Sunday Brunch and Petits Pains Au Chocolat (and the J Crew Cotton Ruffled Scoopneck Tee)

What a lovely day it was for Sunday Brunch. Hubby and I decided it would be fun to kick off Spring Break with brunch for a few families. We have a regular happy hour crew, so the ones who weren't on their way to Florida were invited. Such a fun time! Hubby made crepes - ham & cheese, and cheese & asparagus. Yummy! I love that he loves to cook - and he's so good at it, too!

Lesson #1 - when kids are invited, make many, many packs of bacon. It was cleared out in no time flat. Like how they say piranhas can take a cow down to its skeleton in 3 seconds. That's what the bacon plate looked like. I tried to keep my extremities out of the way.

Our friends brought baked cheese grits, potato-cheese casserole, half a carrot cake, and, for balance, a fruit salad. Mimosas and peach-flavored wine & OJ spritzers created when the champagne was gone. I had dessert, so I made a favorite - Petits Pains Au Chocolat (recipe at end of post). Very good and very easy. And I had hubby pick up some of those fantastic sugar cookies to bake with the shape inside (you know what I mean, right?) - so we had bunny cookies & chick/egg cookies. Plus the requisite jellybeans. I can keep these around because they don't tempt me like chocolate.

I was chilly in the morning, so I headed off to church with the Tartine cardi but by mid-day, had swapped it out for the Slub Cotton Ruffled Scoopneck Tee (#13657, $39.50). Gigi did a review of the tee here. It's a little shorter in length than many of their tees. It's fitted but not lump-revealing (always a plus). The ruffles are very pretty and they have some subtle tonal bead detailing. I got it in navy at our DC JCA outing (10% and 25% off, so just under $27 and totally worth it, IMO).

Polyvore set:

Brunch-04/05/09 by HeidiGblog featuring Old Navy tank tops

Here's the recipe for the Petits Pains Au Chocolat that I made. These are so easy, it's insane! 3 ingredients, not counting water. Try them sometime - they look like something you purchased at a cute little town bakery. BTW, I always forget to put the sugar on top and they are still way yummy.

Petits Pains Au Chocolat (Bon Appetit, April 2004)

2 sheets frozen puff pastry (1 17.3-oz pkg), thawed, each sheet cut into 12 squares
1 large egg beaten to blend with 1 Tbsp water (for glaze)
4 (3.5 oz) bars imported bittersweet or milk chocolate, each cut into six 2 x ¾ inch pieces

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush top of each puff pastry square with egg glaze. Place 1 chocolate piece on edge of 1 pastry square. Roll up dough tightly, enclosing chocolate. Repeat with remaining pastry and chocolate. Place pastry rolls on baking sheet seam side down. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover pastries with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Cover and refrigerate remaining egg glaze.)

Preheat oven to 400. Brush tops of pastry rolls with remaining egg glaze. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake until pastries are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!!

Let Them Eat Cake - the J Crew Cotton Sateen Gateau Skirt

The J Crew Cotton Sateen Gateau Skirt (#13464, orig $88, curr $69.50 online & in store). I have been dying to try it since reading about it on Gigi's blog for several reasons - 1) JC's minis are too short on me and 20" sounded like a good length, 2) I don't really do pencil skirts since I prefer flats, and 3) hello, machine washable. So I tried it on at our DC JCA outing on Sunday, and got it. I got my regular pant size, a 10, but I think I would like to try an 8 when I go to the store to do returns. It's loose on the waist, which I like, so the hips don't bell out too much, but we'll see - I should probably double check the size.

When I tried it on in store, I realized that for me and my extra long-femurs, I would like it with something out, not tucked in, and that something would have to hit at the right spot. So before making the decision to keep or not, I pulled out a ton of stuff to try it with. Lucy cooperated by napping on the bathroom floor after a long walk, so I was productive but quick (hence the shoe/necklace repetition you see). Pardon the discoloration on my left shin, I still have an 8" bruise from tripping over the indoor dog fence a week and a half ago. It's a lovely shade now.

#1 - With the navy ruffled scoopneck tee I got Sunday (still deciding on the tee since I got the ruffle tank in navy, too)

#2 - With a white shirt. Didn't like the pics of this because it's so pale. But in the mirror, it looked good. Would be even better with some cute sandals and a semi-tan (since I live in SPF 70 in the summer). Maybe a (gasp) belt. Would have to get a belt, though, since I don't really have any. And yes, a cami - like I said - quick.#3 - With the silk-linen v-neck sweater. I am still returning the sweater, but love the cut with the skirt, so I will be looking for a new color, definitely. This made up my mind about what to do with the sweater.

#4 & #5 - With a plain gray tee, and then that tee and a Jackie cardi. Like both of these.

#6 - With my silk-bow critter applique tee from Fall. Like this pic, but the bow is cream and not so sure about it with the light pewter skirt - would be great with the champagne skirt, however.

#7 - With the short sleeve v-neck cardi in navy and a navy tee underneath. Likey ok.

#8 - With my Summer 07 anchor tee - think this would be great with some better accessories and silver sandals.

First of all, yes, I really should have cut my head off in these pics because it would have made it shorter, and that would have been appropriate with the cake comment. And I need to get hubby to re-load some software so that I can combine pics in 1 line. Besides that...What do you think? Is it a keeper? I would love some feedback on which looks you think work or not. And if you have some styling suggestions, I would love to hear them. I would love a black turtleneck with it next Fall and some black pumps. (Again, please realize that I was quickly swapping tops and was just grabbing 1 of 2 pairs of flats, so pardon the accessorizing here)