Growing up, my mom was very crafty and encouraged it in us, asking us not to buy things, but to make her things on special occasions. At Valentine’s, she would make our cards that we gave out in school. These might have been frugal decisions, but they were always cooler and more clever than the store- bought ones, and I guess some of it rubbed off on me. In asking Erin to marry me, the proposal would have to be something special....
Picture it. You’re hosting a dinner party later this evening. You’ve laid out an ambitious menu, starting with snacks (like these elegant Bacon-Cheese Gougères), then moving into a main course of whole-roasted chicken or maybe even Braised Lamb Shanks with Parmesan-Chive Grits. Then comes the pièce de résistance: a decadent, ultra-fudgy chocolate torte, served with a side of homemade whipped cream. Homemade Whipped Cream Is Simple, But Don’t Let It Sit Whipped cream is one of the simplest recipes to make at home—and once you try homemade whipped cream, you’ll never reach for the pressurized canned stuff again....
My hair is naturally light brown—I think the girls are calling it “mushroom brown” these days. I kept up with a regimen of ashy highlights and cool lowlights for nearly a decade until about this time last year. I was in a low-maintenance phase and wanted to transition back to my natural color with the help of a little balayage. It worked like a charm. My hair grew out over the course of the year, with the lighter balayage pieces providing the perfect buffer....
After the busyness of the holiday season, taking some time for yourself and resting up for the new year is much appreciated. If prioritizing yourself is part of your New Year’s resolution, treating yourself to cozy must-haves is a small yet worthwhile splurge. No need to spend a pretty penny, Nordstrom is currently having its end of year sale event with lots of home and clothing items on clearance for up to 72 percent off....
Southern food is often thought of as fixed in time—as if there were only one correct way to bake biscuits or cook grits. We can find these long-held cooking tenets in weathered recipe cards, in the margins of spiral-bound cookbooks, and in our treasured memories of family members long gone. But as the following talented cooks from across the South show, there is a way to marry the past and the present....
When it comes to big, striking blooms, no plant packs quite the punch that hibiscus does. When they bloom, they produce enormous, vibrant blossoms that catch your eye and make you want to look closer. They’re some of the showiest flowers in the garden and look positively gorgeous when they begin to bloom, which is why they’re such popular summer flowers. Hibiscus Flowers Hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos) come in a rainbow of colors, from bright red to orange, pink, yellow, and white....
We’ve always expected a lot from our teachers, but this year, as schools across the country begin to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, we’re expecting a lot more. The teachers risking their lives to return to their classrooms will also require additional supplies. To help keep themselves and their students safe as the COVID-19 crisis continues, educators will need tools like disinfecting spray, hand sanitizer, masks, face shields, and protective barriers made out of cardboard or plastic....
The story of Mashama Bailey’s rise to the culinary stratosphere is the stuff of a legend in the making. A career changer, she studied at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City and at the famed La Varenne cooking school with gastronomic icon Anne Willan, who became a mentor for her. She worked in multiple New York City kitchens and ended at Prune, where she rose to the rank of sous chef under the equally iconic Gabrielle Hamilton (another mentor)....
It’s been a long year of staring at our walls at home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps, it’s time to give yourself something prettier to look at, to infuse your home with a bit of cheer during these trying times? Well, when it comes to beautiful, colorful designs, that’s where the superb new Barbie X Wallshoppe collection is coming to our rescue, giving our lackluster walls just the right dose of uplift we need right about now....
A few years ago we published a coloring book filled with some of our favorite Southern desserts. Whether you’re whipping up treats in the kitchen or looking for an opportunity to break out your colored pencils, there’s never been a better time for cake. With some online orders taking a while to ship out, we’ve pulled coloring pages from our book that you can download and print right away. Be sure to share your creations, both sugar and paper, with us by tagging Southern Living on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter....
When it comes to hand-washing dishes, conventional wisdom has it that the hotter the water, the better. How else are you going to kill those nasty germs, right? Wrong. Sorry y’all, but it turns out that we’ve been scalding our hands for naught. The Kitchn spoke with Ben Chapman, PhD, a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University, who set the record straight on hand-washing dishes and water temperature....
Tomatoes are one of the most rewarding plants to have in the garden. They are relatively easy to grow, making them great for beginning gardeners while still offering a challenge to established green thumbs. If all goes well, they produce gorgeous fruit (vegetables? both?) to eat in sandwiches, thrown on pasta, stuffed, pickled, fried, roasted, broiled, marinated, and so much more. (Tomato jam, anyone?) However, before you start cooking and eating, you must get your plants to grow....
Kevin Litterer never gets tired of talking about Donald J. Huisenga, the 98-year-old WWII veteran who came into his life via a phone call just two months ago. Litterer, the principal of tiny East Sac High School in Lake View, Iowa, was in his office on November 18 when he heard the phone ring. He recalls his assistant answering it and jumping up. “Kevin, you need to speak to this person right now,” she told him....
The Atlanta Braves announced the formation of The Henry Louis Aaron Fund to help grow diversity in baseball during Wednesday’s memorial service for the late, great Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron. The fund, which will reportedly live inside the Atlanta Braves Foundation, was seeded with $1 million from the Atlanta Braves. Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association also pledged a combined $1 million. According to a news release, the goal of the fund will be to provide resources to drive equity by creating access and opportunities in the areas of sports, business, education, and social and racial equality....
There are a handful of times in a woman’s life when she finds a beauty product that she immediately likes so much that she knows nothing else will ever compare. No dupes or newbies could change her mind, even if she does stray every once in a while. Of course, the idea can apply to all sorts of things like wardrobe pieces, recipes, hobbies, or even a book; but for any beauty obsessive like myself, a lipstick more than qualifies....
Chef Edward Lee’s litany of accomplishments in the food world reads as a kind of bucket list—one where he’s already ticked all the boxes. He owns three restaurants in Louisville and serves as the culinary director of another on the East Coast; he’s been a James Beard Award for Best Chef nominee seven times and a semifinalist thrice; he’s written and hosted a feature documentary (about fermentation, no less!); he’s taken home a James Beard Book Award for writing (see Buttermilk Graffiti), and he even has his own hot sauce....
Temperatures are rising and Chick-fil-A has just the thing. Introducing the new Frosted Cloudberry Lemonade, a creamy, dreamy, and refreshing beverage to help us beat the heat this summer. Available at participating restaurants nationwide through June 11, the Frosted Cloudberry Lemonade blends the popular cloudberry and cherry blossom flavors with the Chick-fil-A’s fan-favorite Frosted Lemonade: a hand-spun combination of lemonade and vanilla ice cream. It’s tart, delicious, and a perfect summer treat....
Never one to settle for basic, Cracker Barrel is giving summer a fresh new flavor. The Lebanon, Tenn.-based restaurant chain just revealed some of their summer food and drink plans, and we have to say, we’re thirsty for more. The best new menu item? The Rocket Pop Mimosa. Cracker Barrel is serving up their strawberry-and-sparkling-wine beverage with a patriotic twist: a nostalgic red, white, and blue Rocket pop. (You may know this frozen confection by another name: Bomb Pop....
For Erika Thompson, being elbows deep in a honeybee hive is a normal part of her everyday routine. In fact, Thompson has been fascinated by bugs since she was a little girl. “My first inclination even as a kid was that I always just wanted to touch bugs,” Thompson says. That curiosity has now blossomed into Texas Beeworks, which is built around educating people about the important role honeybees have in our environment, while also offering clients a sense of returned security through bee removal services....
Now that we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief that HGTV’s Home Town is being renewed for a fifth season (check out our video below for more details), we can get back to our regularly scheduled Ben and Erin Napier-obsessing. And swoon we will over Erin’s latest Instagram update, where she shared the sweetest story behind her daughter Helen’s first purse. “In 2013, on the eve of her major surgery, @farmhandmadeco and I connected thanks to the random magic of her finding my old online journal....
