You all know my friend Robbie Schlosser and Magnolia Jazz! Robbie is one of the most helpful and warm-hearted people around – you all know that! – and so he immediately offered to contribute to our little series of “COVID-19 support and encouragement.” He is playing “I’m Old-Fashioned,” and you will love it so much that you, too, will declare: “I’m Old-Fashioned!”
Enjoy, and do let Robbie know how you liked it! ([email protected])
I am probably speaking for all of us – sheltering at home doesn’t do much good for our fitness, nor for our slender figure! Desperate fitness attempts have shown up on social media (think “Kitchen Climbing!!”) – so I turned to my longtime friend and generous supporter from my days as WIPA Events Director, Beachbody fitness coach Nikki Boyle.
Needless to say – she knows a thing or two about fitness – and as some of you may remember, she is her own best poster child!
Here is what she shared with me.
Want to lose weight? Learn healthy habits? Burn serious calories? Target any goal and see how Beachbody On Demand can help transform you from the comfort of your own home! Beachbody on Demand makes fitness simple, accessible, and doable, no matter how busy life gets.
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I am a true Beachbody success story! After the birth of my second child, I wanted desperately to get back into shape and feel good in my own skin again. With the support of Beachbody’s health and fitness programs I was able to lose over 20 pounds and 17 inches. Today I am happy, health and fit! I know Beachbody can work for you too!
Nikki Boyle
650-400-6085
website: https://mysite.coach.teambeachbody.com?coachId=230126&locale=en_US
I didn’t know either – believe me! That is until my colleague Janay McCullough of Avocado Catering explained it to me.
With the announcement of the “shelter-in-place” mandate, all catering businesses were suddenly facing an unprecedented situation. They all began offering meal delivery as a way to salvage what business they could, and Janay was no exception.
She knew she had to set herself apart to survive. When Butter& bakery posted a photo on Instagram of their PSA cakes, Janay knew what to do. As a pastry chef by training, she is always ready to solve the world’s problems with dessert! She got the blessing from Butter& and set to work.
A laser engraver made the stencils for the cakes – “don’t touch your face” and “wash your hands” and Janay’s own sayings such as “channel your inner introvert” and “you can’t spell quarantine with U-R-A-Q-T” (the latter being particularly popular with couples who are unable to see each other at the moment).
Even in these trying times, people are craving connection and closeness, and that is more important now than ever before. The majority of people are not purchasing Janay’s cakes for themselves, they’re sending them to friends and loved ones that they cannot physically be present with. Through Quarantine Cakes, Janay’s Avocado Company is able to fulfill a need that reaches so much further than a text or Facebook post.
Do you want to order your own Quarantine Cake? Here you go: https://www.avocadosf.com/quarantine-cakes
“Eric Symons Presents” is a household name in the SF Bay Area events scene – need a band? Contact Eric Symons! But what probably most of you do NOT know is that Eric is a distinguished musician himself; a classically trained guitarist and composer who has performed and recorded with the Romero family – true “classical guitar royalty!”
As a special treat to our local wedding vendor community, he is sharing with us a recent performance of his beautifully soothing and comforting “Ballata.” Be consoled and inspired as Eric is playing for us!
Many of you will know the Mersonacta Quartet from their performances at Bay Area weddings. Today you can enjoy your very private performance: Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo plays Telemann for you!
For those of you who are not so familiar with the composer… here is a little information (courtesy of wikipedia):
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family’s wishes and worked in Hamburg, Germany, as a musical director of that city’s five main churches.
Telemann is one of the most prolific composers in history and was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time, compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally. Telemann’s music stands as an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.
I am sure that will lift your spirits. Enjoy – and let Laura know how you liked it!
Like most of us, you’ve probably always thought that bread needs some type of yeast. If you are an advanced baker, you were maybe even thinking of sourdough starters. Bread without yeast? Not really… But currently yeast is impossible to come by! During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of commodities have simply disappeared from the market. Disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer, to start with; followed by toilet paper, kitchen paper towels – and yeast. So what to do?
I’ll tell you. Replace yeast as a leavening agent with a combination of bicarbonate of soda and acid. In plain English: baking soda and the leftover liquid from our yoghurt project! (As you can see, nothing goes to waste in my kitchen…)
Here is what you need to make one bread – 45 min from start to finish!!
Preheat oven to 425 F. Mix 500 g flour (50/50 all-purpose and whole wheat), 1 tsp of baking soda and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt with scant 2 cups of the whey from yoghurt-making (alternatively the same amount of buttermilk OR regular milk mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white wine vinegar). Stir just to bring the dough together.
It will look shaggy and be a little sticky. Turn out on a slightly floured work surface. Knead just enough to achieve a smooth consistency. Shape into a ball.
Transfer the dough ball to a nonstick cookie sheet. Cut crosswise nearly all the way through.
Bake for roughly 30 min until a golden crust has formed and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
And here is your delicious bread – ready to eat! Should you (miraculously) have any leftovers, just rewarm in a 350 degree oven for ten minutes; tastes like fresh-baked. Enjoy!
My resourceful assistant Stephanie unearthed her sewing machine and made her own face masks for her whole family!
She is sharing which tutorial she used:
And here is the result of Stephanie’s efforts:
Bravo, Stephanie – and happy sewing to everyone in our community!
Here comes a true highlight of our “inspiration” series, starring members of our SF Bay Area wedding vendor community with all their talents!
My longtime assistant Myrtle Ventura is performing with the acclaimed, award-winning Polynesian dance troupe Te Pura O Te Rahura’a (“Spark of Creation”). Be amazed by this incredible performance:
And here is how the dancers are practicing these days, sheltering at home.
Bravo to Myrtle and all dancers of Te Pura O Te Rahura’a!
Like everyone else, I am sheltering at home – and like many colleagues in the wedding industry, all my projects are on hold. Never one to sit still and twiddle my thumbs, I had to come up with something to do: something constructive. Stranded without my regular work and without any crafts supplies, I found my creative outlet in my kitchen!
One of my motivations – the shortage of our fresh grocery supply, something we used to take for granted… Now suddenly it’s NOT a given to get everything I want in the one grocery trip I’m doing every two weeks. Yoghurt, for example. Here’s our favorite:
Comes in pretty little glass jars, too – and I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away anyways, darn cute as they are. So I now have a whole collection of them… why not refill them with my own concoction?!
So, bear with me. Half a gallon milk and two tablespoons of probiotic yoghurt as a starter, and six hours (of Instantpot incubation) later…
… my milk had thickened – but not enough yet. Still too runny. Next step: drain through a cheesecloth for a good 2 hours!
That worked! The result was very much like creamy yoghurt – which I enriched with a little heavy cream. However… the yield was only about half my original volume. The rest was just liquid.
Time to fill my little glass pots. Bottom layer: two heaping teaspoons of our favorite jams (Bonne Maman Black Cherry and Smucker’s Sweet Orange), topped with my precious yoghurt.
That’s all I got from half a gallon of milk to start with – so that better be good… off to the fridge, and after chilling overnight, we’ll have the “moment of truth” tomorrow morning. (This is my third time – it IS good!!)
Oh, BTW: if you try it yourself, don’t discard the yoghurt liquid. It’s perfect for my Irish Soda Bread recipe which I’ll share in a day or two. Put your whey liquid in the fridge until then!
Here’s to International Relations! Bride and groom actually met while studying – you guessed it! – International Relations (plus an MBA on top of that…), and what they entered into was, in fact, a very international (and for the longest time, long-distance) relationship: Marcelo is originally from Argentina, studied in Philadelphia, where he met Katie, originally from the SF Bay Area – but she had lived in West Africa for four years for her work… in no time, the two bridged any international issues and became inseparable, albeit in separate locations; only a few months before their wedding, they actually, finally, were able to move into their first shared home.
Given that they both were living and working far apart and far away, Katie’s parents and family friend Alice stepped in to take the lead for a truly memorable, truly big (280 guests) and extremely elegant wedding celebration for their only daughter, and they brought my company, A Day Like No Other, on board to come up with ideas and make them a reality for that one glorious day in October when all our yearlong hard work came to fruition.
Katie and her bridesmaids got ready at the house of Katie’s parents.
Fiona Tsang of Urban Beauty Loft and her assistants worked their magic on the bride, bridesmaids and mothers, and photographer Taralynn Lawton (all photos in this feature are by her!) and videographer Jesse Eckel of Owl & Tree Films captured it all, including Katie’s diaphanous wedding dress…
… and all the pretty details.
And here is a timeless mother-and-daughter moment…
Florist Janelle Jacky-Litt of Green Petal Designs delivered Katie’s bridal bouquet and all other personal flowers (and then started floral installation for the festivities)…
Marcelo and his groomsmen were also dressing up…
With that, bride and groom were ready for their First Look at the Municipal Rose Garden in San Jose…
Isn’t it romantic?!
While bride and groom were busy taking many, many pre-ceremony photos, my team, multiple vendor crews and family friend Alice were hard at work (actually, everyone had started work in the early morning hours…) to transform the chosen venue – the Palo Alto Hills Golf & Country Club – for Katie’s and Marcelo’s ceremony and reception. Annette Boyd Kevranian of Method42 Productions and her crew were rigging suspended floral decor and string lights and installing draping; the venue team led by onsite manager Brittany Rieland set up tables, chairs and lounge furniture and set the dining tables; my assistants and I were setting up signage and completing table settings; and…
florist Janelle brought the beautiful parklike surroundings inside by adorning every easel, railing and surface with trailing vines, visually connecting the outdoor ceremony setting with the indoor spaces for the reception.
Once the ceremony setup was in place, DJ Henry Kim of BIG FUN Disc Jockeys installed a sound system, and the Synchronicity String Quartet arrived to serenade the bridal party and the guests at the ceremony.
Hand fans doubled as ceremony programs…
… and soon enough guests were arriving (shuttled in style by Le Grande Affaire), and the ceremony began. Officiated by a longtime friend of the bride’s family, it was heartfelt and authentic – it does not get more personal than that!
The newlyweds had more photos to take…
… while their guests were treated to cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the elegantly appointed patio.
Cozy lounge furniture and color-coordinated blankets beckoned; living green trees were literally bringing the gardens to the patio… and built-in heaters provided warmth against the late Fall evening chill. To keep guests well entertained, a photo booth by The Laugh Box provided unlimited fun!
Indoors, a guest book table was used to display a personal photo gallery…
… whose backdrop, a natural stone wall, was filled with flowers in every niche and “overgrown” by gracefully trailing vines – all the masterpiece of florist Janelle.
Then it was time for dinner! The dining room had been transformed into an indoor garden scenery with string lights, living trees, a giant floral arrangement suspended above the Head Table, stunning tall floral centerpieces, white-washed Chiavari chairs and elegant place settings.
Once all guests were seated, the new Mr. & Mrs. opened the lavish dinner buffet with their Grand Entrance.
Over dinner, Katie’s Dad surprised everyone with an outrageous performance:
He expertly “decapitated” a bottle of Champagne with a saber!
The two clearly enjoyed the evening! What else was there to do? Cutting the wedding cake (from Studio Cake)…
… and opening the dessert buffet of Argentinian cake specialties…
… and dancing, of course! DJ Henry Kim – who also served as our bilingual MC – kept the crowd going with the perfect mix of Argentinian tunes and international favorites.
That opened the dance floor to all guests.
It truly was an “International Summit” and an epic party! Keep celebrating life and love on your shared journey, Katie and Marcelo!