I Mustache You a Question... Will you be my Valentine?

I dragged Kevin out to the Be Mine Market out in Eden Prairie yesterday - an event-style shop set up in the back rooms of the historic Smith Douglas More house along with Dunn Brothers. (Thanks to heads up from Chris of TJ Brecht Originals) It was a pretty sweet space, with lots of little sweet items, but not a ton of sweet room to move....but that's okay! The overwhelming attendance kind of reminded me of a certain holiday boutique from Dec. that was so, super packed with visitors... So Kevin "excuse me'd" himself right through the shop and into the coffee shop area where there was room to breath, and I got to shop around...very carefully. I tend to sway on the clumsier side, so some of the precariously balanced little vintage tea plates made me a little nervous.
  The shop featured Valentine's Day decor, little flower arrangements + items from several vintage dealers - a lot of it too "vintage" for our place, but came across some cute ideas and one large white washed, old cabinet door that made me smile. I think it might just fit right above our bed....so I snatched it right off the wall before anyone else could eyeball it too closely - and they were :)

I really enjoyed the merchandising - esp since I'm always looking for ideas for new ways to display for next year's boutique.

I've always liked little lantern-type items. This little hanging votive was really cute.
+ moss. I just decided that I really like moss.
Perhaps I'll find a way to include it in some lovely springtime decor (when we get there.)

you can see Kevin over there hiding in the safety of the coffee shop.

and here is the item we scored for our place. Yes, it's a bit ornate, but I LOVE the texture and think it might add some warmth in the master bedroom surrounded by the rest of the flat white furnishings.
We will let you know how it works out :)

Mother's Day Market is May 12 & 13 :)

Lastly - on an unrelated note: This really made me smile :)

from designdazzle.blogspot.com

Butter Beer! Yum!

  Ok - so remember how I love Harry Potter so much? (not Harry himself - I mean he's fine and all - but the Harry Potter books more specifically) and remember how I had Butter Beer while visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando? And it was super tasty?
  WELL! We found a recipe online and Kevin made it for me! It is SO good..although full of lots of not-so-good-for-you ingredients. They don't call it Butter Beer for nothing - so dieters beware! This is NOT the drink for you. It IS however the drink for the McBride's - we'll eat an extra salad to make up for it. Promise.

Butter Beer

Start to finish: 1 hour (10 minutes active)

Servings: 4 LARGE glasses (next time we make this, we're going to divide it up into 6-8 glasses though. It's pretty filling)

1 cup light or dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

6 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

3/4 cup heavy cream, divided

1/2 teaspoon rum extract

Four 12-ounce bottles cream soda

In a small saucepan over medium, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer. (we don't have a candy thermometer - so we just melted everything into a lovely carmel)

Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature. (cooling took longer than I wanted it to - but I was getting pretty antsy...)

Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.

In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.

To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about 1/4 cup for each glass). Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each.

We were really pleased that this yummy concoction was really pretty close to what we enjoyed at Universal. Yum! Enjoy!