Old fashioned paper stripey straws. (but I recommend you do what I did and get more for less by buying similar ones here)

And you should also get this adorable bakery twine. This is also the store where I buy the vintage paper ice cream cups I use when I make ice cream.

This morning I remembered just how very cool Lenny Kravitz is: (Can you believe this song is now 12 years old?)

I ordered two pounds of these Dried Chili Mangos this week and am officially obsessed. They're amazing. (This store, btw, is one of my absolute faves for ordering baking supplies. They sell all kinds of flours, and almond and other nut meals in bulk.)

When I'm looking for party inspiration, I love staring at the dessert table photos on Amy Atlas's site

Rhubarb Lime Spritzer seems like a perfect way to get through spring and summer.

And you know how much I love passion fruit!

I have this dream where I have a huge kitchen and one wall of the kitchen is just built in shelves that I fill with all kinds of gorgeous plates and dishes, with one entire shelf dedicated solely to glass cake stands. Because I just love cake stands.

Julia Child would throw cilantro on the floor!

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Have a beautiful weekend!

Can you believe it's the weekend again?

I am so glad! This weekend, I'll be doing my first bit of official wedding planning. Specifically, Eugene and I have an appointment to go check out a possible wedding venue called 632 on Hudson. It's actually my favorite (in theory and on paper and in my daydreams) so I'm very excited and hoping it will be just as fantastic in real life. Fingers crossed, please!

I'm also busy planning the menu, decorations, and other details for the Clothing Swap Brunch I'm hosting next weekend at my apartment for a few girlfriends. I'm stoked because I haven't thrown a "girls only" party in several years; the last one was a "ladies who lunch" party I co-hosted with my friend Anne, back when we both lived in DC (she's now in Chicago).

Hope you enjoy this collection of links that have inspired me or caught my eye this week! (And do be sure to let me know about any interesting things you've come across!)

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Planning for my ladies brunch has me all excited about glass cold beverage dispensers with little spigots. Crate & Barrel has a really classic one on the cover of their latest catalog. Bed, Bath & Beyond has an inexpensive but sturdy looking version. But I admit that my FAVORITE is this charming Mason Jar drink dispenser that I spotted at Pottery Barn yesterday afternoon.

In fact, I'm heading over there right after work today to bring it home. The plan is to fill it with gorgeous mint lemonade or perhaps something pretty pink and boozy; just perfect for a ladies lunch!

Famous chefs teaching basic cooking tricks: Learn to roast a chicken with Thomas Keller! Chop onions with Anthony Bourdain! Make an omelet with Jacques Pepin! And learn the secret to a classic red sauce from Scott "I hate cheese with fish" Conant.

Two new blogs I encountered and instantly fell in love with this week: Apron Anxiety by Alyssa Shelasky and this one (which doesn't really have a name) by Caitlin Dentino, who just seems like a really cool girl that I'd probably like to hang with in real life.

You know I plan to bake my own wedding cake, and when I spotted this gorgeous technique, I decided I need to master it. How perfect would this be for our wedding cake?

Spectacular foyer decor ideas. (The hot pink/black/white one is my favorite!)

Wicked cool party banners that would work for any kind of gathering.

I just love the look of these little lime & ricotta cheesecakes. And I also own those tiny springform pans she baked them in!

This chic black & white apron has a very Parisian feel to it.

Have you ever tried LaVanilla perfumes? They're kind of amazing! I've been using their scents for the past couple years. I love Vanilla Grapefruit, but my current favorite is Vanilla Passion Fruit. They're wonderful, but beware that they'll leave you smelling rather edible; the office manager at work is forever telling me that I "smell like a cake." Which is just fine with me!

I've been reading this book on the subway all week. It's full of wonderful little retro housekeeping and entertaining tips. And I found out there are a whole bunch of these mid-century cookbook facsimiles. I'm adding all of them to my wishlist asap!

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Happy Easter Weekend!!

It's a gorgeous (Good!) Friday and I'm so excited for this weekend! Do you have any fun plans?

To celebrate the beautiful weather that has finally arrived in New York, I want to share a few random links to things that have caught my eye and inspired me this week. Some are food related. Some are wedding related. Some are simply lovely!

xoxo

Alejandra

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Mallory from the Salty Cod got married!! AND she made her own cake (just like I plan to).

A new friend gave me this Wedding Cake Art & Design book the other day. I've been getting lots of ideas from it.

Gorgeous giant paper flowers! I definitely plan on incorporating these into my wedding decor (for now they're just lovely-fying my living room).

Ramshackle Glam! My latest blog addiction (don't you just love the name?!)

I'm definitely going to be trying my hand at making some homemade mascarpone this weekend!

Pretty white porcelain tumblers from Williams Sonoma (definitely going on my registry).

Why oh why can't we have Cadbury Cream Eggs all year long like they do in Europe?

Turn discarded wine corks into a cork board!

I love going into Flickr and typing the phrase "chocolate bunnies" into the search box.

And even better than chocolate bunnies? A bread bunny!

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