Fashion and Beauty at Macy’s Southdale

#MNBlogPantry members got a runway show, makeovers and and V.I.P. treatment at the Beauty at Macy’s Southdale event last Monday night.

After watching gorgeous looks from BCBG, Nannette Lepore &Theory, Jessica Simpson, Eileen Fisher, Grench Connection and Macy’s Fur parade down the runway, we checked out what’s new at Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Estee Lauder, Dior, Laura Mercier, Lancome and Smashbox. The experts at the counters helped us find looks that were great for us and several of our members walked away with amazing gift boxes.

We all got great swag bags and I’ve been hearing rave reviews of the samples inside! My favorite purchase of the night? Dior “Skinflash.”

We have an event at the Science Museum of Minnesota in the works for early spring. Thanks again to Macy’s and Minnesota Blogger Kari Solyntjes of FabOverForty.com for a fabulous night out! She has more great photos from the event here, on her website.

Want to Join?

If you’d like to be part of our amazing network of Twin Cities women bloggers, go to our Facebook page and request to join!

If you’re a company interested in sponsoring an event, email Jennifer (unplannedcooking@gmail.com) or Liz (kitchenpantryscientist@earthlink.net).

Night out at Life Power Yoga


For our June Event, Life Power Yoga sponsored an evening of food, fitness and beauty in their lovely space in Uptown.

We were treated to healthy, delicious appetizers provided by an incredible local chef, Samantha Edwards (samanthaedwards5@hotmail.com) as we sat in the cozy waiting area and chatted. Life Time Fitness LifeSpa experts provided wonderful mini-spa treatments (facials, manicures, pedicures and massages) for us and we learned that you don’t have to be a Life Time Fitness club member to take yoga classes at Life Power.

Prior Fat Girl Jen Emmers told us about her blog before we concluded the evening with a rejuvinating Yoga Class.

Thank you Life Power Yoga!

Melissa Solin, of a Fit and Spicy Life, posted her recap of the evening here!

As a reminder, all Life Time Fitness LifeSpa and Salons are open to the public.

The Blog Pantry at Kitchen In The Market

On Monday night, The Blog Pantry ladies gathered at Midtown Global Market to celebrate Molly of Tastebud Tart’s latest venture: Kitchen In the Market, a shared commercial kitchen space.

She poured us champagne over sugar cubes, and, as we chatted, we dipped veggies in vodka and salt.

We followed Molly for a tour of Midtown Global Market. Some of us gave into our sweet tooth at The Salty Tart; others stopped to shop for fresh fruit and veggies at The Produce Exchange.

When we returned to her space, she poured us more wine before demonstrating how to make chick pea polenta with ramp arugula pesto. We appreciated our glimpse into how a professional kitchen works.

We’re excited to join her for her cooking classes, which are open to the public. They’re tailored towards both novice and experienced cooks.

Here’s what Crystal from Bite of Minnesota, Laurianna from The Curvy Life, and Amy from Green Your Plate said. Did you blog about the event? Email me, and I’ll link to it.

Spalon Montage Event with Elizabeth Dehn

Spalon Montage and Elizabeth Dehn of Beauty Bets (who just returned from the Spirit Awards in L.A.) co-hosted a fun-filled night of beauty tips and networking for the women of the Blog Pantry on Feb.28th in Edina, MN.

We started off the evening with a demonstration of the new safe KeraSpa hair-smoothing treatment by Amy-Jo and model Elizabeth.

We also got a demo on how to blowout your hair while watching threading and nail Shellac demos.

Trish had just had hers nails shellaced at Spalon and modeled the finished product.

Next we moved downstairs to the spa to see what a Thai Yoga massage looks like and watched a model’s skin be smoothed and soothed by a facial.  Bloggers were racing upstairs to sign up for the massage, which is also called passive yoga and looked amazing!

Elizabeth Dehn then showed us some of her favorite products.  I wanted all of them, but was especially intrigued by the anti-aging serum, the exfolliating rotating brush and the hair powder for no-wash days!  I’ll set up a link to all these products soon!

As a parting bonus, Erin of RedStamp.com handed out gorgeous stationary samples and told us about Red Stamp’s new iphone app, which lets you send stylish, personalized notes effortlessly from your iphone.

Thanks to donations from Blog Pantry members, we were able to give “Soap for Hope” close to a hundred bars of soap which are on their way to Haiti to help slow the spread of cholera!

Chris Ann, of LoveFeastTable.com wrote this great post about the event on her blog.

Here’s a link to Jennifer(of UnplannedCooking.com)’s pictures from last night and here’s what she wrote about the event.  MN Blog Pantry members: email me at kitchenpantryscientist@earthlink.net or tweet me @kitchpantrysci and I’ll add your links here!  (LinkyTools started charging to subscribe.)

Blog Pantry Event at Fox 9

It was worth the drive on icy roads to get to the December Blog Pantry event hosted by Trish Van Pilsum of Off Camera With Trish and Fox9!

We feasted on treats from the Golden Fig and Patisserie Margo before Trish gave us a tour of the station.  A highlight for all of us was seeing the investigative reporters’ office where Trish works.  We even got to see some hidden cameras.  Hello James Bond!

Here’s Trish’s great pictorial blog on the event.  Darcie Gust of Gust Gab also wrote a great post.  Check them out!

Thanks Trish and Fox9 for hosting such a fun, informative event!

Favorite Holiday Recipes

We make lefse every year for Christmas and my kids go crazy for it. When I got married, oh so many years ago, my old Scandinavian aunts made sure I got a lefse griddle. Here’s our “secret” recipe.

Single recipe for Lefse

4 cups mashed potatoes
1/4 cup whipping cream, not whipped
4 Tbs. heaping butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour – scant

Peel potatoes, cook and mash with butter, cream and salt. Chill until cool. Mix with flour just before making lefse.
Take a ball of dough and roll it out as thinly as possible into a large circle. Use a lefse paddle to place it on the griddle.
Flip lefse when it bubbles and stack finished lefse between two dish towels so it doesn’t dry out.
To serve, spread with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Do you have a favorite recipe you’d be willing to share? If so, link to it, or to your post here!

Facebook Friends

The Blog Pantry is growing and we have quite a few new members. In the confusion of switching websites, several of you never got your Facebook pages posted here. So…please link here to your Facebook Page and we’ll update our “Facebook Friends” page on this website. (That way, people who visit this page will be able to find you on Facebook.)

“Georgia’s Kitchen” by Jenny Nelson

Several Blog Pantry members received complementary copies of “Georgia’s Kitchen” a few months back. It finally reached the top of my reading pile and was a welcome break from all of the science books I’ve been reading lately, interesting as they are. So, here is my first, unofficial, online book review.

My name is Liz and I’m a novel junkie. I freely admit that I will always choose a good novel over non-fiction. I love both literary fiction and entertaining fiction. “Georgia’s Kitchen,” by Jenny Nelson, definitely falls into the latter category.

“Georgia’s Kitchen” follows Georgia, the head chef at a top NYC restaurant as she loses her job and is dumped by her fiance. She then travels to Italy to reinvent herself. Sound familiar? It’s a little reminiscent of Eat, Pray, Love, but falls heavy on the “Eat” side of the equation and adds some cooking to the eating.

I am always happy to read about food, which Jenny Nelson clearly loves and writes about well. I also love Italy, so I enjoyed that aspect of the book. If you’re looking for a fun, light read, I’d recommend it.

Here’s a link to reviews by other members of the Blog Pantry:

The Great Minnesota Gathering

We love the Fair and would love to hear what you Blog Pantry ladies did, who you saw and most importantly, what you ate! Please link here to your Minnesota State Fair posts!

Next page »