happy new year

Happy New Year and welcome to 2011. What did you do for fun? We had planned to go visit friends in Chicago but decided it was too much driving after all that we did over Christmas, so we threw an impromptu dinner party, with yummy food, fun games and my favorite: lots of laughter.

I also worked on my photography a little bit, can you tell? We had a really sunny weekend, which isn't very common of the winters in Wisconsin.

The low point of the weekend was watching the Badgers lose the Rose Bowl on Saturday, though we were at a fun party with lots of delicious eats, so I didn't complain too much.

Yesterday, Ryan and I went to church for the first time in about a year, did some goal-setting and planning for the coming year, and cleaned. I love this time of year, it's a fresh start.

dinner under the stars

And now, for the 2nd of 2 rare dinner/food based posts...

Right on the heels of one of the best dinners I have ever had, this one wasn't far behind. It was a potluck style dinner with 6 couples from the dinner group I'm involved with. Though the food was amazing, it was really the setting, the weather and the company that made for the special night. You can see the Argentinian menu Sarah posted on The Hungry Bambino. Ryan and I were in charge of the steaks and desert which proved to be 2 really easy dishes to serve as the hosts--basically no prep which left more time for the details. One thing I love about being involved in a dinner club is trying my hand at different dishes that I wouldn't normally pick to cook. It was our first time with flank steaks and I'm happy to report we'll be making them again, soon. I really wanted to get my hands on one of the hand-cranking ice cream makers for the desert but alas, with my husband out of a job currently, it "wasn't a smart purchase"-his words. Sassy Cow did a good job of filling in where I left off.

Okay, so I didn't end up using any of my recommended porch party picks, but I did set a pretty table. I always like to add at least one thing to my "entertaining arsenol" when I have a party, so this time I bought the checkered table cloth, which was really just 4 yards of fabric at JoAnn's. I didn't even hem it, it cut really well and, frankly, I didn't have time, nor did I care. I also invested in 12 steak knives, because I'm forever trying to hunt them down for parties. I actually got mine at T.J. Maxx for $30/dozen! I didn't realize until just now what I great deal I got. The wooden container had me at first glance, I'm such a sucker for packaging. The napkins were tea towels from Ikea. I pick up 10 or so each time I make the grand voyage. With the ones I just added to my collection for this occasion, I probably own 50 now--no joke. The name tags were made out of old ledger paper I bought from Big Sheep Yarns ages ago, and the rosemary was clipped from my herb garden. Everything else was native to the Stephenson household from previous parties.

Any big picnic dinners in store for your holiday weekend? Bon appetite!

milkweed dinner club, can you keep a secret?

Hi there! How was your weekend? Is that a funny question for a Wednesday? I was struck with a horrible ailment on Monday and Tuesday and was left pretty much useless so the weekend is still fresh in my mind. I had 2 wonderful meals over the weekend, one of which I want to tell you about now. I don't usually write about restaurants or food here at Art Wall but this experience was too special to keep to myself.

We spent Friday night at an underground dinner club of sorts called Milkweed, tucked in the hills near Spring Green, Wisconsin on a family farm. Milkweed isn't a restaurant, per se, but rather a unique dinner party experience by invitation or referral only, given by Isaac Spicer and his wife Huvvah, along with other available members of their family.

On the drive through the rolling hills of Wisconsin to get to Milkweed, we (myself, my husband and our friends) discussed our favorite meals ever. Some were all about the food, others the company, the ambiance and the overall experience. Our dinner at Milkweed combined all of the ingredients it takes to make a really special meal, starting with the drive itself. I don't fashion myself much of a "driver" for hobby or sport but the winding country roads of Wisconsin that lead us to Milkweed are among the prettiest in the Midwest.

The drive ended when we pulled up to the most charming spot, with a pea gravel walk (my favorite) leading the way through a cut-flower garden to our table. Did I mention there was a baby bunny on the trail? I lie not.

The bunny wasn't the only animal we encountered at Milkweed. The chickens there are free to roam the grounds and a few walked right by our table. Lola the dog joined our little group for a while, we heard several cows mooing nearby and the frogs and crickets were in full-out orchestra by the time our meal began.

The meal itself was 7 courses prepared with only ingredients found on the farm or nearby. We started out with turnip soup followed by a green salad. Next was a berry sorbet served in the cutest teeny-tiny cup. The entree was braised beef with mashed potatoes, peas and baby carrots. Desert was a cream puff with ice cream and berries followed by a cheese plate and last-but-not-least: chocolate truffles with mint tea or cappuccino.

The little house on the grounds was nearly all hand made by Spicer. It is a tiny one-bedroom loft with a gourmet kitchen. A small studio structure stood there previously, and he added the living space, kitchen and loft. The bathroom which is shared with the dining guests is an outhouse 200 yards away. That's right, I said the guests use an outhouse. It's actually not bad, it's illuminated only with candles, strong incense is the only thing you smell and the sink is built into one of the many sculptures found on the property, complete with sparkle lights and flower boxes.

There are some meals in life that you just know you will always remember starting from the moment you sit down. Our meal last weekend at Milkweed was one of those experiences. The food was amazing, the atmosphere was breathtaking, our company: divine. Yep, this one is going down in the books, folks. Since we're now official members of "the club," feel free to ask me for a referral. I'll let you know the secret password if you're nice. Wink.

Images: 1, 5, 7: Katie Stephenson

Image 2: Katie Cannon

Images: 3, 4, 6: Milkweedclub

tuesday's top 12: planning a porch party

I'm in the middle of planning for an outdoor dinner party coming up in a few weeks. There's a group of 12 or so couples who get together for monthly meals, either at a restaurant or at someone's home. I'm in charge of June, but instead of making a menu like I should be, my mind is floating to the table. I'll probably end up using things I already have for the most part, buuuut it might be fun to indulge in a few new party things. Here's my top 12 picks for festive outdoor entertaining:

1) My favorite feature for summer atmosphere: bistro lights.

2) The inspiration for the color-scheme, 2 new Paper Source colors: peacock and persimmon circle cards and square envelopes.

3) I thought these galvanized drywall mud pans would make nice tea-light containers, with sand in the bottom from the beach.

4) What's more summery than drinking a vodka-lemonade from a mason jar mug?

5) I have fond memories of cranking out ice cream on hot summer nights with a White Mountain machine. There's just something about the process involved that makes the ice cream so rewarding.

6) Environmentally friendly Bambu plates. Luckily, they're cute too.

7) A suzani-inspired tablecloth from Anthropologie.

8) Pretty yellow napkins.

9) The Porch Parties book --just for fun.

10) Even plain water would look good in this drink dispenser.

11) I'm really into this straight, simple glass salad bowl. The prettier the salad, the better.

12) The verdict is still out on whether you would get mouth-splinters, but the cuteness factor, paired with the green-ness would make this flatware worth a try.

10 must-have ingredients for a good-times party

Happy Monday and for some of you it's a day off-yippee! What did you do this weekend? I finished up making this year's valentines--oh and also threw a sit-down 4-course dinner party for 16. I was in denial about the party until Saturday morning when I realized I needed to get in gear and get a move on or else! It went off without a hitch due to a little pre-party planning the day-of. Here's my list of 10 tried and true must-have ingredients for a good-times dinner party:

1) Pretty place-settings. This is my favorite part! I love getting out the good silverware, picking the napkins and place cards and putting everything together ahead of time. I chose the habanero peppers for place-markers because they were the cutest, not knowing that they were the 2nd hottest peppers in the world, and that the "boys" would singularly dare each other into eating them. Ouch!

2) Candles, candles everywhere. Candles make everyone more happy. It's an unproven scientific fact.

3) A fireplace fire. If you don't have a fireplace, just use twice as many candles.

4) Cute posies all over the place. I Love 'em and I love 'em and I love 'em! I buy a few big bouquets from the grocery store then divide and conquer.

5) Proper bar placement--the bar should be as far away from the kitchen as possible. People naturally congregate in the kitchen, this will spread out the crowd a bit.

6) Champagne, and make it plenty. Have one glass before anyone arrives.

7) "Hello my name is" name tags with little conversation starters to fill out like: "My passion is..." or "If I could be a fly on the wall anywhere and at any time..."

8) Assign everyone a delicious dish or drink to bring, so you only have to make/buy one thing.

9) Fake moustaches--the more the merrier.

10) Super-duper invitees, because what good is a fake moustache without someone fun to wear it?

new year's eve prep

Poor New Year's Eve, I feel sorry for it sometimes, it doesn't get a lick of publicity until after Christmas is over. Little ol' New Years gets 6 teeny tiny days of hype, right as the world is kinda hyped-out. This year, we're going to a friend's dinner party to play games, drink Champagne (which is my drink of choice any night of the year) and have a carpet picnic all night long. I'm in charge of table decor and favors so I've been on the hunt for festive party crackers. This pretty yellow/black/silver number I found on Etsy might fit the bill. I'm such a sucker, I stuck it above the other handmade options 'cause it has a prettier picture. I could always try to make them myself, but after the madness of last week, I'm a little spent. Amazon has some that aren't quite as pretty but could be dressed up with some paper scraps, pretty ribbons and other fancy bits I have laying around. At any rate, some combination of the above 3 will be made/purchased/doctored up. Stay tuned.

happy thanksgiving

Though I am a self-professed hater of cooking, there's one thing about Thanksgiving I can do well: the table. It's my favorite part of the preparations. I found some great downloadable "give thanks cards" at up up creative's blog. I printed them on craft paper and tucked a pencil along with the card in a folded napkin. The oak leaf place-cards took all of 15 minutes, cut with my favorite of all crafty tools...the X-acto, super sharp. Even little miss Polly gets a fancy table setting with her own oak leaf, a silver spoon and her fanciest bib. I also downloaded some fun speech bubbles and mustaches from Elsie Flannigan's blog. I think I'm going to stick a 'stache on the turkey, and the speech bubbles are going to be labels the other plates. I wish you all: good food, good times and good memories this holiday. Cheers!