Oscaravaganza!

Last night was my SIXTH annual Oscar party. This year my bff Lo and her lovely hubby Al let me use their lovely apartment (sadly mine is too small) for the party.

Toned it down a little this year, you know, the recession and all. But I still managed to have some themed snacks and cups.

This year's menu included:
- Stanley Tucci-zee (Recipe: Pillsbury biscuits with Gouda cheese generously lavished on top)
- Crazy Heart-ichoke Dip (Recipe from the Food Network)
- S'Moreniques (Um, more for the look than the taste)

Then I went to my favorite place in the whole wide world, Party City, and bought cups themed for some of the nominees: Balloon cups for 'UP,' Camoflauge Cups for 'The Hurt Locker,' Country Western cups for 'Crazy Heart,' and 'Princess and the Frog' cups.

And a new twist this year--we had a best costume vote and my friend Greggie got it. Check out his Prawn claw from 'District Nine.' The prize was a DVD set of the "Best Of" the Oscars from the past 30 years.


And congrats to this year's ballot winner, Jaime!

My favorite party of the year, another success!!

Ex's and O's
Agmac

Fine Art Friday

It's March, it's almost Spring people!

We need to come alive with prettiness and flowers and happiness.

So I shall post a colorful and not dark and moody FAF today. While not sunshine and rainbows, more like shrimp cocktail heads and insects, it still comes alive with splashes of color.


This art comes from Nonchalant Sally Studios, which is artist Jo Kerlogue.

I love the mixed media and mixed color and sketch look.

I also love the comic book pieces--like an updated Cathy cartoon ;-)


Enjoy your weekend FAF'ers.

Snapshot Wednesday

Hey O!!

This is a picture of my friend Kelly and I in the middle of a celery field in Southern California. We were on an Exxon shoot, hence the product!

It was so green and gorgeous there, in December! Sigh.

Ex's and Oh's--agmac

Casserole Ca-razy!

Yo yo Ma.

I've recently decided to have dinner parties at my place. My place is tiny so I can have up to five people including me.
And what's the perfect dinner party dish? A casserole of course!

And thanks to my dear friend Audrey who got me "Casserole Crazy" by Emily Farris a couple of Christmases ago, and to my lovely aunt for the Le Creuset, I am able to make casseroles all-the-time.

My first foray into Casseroletown was a doozy. I made THE GREENPOINT for my friends Anna, Greg, Marc and Didier. It was a mess of Polish deliciousness!!!!

Here's the recipe, with some modifications:
- (1) lb rotelle pasta
- TWO large heat and serve kielbasa *original recipe calls for one, but that was not enuf meat!
- (1) large white onion, finely chopped
- (2) packets of sauerkraut
- (4) TBSP of olive oil
- (10) small potatoes *original recipe calls for (2) portobello mushrooms, but one of my guests isn't a mushroom fan, so I decided to add more carbs!
- (2) cups of cream of celery soup *again, recipe called for cream of mushroom soup, see above
- (1) cup grated Parmesan cheese (I put the WHOLE container in)
- Salt n Pepper
- (16) oz frozen sweet peas

Preheat oven to 350F. Boil pasta in a large pot of salted water. Cook to just under al dente, drain, and set aside.
Cut the kielbasa into 1/4" slices. In a large saucepan (or wok) over high heat, saute the kielbasa slices, onion, and sauerkraut in the olive oil. When the kielbasa is browned *add the mushrooms and sautee for 3-5 minutes.
(At this time, I was also boiling the potatoes in super salty water).
In a LARGE pot over low heat, mix the kielbasa mixture and the soup. When well mixed, add the pasta. When the pasta is well coated with the soup, add 3/4 cup of the Parmesan while continuing to stir. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the frozen peas (they should be frozen) and stir.
Take the boiled potatoes out and cool down with cold water. Slice the potatoes and place at the bottom of a greased casserole dish.
Transfer mixture from large pot to the casserole dish on top of the potatoes. Sprinke the remaining Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake, uncovered, 40 - 45 minutes or until slightly browned on top.

Let sit for a bit, then gorge!

And for dessert I made an amazing Triple Berry Pie! Reminiscent of Carey's berry pie, but I don't make my own crust ;-)

It's been a long long time...

...Since I last posted. In December, I had about 5 fabulous 30th birthday celebrations, ranging from drinks and cake in LA, to an amazing surprise party in NYC, to a reunion and family filled fest in CT.

Here are some highlights in photos.

Birthday #1 (LA)


Birthday #2 (NYC)


Birthday #3 (CT)


I'll tell you this much, it feels great being 30.

This year I promise to blog about wonderful dinner parties (with recipes!), awesome healthful ways to get together with your friends, more wedding Wednesdays, and of course, more fine art Fridays.

Stay with me people, you won't be disappointed!

Love and Zen in 2010~Agmac

Snuggies All Around

Tapping into the Snuggie craze of 2009, I thought of a great Christmas party--egg nog and "trimming" your Snuggie!

So instead of trimming the tree, or decorating pine cones to hang on your tree, or any of the old school Xmas activities, how about Trim that Snuggie!


What you will need:
- A Snuggie
- Felt (...to cut into Santa, Angel, or Xmas tree shapes!)
- Glitter
- Sewing needle and/or safety pins
- Fabric paint
- Scissors
- A Bedazzler
- Spiked Eggnog

Enjoy.

Agmac

D.I.Y Birthday Ideas

Hello Hello...

My friend Lauren just celebrated her 30th birthday with a lovely party at a wine bar on Friday night.

She booked the space herself and ordered some appetizers ahead of time. So to add to her special night, a few of her friends and I decorated the space.

I also made a Birthday Book. What's a birthday book?

It's a book with fun photos of the birthday person with friends with lots of empty pages where guests can sign it with birthday wishes or other anecdotes!


I made mine from a cool free notebook I had from Getty Images, with different colors of paper and stock photos throughout. Then I customized the cover with a fun collage and the letter "L" for Lauren. I customized the back too and printed out lots of pictures and pasted them throughout the book.

I bought a pack of glitter gel pens in different colors and Viola! Masterpiece.

Additionally, I wrapped Lauren's present in fun tissue paper and taped a cool photo on top--DIY wrapping paper!


If you aren't lucky enough to be an Art Producer who gets lots of free cool stuff, you can use photos from magazines for a wrapping paper idea and you can buy cheap notebooks like these and customize the cover with magazine clippings and a glue stick.

D.I.Y...Why? Because I love you.

XOXO
Agmac