DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

    The  Carnival of Venice  is a festival that's steeped in history, vibrant colors, outlandish costumes, spectacular masks and of course a whole host of events make the Carnival of Venice one of the most popular times to visit the wonderful  City of Masks !!     Venice is such a beautiful and amazing city that it really doesn't need a Carnival to attract even more tourists, but the Venice Carnival is definitely one of the city's top events, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors during a time of year that might otherwise be quiet. During the 1970's, the Italian government decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice, and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of their efforts.     You have nearly two weeks to come to Venice and enjoy the carnival festivities and to really be involved in all the fun, you'll also want to buy or make a mask to partake in the festivities and to really enjoy them to their fullest ca

   This diy comes from  www.thepinkwisk.co.uk .   Baking desserts and pastries don't have to be have and difficult.  I have watched quite a few chefs make this.  They seem to make it a long drawn out labor intensive ordeal.  Follow this recipe and diy and it shouldn't be all that bad.  Tell me what you think? How to make Puff Pastry It’s not complicated but it does take a bit of organising in advance. I do use shop-bought puff pastry and generally have some in the freezer. Making your own is quicker than the time it takes to defrost some (and it’s not difficult either) This version of puff pastry is referred to as rough puff pastry, the idea being that you only get 75% of the rise that you would get with traditional puff pastry – getting technical there! However, when you see the rise you get with this its far above and beyond shop bought. Puff Pastry takes a couple of days to do and also means you have to wrestle with a full pat of butter – hmmmm, I can be

   The kitchen can either come with great amounts of pleasure or great amounts of stress. Luckily, with a few great kitchen tools that have multiple purposes, you'll be able to fret less and whip up many more delicious meals. These 10 affordable tools are essentials in any kitchen, and you probably have several of them in your own. Read on to find out the many uses for each tool and share your tips in the comments! Silicone Spatulas    Silicone spatulas come in pretty colors that brighten up your kitchen, and they come in very handy while baking, but I like to use mine for frying or scrambling eggs. They're delicate on the egg and help keep things from sticking to the pan too much. Pastry Scraper    Typically, pastry scrapers are used for handling pastry dough. This handy tool is also incredibly useful when it comes to transferring chopped vegetables from your cutting board to your pan. Microplane Zester/Grater    One of my very favorite tools

   This recipe comes from  www.mangiodasola.com  .  WARNING! WARNING!WARNING! DO NOT MAKE WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION!! MAY LEAD TO YOU EATING THE WHOLE THING BY YOURSELF!......So Enjoy sparringly!! Sunday, February 7th, was....*gulp*...my birthday. Whew! There. I said it. I know my mom's proud and shocked. It has taken me years to admit my birthday publicly to friends, students, and strangers. Usually I don't tell anyone and don't even celebrate the day of my birth. I also turn off my cellphone to avoid well-intentioned phone calls from relatives and my ex-girlfriend. I really don't like commemorating the 7th of February, but interestingly, food blogging is the catalyst behind my decision to slowly change my perspective.    For weeks, I have been planning out what type of cake I wanted to make for my birthday. Like I said, I don't usually do anything for my birthday, but now that I have just started baking, I decided to make something special for it. (

   This comes from  www.goorigami.com  .  I thought these looked like something that could be made into an ornament or even made larger for the start on your Christmas tree. It seems like this is the first origami star I’ve folded this year. And what a cool star it is! Wondering how to make it? Follow the links below to the diagram and video instructions! Description Name: Origami Septima Star Designer: Ekaterina Lukasheva Units: 6 / 7 (5 and 8-unit assembly is also possible) Paper ratio: square Assembled with: no glue Paper size: 7.5 cm Model size: ~ 9 cm Paper: Patterned kami origami paper (China) Origami paper, Folia (Germany) Diagram: Septima Star – diagram Video: Septima Star – video

    The origins of Mardi Gras can be traced back to Medieval Europe, though we have no written record of how that really transformed into the current Mardi Gras of today. But the origins of the Mardi Gras we celebrate today....with Kings, Mardi Gras colors, and brass bands....are traced to New Orleans.     Although we can trace its history to the Romans, a French-Canadian expolorer,  Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville , landed on a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans in 1699 and called it " Pointe due Mardi Gras".  He also established  "Fort Louis de la Louisiane" (which is now Mobile)  in 1702. In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated the very first Mardi Gras.     In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile)....similar to those who form our current Mardi Gras Krewes. It lasted until 1709. In 1710, the " Boef Graf Society"  was formed and paraded from 1711

Red Heart Paper Quilling Let's just say there have been way too many snow days lately. This week has just been crazy and I feel like I haven't even got anything done! The other day we were stuck in the house while it was dark and rainy, so I decided to try paper quilling. I wanted to make a heart. I took some pics along the way of my first quilling project, I didn't really know what I was doing but I still had fun and liked how it turned out. Pardon the lighting, I had no natural light so I strapped on the external flash and went to town. First I used cardstock in a deep red color I liked. Cardstock is a little tricky because of its stiffness but it is the only red I had on hand (besides kids construction paper) I cut them into 1 inch wide strips roughly because I wanted some good dimension for my final project. I started at one end slowly rolling the paper tightly until it was all rolled. They ended up looking like this. When