How to Host a Themed Dinner

It has always been my dream to live like a van der Woodsen or a Waldorf ever since I watched the Gossip Girl Series. Though I am not that fortunate to inherit the looks, the body and the bank account, I did inherit something much more fulfilling, PERSEVERANCE. To "feel" a little bit like Blair and/or Serena I planned to host a dinner party at my place.

Below is a list of tips and guides based on what i did last weekend for my American-Themed dinner party

Tips:

1. Never bite off more than you can chew - Do not over and under estimate and always make sure you have a plan B (B for Blair.. teehee). Make sure you have resources and location already covered.
2. The Guest List is like the Ten Commandments - Always make sure that you do not commit mistakes when listing the people attending your shindig. One thing I learned when it came to the guest list was to never invite people that makes you scared, insecure, nervous and/or uneasy, it ruins your night and you'll be focusing more on the mistakes rather than enjoying the night with friends and family.
3. Decide on the Theme or Menu at least a week in advance - the theme is important because it sets the mood and the Menu fulfills the mood (teehee). When it comes to the menu, always have a plan B so your world doesn't end when the ingredients fall apart.
4. Clean you Place - have a general cleaning the day before so you won't have to worry about it on the day of the party.
5. Prepare everything at least an hour before - more than an hour everything gets too cold and just in time doesn't leave you enough time to take a shower and prepare yourself.
6. One of the main reason why people don't like to host dinners or party is the clean up - what i did was clean in between. If I'm waiting for something to boil, i cleaned the pots and pans that I already used.
7. One more thing... HAVE FUN... its supposed to be a gathering of friends and family... relax and enjoy.

I found that Carbon (a local market place in Cebu) is the best place to shop for meats and vegetables and pretty much everything else for a steal but if you prefer to get them from big stores like SM, Ayala, Metro Colon or anywhere else then that's fine too as long as you get everything you need.

The MENU

The Burger - Mixed Meat Patty (Beef and Longganiza, salt, pepper and rosemary to taste), Caramelized Onions, Cherry Tomatoes, Button Mushrooms, Lettuce and some Cheese

Sweet Corn (tip to make the corn more sweeter - when boiling the corn add a tablespoon of sugar)

One of the best seller for the night - quartered potatoes boiled, then seared in olive oil, butter, a dash of thyme and flat leaf parsley

Second best seller that night is the Sun Cooler. Orange Juice with sliced real fruits (Watermelon, Orange, Apple and Calamansi) - Mooon Cafe inspired

It was a Fun night and I really felt like one of the characters in Gossip Girl. Check out the blogs below to see how they felt when they got invited to my Elite (ahem) soirée.

http://theunfoldinggene.blogspot.com/2013/09/saturday-night-dinner.html

http://themoxieme.blogspot.com/2013/09/alics-simple-american-themed-dinner.html

Off to my next Adventure... Japanese, French or Zombie.. teehee.. I don't know.. What do you think? Let me know.. :)

DIY: My Gossip Girl Inspired Room

DIY: Major Project for the Year

So around the second quarter of this year i decided to make my weekend a little bit more interesting than sleeping and eating (**wink). I remembered I love doing and making stuff on my own so I decided to recreate my room. Let me show you. 

so here's a picture of my room before I started this project

If you look at the picture, its pretty plain, bed on the floor, a Spongebob fleece blanket covering the window to avoid the sun (I'm a vampire that way.. lol). I was very ambitious. I wanted a Greek inspired room at the end of the process. Then I remembered how small my room was so I went to my passion, GOSSIP GIRL. (BIG Fan.. teehee). 

So my room was inspired from the homes of Manhattan's Elite. 

I started out by covering the window with cardboard, insulator and lastly Styrofoam (foam needs to be an inch thick - I'll tell you why in a bit). I glued them using a Glue Gun (please be careful, it gets crazy HOT). I then cut up butterflies in 3 sizes (small, medium and large) from black cartolina. This is the Serena van der Woodsen touch.

Comparison | Clearly it's not the same (but it is **wink.. teehee)

 The next step is a bit toxic so please make sure that you do this in open space and make sure that you have adult supervision if you are young. you will need the following things:

• Soldering Iron
• very long ruler
• Markers
• Sand Paper
• Gray and Red Paint (make sure they are compatible with Styrofoams)

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to make Faux Bricks.

Use the markers and the ruler to make your brick lines and use the soldering iron to melt the foam along the lines, about half an inch deep. Use the sand paper to make the surface a little bit smoother and make those imperfections that old brick walls has. Here's what i did.

the one on the left is the first part then i completed the rest of the foam (was pretty proud at this point)

Use the gray paint in between those bricks as a lining (mortar i believe is what is called). then use the red paint to achieve the brick wall look.

Dan Humphrey's Loft inspired 

This was suppose to be my final designed but since i stopped using the AC (bill issue :p) the room felt like hell on earth. So i had to make revisions. 

So below is the final remodeling of my room with the GG motif. I have added a tarp of Lily Humphrey's RAINBOW GIRL that I will back frame to look authentic.

GG Room version 2.0

See you soon on my next adventure.. 

"There's no place like Home. So make your place feel like one" - ALIC in Wonderland