Welcome to Sunday Reset, where we share how we're unwinding and what we have planned for the week ahead. This time, our editor, Julia, is sharing some festive ideas.
Every year, I say I don't care about Halloween—but every year, the weekend rolls around and I'm jealous of the creative costumes, themed appetizers, and scary movie nights. So this year, I've decided to embrace it. I'm in the process of moving, so I won't be hosting a party myself, but I did task our Test Kitchen creators with coming up with a few fun ideas. In the meantime, I've done plenty of research into spooky, festive things. Here are some of my favorites that I'm eyeing:
Puff Pastry Mummies: Our baking resident made these last week, and they're so cute. He filled them with an apple-and-pear compote and added candy eyes for an extra touch. You could also wrap puff pastry strips around hot dogs for "mummy dogs."
Spiderweb Brownies: These might be the cutest and easiest Halloween dessert. Bake a batch of brownies, melt some marshmallows, and stretch them across the top for a web effect. One of the creators we work with shared a great visual here—or check out our guide to piping a simple spiderweb design.
Eyeball Ice: Freeze blueberries in circular ice molds for a spooky drink garnish. You can see an example here.
Our former cocktail editor also had a great idea to soak peeled grapes in bitters for a similar effect. You can check out his full eyeball punch recipe here.
Here are a few more party snacks and drinks I'm loving (because it's all in the name):
Ever heard of boo bags? I hadn't either until one of our contributors introduced them to me last week. It started as a trend to do for your kids, but I'm personally thinking of making them for friends and family. Essentially, they're small Halloween gift bags filled with treats, baked goods, or whatever you want. Get the full list of ideas here.
—Julia, Editor
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This week, I’m going to begin sharing our interior design process, which, as you’ll see, is like looking into a kaleidoscope—with each turn of the shaft, or, rather, each grouping of furniture and materials, you get a new pattern and perspective on how a space can feel. I asked Frances Merrill of Reath Design, our designer, how she thinks about things like mood boards, color palettes, and process when shaping the look of a house. Our conversation is below, including the amazing mood board her team put together, which became a road map for us all.
An early rendering by Reath Design for the living room, pulling inspiration from a fresco that came from Tad’s family and shows him as a child.
But first, two other updates.
Earlier this week, I chatted with Gretchen Rubin, the best-selling author, podcast host, and now writer of “Secrets of Adulthood,” in which she explores the wisdom people gain over the course of their lives. I shared a few of my own insights during our conversation—hope you’ll check it out, and sign up for her newsletter.
Also, in my last post I mentioned that Tad and I were feeling regret about not planning to have a tiny door in the shared wall between our offices, so we could ask questions/whisper sweet nothings to each other. We sent a late-in-the-game request to Barbara/Frances/Evan asking if it would be possible to add it on a small budget. The Bestor team hopped in with a quick sketch of how it could work, but it was clearly more complex than our budget would allow—not their fault, just the reality of building a mini door through a wall and millwork. Reath delivered the final blow gently: “Hi, chiming in: It’s a cute idea, wish we had considered it earlier! From having a couple of casual conversations with Tony [our millwork carpenter] and Armando [the site supervisor], it’s sounding like this will come in over $1,000. It would also create a snowball of delays for wallpaper, lighting, and potentially furniture installation. It’s not impossible to reschedule, but it’s a hectic time of year for our installers with the holidays approaching.”
Lesson learned: think of all the fun design features before the work has started. And on that note, onward to my convo with Frances!
Yours in still learning the secrets of adulthood,
Amanda ...
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