Well, the Mad Men premiere party was a success. I managed to make all the dishes on the menu we planned (despite my kitchen sink breaking the day before, sad times). On top of that, Shawn set up a photo booth and made some awesome Mad Men masks.

I loved the episode and it was nice to have all the characters back. More so, it was fun to watch with friends and I was super happy that everyone dressed up. I see more tv theme parties in our future. A Twin Peaks marathon has already been discussed.

Pigs in a Blanket – Tofu dogs wrapped in puff pastry, with a side of BBQ sauce. That’s about as easy as it gets.

Jello – There is actually such a thing as vegan jello. You can buy the boxed brand or make your own with agar-agar. The tricky part will be finding cute jello molds. Maybe top these with with some coconut whipped cream.

Deviled “Eggs” – I’ve always wanted to try this recipe. To make things easier though, I may just put the “yolks” on toast.

Obviously though, it’s essential that we have a well stocked bar to make cocktails. I’m thinking some Moscow Mules & Old Fashions. I suppose it’s appropriate to also have martinis but then I need to get some darn martini glasses that I may never use again. Don’t know how to make these classics? Recipes below!

I really want a punch bowl too. This isn’t exactly traditional cocktail party style, but it’s spring and it would be fun to have some citrus fruit drink.

Ok, let’s get on to those drink recipes.

Old Fashioned

• 2 oz whiskey or bourbon
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 orange twist

In a cocktail shaker or large glass, muddle the sugar with the bitters and a splash of water or seltzer until the sugar is dissolved. Fill with ice and stir in alcohol until chilled. Strain into a double old fashioned glass filled with ice. Garnish with a twist.

Moscow Mule

• 2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 4 oz ginger ale (chilled)
• 1 lime wedge

In a tall glass, mix vodka and lime juice. Add ice and pour in ginger ale. Garnish with lime.

Then of course there is also the important element of what to wear. I’ll be a search for the perfect party dress. Can I make my hair into a beehive? I don’t know but I’d sure like to try.

Do you want to have a Mad Men party too? I hope so. What will you serve?

It’s here! The new and improved Cute and Delicious.

And behind this completely new look is the amazing Anna Dorfman of Door Sixteen. Anna made a beautiful design that I adore every piece of. With a minimal amount of direction from me, she came up with something unique and wonderful. For this, I may forever be indebted to her.

I hope you’ll take a look around (make sure to hop out if your reading this in a feed) and let me know what you think. Besides being much more lovely than before, it should be a little bit easier to navigate. I hope you all love it as much as I do.

As the end of the year approaches, things start to get a little batty. There is the nervous anticipation of holidays and vacation and the possibilities of all that the new year could bring. There’s also lots of work. Finishing many things and tying up loose ends on projects and gift hunting and holiday decorating. For me there are numbers and spreadsheets and bills and late hours at work for everything must be finished before the clock strikes twelve on December 31st (actually days before that). Things are moving quickly and while there is lots of stress there is a sort of glee in it all too.

I’m looking forward to having some free time, to letting my brain relax and take in what’s around me instead of focusing on deadlines and things that must be done. I’m looking forward to doing some traveling and seeing places outside of Los Angeles. Is it really possible we haven’t left this city since our honeymoon? I feel like I need a reset on my brain, as it’s in an infinite loop of work, different kinds of work but work all the same. I know my true creative self is hiding in there somewhere.

And next year holds so many things, I’ll be attending Alt Summit and the Sundance Film Festival. We’re also planning to visit SXSW. So much too look forward to. But that’s next year. We’re only half way through December and there is still much to be done.

This weekend we had our 4th Annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon. When it started out a few years ago, it was just a sleepover where we’d watch scary movies, but has since turned into something much crazier, as we watch horror movies for over 24 hours straight. Watching horror movies for so long with so little sleep definitely does some strange things to your mind and it starts to feel like you’re living in a horror movie yourself.

So here’s a glimpse into what it’s like… Get ready for a lot of photos.

To set the stage, we turn our living room into a screening room, blacking out all the windows and adding some creepy mood lighting. We even brought our spare bed out to add some comfy viewing spots.

We continued the creepy lighting throughout the apartment. Here are the beginnings of our snack table. Snacks are vital for getting though the night.

We hung a velvet curtain to keep the light from our kitchen down since there isn’t a door. Dining room chairs were moved to the living room for extra seating. We had about 15 people throughout the night, although only a handful made it till morning.

Initially Meeme was excited about the party, hanging out on our new carpet. She and Mochi got scared though and spent the rest of the evening watching movies in their own room. They particularly liked Beetlejuice.

We made our bedroom into a second screening room for our friends who don’t like scary movies as much as we do. Everyone toughed it out though and the cats had the room to themselves.

This hallway is definitely horror movie material.

So we’ve set the stage, shall we get to some of the treats?

I had to make sugar cookies as it has become a yearly tradition. This year I opted for pumpkins to go a long with my pumpkin theme.

Shawn requested that we make some healthy things instead of all sugary treats and we came up with some  scary looking drinks. While kale, celery and ginger juice, might be fairly common, it still has the look of a strange brew.

Or how about some blood? I mean, carrot beet juice.

There were popcorn balls made with Dandies.

Apples with caramel sauce for dipping.

There were pita chips with black bean dip and hummus as well as crostinis with spinach dip.

I ran out of time before guests started arriving and hastily frosted the pumpkin cookies. Not too cute but still deliciously sweet.

As a later night snack, I made some quesadillas jack-o-lanterns. I found some green cactus tortillas and knew they would be perfect for a Halloween. During the night we also made tons of tofurky dogs with lots of toppings, pizzas and even coffee cake. Oh and lots of coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

Kim stopped by and brought these amazing lady fingers. How creepy?

Like I said, we watch straight through the night and well into Sunday. This is the remaining 6 of us some time on Sunday afternoon. Jenny L., Shawn, Me, James, Jennifer Y. and Kyle. Without a doubt this has been the best year yet, so much fun! Already I can’t wait till next year.

Want to know what we watched? Here goes:

1. Coven
2. Phenomena
3. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
4. Amityville Horror
5. Martyrs
6. We Are the Night
7. Harpoon
8. Troll II
9. Sheitan
10. Dead Snow
11. The Burning
12. Rosemary’s Baby
13. The Shining
14. Silence of the Lambs
15. Cannibal Holocaust
16. Sleepaway Camp
17. The Lost Boys
18. The Company of Wolves
19. The Hunger

In fact, we’re still watching as I write this…

October is our season of horror movie watching. We try to pack in as many films into the month as possible. If you’ve been reading Cute and Delicious for awhile, you hopefully know about some of our past movie marathons. This year will be our fourth annual and we’re already planning what films to show. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This weekend, we got the month off to a great start by attending the 4th annual Horrorthon at the New Beverly. Six movies, plus a handful of curated trailers, all in one night. The theater was packed but we managed to score some great seats in the center front. Our friend and fellow movie enthusiast, Jennifer, joined us for the evening.

So what did we watch?

Beyond the Door
Creature from the Black Lagoon (in original 3D)
Hell Night
Brain Damage
The Pit and the Pendulum
Horror Planet (aka Inseminoid)

Almost all the films were new to us (except Creature from the Black Lagoon). Beyond the Door was my favorite of the evening by far as it was totally a mash up of The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, but a strange nonsensical version. It was cool to see films I hadn’t even heard of and even better to see them with an excited audience.

By the way I am always looking for horror film recommendations to expand our collection. What are your favorites?

I’m very happy to share that Brainwashed Love was selected to be part of the La Femme Film Festival here in Los Angeles. I’m excited that we’ll be part of a festival that supports women filmmakers, but more importantly, I’m excited that we’ll get to have a screening next month and you’re invited.

If you missed our friends and family screening, you have another chance to see the film that we put our hearts and souls into. For those of you not in Los Angeles, we’re working on releasing Brainwashed Love on DVD / Blu-ray or on demand somehow. I will let you know when that happens, and it will happen. I have to say, that I am truly proud of this film and I will do whatever it takes to get it out there for people to see in some form or another.

Come see an honest, independent film about falling in love and what happens when things go unexpectedly wrong.

Friday October 14th, 2011
2pm
Renberg Theater
1125 N. McCadden Place
Hollywood, CA 90038

You can buy tickets here (be sure to write “Brainwashed Love” in the box, so they know what film you want to see).

Hope to see you there!

So, I made it through my aerial silk performance this weekend. Holy jeeze did I get nervous. I’m not even sure why, but before I performed, I could feel that warm rush of anticipation over the back of my neck. It’s odd how an audience can do that to you.

My nerves made me rush through things a bit faster than I would have liked, but overall it went pretty well. Not bad for a first performance. I think I promised a video to you all, and there is one, but I need a moment to get over how embarrassing parts of it are. In the mean time, I’ll just share the snap shots my mom took.

The rest of our weekend was relaxing and refreshing. Besides the performance, and Shawn getting new glasses, we didn’t have a ton of plans, which is rare. It was nice to wake up Saturday morning not worrying about a list of things that had to get done or places we had to be. I am realizing that I need to balance my time better as I tend to overfill free time with projects.

In the past week we’ve also watched a ton of home videos from Shawn’s childhood and a few of my own. It definitely inspired us to make an effort to record more home movies. While we often record events or film projects, it’s unusual that we just record ourselves. It’s really nice to be able to look back, years down the line, and see what things were like in a particular fragment of time. Even if they’re really really really embarrassing. Which they usually are.

This weekend is my tiny aerial silk performance. I’m excited and nervous. It’s one thing to go to practice and another to do tricks in front of people. Yikes!

Wish me luck.