Big Impact Floral Design and How to make a COVID Relief Cocktail!

It was cold, rainy and very windy this morning so we filmed inside the Historic Brattonsville Gift Shop! I have these 2 tall pottery vases in the store that lend themselves to the perfect flower arrangement using minimal objects.  Some folks think more is better, but I show you how to get the wow factor with just a few stems. You can use whatever you find on the trail or in your garden, but here are a couple of tips:

1.  Cut mums can last a long time out of water so they are a good choice when you don't need water.. Spraying their heads with water will keep them looking fresh.

2.  Feathers, dried okra, pinecones  and the like are very interesting objects and have great texture that make your arrangement spectacular.

3. Rice or grits are a great filler when you need to weigh a pot down. 

4.If you have a tall skinny design on a food table, you can use a flat mum head to lay on the table that visually brings the eye down.

Watch today's What's InSTORE Fridays segment, to see how I use these great pottery vases for a simple but effective design. 

We also sell the small pottery vases that have flower "frogs" in them.  The "frogs" as they are called, are actually tiny pins set inside a container that hold stems snug. You only need a few blooms to get a wow factor with these vases! 

Here is brief history of floral frogs:  Although flower frogs reached their heyday in the United States in the mid-twenties and thirties during the flapper era, they can be traced back to the 16th century in Europe where it was customary for pottery and china houses to mark their pieces. The oldest known record for a U.S. frog is a patent issued to S. Van Stone in 1875 for a conical shaped flower stand with concentric rings of holes stacked pyramid fashion. Another early creation is the mushroom-shaped Mt. Washington condiment server/floral holder. A patent for this holder was issued to Andrew Snow, Jr. in 1893. 

Check out the online store to see a couple flower frogs that we sell.

Also at the Historic Brattonsville Gift Shop we sell Lil' Buddy Honey. In this week's video, I also make some tasty honey roasted pecans that are great for snacking. The recipe is below and is great to pair with the cocktail recipe also mentioned below. These are easy recipes and make a delicious snack during Happy Hour, or anytime!

Honey Roasted Pecans

3 cups whole Pecans

1/3 cup Lil' Buddy Honey

2 Tbls. granulated sugar

1/2 Tbls. course kosher salt

1/8 tsp. ground red cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put honey in a medium microwave safe bowl and heat for 20-30 seconds to liquify it.

Add 3 cups of pecan halves to the honey and toss to coat well.

Spread nuts onto parchment lined cookie sheet in a single layer and bake for 6 minutes. Remove from oven and stir again into a single layer and bake for 6 more minutes.  Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes, making sure you have no clumps of stuck pecans.  After 5 minutes sprinkle with the sugar, salt and cayenne pepper. Cool completely (about 45 minutes) and store in airtight container. 

For our cocktail, you can't beat the dashing look of this South Side Cocktail! Using the Peach Mint Syrup we sell in the store, the flavor is absolutely grand!  It all goes in a shaker to get it ice cold, so put on a little show while you briskly shake, if you are so inclined! Watch how I make this cocktail in today's video. 

Southside Cocktails

(Makes 2)

1 1/2 oz. Sallies Greatest Peach-Mint Simple Syrup

4 oz. gin

2 oz. fresh lime juice (or lemon)

2 sprigs of mint

Mint leaves for garnish

Ice

2 martini glasses

Place Sallie's Greatest Peach Mint Simple syrup, gin lime juice and mint leaf in a shaker. Fill with ice, replace top, and shake vigorously to get frosty cold. Strain into your martini glasses. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Even though the weather was rainy and windy, it was still beautiful to go out to Historic Brattonsville in all its quiet charm and pastoral beauty to film this week's segment. I hope you will make these nuts and try the cocktails and leave a note on the blog to let me know how they came out. Cheers!