Gift of the Day: Tervis Tumblers a Whole New Way

Tervis Tumblers with Butter Sauce for Sarasota Shrimp

Tervis Tumblers promise to keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold, and I'm so in love with the fact the tumblers keep the ice fresh in my diet coke that I rarely think to use them for anything hot.

Last night I was hosting a small birthday dinner and wanted to keep it simple with placemats, but I was serving Sarasota Shrimp (recipe below) which includes a delicious butter dipping sauce.  My butter warmers are great, but without fail you end up with a table full of butter drips which is a yucky mess to clean up. 

Divine inspiration or to quote Plato 'necessity, who is the mother of invention' directed me to give my 12 oz Tervis Tumblers a try as butter sauce cups.  They were perfect!  The butter sauce stayed perfectly warm while we were at the table and the 12 oz Tervis Tumblers were great for dunking the shrimp.

Other ideas for using the 'Cocktail Size' Tervis Tumblers  to keep sauces warm would be maple syrup for pancakes or french toast sticks, chocolate sauce, and maybe even an au jus or gravy.  Of course, the tumblers would work well to keep dips and sauces cold too!  Great for vegetable dip (our favorite is Spinach & Herb Dip Mix from Tastefully Simple, cocktail sauce, pimento cheese or salsa.

Here is the recipe for Sarasota Shrimp (adapted from Sunsational, Junior League of Greater Orlando)

For the boil:

• 1 lb of shrimp per person
• 1 box Zatarain's crawfish, shrimp and crab boil
• 1 large sweet onion sliced
• 2 lemons cut into quarters
• 4 stalks of celery with leaves (I like using the center of the bunch)

1. Mix the boil, onion, lemons and celery into about 1/2 gallon water
2. Allow to sit for 30 minutes or so
3. Simmer for at least 30 minutes before adding the shrimp; you can simmer longer if you wish
4. Once the boil is bubbling, add shrimp and boil for 3-5 minutes til done

For the butter sauce (this makes way more than you need for 4-5 lbs of shrimp):

• 3 sticks butter
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbs Soy Sauce
• 1 tbs Tarragon vinegar
• 3-4 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbs salt
• 8 dashes of Tabasco sauce

Mix all of the above and stir regularly over low heat. Sauce ends up a light brown/golden yellow color.  Pour into your 12 oz Tervis Tumblers and serve!

Christmas 2010 Favorites

Glittery Starfish ornament -- souvenir from the Bahamas

Happy New Year! 

Best Wishes to you for a happy, healthy & prosperous 2011!

Since we are so sad the holiday season is over, we made a scrapbook of some our favorites from Christmas 2010.  Hope you enjoy seeing how we celebrate & decorate.  

We love needlepoint and especially at Christmas.  This angel tree topper was made by my Aunt Cath who taught me how to needlepoint....I made the star angel ornament and love how cute they are together.  This was the first year we put them side by side and it made me think of her everytime I looked at the tree. Our dogs get VIP treatment with their personalized stockings.  Santa holds them up with the help of some flat stocking hangers we found at Walmart. They were perfect to tuck under our needlepoint Santa.

Pink Poinsettia from Palmers

Antique mercury glass reindeer posed on a breakfront while white pine cone ornaments were nestled in a silver dish.  The glow of mercury glass is perfect all year but especially during the holidays. Our reindeer are basking in the warm light from the tree lights. 

Poinsettia's are a holiday must...this year we went all pink and put three in porcelain and gold trim cache pots we found at the Georgetown Flea Market.

Thanks for the cards! We keep them up all year....

My sister made this fabric covered memo board for me and I love using it for photo holiday cards. So fun for friends and family to see their cards displayed when they come over.

We spray painted these walnuts silver and gold...every year we find a new way to use them and we always get lots of compliments!

Santa brought me a Kindle...fortunately he also brought a monogrammed case for it! You can check out the cases on the Monogram Merchant.com

We love our small letter box for holiday invitations and cards! We gave one away like this on Facebook in our 12 holiday GIVE AWAYS!  If you want to see all the styles and patterns, go to the For the Home section on the Monogram Merchant.com

 

Hate seeing someone dig into a bowl with a germy hand? We LOVE this Amuse-Bouche spoon for candy, nuts or sauce and it easily takes care of the problem.  You can hang it from the edge or the side making it crystal clear to guests they should use it! Just $3.95 from Sur la Table  

  



Monogrammed Recipe Cards: Perfect for Treasured Family Recipes

We love love love our 38 styles of personalized recipe cards from Boatman Geller!! After sharing recipes over Thanksgiving, we can't resist these! Add personal style to your signature dish with these chic 4" x 6" double-sided recipe cards.  We think they make great gifts for birthdays, the holidays, hostesses, and bridal showers.  Free shipping on these through 12/5/10. See the entire selection by clicking here.

Red Letter Holiday - Festival of Trees 2010

We are so thrilled to be participating for the 6th year in the Orlando Museum of Art's Festival of Trees. The festival theme is 'Red Hot for the Holidays' and we have to agree all that red is making us very excited for the holiday season.  Our table 'Red Letter Holiday' is a high/low combination of paper & linen napkins, crystal glasses and melamine plates.  Personalized gift tags adorn homemade pickles and marmalade, Third Wife wine and beautifully wrapped packages. Over 20 monogrammed gifts are on display in 'Red Letter Holiday' and one lucky winner will receive a $500 gift certificate when his or her raffle ticket is drawn on Sunday, November 21st.  You can see all our specially chosen gifts by clicking here

Gift of the Day: Monogrammed Acrylic Bowls!

We are inspired by yesterday's Nate Berkus show where he shared special monogrammed gifts under $25.  Who says thoughtfulness has to be expensive? We love this monogrammed square acrylic bowl! Its $18 and measures about 5" square. Perfect for salads or snacks. 

We love the idea of serving or giving your signature recipe in one of these.  What a creative hostess gift! Add nuts, snacks or dip mix and you've got a chic and practical gift ready to go!

Stock up for holiday hostess gifts today! Click here to use promo code 'DAY' to get 10% off your bowls



Gift of the Day: Personalized Cases for iPhones & iTouch

Add some style to your dial! We could hardly wait to post our much-anticipated new gift category -- iPhone & iTouch cases with your initial, name or monogram! We have 38 styles, including a few collegiate color combinations (Florida Gators, Alabama & Auburn).  These impact resistant hard plastic cases are custom made for you in the USA.  Allow 2-3 weeks for the magic to happen. 

One bit of advice....if you would like to see one of these arrive as a gift for yourself this holiday season, be sure to let your little shoppers know they can get it now and receive a 10% discount with the code 'DAY'....click here to see the entire collection

Gift of the Day: Transitioning to Fall with our Monogrammed Wood Pendant

With Labor Day right around the corner, it's time to start thinking about Fall.  It's still so warm here that the easiest way to move into the new season is with accessories.  We love this monogrammed wood pendant.  You can choose from several styles of necklaces ... the beaded one shown here is made of jasper or a suede cord makes a simply elegant statement.  Click here to see this easy fun fall must-have for just $21. Use code 'DAY' to get 10% off this versatile piece!