Category: Home and Decor
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Remembering my Mother-in-Law: Calaniot and Bees
The fields, the mountains, and the flower stands all over Israel abound with calaniot (anemones) in every color of the spectrum. These calaniot are the national flower of Israel and they represent all that Israel is. They add color and hope to the darkest season in the most barren places.
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Aufruf Rice Krispies Treat Cake
Candle lighting was at 4:12 PM. And, there was so much to get done. Thankfully, we had an aufruf to look forward to attending Shabbos morning.
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Marshmallow Tulips
The flowers were colorful and gorgeous. They piqued my interest because they were so simple and yet so beautiful. Their beauty belies the unity of the ingredients and the simplicity of their design. And, yet, these flowers transport me instantly to that special place in Jerusalem that, for me, represents unity and beauty.
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Love Birds Floral Arrangement
Hindy and Yitzchok Aaron’s efforvescence has been infectious and my father called occasionally to provide updates on them, always referring to them as the “love birds”.
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Pink Baby Carriage Cookies: Simple to Wow
For Charley’s kiddush, Davida prepared these adorable carriage cookies. They really were Simple to Wow! INGREDIENTS Hadar-Tirosh chocolate half-moon biscuits Paskesz mini Oreo cookies frosting Pink piping or frosting DIRECTIONS Using a small spatula coated with frosting, adhere two half-moon cookies together at right angles to create base of carriage. Since these cookies are double-sided, …
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DIY Sanding Sugar
Sanding sugar adds a wow to so many of my simplest desserts. While some recipes call for sanding sugar in colors that are impossible to find, others call for such minute or such immense quantity that it makes no sense to purchase. And, sanding sugar is so simple to create in exactly the hue that…
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Sukka Clouds of Glory
Sunday night is the beginning of the holiday of Sukkos, סוכות. We are preparing for the holiday in Jerusalem amid a flurry of shopping, building and cooking. To commemorate Sukkos, we constructed a temporary home called a Sukka that we use during this week-long holiday. Our Sukka is built to commemorate the protective clouds…
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A Bouquet of Cupcakes with Purpose
Davida volunteered to host a Shavuos bake sale at our home next Wednesday night, May 16th, 2018 from 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM. It comes right on the heels of Mother’s Day and right before the Jewish holiday of Shavuos. Both Mother’s Day and Shavuos are days associated with flowers, so Davida and I prepared a…
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Basil Pesto Butter
It was a luncheon to remember. The food was delicious, colorful and plentiful. The camaraderie among the adults and the kids was remarkable. But, there was one stand-out rockstar at that luncheon. It was the herbed butter.
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Hoop Floral Arrangements
And this old-new arrangement just took my breath away. Not because of the rose-gold hoops. Or, the meandering branches. Or the fuzzy blossom beginnings. Or, even the spectacular magnolia blossoms. It is because of the symbolism. The round world surrounding the flowing beauty of nature, marching to the same rhythm and yet, ever changing. It…
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Quince Blossom Arrangement: Admiring the Outdoors Inside
Springtime is the perfect time to appreciate the uniqueness of each blossom indoors as well as outdoors. We have a quince tree in our backyard and it blossoms at different points in the winter and spring each year. There have been years that the quince tree begins blossoming in January or February after a short…
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Shabbos Table Tip: A Creamer to Distribute Kiddush Wine
On Friday night and Shabbos morning, our Shabbos meals begin with the recitation of Kiddush (blessing over wine) by the patriarch of the family. The word Kiddush actually means holiness as we recall G-d’s creation of the world and His dedication of the Shabbos as a day of rest and holiness. We designate a special cup for the…
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Our Shabbos Table
One of my reader’s, Alyssa, asked that I post a picture of our Shabbos table this week. Here’s to you, Alyssa! Shabbat Shalom. (Have a peaceful Shabbos.)
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Tulips Times Two
On these frigid winter days, it is so exciting to see tulips for sale at the local market. Tulips, a member of the lily family, are a welcome harbinger of spring and it keeps hope alive for warmer weather ahead. Tulips come in thousands of varieties and can be found in all colors, shapes and…
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Sukkos Lulav Napkin Fold
Among other mitzvos (Jewish commandments) unique to Sukkos (Jewish Feast of Tabernacles), we acquire a set of Arba Minim (Four Species). Each of the Four Species has its own unique character: The Lulav (palm) is an impressively tall and straight green date palm branch with tightly bound leaves. It has a sweet date flavor…
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Apples and Roses: A Rosh Hashana Table Arrangement
I was looking to create a SimpletoWow fruit and floral arrangement worthy of the Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) table. On Rosh Hashana, we dip an apple into honey as a symbol for a sweet new year (see Dip the Apple… Rosh Hashana Cupcakes), so incorporating apples into the arrangement was a no-brainer. I wanted…
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Pacman Gefilte Fish
Sometimes the wow is all in the presentation. The presentation takes a simple menu item to a whole new level. Just cutting something a different way or finding a unique manner to plate it creates a real wow. Gefilte fish is a Jewish Shabbos and Yom Tov (holiday) staple. It is like a meatloaf,…
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Gorgeous Roses on a Rose Gold Base
Don still brings home roses just about every Friday. He brings home a different color every week just to keep things interesting. While I always favored tropical flowers like birds of paradise, ginger flowers, antherium and haleconias, I have learned to enjoy and embrace the simple, classic rose, mostly because that is what Don brings…
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Kate Spade Black Pink and Gold Armoire
The centerpiece of the project is her new Kate Spade inspired armoire. In its former life, it was a gorgeous antique walnut armoire owned by a lovely family in nearby Fair Lawn. I found it on CraigsList and fell in love with the vintage dovetailed drawers and lovely carving. It had such good bones and…
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A Simple and Regal Gladiola Arrangement
I love gladiolas. I love their ladder-like flowers that are soft and delicate. I find gladiolas to be regal and tall, stately, yet graceful. I look forward to each higher blossom budding and opening, just as the lower blossoms are withering and falling off. I love the deeper and interesting shades of this flower, gladiolas…
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Floating Gerber Daisies in Series
I am enchanted by simple floral arrangements that highlight the beauty, intricacy and detail of individual blossoms. From my very first blog post entitled It’s all about the arrangement (psst….even with last week’s roses)until now, I have advocated for using a few blossoms to create inexpensive and stunning floral arrangements.
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A Bottlebrush Arrangement
My favorite floral arrangements are those that bring the outdoors inside. This weekend, we are visiting the Upper Galilee and we are always amazed by the beautiful varieties of plants and trees that are native to this gorgeous part of Northern Israel. One of my favorite shrubs found is this part of the world is…
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Simple Layered Iris Arrangement
For effective layering, use tall straight flowers for the top layer. Good choices for the top layer are tall roses, irises, allium, tulips, gladiolas, birds of paradise or lilies. For the bottom layer, use large leaves that fan out creating a base that covers the top of your floral container or vase For the middle…
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A Vinegar Pantry Tutorial
For centuries, vinegar has been valued for its health benefits. Vinegar comes in many different tastes and colors and has a wide variety of uses beyond the salad bowl.
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A Nightstand Workbench for Ju-Ju
I walk most mornings again with my friend, Linda. The hour walk goes by quickly as we share ideas, inspirations and tidbits of each other’s lives. Linda offers me lots of recipe and shopping tips and shortcuts and I cherish her sage advice. I find the walks healthy for my body and inspiring for…
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An Endless Row of Roses
For a recent dinner party, I constructed arrangements of single roses on gold wooden planks (see An arrangement of Single Roses: Simple, Upcycled and Breathtaking). For that original arrangement, I used 6 roses for each 6-foot section of gilded wood. This arrangement takes inspiration from that one, but uses 10 single rose blossoms for each 6…
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Roses in a Grid
I placed all the vases that I had collected on my kitchen table and was contemplating what to do with the flowers. When I looked down, I realized that I had inadvertently formed a beautiful, albeit haphazard collection of individual roses interspersed with submerged berries and tulip petals.
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A Beautifully Plated Entree
This entree combines salmon sliders, a simple arugula salad with grape tomatoes and beet pesto pasta. It is about creating originality, whimsy and appetite by mixing different colors, textures and flavors. Here are some tips that I used for plating this entree: Repurpose simple items you already have to create that wow Note…
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Sheva Brochos To-Go Station
Last week, in preparation for Goldie and Tuvia’s Sheva Brochos (one of seven wedding after-parties, each with seven blessings), I purchased a large box of hamentaschen (triangular Purim pastries) to add to the Viennese table. While I was setting up, Don mentioned that we should set up a to-go station similar to those that we…
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Who did it better? Free nightstand vs. $395
I just received the newest Anthropologie House & Home catalogue and had so much fun leafing through it. When I turned to page 75, I couldn’t believe my eyes! There was a nightstand so similar to the one that I refinished from a free cast-off in A Nightstand Castoff: Simply Upgraded and Gilded. Oh,…
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White and Wow Wedding Arches
When Kaitlyn’s friends started to get married, we realized that there were no places in our community to rent or borrow wedding shtick (items of whimsy to adorn the wedding dancing). That left only one choice. We quickly needed to figure out how to make our own. And we did. The most popular item that…