#swanlove

Link love for your Independence Day

It is the start of a holiday weekend! Summer holidays are great because they generally involve outdoor things. They are also the kind of holidays that often come together at the last minute. Planning in the summer is hard! Not sure what you are doing this weekend? Need some ideas on what to bring to your friends celebration? Still trying to figure out the best place to see the fireworks from? Wanting to celebrate from the comfort of your own couch? We have the links for you!

The Macy's Fireworks are back on the East River again this year and being shot off from multiple barges from 42nd st. to Brooklyn Bridge Park. The possibilities for a good view are endless. Here are just a few suggestions from Curbed NY!

Fireworks might be the pinnacle of this weekend's celebrations, but there are special events and activities going on from now until Sunday. Time Out NY has gathered some of this weekend's most fun things to do!

Feeling over-stimulated already? In desperate need of some couch time but still want to celebrate? How about a movie marathon of some of the most patriotic movies ever filmed? The Hollywood Reporter has a great list! Or just watch Independence Day over and over. "I coulda been at a barbecue!"

Hosting a party this weekend? You are gonna need some tunes! Throw some patriotic songs into the usual party rotation. Punchbowl has a few ideas! 

There is no shortage of food suggestions for this most cookout honored of days. Huffington post has some ideas for upping your food game. Check out some of our Swan cookout favorites here! 

Happiest of holiday weekends from us to you!

Three Turmeric Recipes

I may be a little bit obsessed with the Spring so I have been thinking a lot about sunshine and feeling good inside. Here are three recipes that are beautiful, delicious and inflammation reducing. I like to buy my turmeric from Kalustyan's.

This beverage recipe from Sense-Serendipidy.com breaks down why turmeric is so good for you as well as talking in depth about the other ingredients. Simple and delicious!

This elixir recipe from iFood.tv is a little bit more involved because it requires a juicer. Not to worry, there is a video detailing how to make the juice. AND it uses coconut water! YUM.

And this recipe from Ascensionkitchen.com is a raw mango turmeric tart. Need I say more?

Crepe Cake!

Some really good friends of The Swan are having a baby ANY DAY NOW. So for their baby shower a couple weeks ago, I embarked on a very involved adventure in crepe cake making. It was a three day long process involving two dozen eggs, pounds of butter and more milk than I have seen ever go into a bowl. I based the recipe on this one.

I made dulce de leche pastry cream the first night. Have you ever done that? EEK. You basically make a really fancy vanilla not-quite-scrambled eggs concoction with cornstarch and then painstakingly put it through a very fine sieve.  

The second night was relatively easy. I browned some butter and made crepe batter.

Day three I woke up sweating at 7am (on a Saturday) because I needed to make 40 crepes, cool them, layer them and assemble the whole shebang. I was a nervous wreck and may-or-may-not have yelled at my husband a few times. I brûléed the top and dusted the cakes with shimmering pink dust I found at NY Cake.

Results: AMAZING