A Side of Sweet

Hedges Estate Red Mountain, Washington

A lesser-known destination for wine travel is Red Mountain in Eastern Washington. Hedges Red Mountain is family-run and is located on a gorgeous estate. They feature high quality biodynamic wines.

I first heard about Hedges Family Estate in Red Mountain, Washington when I attended a wine dinner they hosted in San Francisco. I was immediately intrigued by the story of this family-run vineyard. The Hedges were some of the first to recognize the potential of the Red Mountain region in Eastern Washington for growing grapes. They purchased a small parcel of land almost 30 years ago back when no one had heard of Red Mountain. Now, the region is filled with grapes and Hedges is flourishing.

Now, Tom and Anne-Marie Hedges have passed the torch on to the next generation of winemakers. Their son, Christophe, is the general manager and head of sales and their daughter, Sarah, is the winemaker.

Drinking wine and chatting with the Hedges in San Francisco was fun, but I wanted to take things to the next level. Luckily, Holly was also up for an adventure. We had such an amazing time checking out the Willamette Valley in Oregon last year, we’ve been talking about doing another trip. Red Mountain was the perfect destination for a long weekend reunion…. Read More »

Ladies’ Night Bites & Sips Ideas

Ideas for your next Ladies’ Night Bites & Sips plus the easiest Ladies’ Night idea ever that will offer hours of entertainment!

A few weekends ago, I attended one of the most fun ladies’ nights of all time. It wasn’t about fancy appetizers (although I do love those!), spending a ton of money or spending a ton of time prepping an activity. You’ll never guess what the secret was…

Confetti Polka Dot Photobooth Backdrop

Take your party to the next level with a fun homemade photobooth! Make it colorful with this easy confetti polka dot photobooth backdrop DIY.

Every party needs a photobooth. It’s so much fun to take the photos themselves and looking back through them is almost like reliving the party! Photobooths are easy to set up at home and often the most intimidating part is making the backdrop. This DIY is super easy and doesn’t take any fancy materials or skills.

Cupcake Recipe Roundup + Happy 100th Chuck

Today’s post features a roundup of my favorite cupcake recipes. There’s an autumn cupcake, a s’mores cupcake & my favorite – lemon curd stuffed cupcakes!

Happy Friday! I’m lucky enough to have a few friends who work at Williams-Sonoma, which was started in San Francisco. When they told me that the founder is turning 100 today, I was shocked! Chuck Williams is a living legend. I’ve never had the chance to meet him myself, but apparently he’s full of energy and still goes to work frequently at the Williams-Sonoma headquarters. He has a ton of stories about the last century of his life and most of the time puts the employees who are 1/4 of his age to shame with his joie de vivre.

Chuck is responsible for many of the kitchen innovations that we now consider mainstream. He is responsible for popularizing everything from Le Creuset to Kitchenaid Mixers to copper cookware! I can’t live without my Le Creuset Dutch Oven and my Kitchenaid Mixer. Copper cookware is definitely a #lifegoal.

So, in honor of this living legend, I’ve put together a few of my favorite cupcake recipes I’ve shared over the years. Happy Birthday Chuck!

1. Lemon Curd Stuffed Cupcakes: Light and moist vanilla cupcakes topped with a light and tart fluffy lemon buttercream frosting. The perfect thing to stuff with silky lemon curd!

2. Autumn Delight Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting: If you’ve never had a sweet potato cupcake before, you need to make these! They are perfect for fall and prove that sweet potato truly is the new pumpkin.

3. Colorful Stuffed Vanilla Cupcakes: These are one of the most fun cupcake recipes I’ve ever made. From the outside they look like an innocent vanilla cupcake. Once you take a bite though, there’s a colorful surprise inside! The secret? Cake pops!

4. Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramelized White Chocolate & Dulce De Leche: You haven’t really experienced white chocolate until you caramelize it and turn it into buttercream! Drizzled with homemade dulce de leche it’s absolute perfection!

5. S’mores Cupcakes Stuffed with Chocolate Ganache: These cupcakes are so good I served them at our wedding! The graham cracker cupcakes are delicious and the creamy ganache that you get with every bite is dreamy.

6. Banana Cupcakes with Bourbon Ganache & Bourbon Buttercream: These cupcakes are basically banana bread turned into a cupcake. Topped with a boozy bourbon buttercream and some more bourbon in the ganache they are a decadent treat!

7. Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes: The best way to find the best chocolate cupcake recipe? Have a group of 50 food bloggers test multiple batches until one comes out on top! That’s just what happened for these. They are just incredible.

Thanks so much for reading A Side of Sweet! For more Sweet in your life, you can find me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Snapchat (@asideofsweet), Bloglovin’, or Twitter, or subscribe to receive a weekly email with new posts (see sidebar).

Drought-Resistant Succulent Centerpieces

Succulent centerpieces are perfect for your wedding or party. They are easy to make & you can give them away for party favors (or keep them for yourself!).

In case you’re living under a rock, you’ve heard that there’s a drought here in California. We’re talking lack of water of crisis-level proportions. On a daily basis, Pat and I do everything we can to save water. It’s mostly little things, like letting it mellow, taking shorter showers, and turning off the water when brushing our teeth. Those little things add up though!

Because of the drought, I’ve been thinking of other ways to save water. Fresh flowers take a ton of water to grow, so even though I love them, we’ve been buying less and less. Same with adding new houseplants to our collection.

I’ve really been drawn to succulents – #1, they are amazing to look at. #2, they are hearty and take almost no water to thrive. The internet is absolutely blowing up with succulent DIYs and arrangements.

Even so, I really wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do. The place I found the best inspiration was actually my local hardware store. I checked out Orchard Supply Hardware, which has locations all over the Bay Area and now in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. They had a huge selection of succulents and even more important, the staff was super friendly and full of ideas for how to make the perfect succulent centerpiece for my upcoming dinner party…. Read More »

Mini Oreo Cupcake Toppers

Mini Oreo Cupcake Toppers are the perfect easy decoration for your cupcakes. Just dip mini Oreos in white chocolate and cover with sprinkles!

Am I the only one who sees all of these ornate cupcake and cake toppers on Pinterest and feels completely defeated? I love a good DIY, but the idea of creating an ornate paper project to put on a dessert that already took hours to make is a little defeating. Plus, they just get thrown away in the end!

I was making white chocolate dipped Oreos for my recent confetti party and I had that ‘aha’ moment – why not make mini white chocolate dipped oOreosand use them as a topper for my colorful stuffed cupcakes?… Read More »