This Halloween was our first in the new house, and our first time entertaining trick-or-treaters. We spent the evening on the porch with a few friends, plenty of adult beverages and our dog, Gibbs, who handled the influx of masked strangers with considerable poise.
With every batch of youngsters peddling jokes (that's a thing here in StL -- kids tell you a joke or ask you a riddle in exchange for candy) there was at least one very patient parent, braced for an impending sugar high and inevitable crash. To show the chaperones a little love, we recommend mixing up one of the following two recipes. Give these guys to the guardians in dixie cups, along with candy for the kiddos, and you're sure to be a fast neighborhood favorite.
Read MoreAs I write this, my mama is coming in hot, on a tear from Houston to Montreal (insanity -- we'll get to that*) with a weekend stopover visit in StL.
She's got my youngest sister, Grace, in tow and I've got a PACKED weekend planned to show them my new life in the Midwest. I spent some serious time at the drawing board, so I thought I'd share my method for showing my family the best of St. Louis City.
Read MoreFrom time to time on the blog, we'll offer unexpected alternatives for traditional gift-giving situations: Engagement trinkets that aren't all about the bling; rogue wedding gifts that inspire awe instead of "aw, you should NOT have;" things your parents won't only keep out of obligation, etcetera, etcetera.
Giving a truly thoughtful and well-executed gift is one of the most rewarding feelings ever -- like that time I found a set of dessert plates for a friend graduating PA school in a seemingly abstract pattern that was ACTUALLY super-magnified human tissue samples. (Eternally self-fiving that one.)
So, we try to replicate that feeling as often as possible around these parts. Good gifting is a gift, I think is a saying.
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