SHINE BRIGHT THIS NEW YEAR'S EVE

Happy Friday! I hope you all enjoyed Christmas with your loved ones! Can you believe that we only have a few days left in 2014?!?! It went so incredibly fast. Balancing my little family of four, two dogs, handful of fish (ok..actually Allen and Mia mostly take care of the fish), a full time job, a new blog, laundry (it never ends!), the occasional house cleaning and a social life keeps me on my toes; but boy, does it make time fly! You get it, right? We are all in the same lifeboat.

But I love it and am exciting to see what new things happen 2015. I just wish I could hit the slowmo button sometimes so that I can enjoy the little things just a tad longer. J That's my number one resolution  - to take time and really enjoy the small things and document them! I really want to take more pictures of our kiddos and all the zany things they do. Then, when I am 80 and can't remember what I had for breakfast I will at least have pictures to remind me of how precious my babies were growing up. J

So, how are you ringing in the new year? Any plans? Well, if you are hosting a party then I am super excited to share some fun lil' party tips to help make your New Year's Eve shine bright!

What party isn't complete without a few decorations or party favors? Here's a couple of ideas that are quick, easy and give just the right amount of sparkle.

•  
• Make a Chalkboard Sign
• Set Out a Sparkler Favor Display
• Create Confetti Poppers (here is a great tutorial from Weddingbells)
• Add Glitter Washi Tape to Paper Straws for a Festive Drink Stirrer
• Create a Glitzy "Cheers" Banner

And if you are feeling ambitious, then you can also create a few of the Atomic Starburst Ornaments to hang or display! Just need some cute paper straws, foam balls, glue and glitter and your all set. If you hadn't seen my tutorial on these then you can check it out here.

Oh, and if you are on the hunt for an amazing gold bar cart then you gotta go get this one from Target. It's absolutely adorable and affordable. Double win!!

Now for the tasty treats... a Tiramisu Martini and Dark Chocolate Mousse with a Gold Dipped Espresso Meringue Cookie

DARK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (4-6 servings)

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay via The Food Network

• 5 1/4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 14 ounces cold heavy cream
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 ounce sugar

Place chocolate in a large bowl set over a double boiler at a low simmer. Stir chocolate until melted. Turn off the heat and let stand.

Beat the cream over ice until it forms soft peaks. Set aside and hold at room temperature. With a mixer, whip egg to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar and continue whipping until firm.

Remove the chocolate from the double boiler and using a whisk, fold in the egg whites all at once. When the whites are almost completely incorporated, fold in the whipped cream. Cover the mousse and refrigerate for approximately 1 hour or until set.

Using an ice cream or cookie scoop, dish out two scoops into your dessert dishes and top with an espresso meringue cookie.


ESPRESSO MERINGUE COOKIES (half batch - about 17 cookies)

Recipe adapted from Meringue Girls

• 150 grams of caster or superfine sugar
• 75 grams egg whites (I used AllWhites 100% Liquid Egg Whites)
• 1/2 tablespoon espresso powder
• Sugar glue (2 tablespoons of warm water mixed with 1/4 teaspoon of Tylose powder)
• Disco dust (American gold or your color preference)

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, pour in the sugar, and put the baking sheet in the oven for about 5 minutes, until the edges of the sugar are just beginning to melt. Heating the sugar will help it dissolve in the egg whites more quickly and help create a glossy, stable mixture. 

Meanwhile, make sure the bowl and whisk attachment of your stand mixer are free from grease. Pour the egg whites into the bowl. Whisk on low speed at first, allowing small bubbles to form, then increase the speed to high and continue whisking until the egg whites form stiff peaks and the bowl can be tipped upside down without the whites falling out. Stop whisking just before the whites take on a cotton-woolly appearance; if they do, they have been over whisked, and the egg protein has lost some of its elasticity. 

By now, the sugar should be ready to take out of the oven. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and reduce the temperature to 200°F.

With the whites stiff and while whisking again at high speed, add one big tablespoonful of hot sugar after another to the bowl ensuring that the whites come back up to stiff peaks after each addition. Don't worry about small clumps of sugar, but avoid adding large chunks of caramelized sugar from the edges of the baking sheet. 

Once you have added the sugar, continue to whisk on high speed for 5 to 7 minutes. Rub a bit of the mixture between your fingers, and if you can still feel gritty sugar, keeping whisking at high speed until the sugar has dissolved, the mixture is smooth, and the bowl is a bit cooler to the touch. The meringue will continue to thicken up during this stage. You know it is ready to use when it forms a nice smooth, shiny peak on the tip of your upturned finger. 

Carefully fold in the espresso powder into the meringue mixture until just combined.

Spoon your meringue mixture into a piping bag. You need to pack the meringue in tightly, ensuring there are no air bubbles. Pinch the top of the bag closed, gently pushing the mixture in.

If using a disposable piping bag, with sharp scissors, but the tip of the bag so that the opening measures 3/4 inch in diameter.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; Squeeze the bag to form a cookie about 1-1/2" in diameter. Space the kisses about 3/4 inch apart.

Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until they can be lifted off the parchment paper with their bases intact. Let cool completely on the baking sheets.

Once the cookies have cooled, brush one side of the cookie with the sugar glue and sprinkle with the disco dust. Voila! Ready to serve!

TIRAMISU MARTINI
Recipe adapted from Frangelico

• 1 part Frangelico
• 1 part Absolut Vanilla Vodka
• 1 part Carolans Irish Cream
• 1 part cold espresso or coffee

Mix ingredients in a shaker with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. For my tasty cocktails, I had rimmed the glass with a gold dust and sugar mix and garnished with a gold tipped Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Hazelnut Pirouette. And just a helpful hint, you will want to eat the Pirouette right away so that it doesn't start to fall apart in your martini. J

Huge thanks to the amazing team of ladies that collaborated with me on this New Year's Eve bash. I couldn't have done this without them!

Photography: Amanda Reynolds

Make-up: Lynda Jackson Beauty

Hair: Sarah Smith

Wardrobe: Izzy & Es.

I hope you have an amazing New Year's Eve and may 2015 shine brightly for you!

Kifle - My Romanian Family Tradition

When I was growing up I spent a lot of time at my great grandparent's house of which were both Romanian-born. We called my great-grandfather, Pop, and my great-grandmother, Bunica, which is the Romanian term for grandmother. When I was really little I must have thought that was her name though because I remember calling her Grandma Bunica so basically I was just saying Grandma Grandma. Her name was Anna and she was very special to me. J

I have a lot of memories of Bunica in the kitchen but one of my favorites is that every holiday season she always made kifle. It's a tradition that I will always hold dear to my heart as it brings such fond memories of my childhood with her. I loved getting our Christmas tin full of these crescent-shaped cookies filled with a delicious walnut mixture. I'm not kidding when I say that I could eat half the tin in that same day!

I'm sure there are several variations of a kifle recipe throughout the Eastern European countries but today I want to share with you my family's version. I hope you enjoy it!

KIFLE (makes approx 6 dozen)

Dough
1 pkg. of activate dry yeast
1 tbs. warm water
1/2 tbs. sugar
3 egg yolks
2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp)
1/2 cup of sour cream
3 cups flour (divided)
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Mix yeast, water and sugar in a small dish and set aside. In a mixer, cream the butter and then add 1 cup of flour to the butter and mix on low until the flour has combined. In a separate bowl, hand whip the egg yolks and then add the sour cream and yeast mixture to the beaten yolks. Then pour into the butter and flour mixture and follow with the remaining 2 cups of flour. Mix until combined, knead the dough and then separate into 4 balls approximately the size of a baseball. Place into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least overnight.

Filling
1 lb ground English walnuts
2 cups of granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
5-1/3 oz. can of evaporated milk

Mix all together.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle your counter or board with confectioners sugar. Take one of the dough balls and roll out into a 12" circle and approx 1/8" thin. Personally, I like to also cut the outside edge of my dough once it's been rolled so that I am working with a clean edge. Usually, all of the scraps end up making a 5th dough ball.

Then, using your knife or rotary cutter, cut the dough into 16 small triangles (like you would a pizza). Spread the walnut mixture evenly onto the dough and then roll each of the triangles into a crescent shape. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat and place the kifle onto the tray. Brush the tops with a little melted butter and bake for approximately 12-15 minutes or to the point of where the edges start to become golden in color.

Repeat this for each of the dough balls. You will end up with a little over 6 dozen kifle to enjoy and give as gifts during the holidays!

Well, now that it's my turn to carry on the tradition of making these awesome little holiday treats it warms my heart to no end to be able to pass this down to my two girls. I pray that this will be just one of a million fond memories they have of their childhood with their momma. J

DIY Atomic Starburst Ornaments

The holiday season is upon us and this is the time of year that I absolutely love crafting, baking, decorating, wrapping presents, listening to my 5 year old sing Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman (which is pretty much on a constant loop between the two songs) and eating lots and lots of delicious treats. It's pretty awesome!

This year I had wanted to create some of my own holiday decor for the house and had an AHA moment when I was mindlessly perusing the internet and came across some mid-century design and realized that the atomic starburst shape is the perfect inspiration for a little holiday DIY. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out!

I should also say that I love paper straws and have a slight obsession with buying them whenever I see a cute pattern I like. Well, I came across a trio pack of gold and white straws on Amazon and knew they would make the perfect stems for the ornaments. 

Now, the gold balls were more of a trial and error to get them exactly how I had envisioned them. I knew that I wanted to use craft foam balls but wasn't sure what the best application would be to turn them gold. 

My first attempt was to spray paint them which kind of resulted in disaster.  It may have been a result of user error but the paint didn't seem to adhere to them well (even though the package says paintable and I was using foam safe spray paint) and I didn't have the patience to apply multiple coats so I abandoned the spray paint and moved on to simple craft glue and loose glitter. Worked beautifully, thank goodness!

Here's what you need to create your own Atomic Starburst Ornaments:

• Paper Straws
• (14) Smoothfoam Balls in 1/2" diameter
• (1) Smoothfoam Ball in 1.5" diameter
• Extra Fine Glitter in Gold
• Craft Glue
• Toothpicks
• Paintbrush
• Screwdriver (or some other tool to punch a hole in the foam balls)
• Foam Blocks
• Exacto Knife
• Ruler
• Mod Podge Spray Sealant (or something similar)
• Hot Glue Gun

Start by creating one hole in the smaller foam balls so that they create a round end cap for the starburst stems. For the larger foam ball, create a hole at the north and south points of the ball, then four holes along the horizontal center axis, followed by 4 holes around the upper hemisphere and again with four holes around the lower hemisphere of the ball. Keep in mind that these 8 holes should be dug so that the stem will be on a 45 degree angle. 

Next, coat the foam balls with your craft glue then cover with glitter goldness. Allow them to dry for a couple of hours on the foam blocks.

Once the glue has set, give the balls a couple of quick coats of Mod Podge sealant to keep the glitter from spreading all over the house as if Tinkerbell had just visited. Although my daughter would love it if she thought there was actual pixie dust all over the house. J

Next, you will need to cut your straws down to the desired lengths. I created two different sized ornaments and I'll share those measurements but it's totally up to you on how large or small you want to go. I based mine on getting multiple cuts out of each straw.

Larg Atomic Starburst Ornament

• (6) 7.75" straws cut into (2) pieces: 3.5" and 4.25" lengths
• (1) 7.75" straw cut into (2) pieces sized at 3.5" lengths with a .75" piece that gets discarded

Small Atomic Starburst Ornament

• (5) 7.75" straws cut into (3) pieces: 2.5" lengths with a .25" piece that gets discarded

Finally, glue each of the straws into the smaller glitter ball and then glue the other end of the straws into each of the holes on the larger glitter ball. If you are creating the large ornament then the (6) 4.25" long stems will go into the north and south point holes as well as the (4) holes around the center axis.

Now sit back and enjoy!   

If you decide to make some of these fun little creations be sure to follow me on Instagram and share with me by posting to #ahamomentsblogspot. I"d love to see what you dream up!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

“O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.” 

- William Shakespeare

Wishing everyone a beautiful day filled with love, happiness and of course, a full belly!

A Great Pumpkin Roundup

Hello and happy Thursday! Can you believe that Thanksgiving is in one week from today? We will be spending Thanksgiving with Allen's family and I am so looking forward to it! My mother-in-law always prepares such a beautiful and delicious dinner and I really just love being able to spend time with family and friends. It's so important to me to be able to disconnect from the day to day chaos and just spend some quality time with those that I love. And I look forward to a nice nap as well...those are a rarity these days. J

In preparation for the great Thanksgiving feast, I thought I'd share some alternative dessert ideas to the traditional pumpkin pie. Don't get me wrong...I love a good ole fashion pumpkin pie but I also like to find new ways to switch up a holiday staple. Here are 10 perfectly pumpkin possibilities from around the blogosphere.

PUMPKIN BAVARIAN CREPE CAKE

SPRINKLE BAKES

PUMPKIN CREME BRULEE DOUGHNUTS

SPOON FORK BACON

PUMPKIN FRY BREAD

GIRLICHEF

MIDNIGHT PUMPKIN LAYER CAKE

SWEETAPOLITA

PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD TRIFLE

PAULA DEEN VIA THE FOOD NETWORK

WARM PUMPKIN PUDDING CAKES WITH CREME ANGLAISE

THE BONJON GOURMET

PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE TRUFFLES

THE GALLEY GOURMET

PUMPKIN PIE PANNA COTTA TART

ROXANA'S HOME BAKING

BOURBON PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

SMITTEN KITCHEN

SUGAR PUMPKIN ROULADE

G BAKES

If you have any favorite traditional or non-traditional pumpkin desserts, I'd love to hear about them!

A Masquerade Dance Party

Wow, the month of October flew by so quickly this year! We had such a busy month with our Disney trip and a few birthdays to celebrate including my oldest baby, Mia. She turned five just a couple of days before Halloween so we decided to celebrate with a Masquerade Dance Party!

Of course my lil' peanut had to strike a pose for me in her fancy "I just want to dance" party attire J I can't believe how big she is getting on me! I just love seeing her grow into her own little personality and she is definitely my lil' super star.

We are getting ready to do some updates to the dining room so it's an empty space other than my china hutch that is sitting there all by its lonesome so it made the perfect venue for a little dance party. And the hutch made a great display for all of the sweet treats.

The kiddos started out by decorating their own masks and capes and were able to pick out their own silly headband to wear. This turned out to be such a fun activity for the kids and I loved seeing how creative they got with their decorations!

I've never thrown a dance party for a bunch of five year olds before so I wasn't sure how well they would take to the concept but to my delight the kids really got into it and had a blast dancing with each other. Even Mia's lil' sister, Riley, joined in on the fun!

It was a great turnout and Mia had so much fun just spending time with her close friends and family. I love being able to throw little parties like this and creating memories. Now it's time to start getting ready for the holidays and a brand new year. It will be exciting to see what this next year will bring for all of us and I look forward to sharing more aha moments with you in the year to come!