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!!

Today's Outfit and the Story of the $2 Purse

Another bit of spring for you - although today was pretty Spring-like here, with the sunshine and warmer temps. (Tonight, though - 40 degrees and rain, whatever... Ugh!) So here are the tulips I picked up at the store yesterday - they always need a day to settle in the vase - I love that they totally match the polka dots on the vase! Tulips are one of my most favorite flowers. I love how they still continue to grow and twist and turn after you put them in water.

So, um, yeah, I wore another cream sweater today. What can I say? It's a favorite color and it always looks good on me. But today's sweater is the J Crew Tartine cardi in snow. This one was $19.99 online, with the 20% off to counteract the shipping. It's so thin that it's great for a day like today. And yes, I did brave it with Lucy, but I took her on 2 nice walks this morning, before and after PT, so she was wiped all day long. Tired puppy = good puppy.

Ok, yeah, cream sweater, whatever. Navy tank, Chicos jeans, pink patent Clarks peep toes to show off the navy toes, and then some sparkle. I love this necklace combo - it's Anthropologie's typeset initial necklace with J Crew's twisted crystal necklace doubled. Fun and sparkly. Plus a few bracelets. Not quite as blah anymore. But if anyone has some suggestions about what *else* to put under the Tartine cardi (other than my usual cami or tank), I would love to hear!! To me, the bracelet sleeves, with something this sheer can be a little tricky when it comes to layering.

And I finally remembered to get a pic of the short yellow trench from AT Loft. This color always makes me happy. And it definitely perks up any outfit. Love it with navy, gray, tan, pretty much anything. So it was perfect for yesterday's rainy, nasty day!! (Dina - makeup inspired by Vanessa in the Paris JC catalog - reddish lips, heavy (heavier) on the eyeliner. Fun, fun!)

In other wardrobe news, pulled out my warm white purse in honor of the spring weather. Now, I'm not one of those girls who change out their purse all the time. I'm just too lazy. I hate to totally rearrange purses that often. But this purse has a special story. I got it for $2 in cash from Ann Taylor. And it will forever be famous. I coveted it at the original price of $199, then it was marked down to $99 online. In I went to the store with my 30% F&F coupon, and asked about the purse. They checked and in spite of the misinformation on the price tag, yes, it was marked down in store as well. I had a sweater to return that was a gift but unfortunately had arms that were too short (or mine were too long). And I had 2 $20 reward certificates. So let's do the math, shall we?

$199, marked down to $99, take off 30%, credit of $34.99 or so, $40 in reward certificates = you owe us exactly $2.

I handed over my 2 $1 bills and walked out with this purse. Now I have several nice purses that I really love, but I don't think anything will ever truly take this one's place in my heart.