I've recently found a great little resale shop in Burlingame, CA.  "The Hillsborough Auxiliary to Community Gatepath Resale Shop" is a long name for a small shop, but with a big impact. 

Community Gatepath is an organization that works to "help children and adults with disabilities achieve personal goals and live full and productive lives in school, the community, home and the workplace.  The proceeds from the shop benefit both children and adults with disabilities. 

The Resale Shop is a cute little store full of all sorts of great finds.  Something like an upscale resale shop combined with an antique shop.  They focus on clothes, furniture, seasonal items as well as all sorts of other treasures.  I'm a huge fan of this shop and I love that it benefits a good cause!  I'll definitely be going back.  :)  (Disclaimer: they're only open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.)

Oh, and for those of you unable to visit Burlingame, they've recently opened an ebay shop!  So go ahead and check them out!   

 Remember this beautiful flower garland over the doorway?  I made it for my sister-in-law's baby shower a few weeks ago.  I'll admit, it does take a little bit of patience and some practice - my first couple flowers weren't nearly as pretty as my last ones.  Don't get discouraged though!  They really are quite simple. 



Step 1 - I used about a yard of fabric (super cheap in the remnants bin at JoAnn's!!!) and folded it over a few times.  Then I cut strips anywhere from 2.5 - 4.5 inches wide.  This made for all different sizes of flowers.  If you want yours to all be the same size, be sure to measure! 


Step 2 - Then I cut into the fabric, creating points.  Here, you can create different looks by making different cuts.  Try cutting points, or rounded humps, or even just straight slashes!  I pinned the bottom corners of the fabric to help keep the fabric from moving around too much while I cut.  


Step 3 - Lay out the fabric, thread your needle, and tie a knot in one end.  (I used black thread here so you can see it better in the pictures, but really, it doesn't show up, so you can use any color you like.)  Fold the fabric back and forth and push the needle through.  


The size of the stitch changes the look of the flower a bit, so play around with this as well!  As you continue to stitch more of the fabric, your starting end should start to gather like this.


Step 4 - When you've stitched through all of the fabric, pull the thread to scrunch the fabric all together down at the end. 


Step 5 -  Pass the needle back through the starting end and pull it tight.  This will pull the fabric into a circle.  (It may need a little tweaking here and there to get the desired look.)  Knot the thread a few times to keep the middle tight. 


 Voila!  You now have a beautiful flower!  Make a pile of them for a garland, or use them to decorate something else.  Glue one to a headband or a clip and wear them in your hair or sew a few onto your favorite skirt or cardigan!  The possibilities are endless! 





 I used a number of different kinds of fabrics to make these flowers, from really stiff to sheer and floppy.  They all work and look great, but again, the flowers look very different depending on what kind of fabric you use.  I really liked the sheer yellow fabric.  It was a lot more difficult to work with, but I love the way the flowers turned out.  (The two yellow flowers show the different looks I got with different sized stitches).

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I'm posting one of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

My mom has made this Seven-Layer Salad every year for as long as I can remember.  Growing up I loved helping layer everything in the bowl the night before Thanksgiving.  The next morning I got to slice the eggs to lay across the top.  This year I'm making the salad on my own for the first time.

With this salad, the key is to start it the night before you eat it.  Enjoy!


Seven-Layer Salad

• 1 head romaine or leaf lettuce (or 1 1/2-2 bags of Spring Mix)
• 1 c peas (frozen work best)
• 1 can water chestnuts, drained, chopped
• 1 c chopped celery
• 1/2 - 1/4 c thinly sliced green onions

• 2 c mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip)
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 c grated cheddar cheese

• 1-2 tomatoes cut in half, then sliced
• 5 - 6 hard boiled eggs, sliced
• 1 lb bacon cooked crisply and chopped

Lightly microwave the peas.  You don't want to actually cook them, but just take the "edge" off.  They're 100 times better this way. 

Fill a large bowl 1/3 full of lettuce.

Sprinkle with half of the peas, water chestnuts, celery and green onions.  Add remaining greens and sprinkle with same ingredients.

Separately mix mayonnaise and sugar.  Spread evenly over top of salad.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate overnight, or at least 5 hours.

Before serving, lay tomato slices on top of cheese and top with slices of egg.  Sprinkle bacon over the top.

Now that you have some great ideas for how to decorate your table, here are a couple examples of the "proper/formal" way to set a table, just in time for Thanksgiving!  Just remember, if you aren't going to use all of the dishes/utensils, you certainly don't need to set them out.  Have fun and mix it up a little.  Good luck!  :)

(source)

Thanksgiving trivia

Cornhusk votives

Is there anything more wonderful than a creamy chocolate truffle?  Seriously guys, I love chocolate in any form, but there's just something so wonderfully luxurious about truffles.


A few years ago I went through a bit of a "truffle phase."  I made numerous variations to a basic truffle recipe, trying to come up with the perfect truffle.  I even had a little notebook that I carried around with me, where I wrote down all of my ideas for different kinds of truffles.  You name it, I probably have it written down in that little notebook!  I could have opened up a chocolate shop and sold nothing but truffles, but there was one little problem.  I couldn't find what I considered the Perfect Truffle.

Deep, rich chocolate ganache, so creamy and smooth that it completely melts in your mouth as you bite into it.  I wanted it to have a chocolate shell, but not something as thick and overpowering as you find on most truffles.  Something like that would just take away from the silkiness of the filling.

School started up again and my obsession got pushed onto the back burner, until last year when I stumbled across something wonderful from Deb over at Smitten Kitchen.  Those truffles looked so beautiful and perfect, it was daunting.  It took me a year to finally work up the nerve to try the recipe.  And guess what - they were so easy!  Not at all as intimidating as I thought.  Ooh, and they were everything thing I had dreamed of.  I'm going to have to pull out that notebook and start trying my variations on a basic truffle using this technique. 

Robert Linxe's Chocolate Truffles 
as seen in Gourmet, February 2001 - (Only slightly modified)

• 11 oz. dark chocolate (the recipe specifies Valrhona 56% cacao, but all I could get my hands on was Ghiradelli 60% cacao and they still tasted amazing)
• 2/3 cups heavy cream
• Valrhona cocoa powder for dusting (again, I just used whatever I had on hand with no problems)

Set aside 3 oz. of the chocolate for later.  Finely chop the remaining 8 oz. of chocolate and put it in a large mixing bowl.

In a small, heavy bottomed saucepan bring the cream to a boil.  Linxe boils the cream three times because he thinks it makes the ganache last longer.  I didn't - there was no way these truffles were going to need a long shelf life.  If you do boil it three times, cool it between simmering and start with a little extra cream to make up for any evaporation. 

Pour the hot cream into the bowl over the chocolate. Use a spoon to smash up any big pieces.

Starting in the center, stir the mixture in concentric circles going all the way out to the edges with a whisk.  Go slowly to keep the ganache smooth without incorporating too much air.  It will be all lumpy and curdly at first, but don't worry - it will come together beautifully.  Just keep mixing.  :)

Let the ganache stand at room temperature until it's thick enough to hold a shape, about 1 hr.  Or, if you're impatient like me, put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes.  Be sure to pay close attention so it doesn't get too hard.  Using a pastry bag with a 3/8 inch opening, pipe into mounds, about 3/4 inches high and 1 inch wide.  Finish with a flick of the wrist to soften the point.  Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, set up an assembly line for the next part of the truffle-making-process.  It can get messy, so it's definitely helpful to have everything set up before hand.  Station 1: frozen truffles; Station 2: melted chocolate; Station 3: cocoa powder; Station 4: small mesh sieve or strainer and empty bowl; Station 5: tray or other container to hold the finished truffles.



Chop the remaining 3 oz. of chocolate and put in a bowl.  Melt over a pot of boiling water.  When melted, set up in Station 2. 

Now comes the fun part.  Put on your latex/plastic gloves.  Smear some melted chocolate on a gloved hand and gently roll each chilled truffle in the chocolate.  This is the secret of the truffle and what makes it so perfect - that light, delicate coating of chocolate.  Trust me - you'll understand when you try them.  

I have a confession - my husband helped me with this part and we didn't have any gloves for him... and they turned out just fine.  :)

Drop the coated truffle in the cocoa and use a fork to toss it around until covered.  Dig it out like a truffle, freshly dug from the earth.  Shake the truffles in the sieve to eliminate any excess cocoa.  Store the truffles in the refrigerator.

These make lovely gifts packed up in little boxes.  With the holiday season right around the corner you should make a few batches (don't double the recipe) and send some to all your friends.  This recipe makes approximately 60 truffles.  Should I also mention that if you were to buy this many they'd cost over $70?  Yet another good reason to make your own!