A Happy Valentine’s Day

I received two of the very best Valentine’s Day cards… or should I say, I received one and Connor received one… from one of my dear readers who happens to be Connor’s BIGGEST fan. They are so lovely and personal, that I wanted to share them with you. Of course, you’ll be able to spot whose is whose pretty quickly – I hope!
Here’s the one:
And here’s the other: Aren’t they wonderful!!!  Thanks so much from both of us!

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And in other great show of Valentine’s Day generosity… I talked about asking for ties and scarves for the boys and girls at Woodbourne the other day, here. Today, I did a tally of ties and scarves and we have received more than 700 in total!  (The pile was much bigger than this at the end of the day!)Wonderful readers of Pigtown*Design from as far as Toronto and Tennessee sent ties and scarves for the kids. We gave some scarves to the girls and they were beyond excited!  I printed up a little booklet on different ways to tie scarves, courtesy of Talbots, and they had a great time trying each of the styles. The boys will be showing of their tie-tying skills at an assembly on Valentine’s Day.

All of the boxes and bags are filled with scarves and ties!

More boxes filled with scarves and ties

Most of these children come to us with only the clothes on their backs, so to receive something special like a beautiful scarf really makes their day.

From Connor and me, and from the boys and girls at Woodbourne, Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mad Man in Baltimore

If you don’t know, there man behind Man Men is actually from Baltimore. Matthew Weiner, creator, producer and writer of the hit show, Mad Men, was born and raised in Baltimore. On Tuesday night, one of the characters from the series, Salvatore Romano, the closeted art director at the Sterling Cooper ad agency, will be hosting a cocktail party in Baltimore, in conjunction with the annual American Crafts Council Show. In reality, it’s Bryan Batt who is hosting the party, in to promote his well-known housewares shop in New Orleans called Hazelnut and his book, Big, Easy Style.The store is named after Batt’s grandmother who was a renowned dance teacher in New Orleans.

A few months ago, I found Batt’s book, She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother, at the Book Thing and read it. It’s an interesting story of growing up in New Orleans and Batt’s history as an actor and how he eventually came to own a shop in New Orleans.Tickets to the party are still available. Here.

Super Bowl Try-Outs

I decided to try out the dish I am making for the Super Bowl party I am attending tomorrow night and I am glad I did. I was charged with making the dessert or sweet. We’re having chili as the main course, so I thought something simple would be in order.

As I leafed through Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris cookbook, I found something I thought was perfect... Palmiers or elephant ears.  They’re simple to make, just commercial puff pastry and sugar. But the timing is critical, as I found in my first effort.It is literally a matter of seconds that will take the palmiers from a lovely caramelized bronze to black.All you do is roll out a sheet of the puff pastry in sugar on both sides. I used Pepperidge Farm, but to really upgrade, use Dufour pastry. Fold in from the sides and then slice thinly. I put them on parchment paper, just because they remove from the tray more easily.Put them in a 450* oven, and set the timer for six minutes. Remove from the oven and flip them, and then set the timer for 2.5 minutes. CHECK OFTEN!  When they are a dark golden brown, remove from the oven and put on a baking rack to cool. If you don’t know, hot sugar is like Napalm and burns like the devil. I am not sure why some of them open up, but I am sure they are all tasty, regardless of how they look! If you want to change them a little, add cinnamon to the sugar. You can also do everything up to cooking the palmiers, and then freeze them for later use.