Bondsister

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Tasty Thursdays: Aïoli Sauce

One of my favorite sauces is aïoli - when made right, it has an amazing blend of seasoning and spices & a heavenly flavor. I've always had it pre-made but out of curiousity, I browsed online for recipes to make my own. I found one on Epicurious, and the following recipe makes 1/2 cup.

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:
Mince and mash garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt using a large heavy knife. Whisk together yolk, lemon juice, and mustard in a bowl. Combine oils and add, a few drops at a time, to yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until all oil is incorporated and mixture is emulsified. (If mixture separates, stop adding oil and continue whisking until mixture comes together, then resume adding oil.)

Whisk in garlic paste and season with salt and pepper. If aïoli is too thick, whisk in 1 or 2 drops of water. Chill, covered, until ready to use.

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Seems pretty easy to make -- I definitely hope to try this recipe for myself in the future!

Diamond Rings

Today's song is "Diamond Rings" by Fake Problems.
[image source]

WINGS Charity Fashion show

For those of you not familiar with WINGS, it stands for Women in need growing stronger. It's a wonderful organization that's mission is to "provide a continuum of integrated services in an effort to end domestic violence and homelessness one family at a time."

This past weekend I attended their 5th annual resale fashion show at the Meadows Club. It was beyond amazing!

Here is what I wore:

Dress: MNG by Mango, Belt: Express, Necklace: Jewelmint, Earrings: Express, Cuff: C/O Kristin Hassan, Shoes: Shoemint

First up, meet the show's stylist, say hello to my cousin, and get my raffle on! There were so many amazing raffle and silent auctuin items up for grab. There were also TONS of clothes, coats, bags, and jewelry for sale. Plus it's for such a great cause how can you not go a little nuts! ;)

We entered the ballroom for lunch and the fashion show soon after. I think I was most excited for the fashion show because my cousin was walking in it (she was the last to walk twice and had this amazing designer outfit on for her second walk that was up for auction. Here shoes were designed by James Sommerfeldt (Project Accessory season one). So gorgeous!

After the show I got to go backstage and get some photos of that amazing dress close up. SWOON!

ps, how gorgeous is my cousin?! I can't believe I use to babysit for the beautiful woman that stands here today! (man time flies! okay, back to this amazing outfit :)

I am kicking myself in the butt that I didn't pick up one of the furs that were there. They were real and priced between $100-$300, some crop, some medium length, and some floor length! Luckily if I change my mind I can go to one of their 3 retail shops and really get my shop on. They also accept donations so make sure if you live in the Chicago land area you check them out!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Outfit: Movies with the family

Top: Express, Pants: Loft (similar), Wedges: Express (similar) (similar), Bangle and Triple watch wrap: C/O Kristin Hassan, Chain Ring: Tiffany & CO

We took both kids out this weekend to see The Lorax and this was my "movie with the family" look. We met up with my in-laws and thankfully they got there earlier then us and saved some awesome seats! Bot kids sat through the entire movie! Seriously!

It was so fun to see my son dance around in his seat and my little bean light up and smile and say "yay!" at the end of each song. Great times were had! Has anyone else seen The Lorax yet? Super cute.

Now lets talk hair. Not sure what I did exactly, but I loved it! ;) I didn't have time to dry or do my hair so I french braided pigtails and started pinning them up. Took about 7 minutes to complete and it will for sure be a style I do again. Just too easy to not do it again.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Inspirational Tuesdays #104

Beautiful Day

Today's song is "Beautiful Day" by Kerli.
[image source]

Chong Pang Community Cooking Demo with Masterchef Peter Neo

Just the weekend before Valentine's Day, I was asked to host a cooking demonstration with Chef Peter Neo for Chong Pang CC for the People's Association for their Culinary Interest Group.

It was to be both a cooking demo plus serving the attendees with a 3 course Italian meal, which was quite a feat indeed.

Nevertheless, it was also a delight to be able to share the stage with our charming and masterful Peter Neo, who enthralled the audience with his cooking abilities as he whipped up a selection of classic Italian fare.

It started with a recipe on cooking classic minestrone soup, which really went down well with the folks there.

It was followed by the classic spaghetti vongole and finally finished with an interesting orange panna cotta dessert.

I must say, the audience was both enthusiastic and curious as Italian fare was not something they usually do at home, and for many, it was really a first of sorts.

Peter enrapturing the audience

The occasion was also filmed by a crew from PA and in fact, the audience was actually made up of grassroots leaders from the interest group.

Their task was to learn and cull from chefs like Peter and then teach their own communities what they learn here.

On our part, we had to prepare food for about 100 persons in the audience, and that itself required quite a bit of planning days ahead of the event. I have to thank Damien Low and his guys from Ice Edge Cafe who helped out quite a bit for their effort.

It was worth it though, as the food was very warmly received by everyone and there were so many questions and interested folks who simply wanted to know more about Italian and western cooking.

If anyone reading this is keen for such demos, do contact me as Chef Peter and myself look forward to doing more of such demos in the future!

Photos courtesy of Damien Low