Behind the Scenes 2 - our recent photo shoot with Talia

Our talented blogger/model/friend Talia Bailey of BelliniSoiree graced our studio again for the Boxie Fall/Holiday 2013 photo shoot!!! We are so thrilled and love her so much. Here are some behind the scenes shots from our day together...

The Sea Glass Collection of Colors - Inspiration photos

My Great-Grandfather had a hobby that fascinated me...collecting and polishing sea glass and sea stones. We are lucky enough to still have some of what he worked on and I often think of the beautiful colors and textures that the polishing would bring out on the materials. This summer, we added some colors based on this to our Originals Collection of Tees. Here are some photos to share of the beauty of sea glass...

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

xo

Boxie

Sunday Night Dinner 1: Artichoke Soup with Crispy Salami and Lemon-Parsley Quinoa

Sunday Night Dinner: May 19th 2013

I always love to have a yummy dinner to wind down the weekend. This morning I found this recipe on the Sunday Suppers blog. They have gorgeous images of food and more amazing sounding recipes. Definitely worth the internet trip.
Happy eating!
xo
Tracy

Artichoke Soup with Crispy Salami and Lemon-Parsley Quinoa
Serves 4

For the soup:
2 (14-oz.) cans artichoke hearts, drained
2 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp fennel seeds
Salt and pepper

For the quinoa:
1/2 cup dried quinoa
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tsp. lemon zest (from about 1 lemon), plus 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 large thin slices genoa salami

Preheat the oven to 350º. In a medium saucepan, add the artichoke hearts, the garlic, half of the chicken stock and half of the cream; cook over medium heat until warmed through. Add the fennel seeds and season generously with salt and pepper; turn off the heat. Using a hand blender, puree the mixture until almost smooth. Gradually add more stock and cream as needed to achieve the consistency you want, continuing to puree with the blender until the soup is very smooth.

Place the salami slices on a rimmed baking sheet and cook until crispy all over and browned on the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Once cooled, roughly chop.

Cook the quinoa according to package directions, or a little less than suggested for a crunchier consistency. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl, then mix in the lemon zest and juice, parsley leaves, and salt, pepper and olive oil to taste.

Quickly reheat the soup if needed. Ladle into 4 bowls, and top each with a generous spoonful of the quinoa mixture. Sprinkle with the crispy salami.

Treatments...

A little behind the scenes action at how we do our treatments...thanks Downtown L.A.!

Step 1: create a RAD burnout design

Step 2: put something sparkly on it

Step 3: Treatments are done. Holiday13 here we come!

Mother's Day Delight - Quiche Lorraine Brunch

This year we are making brunch for my Nana and my Mom for Mother's Day. SOOOO...Quiche Lorraine it is for the main dish!!! How exciting. Here is our super delicious recipe:

Quiche Lorraine

Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 ounces cream cheese, softened

Custard and topping:

5 slices bacon, chopped fine

3/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup half n half

2 large eggs plus 1 yolk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup finely shredded Gruyere cheese

STEPS:

1. MAKE DOUGH

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.  whisk flour, Parmesan, and salt in bowl.  With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.  Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and mix until dough forms large clumps, about 1 minute.  Flatten dough into 6 inch disk and transfer to center of 9 inch pie plate.

2. BLIND-BAKE

Slowly press the dough from the center-bottom of pie plate up the sides until dough reaches the top of pie plate.  Crimp the rim. (sounds dirty:)) Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes, then transfer to freezer until firm, about 10 minutes.  Spray two 12-inch foil sheets with cooking spray and arrange greased-side down in chilled pie shell.  Top with pie weights (you can use beans if you don't have the weights..make sure you cover the whole bottom of pie plate to keep dough from rising during the bake.) Fold excess foil over edges of dough.  Bake until surface of dough no longer looks we, 15 to 20 minutes.  Carefully remove foil and weights and continue to bake until crust just begins to brown, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack and cool until just warm, about 15 minutes.  Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees.

3.  MIX CUSTARD

While crust cools, cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes; transfer to paper towel-lined plate.  Whisk half-and-half, sour cream, eggs, yolk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, Gruyere, and 3/4 cup of bacon in large bowl. (reserve some of the bacon for the topping)

4.  BAKE

Pour custard mixture into warm pie shell and bake until crust is golden and custard is set around edges, about 25 minutes.  Sprinkle remaining bacon over surface of quiche and continue to bake until center of quiche is barely set, 5 to 10 minutes.  Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes.  Serve.

YAY you have Quiche Lorraine!

#1 tip?  Make sure not to over bake the custard...keep it light and fluffy:)

#2 tip?  Make sure you serve with WHITE WINE/CHAMPERS of your choice. Moms want to drink too.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY EVERYONE!!!!!

Behind the scenes: Boxie Summer13 photo shoot

I've always loved shows like How It's Made and anything on the DIY network. So why not share with you some behind the scenes shots from our Summer13 campaign? Exactly. Here are a few to whet your whistle.
xo
Boxie

Palm Desert - an old school inspiration

The hubs and I went to Palm Desert, CA for a much needed weekend of "RnR" recently (no laptops allowed) and here are some photos that helped inspire the nostalgic palm trees in our upcoming release of our Summer2013 collection. Hope you enjoy!
xo
Boxie

Amazing foil wallpaper with nature features

MORE FOIL WALLPAPER!!! (very exciting)

Palm trees galore