Ms. Fabulous' Green Garden Brunch

Leaving spring, starting summer. I wanted to host another Ms. Fabulous boozy brunch and invite my favorite people to it.While Meryl Streep's line "Florals for spring, groundbreaking " echoed in my head from The Devil Wears Prada, for a June brunch,  I couldn't think of anything more appropriate. I also wanted to be as green and eco-friendly as I could.

First, brunch decor consisted of upcycled tissue flowers made from papers retrieved from fashion events from the last month. Tissue flower DIY here.  I bought a few bunches of flowers and remixed them into vases I had in the cupboard. When you have a total mishmash of vases, I tied them together with washi paper I had lying around and raffia for a more cohesive look.

Keeping with the floral and green theme, my outfit of the day was a green print with butterflies blouse by Byron Lars and skirt by AllSaints UK. My shoes were cut-out butterfly heels by 9W. 

I'm kind of lazy with nail art, so I took a toothpick and just dotted a combination of my favorite colors this week. I left some negative space towards the bottom for a bit of an ombre effect (also helps with the manicure grows out).

For serving, I was introduced to Repurpose party supplies. These were cups and plates upcycled from corn sugar non-toxic.  It has an earthy look (you can totally decorate for your theme. My girlfriend joked that they were even edible (not quite ).

I was particularly proud of my tulip appetizers which were actually goat cheese stuffed tomatoes. 

Goat Cheese Stuffed Tomato Tulips:

1 box grape tomatoes
1 4 oz log of fresh chevre goat cheese

2 oz. Cream cheese
Half of a shallot bulb (very finely minced)
A few sprigs of Thyme
Freshly cracked pepper
Fresh Chives

bamboo skewers

Mix the herbs, shallot, and cheeses together in a bowl and then fill a piping bag (or zip lock bag) and chill.

Take your bamboo and push them through the chives. If the chives are too narrow, I split them lengthwise and wrapped them around the skewers like a spiral. The moist side of the chives actually help them stick to the skewer.

Cut the tomatoes cross-wise about 3/4 of the way down and spear the tomato with the bamboo skewer.

 Pipe the goat cheese mixture inside the cut tomatoes and then place in a vase to serve. Voila!

Now for the "boozy" part of the boozy brunch. My girlfriends never disappoint. Nyree brought a liquor soaked chocolate bundt and June brought a white wine pasta salad. The cocktail of the day was a green garden-themed Gardener's punch as a variation of an iced tea.

Gardener’s Punch

Ingredients

1.5oz Jägermeister

.5oz Fresh Lemon Juice

.5oz Earl Grey Tea

1 teaspoon Maple Syrup or Agave Syrup

1 teaspoon Citrus Marmalade

Orange Slice to garnish

Method

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice and give it a few good shakes. Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with orange slice. Of course, this is just for one serving. I made a big pitcher for the gals to sip all afternoon until everyone was feeling very nice. 

Happy Summering!