Update: Registry Wrap Up

Image courtesy of Crate and Barrel

Lately I've been obsessed with typography, more specifically vintage typography, so these cute cocktail napkins immediately caught my eye. Why was I visiting Crate and Barrel? For ideas. Specifically ideas on what to get with our gift cards. When we set up our registry we didn't go crazy. The result? We got everything. The dilemma? What do we need?

Maybe we should stock our bar. Remember we asked for the Parker Spirits Cabinet? We got it, and cubes carefully assembled it under my watchful camera (I'll post pics in a future post). Cocktail napkins aside. A decanter (we have two - one of which is usable - that I inherited from my grandfather)?

Owen Decanter

A rapid beverage chiller?

Cooper Cooler

Or a wine fridge (to hold the collectible wines we regularly purchase and drink rather than store)?

Cuisinart 32-Bottle Wine Cellar

Mission Accomplished: Clothes Storage

Ever since cubes and I moved into our Mission SF apartment, we've been meaning to replace the hodge podge of nightstands we're piling clothes and files on top of and in. This weekend we did something about it. 

We went back to Room and Board to look at dressers and armoires/wardrobes. One thing that I've always liked about Room and Board is that the pieces are made by American craftsmen from materials sourced responsibly in the United States. Besides this the design is clean and modern - just what we like.

We came armed with the limiting dimensions of our apartment - specifically the height and functional width of the bedroom door frame (31 inches). This dimension ruled out double or triple-wide dressers, so we focused on chests of drawers. We also had a firm budget in mind.

We wanted to take a look at the furniture lines we'd bookmarked from the last time: the LaSalle and Sherman collections. 

The San Francisco store is good sized - 3 entire floors. So we started on first floor and went room from room. It was hard work.

OK - not really. It was a lot of fun. One thing that would have made shopping a little easier is if Room and Board would include the options selected on an item's tag. In the example above, the pulls selected, the base, and the stain.

We snapped photos of the pieces we might be interested in along with their dimensions so that we wouldn't have to go back and forth between rooms or up and down stairs trying to remember what we saw.

When we narrowed down our options to the Calvin and Grove collections, we sat down to figure out if the pieces would work in our bedroom with windows, doors, and radiator constraints.

Once we doublechecked that both pieces would make it through our front door and into our bedroom, we decided on the 5 Drawer Chest and Armoire from the Calvin Collection. We weren't entirely sure of the finish so we decided to take another look at the two finishes - the Mocha Stain and the Ebony - and ask our sales person for advice.

We selected the Mocha Stain over the Ebony as we were worried about dings on the Ebony stain, and chose the natural steel pulls to coordinate with our bed (Parsons Collection from Room and Board). 

So what do you think? We can't wait for them to arrive. In the meantime, we'll be cleaning and selling the mismatched nightstands.

Of course we left with another item on our wishlist for our entryway: 2 Drawer/3 Cubby Storage.

Review: Cuisinart ICE30-BC & Mixed Berry Vegan Ice Cream

This past weekend we finally tried out another of our registry gifts. This time the Cuisinart ICE30-BC Ice Cream Maker.

Two first impressions:

• It's noisy when it's running. Maybe this was because we ran it on our granite countertop.
• Vegan ice cream is not firm enough to eat after 20 to 25 minutes. You do need to refrigerate it the recommended additional 2 hours.

For the inaugural run, we made a variation of the Strawberry Vanilla Ice Cream recipe that I found at Elana's Pantry.

Mixed Berry Vegan, Gluten-Free, Refined-Sugar Free Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 5 oz Blackberries, fresh, deseeded
• 5 oz Blueberries, fresh
• 13.5 oz Coconut Milk
• 1/4 cup, Agave Nectar
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. Wash and dry the blackberries and blueberries.
   NOTE: If you don't remove the seeds from the blackberries, your ice cream won't be smooth.
2. Blend blackberries, blueberries, coconut milk, agave nectar, and vanilla extract in blender.
   NOTE: If you forget the vanilla, the ice cream will have a coconut flavor. These proportions neutralize the coconut and bring the fruit forward.
3. Remove frozen freezer bowl from the freezer. Place freezer bowl on the center of the base.
4. Place mixing arm in freezer bowl.
5. Place lid on base.
6. Turn the ice cream maker on.
7. Pour blended mixture into the freezer bowl.
8. Mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes.
9. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container.
10. Place in freezer for 6 to 8 hours. Remove 15 minutes before serving.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream

for Ice Cream!

Yesterday we got a call that more gifts had arrived. Now you probably figured from the title that one of the gifts was an ice cream maker (thank you Mooflyfoof for recommending!).

All afternoon I kept thinking about non-dairy, refined-sugar free ice "cream" desserts.

• Refined Sugar-free Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream
• Gluten-free, Refined Sugar-free Strawberry Vanilla Ice Cream
• Refined Sugar-free Peach Ice Cream

I hope y'all like ice cream as much as we do. Wonder why? 

Well, I want to throw an ice cream social! OK, it'll actually be more of an appetizer/ice cream/wine social as I want to use the Griddler and the Vinturi too!

So the question now. Do we have to wait to use our registry gifts? Have you started using yours?

Some of Our Favorite Things

By now you know we love to cook. We love to entertain. I like entertaining even more when as the cook I still get to be in the thick of things.

When we combined our kitchens, we jointly had 8 place settings of black ceramic dinnerware (some were chipped), 7 incomplete place settings of Dansk Christshavn Blue dinnerware, and 12 place settings of ceramic dinnerware (some of finishes on the plates had crackled and some were chipped). We also had a somewhat precariously balanced 3-D Tetris game throughout our cabinets and closets. (Our first gift has helped eliminate the mixing bowl, casserole, and wok Tetris game.)

This unintentional mismatch of dishes came out in force for our housewarming this past October. We decided that it might be nice to have one set that matched or was intentionally mismatched (coordinated). We quickly learned that the set we were going to use as the base - Dansk Christianshavn Blue - was slightly different now (rim with white edge rather than blue edge. Also Macy*s no longer offered the pattern as open stock (Bed Bath & Beyond does). So we fell in love with a pattern from Noritake that was more "us."

Noritake Dinnerware, Colorwave Graphite Square

(Source)

When I got my first apartment, I used to host brunches. I had this amazing Oster Waffle Maker with Non-Stick Surface (it's now 1980s "vintage") that was small and worked great with waffle batter made with almond milk or rice milk. None of the Waffle Makers I've had since work with non-dairy waffle batters. *sigh* But I digress.

I loved my waffle maker because it fit neatly on the dining room table and cranked out yummy waffles while everyone sat around the table. When I learned that the Cuisinart GR-4N Griddler Grill had smooth plates for making pancakes, bells went off! Imagine that on our coffee table while we're gathered around for a picnic-style brunch with hot off the griddle pancakes?

Cuisinart GR-4N Griddler Grill
(Source)

This is what it looks like open with the griddle plates.

(Source)

Our friends also like to entertain. At least once a month we have the opportunity to attend a potluck. With casseroles (such as our Macaroni and Goat Cheese Gratin with Wild Mushrooms) or cheesy potatoes for a brunch we're always trying to figure out how to transport them. From how do we cover the baker so that the contents don't spill all over the CRV? To how do we wrap the baking dish so that the person holding it doesn't burn their fingers?

Portable Bakeware with its own plastic lid and Hot/Cold Sleeve

(Source)

For desserts, we're juggling how to pack cupcakes so that the neatly frosted tops don't get smashed.

24-Cup Cupcake Carrier

(Source)

What things are you most looking forward to on your registry? Are you already dreaming of how you'll use them?

Our First Gift Has Arrived

If you've ever been over to our apartment, you know that we have a reasonable sized kitchen but not enough counter space or accessible storage. One of the first things we registered for was a kitchen cart.

Deluxe Cuisine Cart with Backsplash: Model 61531

Before selecting this cart from Catskill Craftsmen, we looked at many carts from many stores. We had a couple of criteria that we used.

1. Size. We don't have a big kitchen. The cart needed to fit under the kitchen window and still leave enough space for us to use the kitchen sink.
2. Quality. Many options were pressboard and wouldn't hold up under consistent use. We wanted hardwood.
3. Made in America. Many carts were made overseas. We wanted if possible to purchase furniture that was made here in the states.

Many stores sell this cart. We decided to purchase the cart from Macy*s rather than Home Depot (which we would have used MyRegistry.com to add to our registry) as Home Depot was charging $335 - almost $100 more for the same cart.

So when we saw that the first gift that had been purchased was the kitchen cart, we were overjoyed. We pestered my mom almost daily to see if it had arrived. She called us the minute it had. While it arrived prior to Mother's Day, our schedule prevented us from retrieving the cart and assembling it until Memorial Day Weekend. This project was primarily all cubes with a little help from me when needed. While cubes assembled the cart I worked on our envelope liners.

Catskill Craftsmen provides detailed documentation. Detailed step by step instructions as well as an FAQ.

After reading the documentation and instructions and laying out all the various pieces, cubes began assembling the cart. (I took breaks from working on the envelope liners to photograph cubes' handiwork.)

After a couple of hours our kitchen cart was ready to report for duty. If you're looking for a kitchen cart for your home, definitely consider Catskill Craftsmen products. They're easy to assemble and well built. Our cart is now filled with mixing bowls, a hand mixer, pie plates, and baking utensils (pie weights, cookie cutters, cookie dough gun, etc.). We're looking forward to using it for a long time to come.

Our first thank you cards have been written and will be in the mail shortly. In addition to our handwritten note we tucked some photos from the build process in as well.

What are you doing to make your thank you notes special? Are you opening and using your gifts before your wedding day?

The Night Crate and Barrel Closed the Store for Us

On May 12th, we attended The Wedding Parties Registry Event at the store in Union Square in San Francisco. For Bay Area brides, there are two events on May 30th at Stanford (Palo Alto) and Santana Row (San Jose). For everyone, there are more events in June. I highly recommend if you're thinking of registering at Crate and Barrel to attend.

The pluses of attending a Crate and Barrel Registry Event:

• Having the store all to yourselves
• Friendly sales representatives who wait for you to approach, answer questions, and then back off
• Seeing products in use and getting to honest feedback from the sales representatives
• Wide range of products across all price ranges

Product Demonstrations

Crate and Barrel combined products they offer with the party they were hosting. Glasses of wine were aerated through the Vinturi Wine Aerator.

We got to try a taste unaerated and then a glass aerated. You could notice a difference. cubes and I belong to a couple of wine clubs and enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. This item was a quickly a must have for our registry (we didn't find it in the store to scan it so we added it easily online when we got home). Interestingly enough I'd heard of (and seen) the Vinturi Wine Aerator before. I hadn't seen it in action though, and for me seeing was believing.

We also saw the Crate and Barrel wine opener - the one being used didn't have a notch that grabbed on to the rim of the wine bottle and frequently slipped. We already have a wine opener so we didn't need another, but based on how hard it was for the sales rep to use this particular wine opener we wouldn't put it on our registry.

Wine in hand our next stop were was the warm appetizer area. Here we saw two products demoed - a Cuisinart GR-4 Flat Griddler Grill and Griddle-Panini Press and an Indoor Grill. They had a Bruschetta Panini that got me thinking about how I could alter my Bell Pepper Bruschetta so that I could serve it as a panini (easier to eat with two pieces of bread instead of open faced). What sold me with the press was that it could be flipped open and used to make pancakes. I used to have a waffle maker that I'd bring to the table and make waffles while we all ate brunch together. I immediately imagined the same with pancakes. Another plus was that there's a tray to collect grease. We could make bacon at the table. Yay!

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the highlight of the registry party was Nick's knife demonstration. Not only did he show us the proper way to cut with a Japanese blade versus a German blade, he let us try the knives for ourselves. This was a definite hit with all of us as we were specifically looking to add to our knife collections.

Registering

We also had fun walking around the store without the hordes of people that you typically find on a weekend or after work. (I love Crate and Barrel and have been known to spend hours in the store - my pot rack is from there as well as my rattan storage crates.)

We found nice high balls that we added to our registry so that we could serve Presbyterians.

We also found a convertible bar that would fit nicely in our living room. Right now we have liquor stored throughout the apartment - in the kitchen with the oils, in the linen closet with the sheets. You get the picture? We had wine stored on top of the fridge but the rack when empty would move with the vibrations and coasters as well as wine glasses ended up in pieces on the tile floor.

MyRegistry.com

When we got home it was a simple matter to sync our new Crate and Barrel registry with items we'd chosen from Amazon and other online stores. I'd downloaded the MyRegistry iPhone app ($1.99) prior to the event, but forgot to try it. We tried using it when at the Macy*s Sip and Scan registry event the following week and I'll tell you about that experience next Thursday. Stay tuned!

Spending Other People's Money

One item on our wedding to dos that I didn't think twice about initially was the registry. Figured we select a couple of things we needed across various price ranges. And voila! We'd be done.

Until Thursday night, this was pretty much true. Oddly enough it was a registry party - something that one would assume would be frivolous and fun - that had me (and us) rethinking our registry approach.

A few things you should know before we continue.

1. We combined households this past October when we moved in together. What one of us didn't have the other did. For the most part, while linens and dishes might not match we're able to sleep and eat just fine.
2. We're not your traditional fine china type of couple. Even when I had a dining room table, I sat cross legged on a floor pillow eating off my coffee table. I invited friends over for picnic style entertaining where we gathered around the coffee table. cubes and I do this now and even though we eat gathered around a coffee table, our friends still come to dinner.
3. We have nice things that we bought on sale or that we individually or as a couple decided were worth splurging on.

Initially we'd thought about two registries - Macy*s (both bricks-and-mortar and online locations) and MyRegistry (solely online). Macy*s when you stalk sales and Internet specials (like I do) can be reasonably priced. Most of the time though, its wares are overpriced.

A little background on me. I was a pretty practical child growing up (could be because I hung out around adults and not classmates/neighborhood kids). From about my 12th birthday on, I had a "registry" for my family to select gifts from. There was a dinnerware pattern (Dansk Christianshaven Blue), an Oneida silverware pattern (can't remember the name, but it's no longer available), a pots and pan set (Farberware), etc. The patterns for the plates and silverware were chosen to appeal to both men and women (in case I got married we'd be able to continue using the sets). Brands were chosen for their reputation for quality or price. A lot of these items came from Macy*s - at the time a store that sold moderately priced items, not a store that was positioning itself against Nordstrom.

I don't like taking or spending other people's money. I think it has to do with the fact that I've worked for a lot of start ups that were bootstrapped or VC-funded. At most start ups we thought about how to make the money go as far as possible. There was one exception and people there joked about "spending other people's money." The cavalier attitude with which people made purchases always struck me the wrong way. And... that's the attitude that after last week's registry party I find myself confronting with Macy*s.

I know Macy*s marks up their wares. I'm okay with it in principal because I only shop there when their wares are on sale. I'm in Marketing, so I firmly believe the "Buyer Beware" adage. I research every purchase I make at Macy*s before I make it because I know they mark up their wares so they can offer sales with deep "discounts." For example, the Noritake place setting is normally $71 at Macy*s, but regularly on sale for $34 (the regular price at an online store and now at Bed, Bath, & Beyond as well - thanks again Mooflyfoof for this info!).

So here's where I'm not okay with Macy*s. I don't know whether family members who aren't Internet savvy know that Macy*s marks up their wares. With the exception of dinnerware and linens, we tried to put items on our Macy*s registry that were comparable or less expensive than other options (this is true of both an All Clad French Skillet and Catskill Craftsman Kitchen Cart we selected online). Yes I know it's their money at the end of the day and they can spend it however they want. But my conscience won't let me direct anyone towards something that I personally wouldn't buy if it's not on sale while a promotion is running.

I'm also afraid that the pushy reps we so easily walked away will converge on our family members. And I don't want anyone - especially anyone on a fixed or tight budget - to feel pressured to buy anything. And I don't want to have nightmares about a rep at Macy*s pressuring my mom or dad or gram into buying something at Macy*s' full price off sale (yes my first wedding nightmare was about a registry of all things). I know my parents like Macy*s but I know they don't use the Internet so they may not be aware that Macy*s no longer stands for value, it's trying to move upscale and play where Nordstrom plays.

So our Macy*s registry is gone. Now that we know Bed, Bath & Beyond now carries our dinnerware, we'll be registering there.

In case you're as done with hearing about registries as I am with dealing with them there will be three more registry posts and then we're hopefully done with this topic. We'll space the posts out over the next few Thursdays. A more detailed write up of our Crate and Barrel's registry experience (I just transferred my photos from my camera to my laptop and have to give a shout out for Crate and Barrel - especially Nick's amazing knife demo). A review of the MyRegistry iPhone App. Our Bed, Bath & Beyond registry experience.

Have you heard of brides (not including me) going back and forth on where to register? Taking the time to register and then changing their mind?

I'd hadn't really heard of brides changing their mind about items on their registries or of brides going back and forth over where to have their registry until Miss Trail Mix and Miss Jellyfish, respectively.

Did you struggle with where you registered? What did you end up doing?

Update: Macy*s Sip and Scan Registry Event

Mooflyfoof, cubes, and I had been looking forward to getting together again to work on our registries. We had high expectations going into the evening after our experience at Crate and Barrel. We were also excited that Ed was going to be able to join us.

We were the first couple to arrive, having been warned by the organizers that they might not have enough scanners. Everyone's registries were nicely laid out for easy check in. (We decided to skip the hardcopy as we had our hands full with the scanner and camera.) The registry team checked our coats and bags so that we didn't have to worry about them. This was a nice touch that I was thankful for (it's "spring" in San Francisco which means I had a three-quarter length wool jacket with me). We'd started our registry online and hadn't yet visited the store to work on our registry in person so the team showed us how to use the scanner (which kept wanting to configure itself every time we went to use it) and gave us a quick tour of the 6th floor.

The Spread

After getting the lay of the land, we decided to grab a drink and some nibbles. From a distance, we thought we spied champagne. Upon closer inspection we find out that it's sparkling water.

Both cubes and I sampled the Sparkling Napa Raspberry Mocktail. (Note that raspberries are not yet in season in the bay area so they weren't very sweet or flavorful.) I love mushrooms so I sampled the Grilled Portabello, Herbed Focaccia, and Aioli Basil. This dish would have benefited from being served warm with the focaccia lightly toasted. It was a nice bite - the basil balanced the mushroom nicely. I would have liked another bite but the looks we got from the staff dissuaded us.
I was excited by the appetizer that was served on an Endive leaf. This reminded me of one of the appetizers we've chosen for our wedding reception. The menu billed this as Roast Chicken, Strawberry Champagne Vinaigrette, Candied Walnuts, and Gorgonzola. While the presentation was lovely, the taste was not. The bite was not a symphony of flavors. The chicken appeared not to have been seasoned. I asked who the caterer was as I wanted to make sure I didn't book them in the future. The food was prepared by Macy*s own food services and not an outside caterer.

The third option was a Curried Chicken Salad served on a Wonton Chip. I'm not a fan of chicken salad so cubes tried this appetizer. No comment.

Wedding Cake

The highlight of the nibbles was of course the dessert (which being loaded with dairy is supposed to be off limits to me). We passed by the table three or four times before I gave in. Mooflyfoof was sampling the lemon cake and from the look on her face as she tasted it, I knew I had to have a bite. That bite was worth it. I'm even more excited about our wedding cake as I love sweets and typically can't enjoy dessert with my friends. That we have a wedding cake that's dairy and refined sugar free and tastes great is a dream come true for us.

Window Shopping

Macy*s Union Square is a large store. Couples can register for items on the 6th (dinnerware, china, bedding, linens, etc.) and 7th floors (luggage) and in The Cellar (electronics, knives, etc.).

We started on the 6th floor as we wanted to check out our dinnerware and look at bedding and linens. Having traveled and stayed in hotels with Hotel Collection sheets and towels I wanted to get a better idea of the colors, styles, available. One of the sales representatives walked us through the various thread count options explaining the pluses and minuses of each.

Mooflyfoof and Ed met up with us in the bedding department after we finished with the sales rep. Nothing really screamed out at any of us. So after a quick stop at the Wedding Cake table we headed up to the 7th floor to register for luggage (both cubes and I seem to only have duffel bags). A sales representative helped us figure out which line of TravelPro we wanted to register for - Platinum or Crew 7 (I couldn't remember what I used to have; just knew I'd had it over 10 years and it looked brand new in spite of logging over 200,000 miles.)

Next stop was The Cellar. And here's where an event that already didn't meet expectations went off the rails (JustRegistries summarizes the Sip and Scan bridal events as always having Champagne or Cocktails. Jem talked about Cosmopolitans and Sprite at the New York event in addition to San Pellegrino as well as a larger spread of food. Divadan80 went to the Houston event last year and talked of Champagne. Teresa and Leigh attended an event in PA last year and mentioned cocktails.).

We were mobbed by two vendor representatives immediately. While talking to one the other tried to force their product information into our hands. Now we'd researched our brands and were buying different things from each vendor (we both have these brands on our registries). Ed borrowed the scanner and added Gummy Sharks to their registry, horrifying one of the vendor reps. And that's when the four of us decided to get the heck out of dodge.

One of the main reasons that we registered at Macy*s was that it's everywhere. Also, I'd gotten my Dansk Christianshaven Blue casual dinnerware here and thought it would still be available. When we first started registering we were going to complete our dinnerware set (part of it had gotten stolen from storage during college). Unfortunately this plan didn't work out - 1) Macy*s no longer carries it and 2) Over the years Dansk has changed where the dishes are manufactured and pattern variations are apparent. "Our" set was only available on eBay or Replacements Ltd. So while in the process of setting up our online registry, we (ok I) discovered dinnerware that screamed us (and this particular pattern is only available at Macy*s). Our pattern is Noritake Colorwave Graphite Square.

When we met up for our first Wedding DIY Project Crafting Day, Mooflyfoof shared that they'd deleted their Macy*s registry based on the aggressive behavior of the vendor representatives. While writing up this post I thought about this.

Now don't get us wrong - this was a great opportunity for the four of us to get together and at the end of the day this is a FREE event. (We had yummy cocktails and a wonderful dinner at Urban Tavern after we left Macy*s.) We weren't ready to abandon our registries based on the lack of alcohol or the choice in appetizers.

What we were not happy about was the way that as potential customers we were treated by the reps. Many in the industry talk about going with your gut. I'd blogged previously that I'd hoped we'd continue to be surrounded by positive energy. So we changed up our registries. We moved more items to our Crate and Barrel registry and we created an Amazon registry with most of the items we had previously at Macy*s. For guests who prefer to let their fingers do the walking and shop from the comfort of their own home, we created a master MyRegistry.com registry (password: cubeseden) that syncs the Amazon and Crate and Barrel registries.

Did your registry experience have you looking for other options?