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First
off – I think we’ll deal with food. Hmmm, you have to
serve your food in something. Let's make some ice bowls.
The best thing about this is that there are no dishes! (Of
course my assistants take care of that for me anyway!)
But there is some prep work involved. For this project you'll
need two graduated-size mixing bowls, a wooden skewer, a roll of
sturdy tape and pebbles or something heavy enough to weight down the
smaller bowl. The greater the size difference between the
bowls, the thicker and longer lasting the ice bowl will be.
To
begin, fill the larger bowl about one-fifth of the way with water,
and set the smaller bowl inside it. Place in the freezer until
the water has frozen, forming the base of the bowl.
Remove
the bowls from the freezer, but don't separate them. Now begin
to place your decorations between the two bowls, pouring more water
in gently and stopping an inch or two from the tops of the bowls.
Put
pebbles or a heavy object in the smaller bowl to keep it in place.
Use the skewer to adjust the decorations as needed. Once
everything is where you want it, tape across the tops of the bowls
to keep them even; otherwise, the smaller bowl will rise as the
water freezes, altering the shape of the ice bowl. (Put your
cursor over the ice bowl above to see how it should look at this
point.) Now the bowl is ready to be placed in the freezer
overnight.
Immediately
before the ice bowl is to be used, remove it from the freezer.
Pour warm water into the smaller mixing bowl, and work it free from
the ice bowl. Then run warm water over the outside of the
larger bowl until it separates from the ice or place the bowls
briefly in a sink or larger bowl half-full of warm water.
You can then serve your guests snacks in them – or might I suggest
a cold soup? One thing for sure, whatever you put in it, it
will end up cold anyway!
For
refreshments, might I suggest a lovely ice wine?
Magnifique! Mouseover the pic of my favorite ice wine at
right to see my favorite ice whine!
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For
your centerpiece, take your watering can or bucket and collect the
ice covered broken branches and twigs that have fallen from the
trees. Insert them in your containers. And the best thing about it
– it’s free!
The
buffet table could be your picnic table from last summer or might I
suggest – if there is enough snow – make a bar out of stacked
snow. Flatten it smooth by hand (with mittens on of
course). You can get fancy and make animal shapes like my snow
bar above, and decorate with an ice sculpture (put your cursor over
the snow bar to see the sculpture). Put a piece of your
leftover fine oak paneling or if you must – some plywood - on top
of the buffet and Voila!!! Now you will have a handy serving
surface or bar.
Let’s
see – for some outdoor activities you could have a snow angel
contest. Make it a perfect angel, and make sure there's a halo
(use a hat like mine)! But of course everybody wins! Put
your cursor over the snow angel to see my ice rink!
What
about flooding your backyard and creating your own private ice
rink? You never know, you might have a world champion or two
in your midst! Don’t worry about any lawn sculpture or
raised flower bed that might be in the way, you can teach your
guests how to do a triple axel right over it!
Don’t
forget to wear your sunscreen. Even in winter the sun’s rays
can be damaging. After all, it’s how I retain my youthful
glow - other than with a little ice wine. Happy winter!
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