In Search of Mickey - Manicures...

I am a hand person. I just am. Always have been.

My Granny has Barbara Streisand hands. Yup. "Like Butta!" She, at 93 is always coiffed, designer dressed and impeccably manicured. Because of her fastidious way of keeping herself up for, ahem, nearly a century, there are certain things that I have picked up from her.

Sure I love art (Gran), and dogs (Gran) and I'm being as modest as possible here, I love a good game of cards as in, I'm quite the shark (Gran). But, perhaps the weirdest thing I picked up from Fay (gorge name, right!?) was her love of a good set of fancified 10's! Oddly, It's one of the things that I was so attracted to my husband for...his hands are really attractive in a masculine but not callused way!

I am going to "The Happiest Place On Earth!" on June second and I got a manicure yesterday. I had a design all planned out and figured it would be easy enough to do. But, nooooooo! Here's how it went. I told "Kimmy" about my trip to Disneyland. I picked my colors (Ink Gels in Barbie Pink and Dark Glitter Grey) and told Kimmy to paint all nails the pink except my accent nail which I wanted grey. Then I explained to her that I wanted my accent nail to have a silhouette of Mickey's head on the accent nail in the pink. She tried hard enough. But it was a no go. So, I looked up other Mickey designs to see how hard it is to get this done or to see if anyone else had done something similar. I found a great blog that has all kinds of excellent nail designs, not just Mickey Mouse...

If you're interested in some spicy nails, the place to visit is Holy Manicures! Margaret is a manicure maven. She is uber talented and clever to boot.

Following is her rendition of the Mickey Manicure. It's delightful! I wish I could tell my manicurist how to do the Mickey silhouette on my finger! I've written a note to Margaret so perhaps she can help me?!

And I found a few others on her site that i really liked...

How does she do it?!

Here are some other Mickey/Minnie nails...

Mad Mani's

source

I'm going to publish this without the mickey on my accent nail...bummer. But it is my aim today to get a pink Mickey on there. And when I do I'll edit in the new picture with the complete nails!

Yeaaaay! Finally! I got my Mickey...I got it at GG Salon on Alhambra. A woman name Heidi did it for me. I feel complete...and gues what? I leave today (June 2nd) for the mouse with sissy!

M-IC-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Throw a Real Garden Party!

I love the idea of a garden party. It's so English. So romantic. Let's face it, how fun to dress up with all your friends and drink champagne and eat cupcakes in the shade of a big tree on a warm day? Um, great!

Make simple invitations, create a simple menu and set the date, time and place. Voila! Fun at your fingertips!

Menu:

Champagne Cocktails with homemade bitters
Mango Iced tea
Cucumber tea sandwiches
Smoked salmon finger sandwiches
Date canapes with goat cheese
Cocktail weiners with a maple glaze
Cupcakes with Earl Grey gelato

Photo Credits

Thai Basil Hummus and Sesame Garlic Crackers

I'm not a huge fan of chick peas - garbanzo beans - tiny sandboxes in my mouth. Yuck-o. However, I love legumes and when I stumbled across this recipe on A Girl and Her Fork, my mouth started to water and I confessed that I would make the Thai Basil Hummus for this weeks potluck at work.  Ally, has made this specific hummus with Canellini beans instead of Garbanzo's and thank goodness really, because it's yummier now. Not that it wouldn't have been before, like I said not a fan of tiny knuckles!

I made my own crackers today, too because I have been experimenting for months and they are finally (almost) what I want them to be. I first embarked upon the journey of homemade crackers because I HATE to spend $3.50 on a box of water crackers when I have flour in the house at all times and fancy myself a competent cook.

 Thai Basil Hummus 

Ingredients

2 (15 oz.) cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons peanut oil 
3 fresh cloves of garlic, crushed
4 Tablespoons lime juice 
1 Bunch basil leaves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste - Ally's recipe called for 1/4 tsp)




salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put beans, peanut butter, oil and garlic in food processor and pulse a few times. 

Add 3 Tbs. of lime juice, the basil and seasonings.

Pulse until smooth.

(I found that when I chilled it for an hour and then added the last tablespoon of lime juice it added a really refreshing taste dimension. But if you just want to add all the Lime juice right up front, that'll work too.)

Sesame Garlic Crackers

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3 T olive oil

8 T water

2 T sesame seeds

1 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix all ingredients in a food processor until a dough ball forms. ( if the mixture is crumbly add a tiny bit of water - too sticky, add some flour).

Lay ball of dough on a parchmented  or floured surface and begin to flatten ball first with your hands then with the rolling pin)

Once you have the dough very thin (1/4 inch or thinner) cut dough into the desired shape. For mine I just wanted little squares.

Cook for about 7 minutes (depending on thickness) and keep an on them! 

When they're golden remove them from the oven and cool completely.

Serve!