My Stress-Free Holiday Entertaining Tips on MyWell-Being.com

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As most of you know, I write a monthly blog for MyWell-Being.com, a site that serves as a "guide to getting started on the path to complete well-being in every aspect of your life—health and money, people and play."  On their site they explain Well-Being as :

Well-being. It’s about so much more than simply being well.

While your health—physical and mental—is a big part of your well-being, it’s only one piece of a much bigger picture.

 Think about the sense of contentment you get from feeling close and connected to family, friends, and your broader community. That’s well-being.

And remember how good it feels to be financially confident? When your career’s in good shape and you’re on top of your savings—that’s well-being, too.

And let’s not forget the lift you get from the time you spend at play, traveling the world, or exploring new—and old—interests. Well-being, again. 

Isn't that great?  Their philosophy of "well-being" is very much in line with my beliefs of "living well" on a daily basis and what I try to inspire you, my readers, to do through entertaining friends and family, creating a warm home or traveling to a relaxing destination.


This month, my MyWell-Being.com post is all about Stress-Free Entertaining for the Holidays.  Here is a small excerpt.  You can read the rest at MyWell-Being.com :

At the beginning of each Holiday season, many of us make the resolution to spend less, rush around less, stress less and give more.  However, even with our good intentions, there are still Holiday dinners to be prepared, gifts to be purchased and parties to attend that seem to fill up our month of joyful celebrations with a list endless obligations.  Even now, as I write this I'm feeling very behind on my own Holiday checklist!

One way to make our Holiday "to-do's" less stressful is to simplify our Holiday Entertaining.  Hosting the perfect family dinner or festive cocktail party this time of year can sometimes seem like a big burden.  Too often, we feel like our homes have to look perfect and the food has to be expensive and elaborate so we can impress our friends and family.  With these high expectations come a lot of stress and not a whole lot of fun...

 Read the rest of the post and my 3 Solutions for Stress-Free Parties at MyWell-Being.com

*Do you remember this tablesetting?  I created it last year!  I think it is the perfect Christmas Morning Brunch table... complete with cookies at each place setting.  Read about the details, here.

Easy, Easy Snowflake Sugar Cookies | Just in time for the snow!

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Is my timing great, or what?



Here are the cookies all stacked up ready for our neighborhood open house tonight... just in time for the snow!  I guess it is a good thing that everyone can just walk home...



These snowflakes are soooo easy to decorate.  If you can make a straight line and sprinkle sprinkles, you're golden.  All you need is a plastic piping bag (you can get one from your bakery at the grocery store) and clear sprinkles... or white, or whatever you can find.






Here is my recipe for the sugar cookies and icing, and here is the step-by-step for decorating these snowflakes :


1) Bake the cookies
2) Put a layer of white icing all over the cookie.
3) Let it dry and harden for 1+ hours.



Here is the first layer, dried.  


Here is the design I made one most of the cookies.  If you have trouble with straight lines, then you can do dots, which look really cute, too.


Pour sprinkles over...


Shake off.  


 Done.  Look, it is snowing inside, too!


The paperwhites in my kitchen looking out to the snow.

 Emma got in on the fun, too...


With colored sprinkles for her friends at schools and the teachers.  Next up, bath time.


Here is the easy-to-pin strip!

 

A Peek Around our House the Night (okay, two nights...) Before Christmas

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Here is a peek around our house just before Christmas!  Last night Santa (a.k.a. Mike's parents!) made a stop at our house and left this antique sleigh complete with red and robins egg blue paint - isn't it perfect?
I filled our urns with sprigs of cedar and piles of ornaments (non glass, but glass-looking).  The glittered ones look so great and sparkly at night.



Our tree, a Frasier Fir, is decked with upholstery strapping and ornaments, as always.


All of the gifts (but one from Mike to Emma) are wrapped in brown paper and satin ribbon.  I know brown kraft paper is really popular right now, but I've loved it for as long as I can remember.  For the last 30 years my Aunt Lisa has wrapped gifts in her signature craft paper and plaid ribbon.  At some point, maybe 15 years ago, I adopted her wrapping style.


Emma loves to unstack and re-stack the presents.   She particularly loves the packages with the red satin ribbons, which happen to be hers... smart girl!  Maybe she can read her name written on the packages in gold sharpie.

I love this pillow featuring a vintage woody wagon that I picked up at Pottery Barn.

The mantle has fake (gasp!) white pine sprigs with real magnolia leaves inserted in it.

I love the combo of the two AND the real magnolia leaves seem to make the fake pine look real.  Bonus.

A bay leaf wreath in the kitchen.



Potted paperwhites in the kitchen.


Packaged snowflake cookies ready for delivery.

A Bay Leaf Wreath in the dinning room.

A tree in our bedroom dormer.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

A Month of Barefoot Contessa... My Answer to "What's For Dinner?"

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You might be surprised to know that even Mike and I have a terrible time deciding what to have for dinner.  He gave me the newest Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Foolproof, for Christmas, completing my collection.  As we were driving to my sister's house in St. Louis on Christmas Day, I read the entire book cover to cover and proclaimed - I'm going to make everything in this book.  He dared me.  I'm sure his encouragement was just to get himself out of the never-ending 'what do you want for dinner' daily dilemma.

As I'm sure you've noticed, I've devoted a great number of posts to Mrs. Garten - including our trip to East Hampton (where we were seated next to her at dinner!).  In fact, I've even been known to claim in an interview that my entire catering business plan was based on her book, Parties.

So, yes, I'm going to feature an entire series of Barefoot Contessa recipes on the blog... Julie and Julia style.  So what if the idea isn't original?  I know it has been done before by countless other bloggers, but I'm throwing my ego to the wind and doing it anyway.  It seems that all of my recipes and entertaining efforts are inspired by Ina, so why not give credit where credit is due. 

A Month of The Barefoot Contessa Project


The Rules : 
I will not be working in any particular order.  I will be making recipes from her other books, as well - ones that I've always wanted to make.  I will not be posting the exact recipe on my blog, but will point you to the page in the book where you can find it or a link where the recipe is featured - as a future cookbook author, I don't want to give her product away, just document my experience to inspire yours.  I will continue to write my own recipes and put those on the blog during my journey - don't worry, I won't leave you high and dry.  The project will last the entire month of January (I'll also continue to feature other topics such as home projects and travel during the month... business as usual).  I know I will not get through all of them, but I'll do my best. 

Join me!
As part of my journey, I'd like to invite you to join me.  As I post recipes from the books, I'd love for you to share your thoughts and experiences on those same recipes.

Pinterest :
I'll be posting all of the links on this Pinterest Board : The Barefoot Contessa Project, so be sure to follow that, as well.   Send me links to your posts about your Barefoot Contessa posts and I'll Pin them to the Pinterest page.   It will be a great easy resource to find all of the posts in one spot.

Facebook :
Also, I'd love for you to email me or post photos on my facebook page of your versions of the recipes.

Twitter :
I'll tweet my progress on twitter using the #JennyHobicksBarefootContessaProject to document as we go - so you'll be able to follow me in real-time.



First up, the Slow Roasted Beef Tenderloin, page 122... as someone who has cooked 100's of beef tenderloins in my catering days, I wish I had known about this method sooner.  We used the recipe on Christmas Day - FABULOUS.  Can't wait to share!

Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" Has Jumped The Cow

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Wendy's "Where's The Beef?" 1984 ad

In 1984, Wendy's launched a campaign designed to get people to notice that their hamburgers were full-sized, unlike some of the other fast food chains selling burgers.

The campaign, dubbed the "Where's the beef?" campaign ran for what seemed like years (but was probably only months). It featured little white-haired ladies cackling out the words, "Where's the beef? Where's the beef?" Their tinny voices wormed their way into your ears, leaving you begging for a reprieve.
In a word, the campaign was annoying. The little old ladies were annoying.

But, just like Wisk's "Ring Around The Collar" campaign, it appeared to do its job and to do it well. People parroted the words back, successfully making Wendy's ad campaign part of pop culture.

Now, 27 years later, Wendy's is at it again. This time, though, they are using a younger, hipper, social media savvy man to spread the news that Wendy's is revamping their single, double and triple burgers.

Is it just me or does this campaign feel like an idea past its prime? Why take something that had become an icon back in 1984 and try to force fit into 2011? Or is Wendy's trying to tell us that their hamburgers are about as fresh as their advertising?

It feels like Wendy's has jumped the shark ... or is that the cow?

Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" Facebook Campaign

Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" New Spokesman

Wendy's "Where's The Beef?" 2011 Ad

Who sings that song that goes "you're just somebody who I used to know"?

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Search: just somebody that i used to know

Why: I heard a song with that line today, but I know another song from a long time ago with that same line. Is this a cover or something?

Answer: Well, no. This is a whole new song by Gotye (featuring Kimbra).

Gotye is Belgian-Australian. His real name is Wouter "Wally" De Backer.

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: That other song I was thinking of was by Elliott Smith. The twist is that this is not the version I know - the one I know is a cover by someone else. It doesn't appear to be on my iPod (which I plugged in for the first time in 4+ months specifically for this), and I can't remember enough details about the voice to figure it out. It's frustrating. If anyone has any details, plz halp.

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What's the difference between a blimp and a zeppelin?

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Search: blimp zeppelin

Why: Corbett took Leigh on a blimp ride for his b-day. Nbd.


What makes a blimp not a zeppelin? The shape? The material? Are zeppelins even a thing anymore?

Answer: For starters, both blimps and zeppelins are dirigibles.

A dirigible is any lighter-than-air craft that is both powered and steerable (as opposed to free floating, like a balloon). Blimps, rigid airships, and semi-rigid airships are all dirigibles.

The name comes from the French verb diriger, "to steer."



A rigid airship has a rigid framework that maintains its shape. It also has one or more gas cells.


The USS Shenandoah
A zeppelin is a rigid airship made by a specific company, the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin ("Zeppelin Airship Construction Company") of Germany. The guy who started that company was one Mr. von Zeppelin (actually a Count).

A blimp - technically a "pressure airship" - has no rigid inner structure. Its shape is maintained by the pressure of the gases within its envelope. If it deflates, it loses shape.


Turns out: the thing Corbett and Leigh rode in was actually a zeppelin.

Source: Airships.net
The More You Know: The LZ-129 Hindenburg was a zeppelin (LZ = Luftschiff Zeppelin). At more than 800 feet long, it remains one of the largest objects to ever fly (even bigger than a pterosaur).


From its completion in March 1936 until its fiery disaster in May 1937, the Hindenburg provided the fastest and most comfortable way to fly across the Atlantic. In 1936, it made 17 round trips from the hangar in aviation town Friedrichshafen in Southern Germany over the Atlantic - 10 times to the US and 7 to Brazil. The flight to New York was something like 62 hours long. From New Jersey to Frankfurt, the Hindenburg's best time was 43 hours and 2 minutes.



According to passenger / reporter Webb Miller, passenger accommodations were enclosed in about 4,500 square feet. There 25 two-bed one-sink cabins, a promenade flanked by windows, a salon with writing desks and a piano, and a dining room. Below deck were shower / baths, toilets, kitchens, a smoking room, and a bar.



Tickets were $400 (~$5000 today). People were classy.


Nazis notwithstanding, it sounded very nice.




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