Country Decor Blog

I don’t know what it is about winter, but it’s next to impossible to avoid calorie-laden comfort food… My personal achilles heel is macaroni and cheese. Right now on the magazine newsstands, you can see multiple magazine covers (Real Simple, Eating Light) all with images of macaroni and cheese on the cover… All these recipes promise “light” recipes (i.e., low-calorie). Being a fan of the indulgent, cheesy pasta bake, I’ve scoured these recipes only to find them filled with verboten ingredients such as “light sour cream” and “cauliflower”. Hello? Cauliflower in my mac n’cheese?        

At Home & Country, comfort food has been a common theme for our food section. We work with an incredible recipe developer (Claire Stubbs used to be the head chef at the now-defunct Mildred Pierce on Niagara St.) and she has come up with a few cheesy recipes to update the basic mac and cheese. On a recent photo shoot for our from scratch section, she developed a recipe for Baked Pasta with Mozzarella, Tomatoes and Turkey Sausage. Now, not exactly macaroni and cheese, but this dish was decadent. I’ve enclosed some (albeit not-flattering) shots of us at the food shoot. In the photos you can see Claire, executive editor Suzanne Moutis (an equally serious proponent of all pasta and cheese combos) and myself. You can also see photographer Edward Pond’s assistant at the head of the table. We usually fight about who gets to take the leftovers home from a food shoot - in this case, everything got eaten! The recipe is in the Feb/March issue of Canadian Home & Country and I encourage you to make it… If you’re up for a BASIC mac and cheese recipe, I’m going to include mine here. There are no measurements (I do it from eye) but it gives you the basic idea. I start with making a basic bechamel sauce. The special flavour trick I use is to add some ground white pepper and a tablespoon or so of dijon mustard. Then you have to use a combination of grated cheeses (a great way to get rid of leftover bits and pieces in your fridge). Several cheeses I always try to make sure I have on hand for mac n’cheese are emmenthal and/or gruyere. They both add that bit of a kick that takes a basic mac and cheese and turns it into something special. Add as much as you want to make it extra cheesey (at this point, there’s no need to worry about calories).Cook your macaroni noodles to al dente and then stir them into an oven-proof dutch oven with the bechamel and grated cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Later this week, I will include a link for one of Claire’s unbelievable recipes for mac and cheese. Enjoy

I did promise to add photos from the event last Saturday, so here they are. The first image is of a really cool glass vase (it kind of looks like an inflatable inner tube) that has a spot that you can sneak in a flexible flower. Orchids work really well… I’ve shown an example - it’s a fun look that could also work at any kind of dinner party. You could add water in the bowl and display some pretty white floating candles.

Note: ANY kind of scented candle should be verboten on the dinner table at parties. Perfect for hallways, powder rooms and other tight spaces, keep scented candles off your table. Many times I’ve started sneezing when the overpowering scent of vanilla candles have set off my allergies at a dinner party!

But back to ideas for floral arrangements. Other thoughts are to keep to a simple colour theme. When I do flowers at weddings, I usually like to stick to basic white and green flowers as my starting point. I can add colours in to this basic palette quite easily, OR just stick with this minimalist, but pretty look. The key is to make sure you’re using a variety of different white flowers. At the demo, I combined a variety of flowers, both high-end and low-end, to show how you could achieve this look. The usually verboten carnations can actually be surprisingly spectacular if used right. I like to combine two or three carnations with every single rose I use - As long as the colours are consistent, the texture of the petals is incredibly complementary.

One of my demos at the TBG involved wiring together your own bridal bouquet or posy.  It’s easy to learn how to create a simple bouquet and the technique can also be used to create awesome floral arrangements. Once you have chosen the flowers you want to use, start with your first and wire additional flowers onusing flexible green floral wire (easily found at floral supply shops or craft store). Then wrap floral tape around the wire. Now your bouquet should be firmly secured and you can add a perfect ribbon.

This week we are in production on Canadian Home & Country’s April issue and I’m delighted with the cover we’ve chosen… but more about that later. Till next time!

I spent the day at the Toronto Botanical Gardens today (check out www.torontobotanicalgarden.ca) to help brides, grooms AND their friends and families come up with cheap and cheerful - not to mention stylish - ideas for their weddings. 

Outside the weather was brutally freezing, but inside the TBG, the room was set up to give everyone an idea about how beautiful their event could be. I did a couple of different demos, but specifically focused on arranging flowers for your big day… I showed a couple of different techniques for making your own bridal bouquet as well as some fun ideas for tabletop flowers. One thing that I try to demonstrate to people is to be spontaneous with your ideas and forget about following “rules.” For example, we had these fabulous tall white lanterns from TAG and I pointed out that it could be used as an impromptu vase. “Really?” was the general response. I grabbed a wine glass from a table nearby, clipped a few lilies and stuck them in the wine glass, then tucked the wine glass “vase” in the lantern. Simple but effective.

I promise to post some pictures of the flowers I demo’d early next week, but encourage any prospective brides to check out the Toronto Botanical Garden website - it is a spectacular venue for a wedding (or any other kind of party!) 

Please send me a note if you have any questions or requests for floral ideas for your wedding!

We have two weeks before the Interior Design Show to go! If you can imagine, we have been working frantically to get organized to get our booth space organized - for the third year in a row, we’re working with our sister publications, Canadian Gardening and Style at Home, to put together an inspiring decor space for attendees to enjoy. It’s a great opportunity for us to meet readers (and for new readers to find all three magazines!) I’m including a sneak peek of the motif I’m using to represent Canadian Gardening and Canadian Home & Country…. This image is our decor inspiration (hint, the photograph is actually wallpaper!) (our other hint is that we will be using a fabulous settee upholstered in natural linen. The Interior Design Show runs February 5 - 9, at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto. If you don’t get a chance to come to the show, I promise to post images of the finished booth after the show happens! If you have any fun “shamrock” ideas, please send them to me! (nothing about leprechauns will be considered!!!)