Last night I helped Swoozie’s celebrate their 10th birthday and it was so much fun. Their Chastain Square store is huge and filled with anything you could ever need for a party.

I also had the pleasure of meeting my co-Swoozie Party Expert, Kat, who writes Buckhead Betty on a Budget. Love it! And her. She is way adorable.

Look! It's the Buckhead Bettie line for our Buckhead Betty on a Budget!

Wendy from Atlanta Events joined us as well. Wendy is one of the most delightful people I know, always upbeat, always happy.

Kat and Wendy

And, I cannot forget my fab friends that came out to help celebrate. Besties Lisa, John and Danny were there and wonderful Lauren and Randall came out for a glass of bubbly and just in time for the confetti drop. So much more fun when someone else is cleaning up. Eric swooped in at the end of the evening and whisked me away to a romantic pasta dinner, where I filled him in on the details.

Kat, Lisa and Me, loving Swoozie's!

Amy, Marketing Director for this particular Swoozie’s, and I are whipping up something fantastic for you all in the future, so stay tuned.

In the meantime – more photos!

Lisa and me - love this bowl!

Princess Time for Wendy and me!

Lovely Lauren and me.

Ashley and me. Check out the confetti in my hair. Fun!

Me, with my darling besties, Danny and John.

Thanks to everyone that joined us. And many thanks to Swoozie’s!

xoxo, Patti

Today blogging to Pink – Get This Party Started

As I stated in the beginning of March, there were no dinner parties to be hosted in my home this month. But, alas, rules are meant to be broken. The one person I would allow as the exception came to dinner last night. And it was so worth breaking the rules!

Last night our very special guest of honor was Clint’s enchanting mother, Sylvia. We had not seen each other in seven years and she was in town for a visit. There was no way my little moratorium was going to keep me from entertaining one of my most favorite people. And so I set about to show her a very good time.

On the menu was:

Caprese Salad
Pappardelle with Boar Ragu
Sauteed Broccoli Rabe
Fresh Garlic Bread
Lemon Tart

Mmmm, Meatballs, Y'all!

So, happily I tottered off to Toscano & Sons yesterday to pick up the pasta and boar ragu. Uh….the FDA came and took all their boar ragu away, siting insufficient information on the packaging. Mama Mia! What to do? Well, I had some meatballs in the freezer and some Italian sausage in the fridge, that would have to be my stand-in.

With all my other ingredients packed up in the car and Karen off to camp for the night, I set home to whip up a fabulous evening.

Lemon tart? Sure! I have some pate brisee in the freezer that I took out to thaw. That should work perfectly in this pie. Why should I read the directions?
Well, because the pate brisee had some major shrinkage in the oven. Aw, geez. I wound up with what looked like a nice, flat piece of pie dough.

Into the trash it went. Now I need to come up with another dessert. I could go back out, but it is raining cats and dogs out there! Hmmm, lets see what we have.

Yay! There are some gorgeous strawberries brought back from Florida by Holly earlier this year! And I have cookie dough in the fridge. Dessert would be strawberries macerated in sugar and balsamic vinegar, topped with black pepper alongside one perfect cookie. Whew.

Since it was St. Patty’s Day (and I am Patti), I thought I should go all out. I picked up some green bowler hats at Target and set them by each place setting. Also at each place was a TableTopics question. Kroger had daffodils – 5 bunches for $10, so home they came with me, too. They look like Spring will soon be here, don’t they?

Top O' The Evening To Ya!

Isn’t my organdy tablecloth pretty? I got it on ebay for $20 (that includes shipping)!! Isn’t that crazy? I love it! I really should have ironed it before using, but I thought with everything on the table maybe no one would notice. And if they did, they were so polite, no one said anything.

Close Up Of The Tablecloth

Soon, my charming guests arrived and Eric finished up work. We had so much catching up to do with each other! Eric and I orchestrated the last minute cooking while visiting with Clint, Matt and Miss Sylvia in the kitchen. It was so much fun. And now to eat!

Caprese Salad

And time to wear our silly green hats. With glitter. That got all over everything and everybody.

Matt, Miss Sylvia and Clint

Now I feel bad that Miss Sylvia had green, sparkly hair. But we all had green, sparkly hair.

Yippee! I Got Everyone To Wear The Hats!

It was a wonderful evening, and as I shook out the tablecloth this morning and saw tons of green fairy dust fly into the wind, I thought of the people in my life who make it so magical.

Make some magic today, Darlings!

xoxo, Patti

Sunday was a very lazy day for E and me. We just stayed home, baked cookies, played games, made pizza dough and then baked a pizza.

After Sugar Coma we have been a bit on the sweets kick. Not to the extreme, but we do like a little something now and again. I hadn’t made cookies in some time and now seemed like the perfect occasion. We wanted oatmeal raisin, but with a bit more oomph. This is the recipe we altered to get what we wanted:

Patti and Eric’s Yummytime Cookies

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
1 1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. water
1 1/2 c. oats
2 c. raisins
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup almonds

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and water. Slowly beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and raisins. Press into average size ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure and drop onto foil-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Lightly press down with fork into 3 inch circles. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Do not over bake. Carefully transfer to baking racks. Cool. Devour like badgers.

Now, for the pizza, we used Mario Batali’s recipe for the dough and improved the sauce and toppings. We pulled the eggplant sauce from the fridge, and topped the pizza with mushrooms, shallots, fresh roma tomatoes and proscuitto (for Eric’s side). And of course, mozzarella cheese. Lots of cheese. Here’s Mario’s recipe. I will note that I only used 2.5 cups of the total 3 cups called for and found that made for a softer crust (which I like). Please do not try this in your kitchenaid mixer – it will not turn out well. And I say this from experience, thinking I could speed the process and ended up throwing out the first batch of dough. So, learn from me and get out your wooden spoons.

Mario Batali’s Pizza Dough

¼ cup white wine
¾ cup warm water
1 ½ ounces yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour (or 2.5, if you are like me)

Method:

Combine wine, water and yeast in a large bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the honey, salt and olive oil and mix thoroughly. Start by adding 1 cup of flour and make a wet paste. Add remaining flour and incorporate.

Place dough on a lightly floured board and knead for 2 to 3 minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for 45 minutes.

Top with whatever you like. Heat your oven to 450F and bake for about 15 minutes (keep checking on it as temps vary in ovens).

And now, my gallery of Sunday comfort food!

Cookie Dough, Ready to Bake

Nom, Nom, Nom - Cookies!

Special tip for you – Eric wrapped up the cookie dough to rest in the fridge before baking.  I decided not to bake the entire batch, but 8 at a time. So now we have fresh cookie dough in the fridge for those cravings!

We Decided On A Oblong Pizza - It Was Perfect!

Roma Tomatoes Draining and Waiting To Top The Pizza

Brush Your Crust With Olive Oil For A Nice Brown Edge

Voila! Ready To Chow Down

It was a perfect Sunday with perfect comfort food. We don’t get a ton of downtime, but when we do, we like to spend it together. And what’s nicer than getting in the kitchen and cooking with your sweetie? Well, there might be something else, but this is a family blog, y’all!

See you tomorrow!!

xoxo, Patti

I’ve shared Sugar Coma with you and the macaron class on Sunday.  My thought was, heck, the house is clean – lets give a Golden Globes party for our besties after all the guests from  the macaron class go home. Made sense to me. And we had missed giving our New Year’s Day pajama party because we were both ill…so lets make it a Golden Globes Pajama Party! Whoo Whee!

Plus, Shameeka had been so sweet to leave the cheese and fruit tray with me – how could I let that go to waste?  We had a bunch of frozen dim sum in the freezer, which Eric supplemented with the yummiest onion tarts from Trader Joes. See?  You don’t need to cook every single time. Frozen pot stickers and onions tarts popped right in the oven and onto our trays. Perfect! It also didn’t hurt that Rick and Denise brought a killer crawfish dip (it was so good, y’all), John and Danny brought delicious pita chips with hummus, spinach dip and salsa, Tracy contributed chips and onion dip and Dave and Sue brought some crazy yummy cookies.

With jammies on (ok, so I was really the only one truly in pajamas – but I had been so busy all weekend I didn’t care), plate in lap and beverage in hand we commenced our viewing and critiquing of every person that showed up on the screen (what is that thing on Drew Barrymore’s dress? how insane is Ricky Gervais? what is Mickey Rourke wearing?) Oh, it was fun. And perfectly chill.

Yummy Onion Tarts From Trader Joes

Dave's Cookies Before They Were Completely Devoured

Our Gang

Go on, mix it up and give a pajama party. I double dog dare you.

xoxo, Patti