#25 - Girls Always Love a Tea Party

1. Host mah jongg night.

2. Make jam.  (Done!)

3. Host brunch. (Done!)

4. Go for a picnic. (Done twice!)

5. Go grocery shopping on my bike. (Done!)

6. Finish my year-end photo albums.

7. Take Fred to Lost Lake.

8. Rearrange the backyard.

9. Eat at the Space Needle.  (Done!)

10. Stay in bed all day.  (Done!)

11. <edited for privacy.>

12. Have a really girly slumber party.  (Done!)

13. Play a round of mini-golf. (Done!)

14. Get the craft room sorted and gorgeousified.

15. Go for a weekend in the San Juans. (Done!  Orcas at Memorial Day!)

16. Have an individual date with each NGS. (Done!)

17. Go for a hike.

18. Plan and cook a week’s worth of dinners. (Done!)

19. Go to Portland to see old friends.

20. Perfect a signature recipe (one slightly more nutritional than Bundt cake.)  (Done!)

21. Go to the drive-in movies.  (Done!  Harry Potter at the Blue Fox on Whidbey Island)

22. Get a mani-pedi every month. (Done for Jan, Feb, March, April, May and July)

23. Go ice skating. (Done!  Colorado with the parentals!)

24. Find the perfect shade of lipstick.

25. Host a big tea party in the back yard.  (Done!)

26. Make a quilt top.

27. Take six dance classes of any kind. (THREE down.  Love the Little Red Hen.)  (Done!)

28. Ride on a Ferris wheel.  (Done!  Puyallup Spring Fair!)

29. Organize our finances and filing system.  (Done!)

        30. Plan an awesome 30^th birthday party.

 I actually wound up combining #30 and #25.  I was running around in mental circles trying to decide what to do for the ultimate b-day party.  My good friend Krystal wisely pointed out that as the ultimate girly-girl, (a necessary defense against working with all dudes,) a lovely feminine tea party might be a great way to kick off the celebration.  Excellent idea.

My friend Becca declared herself my "sexy birthday slave".  If you've never had one of these, I suggest you get one!  She arrived at my house early on the appointed day, and in two shakes had the house clean, tea prepped and shunted me off to the shower.  My other amazing friend Miss Anna showed up and helped set the table and we were ready.

The table was beautiful.  We set two long tables together under the dappled shade of a tree in our side yard.

 

I made two Bundt cakes in advance, which turned out pretty well if I do say so, this is the lemon one.

Miss Anna brought me some lovely roses from her garden...

The table settings were made up of antique china and silver from our families, and tea cups from my wedding shower.  (My husband's grandmother once explained to me that at her wedding shower everyone brought the bride a tea cup, "and that way when the ladies come for tea, you always have the right number of cups!"  Lovely.)

 

Mallory made these amazing petit fours from scratch, and when the fondant didn't work out like she had hoped, she frosted every one of these with gorgeous buttercream.  (More on the pastry love later.)  Don't these just complete the fancy ladies tea-ness?

 

I couldn't have been happier with the first half of the birthday celebration.  This is most of the girls, I believe the hubby (redubbed "tea boy" for the occasion) took this photo:

Tea is a wonderful and relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  It's actually pretty not even difficult to host, I made the Bundts, Mallory made the petit fours, Becca made the finger sandwiches, we had cookies and berries from various places in the city, and with a little lemonade and tea you're all set!  (OK, I totally had a lot of help, a million thanks to Becca, Anna and Mallory who all toiled to make this event as amazing and easy peasy as it seemed.)  Anyway, it's a fabulous way to start a birthday! 

 Next up, a fabulous birthday surprise, a picnic birthday party, and more notes on pastry love!

#9 - Space Needle Fantabulousness

1. Host mah jongg night.

2. Make jam.  (Done!)

3. Host brunch. (Done!)

4. Go for a picnic. (Done twice!)

5. Go grocery shopping on my bike. (Done!)

6. Finish my year-end photo albums.

7. Take Fred to Lost Lake.

8. Rearrange the backyard.

9. Eat at the Space Needle.  (Done!)

10. Stay in bed all day.  (Done!)

11. <edited for privacy.>

12. Have a really girly slumber party.  (Done!)

13. Play a round of mini-golf. (Done!)

14. Get the craft room sorted and gorgeousified.

15. Go for a weekend in the San Juans. (Done!  Orcas at Memorial Day!)

16. Have an individual date with each NGS. (Done!)

17. Go for a hike.

18. Plan and cook a week’s worth of dinners. (Done!)

19. Go to Portland to see old friends.

20. Perfect a signature recipe (one slightly more nutritional than Bundt cake.)  (Done!)

21. Go to the drive-in movies.  (Done!  Harry Potter at the Blue Fox on Whidbey Island)

22. Get a mani-pedi every month. (Done for Jan, Feb, March, April, May and July)

23. Go ice skating. (Done!  Colorado with the parentals!)

24. Find the perfect shade of lipstick.

25. Host a big tea party in the back yard.

26. Make a quilt top.

27. Take six dance classes of any kind. (THREE down.  Love the Little Red Hen.)  (Done!)

28. Ride on a Ferris wheel.  (Done!  Puyallup Spring Fair!)

29. Organize our finances and filing system.  (Done!)

        30. Plan an awesome 30^th birthday party.

Y'all, I'm skipping ahead.  I did find the perfect shade of lipstick, reshuffle a couple things in the backyard and sort the craft room, but all of those grown-up good-for-you things are so boring!  I wanna talk about celebrating!  My 30th birthday was the culmination of this whole project and boy, did we celebrate it right.  

My actual birthday fell on a super boring weekday.  So, I decided to have the party on Saturday, and on the actual day go to a retro revolving restaurant with my charming husband. That's right children, the Space Needle.  The Space Needle was built in the wonderful year of 1962 and everything about it is just as fabulous and space age as that year implies.  The restaurant revolves slowly, about one revolution every half an hour, so you get to see the entire city during your dinner.  At 500 feet up, the view is incomparable. 

 (I did not take this photo.  Some lovely person in a plane did.  But I'm pretty sure that's our table, right there on the bottom black level.)

People in Seattle are fond of whining about how the Space Needle is expensive and the food is mediocre.  I'm here to tell you, I thought the food was delicious.  It might be more standard-fancy than off-the-wall-show-me-the-pork-belly-gourmet, but that's not really what you're there for, right?  If you're going to travel 500 feet up in the air to a restaurant that spins around, you've got to suspend the snobbery and take childlike delight in all the fun details.  We started off right, I had a martini that was delicious and filled with dry ice.

 Glee!  See that look right there?  That's my gleeful look!  What kind of 30 year old gets a sputtering, smoking, probably Midori-filled martini and totally adores every second of it?  THIS kind.

After the martini, we enjoyed the rest of the meal which was delicious, but totally un-photograph worthy.  UNTIL we got to dessert.  I had the Lunar Orbiter, which I can distinctly remember having at my first trip to the Space Needle when I was six.  Ready for more pure glee?

 

Tee hee hee!  My dessert is smoking!  The Lunar Orbiter is basically a hot fudge sundae served in a dish specially designed to hold dry ice and water, sending a rolling blanket of fog across your table for a solid five minutes.  I dare you to come up with a more entertaining dessert.  (What, you have cupcakes that can do the tango?  Bring it on!)  

Included in the price of your dinner is a trip to the observation deck.  It's gorgeous.  We had a late dinner, so the pictures are pretty poor, but just so you can get a sense of the sunset...

 

So happy!  Everything about eating at the Space Needle was pure fun.  I highly recommend it for celebrating, just shelve your inner foodie and accept that its tapping into your silly side.

So much so that on the way back to the car, I may have been inspired to kick off my Italian pumps and ride the whale:

 

Glee!  You can't really see the glee on my face from here but believe me, it was there.  This whole evening was pure awesomeness, from drinks to riding the whale.  I can't remember the last time I had such a fun and memorable meal.  So far, turning 30 was totally great, and the celebration has two more installments!  Stay tuned...

#20 - Signature of Deliciousness

1. Host mah jongg night.

2. Make jam.  (Done!)

3. Host brunch. (Done!)

4. Go for a picnic. (Done twice!)

5. Go grocery shopping on my bike. (Done!)

6. Finish my year-end photo albums.

7. Take Fred to Lost Lake.

8. Rearrange the backyard.

9. Eat at the Space Needle.

10. Stay in bed all day.  (Done!)

11. <edited for privacy.>

12. Have a really girly slumber party.  (Done!)

13. Play a round of mini-golf. (Done!)

14. Get the craft room sorted and gorgeousified.

15. Go for a weekend in the San Juans. (Done!  Orcas at Memorial Day!)

16. Have an individual date with each NGS. (Done!)

17. Go for a hike.

18. Plan and cook a week’s worth of dinners. (Done!)

19. Go to Portland to see old friends.

20. Perfect a signature recipe (one slightly more nutritional than Bundt cake.)  (Done!)

21. Go to the drive-in movies.  (Done!  Harry Potter at the Blue Fox on Whidbey Island)

22. Get a mani-pedi every month. (Done for Jan, Feb, March, April, May and July)

23. Go ice skating. (Done!  Colorado with the parentals!)

24. Find the perfect shade of lipstick.

25. Host a big tea party in the back yard.

26. Make a quilt top.

27. Take six dance classes of any kind. (THREE down.  Love the Little Red Hen.)  (Done!)

28. Ride on a Ferris wheel.  (Done!  Puyallup Spring Fair!)

29. Organize our finances and filing system.  (Done!)

        30. Plan an awesome 30^th birthday party.

As evidenced by my last post, my cooking skills are not what I hope they will eventually be.  We all must have an area in which we aspire to continually improve, right?  (Perhaps by the time I do a "50 before 50" the story will be different!)  A dearly departed friend gave me a Bundt pan and a Bundt cookbook for my 26th birthday and since then I have become known for my Bundts.  It is a useful skill, and makes me real popular at parties!  However, it doesn't really help me when putting together a whole dinner.  So I put #20 on this list in hopes of perfecting a recipe for something impressive enough that if the Queen were to drop by for supper, I could have something to make for dinner without shame.  Although I've only made it twice, I think twice is enough to say my new non-Bundt signature recipe is Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon.  

You can find the recipe here, where I blogged about it after making it the first time in January: http://newlifeoldhouse.blogspot.com/2011/01/beefy-le-boeuf.html 
I've since made it one more time and although time consuming, it isn't too difficult.  Besides, I think the Queen would deign to eat this, don't you think?

 

Yeeeees.  I think so.  I'm not going to reprint that recipe because it is reDICulously long.  But follow the link and you too can make mouthwateringly delicious beef.

I had a dear friend who said really I should cross this one off the list with a Bundt.  Because no matter how delicious the beef was, it would never be as delicious as a Bundt.  So Krystal, just for you, here is my most delicious and most requested Bundt.  The caramel glaze here is the best part, you could reuse it over really any cake and I'm pretty sure it would be a winner.

Apple Harvest Bundt (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 medium Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch Bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in the apples and walnuts using a spoon. Pour into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the crown or the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes then invert on to a wire rack.
4. Make the glaze by heating the butter, milk and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat. Drizzle over the warm cake. I like to place a sheet of aluminum foil under the cooling rack to catch the drips for easy clean up.

And yes, it always turns out beautiful.  Like this one.  Actually, Krystal frosted this one herself because I was busy putting on a wedding dress and stuff.  So thanks K-star and all my guinea pigs for this and other recipes!

#18 - Cooking, my Archnemesis

(Editor's Note: the 30 Before 30 is over!  I'm officially 30.  It feels great.  I made it through 26 of the 30 things on my list and the other 4, well, they were tricky.  But bear with me as I cross of the last items, I'm working up to fabulous pics from the past week.)

1. Host mah jongg night.

2. Make jam.  (Done!)

3. Host brunch. (Done!)

4. Go for a picnic. (Done twice!)

5. Go grocery shopping on my bike. (Done!)

6. Finish my year-end photo albums.

7. Take Fred to Lost Lake.

8. Rearrange the backyard.

9. Eat at the Space Needle.

10. Stay in bed all day.  (Done!)

11. <edited for privacy.>

12. Have a really girly slumber party.  (Done!)

13. Play a round of mini-golf. (Done!)

14. Get the craft room sorted and gorgeousified.

15. Go for a weekend in the San Juans. (Done!  Orcas at Memorial Day!)

16. Have an individual date with each NGS. (Done!)

17. Go for a hike.

18. Plan and cook a week’s worth of dinners. (Done!)

19. Go to Portland to see old friends.

20. Perfect a signature recipe (one slightly more nutritional than Bundt cake.)

21. Go to the drive-in movies.  (Done!  Harry Potter at the Blue Fox on Whidbey Island)

22. Get a mani-pedi every month. (Done for Jan, Feb, March, April, May and July)

23. Go ice skating. (Done!  Colorado with the parentals!)

24. Find the perfect shade of lipstick.

25. Host a big tea party in the back yard.

26. Make a quilt top.

27. Take six dance classes of any kind. (THREE down.  Love the Little Red Hen.)  (Done!)

28. Ride on a Ferris wheel.  (Done!  Puyallup Spring Fair!)

29. Organize our finances and filing system.  (Done!)

        30. Plan an awesome 30^th birthday party.

Y'all, as noted above, I'm 30!  I'm ready to be done with this list.  So, I'm speeding through the last couple of items so I can get to the fun part of showing how awesome my actual birthday was!

#18 and #20 were both all about cooking.  Cooking is something I'm not naturally gifted at.  However, becoming a wifey last year somehow triggered some domestic impulse deep inside my brain and all of a sudden I'm trying to figure out the difference between Top Round and Bottom Round and exactly how many seconds do you pulse the pie dough in your Cuisinart?  

I have to confess, I actually completed #18 in the late winter/early spring.  I wrote those five dinners down on a list somewhere....and promptly lost it.  I also don't want to make this post insanely long by reposting all five recipes.  So I'm going to link to some of my favorite, tried-and-true recipes and postulate that these would make an excellent week of dinners, were you to make all five in a row.

1.) Loaded Guacamole with Chicken Kebabs

(Image from Mark Bittman but I swear mine looked almost this good.)


I heart Mark Bittman.  My husband gets full credit for introducing him to me, but I love how simple and straightforward he is.  He doesn't make you do extra steps if they don't add a lot of benefit and ditto for extra ingredients.  I'm so sick of recipes with 20 ingredients, it makes the overall price and complexity of the menu skyrocket without increasing your real enjoyment.  So for maximum joy and minimum hassle, go see www.markbittman.com.  This recipe can be seen here and it is totally delicious, easy and perfect for summer!

2.) Rachel Ray's Smoky Sweet Potato Chicken Stoup

 

(From Ray-ray but mine looks way better than that :))



Although I have to say very few of her recipes actually take half an hour, there are some Rachel Ray recipes that I really love.  She does some excellent hearty "stoups" (stew/soups) and this is one of them.  I love anything smoky flavored AND anything with sweet potatoes so this stoup is a win-win for me.  Although I still haven't ever figured out what to do with the other three adobo-soaked chiles you inevitably have leftover from this recipe, having that annoying little can sit around in your fridge is worth it because this always turns out delicious, hearty and healthy.  Double bonus, it is pretty dang hard to burn soup, so that's nice. 

3.) Moules a la Mariniere a la Julia Child

(From Smitten Kitchen, but yes, it really does look like that.)

This is one of those meals that can be really fun and impressive for a big group, but is actually simple enough to be just fine for a regular old weeknight.  Shellfish are in season now too, so get to it!  The husband and I have thrown a couple of memorable summer parties involving ten pounds of mussels, several bottles of white wine, a million baguettes and our outdoor propane burner.  It is that easy and it always turns out great.  Just make sure you get high quality mussels and enough butter to choke a horse.  The recipe can be found in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, or you can see it here.


4.) Southwest Salad

Remarkably fast, delicious and mostly healthy, this is a remake of a salad I get at my favorite deli in the Pike Place Market, so I actually have to type this recipe for you.  But it's so great for tired Tuesday nights, you can thank me later.

Cooked chicken (I like to shred roast chicken from the deli, but you could also roast your own or use it from a packet)
Lettuce or spinach
Can of sweet corn
Can of black beans
A bell pepper if you're into that

Cherry tomatoes if you're into that

Toss all these ingredients together.  Dress with either southwestern-inspired dressing, or make your own by taking some ranch, adding some mayo, chili powder, cayenne and Tabasco until it tastes like Tucson.  See?  So easy.  Exactly at my cooking level.

5.) Friday night?  Call Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon and get yourself some of these:

Sorry, they're hard to photograph because they keep running into your mouth!  Get the pork dumplings with extra dipping sauce and don't even think about ordering just 15, you won't have enough leftovers!  Get the full order of 32.  Yes, I know this isn't a real recipe, but who cooks on Friday night?  Judy Fu does, that's who!

Yay for #18, I'm no longer afraid of the stove, even if I do call in Judy Fu to sub for me once in a while.  It should also be noted that I almost never actually cook five meals in a row because A.) I have a lovely and talented husband who also cooks, B.) we entertain a lot which in the summer means we have burgers/dogs/anything grillable on the menu a lot and C.) we go out or to happy hour a lot.  So #18 was maybe a little optimistic but it's good to practice.  I'm down to burning things once every two weeks which is a vast improvement over last year and my list of weeknight suppers is slowly growing.  What's your favorite weeknight recipe??
 

#29 - Organization, the Bane of My Existence

1. Host mah jongg night.

2. Make jam.  (Done!)

3. Host brunch. (Done!)

4. Go for a picnic. (Done twice!)

5. Go grocery shopping on my bike. (Done!)

6. Finish my year-end photo albums.

7. Take Fred to Lost Lake.

8. Rearrange the backyard.

9. Eat at the Space Needle.

10. Stay in bed all day.  (Done!)

11. <edited for privacy.>

12. Have a really girly slumber party.  (Done!)

13. Play a round of mini-golf. (Done!)

14. Get the craft room sorted and gorgeousified.

15. Go for a weekend in the San Juans. (Done!  Orcas at Memorial Day!)

16. Have an individual date with each NGS. (Done!)

17. Go for a hike.

18. Plan and cook a week’s worth of dinners.

19. Go to Portland to see old friends.

20. Perfect a signature recipe (one slightly more nutritional than Bundt cake.)

21. Go to the drive-in movies.  (Done!  Harry Potter at the Blue Fox on Whidbey Island)

22. Get a mani-pedi every month. (Done for Jan, Feb, March, April, May and July)

23. Go ice skating. (Done!  Colorado with the parentals!)

24. Find the perfect shade of lipstick.

25. Host a big tea party in the back yard.

26. Make a quilt top.

27. Take six dance classes of any kind. (THREE down.  Love the Little Red Hen.)  (Done!)

28. Ride on a Ferris wheel.  (Done!  Puyallup Spring Fair!)

29. Organize our finances and filing system.  (Done!)

        30. Plan an awesome 30^th birthday party.

 I really want to be an organized person, but somehow its always a struggle.  #29 was one of my least favorite items but it's like drinking your milk, just pinch your nose and do it because its good for you.  I don't have any fun pics of this one, which is fine cause I'm going to keep it short and sweet.  (Also, how do you blog about something polite people aren't even supposed to talk about?)  Anyway, my personal steps for newlywed financial organization ran something like this:
1.) Agree on a bank.  (This was VERY hard because we had two different banks.  Finally, we went with the bank of the person who already had the bills in their name.)
2.) Actually go to the bank, get a joint account.  (This was hard!  Finding time during banker's hours?  Felt like a major accomplishment.  I had a hard time saying my own new last name!  I felt like I was going to be exposed as a fraud at any minute.  I'm not an adult!  Don't give me a bank account!  Eek!)
3.) Agree on how much goes in from each person.  (Prooobably needs to be adjusted on months where you throw six parties in 30 days.)
4.) Actually get direct deposit set up. (There's a form for this.  I hate forms.  It wasn't too bad.)
5.) Find a spot where bills and other important info go.  (Um yeah, I'm still working on that.)


So all in all, I'm calling this one a win.  We've made a lot of progress and we've got a system!  There were a couple of other bonus things thrown in like 401k's and next I've got my eyes on bigger fish, like a will and stuff.  OMG, it feels like adulthood all of a sudden, which is what you should be doing to warm up to 30, right?  Yay!  Adios #29!

#16 - Girltime is the Jam!

1. Host mah jongg night.

2. Make jam.  (Done!)

3. Host brunch. (Done!)

4. Go for a picnic. (Done twice!)

5. Go grocery shopping on my bike. (Done!)

6. Finish my year-end photo albums.

7. Take Fred to Lost Lake.

8. Rearrange the backyard.

9. Eat at the Space Needle.

10. Stay in bed all day.  (Done!)

11. <edited for privacy.>

12. Have a really girly slumber party.  (Done!)

13. Play a round of mini-golf. (Done!)

14. Get the craft room sorted and gorgeousified.

15. Go for a weekend in the San Juans. (Done!  Orcas at Memorial Day!)

16. Have an individual date with each NGS. (Done!)

17. Go for a hike.

18. Plan and cook a week’s worth of dinners.

19. Go to Portland to see old friends.

20. Perfect a signature recipe (one slightly more nutritional than Bundt cake.)

21. Go to the drive-in movies.  (Done!  Harry Potter at the Blue Fox on Whidbey Island)

22. Get a mani-pedi every month. (Done for Jan, Feb, March, April, May and July)

23. Go ice skating. (Done!  Colorado with the parentals!)

24. Find the perfect shade of lipstick.

25. Host a big tea party in the back yard.

26. Make a quilt top.

27. Take six dance classes of any kind. (THREE down.  Love the Little Red Hen.)  (Done!)

28. Ride on a Ferris wheel.  (Done!  Puyallup Spring Fair!)

29. Organize our finances and filing system.

        30. Plan an awesome 30^th birthday party.

#16 was to go on a date with each individual NGS.  The NGS are..well they're an amazing group of ladies.  Some of my first Seattle friends.  The NGS is made up of Lisa, Jill, Paula, Krystal, Molly, Christyne and myself.  NGS stands for...well, its a long story.  Let's skip that!  Anyway, we're a hell of a group together.  Where to start?  We have seen a LOT of shenanigans together.  We go camping:

We go on an annual vacation that has varied from Lake Chelan:

 

To Long Beach:

And Mexico:

 

Clearly we like the water.

 

Ahoy there Skipper Christyne!



We're like peas in a pod.  It's never boring when the girls are out.  We've been known to get a little tipsy, break the rules, sing karaoke, accidentally start bar fights...ok that only happened the one time.  Anyway, mostly we like to hang out.

I don't have any pictures of the one-on-one activities, except for Paula, who helped me out with the wickedly fun mini golf which you already saw.  Krystal and I went to an amazing exhibit at Mohai on purses, and out to happy hour at Frank's Oyster House and Champagne Parlor.  (Yes, purse exhibit and truffle popcorn! Yum.)  Molly and I had dinner at my place, she put up with my experiments in salad dressing.  Christyne and I went to the Ballard Seafood Fest (twice!) and got to see Knut Bell, the band that played our wedding!   Jill and I had a slumber party in Portland which was super fun, girl talk late into the night.  And Lisa, pulling in for a heroic last minute save of the 30B30, took me out for drinks at a hip new bar in Fremont.  It felt great to get in a little extra girl time in the name of crossing things off the list.  So NGS, thanks to you all for helping me kick out #16, it was super fun.  Although lawd knows we could have fun hanging out in a cardboard box together so that's not saying a lot!  As a last NGS cameo, the below might have been the most fun day of my life.  Look at us.  Per the usual!!