Pretty in Pink Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day, established in 1908, is a day to recognize mothers and the contributions they make to society. Celebrated each year in the U.S. on the second Sunday of May, Mother’s Day falls on May 12th this year. Make your mother feel pretty in pink on her special day with all things pink!
1. Pink Peonies
Peonies are in season from late spring to early summer and are fragrant flowers that come in a range of colors. The peony is symbolic of wealth and honor, but also embodies romance and love with the Chinese name for the peony meaning “most beautiful.” Click here to order a bouquet of pink peonies for your mother.
2. Pink Presents
Your mother will (literally) feel pretty in pink with pink presents! 1stdibs offers a whole section of Mother’s Day presents from furniture to fine art and jewelry that are all pink. Take your (or your mom’s) pick from designer items for her present(s) this year! Click here to see what they have.
3. Pink Moscato
Moscato is a sweeter wine created from the Muscat grape. Pink Moscato embodies flavors of red berries and orange blossoms with fresh citrus and peach aromas, while Pink Moscato Champagne is a sweet bubbly with candied cherries and sweet citrus flavors. Uncork a bottle of Pink Moscato or make a drink using Pink Moscato to toast to your mom. Click here for to learn more about Pink Moscato and other kinds of Moscato.
4. Pink Macarons
A macaron is a sweet meringue-based confection – a sandwich of cookies most commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam. Laduree offers a wide range of macaron flavors as well as other pink pastries. My favorite two pink macarons are raspberry and rose. Click here to find out more about Laduree.
5. Pink Cocktails
Top off your celebration with pink cocktails! Try out this recipe for Pink Punchful Spirit using pink moscato. Click here for the recipe.
6. Pink Smoothies
Say bye to your blender with these easy to make smoothies. Dole offers Fruit Smoothie Shakers in which all you have to do is add your favorite juice and then shake. My personal favorite is the combination of pineapple juice to the strawberry shaker…it makes the perfect pink smoothie! Make one for your mom this Mother’s Day and click here to learn more about them!
National Moscato Day
May 9th is National Moscato Day! Established just last year by Gallo Family Vineyards, you can celebrate the second annual National Moscato Day this year by uncorking a bottle of moscato and/or making one of the drinks below using moscato! Moscato remains the fastest wine varietal in the U.S. for the third year in a row. It’s created from the Muscat grape and is known for being a sweeter wine, great for pairing with cheese, spicy dishes, and fruity desserts. Moscato is also great for celebrating Mother’s Day, which is on May 12 this year! There are different types of Moscato:
- White Moscato – peach, honey and ripe citrus flavors
- Pink Moscato – red berries and orange blossoms flavors
- Red Moscato – sweet citrus and peach flavors with a red berry finish
- Sparkling Moscato – sweet and bubbly with fruit flavors depending on the type
You can also make cocktails and/or punch with the different types of Moscato, depending on your preference. Click on the links below for recipes.
If you’re throwing a National Moscato Day Party, try some of these tips:
- Set up stations for each type of Moscato in order to let your guests try each one!
- Pair your Moscato with different types of cheese (like Brie, Camembert, aged Parmesan, and Pecorino Romano). Slit a wine cork and slide a card in to label each cheese, letting your guests know which type of cheese they’re eating.
- Moscato and spicy food are a great combination. Serve your moscato with paella – you won’t have to make multiple dishes and it’s a meal within itself.
- Freeze Moscato into ice cube trays for later use or for your party. You can pop them into sparkling water in order to make a quick spritzer!
MYO Cinco de Mayo: Papel Picado
Papel picado or “perforated paper” is a decorative craft that can be used on holidays or really at any time! All you need is a pair of scissors, string, tissue paper, Command decorating clips, and mini colored binder clips.
Papel picado can be made by making cuts into tissue paper to create a design, then clipped onto string with binder clips. Use Command decorating clips for damage-free hanging on your walls!
Click on the links below for each template and follow the instructions to make your own papel picado.
- Print the template and cut out the border and shapes to create a stencil.
- Lay your stencil over one side of the 8.5” x 11” paper and trace all of the shapes.
- Fold 1: Fold the paper evenly in half with the printed side out and so that the edges of the shapes line up on the crease. Keep the paper in this half fold throughout the whole process.
- Cut out the edges with zigzag scissors to create the border.
- Cut out the shapes that are on the center crease (fold line 1).
- Fold 2: Keeping your paper folded in half, fold the paper again along fold line 2 and cut the shapes out along this line.
- Open the paper back up to the half fold (from step 4).
- Fold 3: Fold the paper along fold line 3 and cut out the shapes along this line.
- Open your paper to reveal your papel picado!
- Print the template and cut out the border and shapes to create a stencil.
- Lay your stencil over one side of the 8.5” x 11” paper and trace all of the shapes.
- Fold 1: Fold the paper evenly in half with the printed side out and so that the edges of the shapes line up on the crease. Keep the paper in this half fold throughout the whole process.
- Cut out the edges with zigzag scissors to create the border.
- Cut out the shapes that are on the center crease (fold line 1).
- Fold 2: Keeping your paper folded in half, fold the paper again along fold line 2 and cut the shapes out along this line.
- Open the paper back up to the half fold (from step 4).
- Fold 3: Fold the paper along fold line 3 and cut out the shapes along this line.
- Open your paper to reveal your papel picado!
Mark on Martha Stewart Radio’s “Morning Living” for July 4th
The summer season is well under way, meaning it’s the perfect time to entertain guests. With the 4th of July weekend fast-approaching, Mark got the opportunity to talk with hosts Betsy Karetnick and Brian Kelsey on Martha Stewart Radio’s “Morning Living” show. Highlights from the segment include the basics for summer entertaining as well as some red, white, and blue entertaining.
Summer entertaining doesn’t have to cost a fortune…the trick is starting with white and adding color on top of that as well as re-using pieces to create a new look. A white table cloth can be a great template–a blank canvas to do whatever you please–which allows you to bring in the melamine dinnerware and table chameleons to add a pop of color. Acrylic glassware is also popular for the season–stemless ones that are not only easier to wash, but add the possibility of less spillage.
Going along with the red, white, and blue theme for July 4th, you can mix it up with a backwards BBQ that’ll make you think outside the bun. You can start the BBQ with a “dessert” of meatloaf cupcakes topped with red, white, and blue mashed potatoes. The recipe for that can be found here. In addition, you can make a grilled romaine salad and serve it with a bacon melon-tini. If you want to add accents to the table, flowers are always a good choice. However, since red and blue flowers can’t always be found where you are, red and blue acrylic stars or something of the like can be slipped into the vase instead.
The Patriotic Table
Between Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day there are plenty of reasons to throw a patriotic party this summer, so I’ve created a spread that will do both you and America justice.
Start with a basic white tablecloth (everyone should have one in their entertaining arsenal) and add blue and red to create the palette that we are all so familiar with. Colored napkins and utensils pop against the white dinnerware and really drive the theme home.
Now get really creative! Don’t stop at the settings. Go all out with your color theme and carry it through to the food.
Not only are cupcakes a truly American invention, but these have a fun twist: they’re meatloaf! In the true spirit of summer parties, I’ve taken combined the powers of a barbeque with meatloaf. And they’re of course, absolutely perfect for July 4th – America deserves cake on its birthday too! Finally, your guests will love these creations topped with mashed potato frosting. Find the recipe here.
Tip: Add height to your serving platter by setting it on top of inverted bowls.
Wash them down with my berry patriotic red white and blue sangria with blueberry and raspberry ice cubes! Use a classic white sangria recipe and be sure to add red and blue berries. Serve in an acrylic wine glass over jumbo ice cubes filled with the blueberries and raspberries – jumbo cubes filled with flavor are a “hot” trend this summer.
And to truly follow through, fill a doughnut vase with colored ice cubes instead of water for a surprisingly colorful centerpiece.
I created Table Chameleon napkin rings so that you can customize your accessories for any occasion. For this table, add red and blue paper to your napkin rings in the complementary color of their napkins so that each setting is a smaller red white and blue canvas.
Host your own Party That Gives Back for Haiti
Ideas for Successful Home Philanthropy Parties
1. Just serve water in recognition that 90% of the population of Haiti don’t have clean drinking water. Donate what you would have spent on beverages to a relief-based charity. PSI Safe Drinking Water Fund
2. Ask guests to bring a donated item from a list of needs (found UNICEF and Gifts That Give Back).
3. Stream videos about the relief effort on your TV to further exemplify the desperation of the Haitian peoples.
4. Only use items you have around the house for your party for extra savings and donate the money to a Haiti Relief Fund. The Red Cross
5. Find a local or national organization willing to ship/transport your collected items. Artists for Peace and Justice
6. Host a care package party where guests prepare boxes of needed materials to be sent to victims.
Gifts That Give Back: Haiti Relief Fund
On January 12, a series of earthquakes devastated Haiti, hitting the capital of Port-Au-Prince with a heavy hand. With thousands of organizations, coalitions and independent aid sources asking for help, it may be hard to pinpoint where your talents are best utilized. Taking advice from those already participating in relief efforts is a great start.
Celebrities all over the globe are involved in providing aid to the victims of Haiti and assisting international organizations in recruiting help. Last evening, Larry King had an entire segment dedicated to how celebrities were giving back.
Click above to see Ashley Judd's CNN interview
Actress Ashley Judd is working with Population Services International (PSI), a public health NGO whose mission is to make safe for drinking even the most contaminated water through the use of PUR purification packets.
“[This] water can have microbes, parasites bacteria and even fecal matter,” Judd said. “[PUR] satchels cost 10 cents. And a family can stir this water for about 30 minutes then strain it. All of a sudden out of the nastiest either river water, sewer water, creek water where even livestock has been defecating, you may drink and stay healthy.”
It costs one cent per liter, 50 cents for a family of four for an entire month. Right now, PSI is working with the Red Cross in supplying 1.1 million sachets to victims.
“And I would love for people to go online and donate even 50 cents to help a Haitian family of four have access to safe drinking water,” Judd said. “It’s extraordinary.”
Actress Susan Sarandon recently teamed up with Artists for Peace and Justice, a coalition headed by Academy-award winning director and writer Paul Haggis. Haggis is personally taking money and supplies down to Haiti’s only standing pediatric hospital, Saint Damien.
Sarandon stressed the importance of verifying the validity of where you choose to send your money and supplies.
“You need to do is make sure that the organization that you choose is still standing and there are people that can process that money and get it where it has to go,” Sarandon said. “You want to make sure, because the infrastructure is down, that you have — you verify that your money is going to get to where it needs to get.”
Both Judd and Sarandon give great options where you can donate either time or money to aid our devastated neighbors. If you can’t donate or want to organize something on you own, try hosting a Party That Gives Back with all support going towards the Haitian Relief organizations, like Red Cross or UNICEF.
(photos courtesy of Damon Winter at the New York Times)
