St. Patrick’s Day – Brunch into Dinner
St. Patrick’s Day can be an all-day celebration if you want! I have tips to take your St. Patty’s Day from brunch to lunch and into dinner. Start off your morning with a traditional Irish coffee or one of my coffee cocktail variations and Irish brunch, then move into your day with an Irish lunch and finish the day with Irish beer cocktails and Irish stew. Of course this day can’t be complete without Irish-inspired green and gold table décor!
Start your day and brunch with a little bit of caffeine and one of the following Irish coffee cocktails with Baileys. Click on the links below for recipes.
Complete your brunch with Green Eggs and Ham – an egg cooked in a sliced green bell pepper, topped with green hollandaise sauce and green pepper Tabasco sauce and served with ham. Click here for the recipe.
Then, transition into lunch with Bangers and Mash. Also known as sausages and mashed potatoes, this dish is a popular British tradition in which the term “bangers” came about during World War II when sausages made in water would explode in high heat. Click here for the recipe.
Before dinner drinks, dinner drinks, or after dinner drinks can include beer cocktails using Guinness and Harp! Click on the links below for recipes.
To accompany your beer cocktails, you can make an Irish stew. In order to make sure not stewing in the kitchen for too long, you can make it with the ease of canned foods! This way you can enjoy the company of your friends and family on St. Patrick’s Day and still make a great meal. Click here for the recipe.
If you want to take it to another level, you can make the Irish stew and turn it into an Irish Pot Pie with this recipe. Click here for the recipe.
For a variation on what is thought to be a traditional pie, you can make a Shepherd’s Pie! Click here for the recipe, which includes mashed potatoes instead of a pie crust.
In order to come full circle with all of the Irish drinks and food, your table must have a little bit of Irish in it as well! Kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland is thought to bring the gift of gab. Click here to download my Blarney Stone Placemats with some of my favorite Irish sayings (like the one above) to give your guests something to talk about.
Use a green tablecloth and gold napkins to add to the theme! To give your guests something green to wear, make wearable napkin rings out of green ribbon and fun pinnable buttons with Irish sayings!
Summer Eco-taining Essentials
Memorial Day is THE party kick-off event of the summer entertaining season. Get the party started right with my Summer Entertaining Essentials for Summer entertaining on-the-go or on demand.
I will share my picks for this summer’s entertaining must-haves that will take you through every summer holiday and every day summer entertaining whenever they pop up. Also, I will ensure that you’ll be entertaining in style as he brings the latest fashions to your tabletop with his “colors of the season” entertaining décor tips… And throw away those paper plates, for good, because I have great tips on environmentally friendly, sustainable entertaining for your summer eco-taining arsenal.
https://vimeo.com/42851366
Setting the table for the perfect summer entertaining on-the-go or on demand is as simple as 1-2-3!
First, start with the perfect bag of party tricks! I believe that keeping all your Summer entertaining essentials in one convenient and easy accessible place is key. My go-to Summer tote is make of Land’s End canvas and is the perfect eco-friendly Summer carrying bag made by Lands’ End. It is water resistant with plenty of storage for all your essentials.
Beach towels do double duty as picnic blankets or tablecloths. Fun vintage inspired pattern help set the festive tone. This beach towel, provided by Lands’ End is the perfect Vintage pattern tying in the color palette from the entire table.
Second, throw away those paper plates, for good! and opt for Bamboo plates, silverware, and serving pieces. These items, made by Core Bamboo, are made from 100% organically grown bamboo. They are finished with natural oils to make them food safe and the lacquer comes from natural cashew trees. If and when you do throw them away, they are 100% biodegradable and compostable, leaving you guilt free!
Thirdly, bring the hottest fashion colors to your Summer party with re-usable and disposable napkins. MY DRAP tear-off napkins are the only 100% cotton napkins on a roll that come in a variety of colors and sizes that can be mixed and matched for a mega dose of fashion colors. Guests get the feel of cloth napkins in a disposable that are good for the environment, making you “look marvelous” (and feel marvelous too)! The best part about these napkins is they can be washed and reused up to six times!
The perfect compliment to the MY DRAP napkins is the Table Chameleon Napkin Rings, which I designed and produced and are the perfect summer entertaining essential! The Table Chameleon Napkin Rings are designed to bring a bit of character to your table in whatever way you please with a variety of colors and styles. Easy to use, the 3/4″ thick hand-cut acrylic rings are held together with magnets and feature inserts in four different designs – London, Ada, Saturn and Miami – in the colors, red blue, orange, and green. To switch out the inserts, there are four simple steps: slide, slip, snap and create! All you have to do is slide the pieces apart, slip in the insert, snap the two pieces together and create the look you want for your table! For more information or to purchase The Table Chameleon, go to my website!
To be the ULTIMATE Eco-tainer, make sure you party like a Local-vore!
A local-vore is a person dedicated to eating food grown and produced locally. There are a lot of reasons to eat locally grown and produced foods.
- Less resources (primarily fossil fuels) are expended packaging and easy transporting from Farm to Table.
- It supports the local economy – more money remains in our local community.
- It is healthier – processing and preservatives are less important since the food doesn’t have to travel so far.
- It is safer and thus local-vores are less susceptible to foodborn illnesses.
- It is more honest – honesty in terms of the food source and the growing/producing process.
- And last but not least – it tastes better!
Here are a few examples for shopping for like a local-vore that I incorporated into this segment by shopping right here in NYC:
Asparagus – NJ Native
Beef – PA Native
Mushrooms – NJ Native
Cheese – NY Native
Crab Cakes – NJ Native
Tomatoes – NJ Native
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Table Chameleons on Newlywish
It’s official…Table Chameleons are on the Newlywish website for purchase! You can find the website here.
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.
Mark’s Hamptons Style on Better!
Entertaining expert Mark Addison will be showcasing ways that hosts can bring the chic “over-the-top but understated” style of Hamptons to their own home. With a balanced mix of whitewashed table accessories and colorful prep-inspired prints, this Hamptons WOW Table will leave guests with an undeniable feeling that they’ve traveled into an exclusive Hamptons resort.
Elements:
- canary-colored table linen
- madras napkins layered with peacock blue and picnic red napkins
- seascape-inspired napkin rings
- whitewashed plates
- whitewashed vases bursting with blue hydrangeas
- unique glassware pieces filled with a variety of shells and bear grass reeds
- sets of colored flatware
Watch below for even more tips and tricks to instill a bit of Hamptons glamour in your home…
