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Come Party With Me: Greek Dinner - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:00:39 PST

My Greek feast is taking place on Saturday after a day of wine tasting, but our Dionysus-themed girls weekend begins on Friday night. To kick start the event, I'll greet each girl with a cocktail when she arrives. My sister has purchased golden Greek laurels for everyone to wear in their hair, so my cocktail is inspired by this party gift. It's called a Lemony Laurel and is a sunny, refreshing concoction that combines a lemon and bay leaf syrup with citrus vodka and Galliano. It sounds like a heavenly beverage that would be delicious enough for a goddess to drink! Get the recipe I'll be using when you

Lemony Laurel
From Food & Wine

Ingredients

Crushed ice
1 1/2 ounces citrus vodka
3/4 ounce Galliano
2 1/2 ounces Roasted-Lemon Syrup (recipe below)
1 fresh bay leaf (optional)

Directions

Fill a highball glass with crushed ice. Add the vodka, Galliano and Roasted-Lemon Syrup.
Using a swizzle stick or a bar spoon turned between both hands, swizzle for 8 seconds. Garnish with the bay leaf.

Makes 1 drink.

Roasted-Lemon Syrup

5 lemons
20 dried bay leaves
12 ounces Simple Syrup

Halve the lemons and remove the seeds. Make 2 slits along the membranes of each half and stuff a dried bay leaf into each slit. Set the lemons cut side up on a baking sheet and bake in a 250° oven for 2 hours.
Transfer the roasted lemons to a glass measuring cup and add the Simple Syrup. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Strain the syrup into an airtight container, squeezing the juice from each lemon, and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

Makes 16 ounces.

Print recipe with images | without images

Tour the 2012 Kips Bay Decorator Show House

Elka Karl — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:36:03 PDT

From May 16 to June 14, you can visit the absolutely gorgeous Kips Bay Decorator Show House in person on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Not only is the house brimming over with amazing decorating vignettes and ideas, it also supports a good cause - all proceeds go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Since 1973, designers have been transforming a different Manhattan luxury residence with art, technology, furniture, and stunning design ideas into the Kips Bay Decorator Show House. Keep clicking to take a tour of this year's home, and then buy your tickets to visit Kips Bay in person!

Photos courtesy Edgar Pineda

Enter Our Choose Your Summer Getaway Giveaway

SavvySugar — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:09:41 PDT

Are you sitting at work, dreaming of where you'd like to spend those long Summer days? You're in luck, because SavvySugar has teamed up with DailyWorth and CheapOair to make your getaway wishes come true.

What's better than a free vacation? A free vacation at your choice of three dreamy destinations. Do you want to feel the adrenaline on Las Vegas's streets or gawk at the bay views of San Francisco? Just maybe you want to feel the hot sands of Miami on your feet. Enter to win two round-trip tickets, a three-night hotel stay, and $750 in spending money to take you where your heart desires.

In addition, we'll be serving up tips on how to save for your Summer travel and how to find the best vacation deals. Enter below by May 28 to win your Summer getaway, and you'll be one step closer to getting there.

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1. Like us on Facebook

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Nighttime Fasting: A New Way to Lose Weight?

Shape — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:09:52 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. This week Shape turns to Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian with master's degrees in both nutrition science and public health.

If you couldn’t let anything cross your lips from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m., but you were allowed to eat anything you wanted for eight hours a day and still lose weight, would you try it? That’s the apparent bottom line of a rat study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, which recently stirred up the weight loss pot.

Top 50 Summer Diet Foods for Weight Loss

Scientists put groups of mice on different diet regimens for 100 days. One group of rodents ate healthy food while animals in two of the groups chowed down on high-fat, high-calorie feed. Half of the junk food eaters were allowed to munch whenever they wanted to while the others only had access to feed for the eight hours they were most active. The conclusion: even though they ate a fatty diet, the mice who were forced to fast for 16 hours were almost as lean as those who ate the healthy fare. Interestingly, the round the clock junk food eaters became obese and developed health problems, even though they consumed about the same amount of fat and calories as the time-restricted junk food fed mice.

See if a nutritionist thinks nighttime fasting works after the break!

35 Design Moments at Elle Decor's Modern Life Concept House That Blew Us Away

Angela Swinderman Elias — Wed, 23 May 2012 06:00:00 PDT

This week, I've been lucky enough to indulge in both the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and Blogfest 2012 in New York. Aside from Kips Bay, Blogfest participants had the chance to tour Elle Decor's impressive and ever-inspiring annual Modern Life Concept House. Loaded with unforgettable moments created by some of my favorite designers, the house showcased a range of aesthetics, further defining how we interpret modern living today. Take a look to see some of the innovative designs, and tell us which of the rooms is your favorite!

7 5-Star San Francisco Dishes to Ring in the Golden Gate's 75th Anniversary

Susannah Chen — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:00:44 PDT

Along with the picnicking and the grilling that goes along with most Memorial Day weekends, this coming weekend, residents of San Francisco will be celebrating something else: the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Whether or not you're near the City by the Bay this long weekend, pay homage to the world's most photographed bridge in the world. Celebrate the iconic dishes of the food lover's paradise known as San Francisco, when you keep clicking.

Source: Getty

Enter Our Choose Your Summer Getaway Giveaway

SavvySugar — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:00:03 PDT

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1. Like us on Facebook

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Julia Roberts Goes Barefoot With Her Husband For a Beach Bash

Lauren Turner — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:24:31 PDT

Julia Roberts and Danny Moder were arm in arm at the Jonathan Beach Club in Santa Monica last night. They paired up for Heal the Bay's Bring Back the Bay charity event, which also brought out Amy Smart, Ali Larter, and Julia-Louis Dreyfus. Julia wore a polka-dot Moschino jumpsuit to the fundraising gala, where she and her husband Danny were honored along with Amy for their leadership and environmental accomplishments. Amy's husband Carter Oosterhouse was on hand for support. Julia is coming off a busy few months that included promoting Mirror Mirror with costar Lily Collins and premiering Jesus Henry Christ with Michael Sheen. Julia was able to fit in family time, though, and took a Hawaiian vacation with her kids Hazel, Phinneaus, and Henry.

Trendspotting: Southeast Asian Fast-Casual Restaurants

Susannah Chen — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:05:50 PDT

In the past year, there's been significant growth nationwide in the number of fast-casual eateries, from burger joints to healthier comfort-food fixtures. The latest craze we've noticed hitting this scene? Asian-themed chain restaurants.

Chipotle could've tackled a number of ethnic eats, so the Mexican chain certainly caught our attention when it unveiled its plan for ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, "inspired by the traditional shophouses through Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam." Then we raised our eyebrows when a former chef at San Francisco's renowned Slanted Door restaurant opened the first of what will be several Bay Area locations of Asian Box, a healthier riff on Asian street food.

Meanwhile, Canada-based Wok Box has been preparing to bring its stir-fry boxes and curry dishes to the western part of the United States this year. And just this week, a former Hooters chef announced his new venture, a minichain of Atlanta-based Latin fusion restaurants bearing the name Taqueria Tsunami.

Regardless of where diners are in the country, it's clear they're on the lookout for the explosive flavor combinations that come from Southeast Asian cuisines. Are you excited at the prospect of more Southeast Asian cuisine in your neck of the woods?

Photo courtesy Sonya Yu for Asian Box

What We're Sweet On: A Brush For the Blemished

Annie Tomlin — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:30:00 PDT

Countless praises have been sung for Clarisonic, the cult-favorite sonic skin cleansing brush. But until now, the acne-addled haven't had a version that targets their complexion condition. Enter the newest incarnation of the Mia 2 brush and salicylic acid-infused cleanser ($169), which aims to keep blemishes at bay. We gave the brush a spin (courtesy of public relations), and like the original, it removes the dirt and makeup that doesn't always come off through washing by hands alone. The new brush head ($25) is softer than the original, though, and it's especially gentle for anyone who's experiencing stubborn blackheads or painful nodules. While no product will produce flawless skin overnight, with consistent use, having clearer skin may only be a matter of time.