by Stephanie Berenbaum – September 1, 2010

Turn A Boring Frank into a Fabulous Feast

How do you turn an ordinary BBQ into a feast to remember – without spending a fortune?  Get creative with your dogs!  As you might remember, our favorite spread for Labor Day is the Regional Hot Dog Bar. Think about it: for the same price as it costs you to lay out some boring old dogs and the fixings, with a little imagination and a couple of extra minutes, you can make cheap hot dogs seem- frankly- a whole lot more exciting!

Setting Up Your Regional Hot Dog Bar

When setting up a hot dog bar, it is particularly frugal to start with the most famous regional styles of the bunch: the Chicago Style hot dog and New York Style hot dog.  By ‘marketing’ your get together as a ‘Regional Hot Dog Bar’, instead of just serving a cheap meal you suddenly have a festive and fun theme going!

The Chicago Hot Dog

*Recipe courtesy of Fluky’s Chicago Style Hot Dogs

Ingredients

• Boiled Hot Dogs
• Poppy Seed Buns (S. Rosens are a Chicago favorite)
• Yellow mustard
• Bright green (Neon) sweet relish
• Chopped Onions
• Kosher Dill Pickle Spears
• Tomato Slices
• 2 Serrano Sport Peppers (they are HOT)
• Dash of celery salt

Instructions

Heat hot dogs in boiling water to 170 degrees.  Put the hot dog in a steamed poppy seed bun.  Pile on toppings in this order: Mustard, Relish, Onions, Pickle, Tomatoes, peppers and celery salt.

New York Street Cart Dogs

Brandi is a New Yorker now, so let’s check out the recipe for those famous New York City “Street Cart Dogs” – sometimes affectionately referred to as “Dirty Water Dogs!”

Ingredients

• Boiled Hot dogs
• Plain Buns
• Deli Mustard
• Sabrett’s Onion Sauce
• Sauerkraut (optional)

Instructions:

The classic NYC cart dog is boiled in water, with onion sauce and deli mustard and sometimes sauerkraut, on a plain hot dog bun.  You can find recipes claiming to replicate the traditional Sabrett Onion Sauce online, but at only about $3.75 for a package, you might as well buy it.  lt looks like even Wal-Mart is carrying it these days!

**If you prefer to go the way of a traditional grilled New York weiner (a la Nathan’s) all you need to do is grill your franks instead of boil them, and top with brown mustard and sauerkraut and you are good to go!

by Brandi Savitt – June 3, 2010

Run Off to Your Dream Wedding

Look, I get it.  You only get married once (or twice…), so of course you want your day to be romantic, fun and memorable!  But having hundreds of people around and spending your entire nest egg on an elaborate reception is not everyone’s cup of tea.  So, if you’re dreaming of an intimate ceremony with just your honey or a few close friends and family members, but are afraid it won’t be special unless you spend an absolute fortune – think again! We’ve pulled together a slew of Fab & Fru ELOPING resources and ideas, to help you plan small for your BIG day!

Turn Your Wedding Into Your Honeymoon!

You may be thinking of going to City Hall, but we’re going to ask you to step it up a Fab & Fru notch or two…  It is your wedding day after all!

Make your wedding a day to remember by picking a location for your ceremony that will also double for your honeymoon.  From Maine to Maui to Mexico, there are ton of B&B’s, hotels, inns and resorts around the world that cater to spontaneous lovers by offering a wide array of elopement packages and deals!

Budget & Time

An elopement can cost as little as couple of hundred bucks, but the average costs $2,000-$5,000 and can take as little as one day to three months to plan.  Before you decide when and where to go, you must determine your budget and how much time you have to take a trip.  Remember to include airfare, car rental, food and extra accommodations, special wardrobe, marriage license costs, pictures etc…

Rules of Engagement

If you’re hoping to elope tonight, make sure you’re in a place that can accommodate you with a same day marriage certificate!  Many states require you take a blood test, and there are 20 states that make you WAIT one to 6 days after you’ve filed for your license before you can actually get hitched.  Also, once approved, you have a limited time before you MUST seal the deal.  Check out the resources below to learn about the laws in your State of Matrimony!

*If you’re planning to legally marry outside of the US, you must fulfill all of that specific country’s rules and marriage laws to make it legal there and have the US recognize it.  Make sure to do your homework BEFORE making any travel plans!

• US Marriage Laws
• State by State Marriage Law Guide

Best Online Elopement Resources

• Check out these Fabulous sites before you do anything!
• Let’s Run Away- my personal favorite!
• Elopement Packages
• Elope New York
• Travel Muse: Best Places to Elope 2010

by Brandi Savitt – May 20, 2010

The Cost of Being a Good Guest

Wedding season is here, and while the focus should always be on the bride, what about the responsibility of being a good guest and giving an appropriate present to the happy couple?  After talking with friends and reading an overwhelming amount of expert opinions out there regarding the etiquette of wedding gift giving, no one really seems to have the absolute answer for what to do.  Even the Emily Post Institute gives some wishy-washy advice when it comes to this matter.  If Emily Post doesn’t have a concrete answer, no wonder the issue sparks so much controversy and anxiety!

Chances are if you are in your mid-20′s to late 30′s, you are likely averaging 2-4 wedding invitations per year!  That’s some serious dough to budget for gifts – whether you actually attend the wedding or not!  So what SHOULD you do? And how MUCH should you spend?

The Average $ Spent

There is good reason why everyone answers this question differently.  It’s complicated!  I have seen intricate formulas based on how well you know the couple, to how much you have already spent on a shower gift and the bachelorette party, to the nationwide blanket average of  $75.

The expectation spending amount of a wedding gift does vary depending on where you live.  Cities like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, & Chicago average higher at about $100 while smaller cities and towns average $50.  But that is not the whole equation!

YOUR BUDGET is a huge a factor in how much you should spend.  Buying a showy gift that you can’t really afford is not the answer.  If you can’t afford the gift you wish you could give, there are ways to show your generosity other than buying the most expensive item off the registry!

Get Creative

Giving a wedding present is like giving any other kind of gift- the thought behind it MATTERS MOST!  A wedding is one of the most important milestones in a person’s life.  It is a time to be as generous as you can, but that doesn’t mean there is a one size fits all price tag!  There are many creative and thoughtful ways to give a gift.  Giving a gift from the heart has nothing to do with whether you can afford an expensive present off the registry or not, but it can be a way for you to be more generous than you could otherwise afford.

If you have a particular talent, a wedding is a great time to share it with the people you love.  I had a friend who made & bound the leather guest sign-in book for our friends’ wedding.  Another artist friend of mine illustrated her friends’ Ketubah.  Our friend Vittoria handmade all of the party favors for Steph’s wedding, while a DJ friend made hours of  playlists for the rehearsal dinner.  And I myself designed Steph a handmade piece of pottery that I made just for her big day.

Pool Your Assets

If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, consider getting some friends together to buy a more expensive gift off the registry!  It will mean the world to your friends for helping to fulfill one of their more extravagant wishes.

Going Single vs as a Couple

There is a lot of controversy out there on how much to spend on a gift if you go to the wedding alone or if you are in a couple.  Think of it this way: the cost of the gift does not equal the price of admission into the party. The wedding gift should be thought of as more of a gesture that commemorates and helps the couple start their new life together.  Hopefully they have invited you with a guest to add to the celebration, not necessarily to get a bigger gift.  If you are single, this should not mean you pay less, and if you bring a date, it does not mean you NEED to pay more.

However, if you and your plus one are both friends of the newlyweds, you should spend a little more.  It’s up to you and how much you’re comfortable spending.  When it comes down to it, generosity within affordable means is the name of the game!

by Stephanie Berenbaum – April 28, 2010

Pamper Your Favorite Mom for Pennies

Just as we were running around looking for Mother’s Day gifts, we had the good fortune of running into our friends from Savings.com! They scour the web for the best deals so you don’t have to – and thank goodness, because who has the time? Here are some of our favorite Fab & Fru gift ideas to help you thank mom for putting up with you!

SpaFinder – Sign up on Fab & Fru for chance to win $100 gift card!

Spa fans listen up!  If you have not signed up for our Fabulous & Frugal mailing list yet, now is the time to do it — because you will automatically be entered for a chance to win a $100 gift card from SpaFinder.com. Their mission is  to “empower people to find their perfect well-being experiences” – what could be better? I used SpaFinder.com and it led me to my favorite fab and fru spa of all time – Red Mountain Spa in Utah.  A great resource anytime, but of course even better if you have a $100 gift card to use!

Funniest Parenting Book Ever – Now in Paperback!

“Afterbirth – Stories You Won’t Read in A Parenting Magazine” – the anthology edited by Dani Klein Modisett – just came out in paperback yesterday…I love this book! I gave the hardcover version to my own mom for mother’s day last year, and she loved it too. But the new paperback version will allow you to give mom laughs for less.  I like to keep a copy by my bedside so when little parenting mishaps befall me (such as my son dropping the F bomb at a 4 year old’s party – he must have learned that from his dad, by the way) I feel like I am not alone.

AND IF YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW A MOM IN NYC OR BOSTON, YOU ARE IN LUCK…

Afterbirth is also a Live Show — $20 theater tickets, ladies!

That’s right, Dani is bringing her fun filled evening (called ‘the Vagina Monologues for the Stroller Set” by the NY Post) to NYC and Boston, just in time for Mother’s Day!  The Boston show is this Sunday May 2nd, 8pm at The A.R.T.’s Oberon – tickets $20.   And in NYC at Caroline’s on Wednesday May 5th, 7pm – tickets just $20 plus 2 drink min. A copy of the book and tickets to the live show is a a very unique, fabulous – and of course, frugal – mother’s day gift!  For more info please check out www.afterbirthstories.com!

Say it with Flowers!

Of course it wouldn’t be mother’s day without flowers – this year you can send those lillies for less!   Savings.com has found some great discounts from FTD and Proflowers:

FTD is offering 22% off! Just click here for details!

And ProFlowers is offering 15% off entire flower order, plus a free glass vase!  Just click here for details!

Tasty Treats

Anyone else out there a Harry & David addict like I am? I (hint hint) always love getting their elegantly packaged treats in the mail.  Right now, you can get a discount for 20% off orders of $50 or more at Harry&David! Just click here and use code: 20SAVING!

Beauty Products

Remember the days of buying mom a Jean Nate bath splash gift set for mother’s day? Bliss Spa’s amazing line of beauty products is a much more current way to help mom “take charge of her life”! You can save 20% off all products plus free shipping at Bliss!  Just click here and use code: INSTYLE.

And, as we mentioned in yesterday’s posting, don’t forget to check out Salary.com to print out a customizable “paystub” to show mom how much you value all the hard work she does. Heck, I think I might print one out as a mother’s day gift to myself! Happy shopping and many thanks to our Fab & Fru friends at Savings.com for the heads up on these discounts and deals!

Have a Fab & Fru Egglicious Holiday Brunch

The origins of many of our Easter traditions are rooted in the Anglo-Saxon festival of Eastre, when spring was celebrated as a time of rebirth and fertility.   Eggs and rabbits became the ultimate symbols of spring, which is why to this day the coloring, hunting for and EATING of eggs remain a highlight of the Easter holiday.

This all leads me to what to serve this Sunday for Easter brunch! There is nothing more economical and tasty than the incredible edible egg.  So check out our delicious egg recipes that will add a Fab & Fru twist to your traditional  Easter brunch.  And the best part is, that these recipes are FABULOUS anytime whether it be a holiday, breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Randee’s Strata

Mama Maria’s Spanish Tortilla

Egg-Cellent Salad

Poached Huevos Rancheros

Save on Your Seder by Making  Simple Delicious Dishes!

Passover is one of my favorite Jewish holidays.  Planning and prepping the Seder table, with all of it’s historic significance, is a really wonderful family tradition.  Our favorite Passover recipes happen to be perfect for any dinner – we make them all throughout the year!

Because the traditional Passover Seder requires many predetermined elements (bitter herbs are not optional!), I like to try to keep the rest of the meal as simple as possible! Also, because Passover usually means cooking for a crowd, it is extra important to keep costs down.  I prefer to prepare the entrees the night before to keep the day-of prep as stress-free as possible.

One of the easiest ways to make your Passover meal Fab & Fru, is  to make the classics, but to use fresh simple no fuss recipes. We are always wary of overspending on recipes with a million ingredients, so check out our family favorites for a Fab & Fru Seder!

Apricot Chicken

Egg-Cellent Salad

Brisket

Add a Healthy Veggie Twist to Your St. Patrick’s Day!

Neither Brandi nor I are Irish, but we do love to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and with it, all things Green!  Though I have fond childhood memories of slurping down many a Shamrock Shake, and of my own (Jewish) mother making an excellent corned beef and cabbage every March 17, I thought I might turn my attention to some healthier green fare this St. Patrick’s Day.  Coincidentally, Brandi and I both share of love of that green goddess of leafy greens – yes – KALE.  Though it tends to get overlooked in the supermarket, we think St. Patrick’s Day is the perfect excuse to revisit this glorious green, so healthy and easy to prepare you don’t need much luck at all to make a mouthwatering dish!

So, here’s to a happy, healthy St. Patrick’s Day – why not try one of our three favorite kale recipes this week (can you believe we had so many fave kale recipes we had trouble boiling it down to a top three?  Maybe we do need to get some new hobbies)?

Baked Kale Chips (Send your store bought potato chips into retirement!)

Raw Kale Salad (Ok, it doesn’t have the lure of  chocolate cake, but it is absoltuely delicious, we promise!)

Kale and Quinoa Power Trio (A trifecta of vegetarian goodness!)

Valentine’s Day Tips from the Author of Love (Luv) n.

Intro by Brandi Savitt– February 9, 2010

Writer/performer Karen Porter Sorensen moved to New York City during the after shock of 9/11 and in the midst of her own personal crisis.  It was a strange, disjointed time to get to know the city, but Karen wanted to connect and reach out to people.  In an effort to heal, and help herself and others better understand how the search for love links humanity together, Karen dedicated herself to love research – yes, LOVE RESEARCH!  She set up her public booth on city streets and invited participants to answer questions about love in exchange for flowers, and people’s true confessions started flowing…

To date, she has gotten responses from thousands of  people, and some of the most compelling stories have been captured in her new book LOVE (Lûv) n. available NOW at Barnes & Noble and Amazon -  just in time for Valentine’s Day!  Read on to for Karen’s tips on how to have a Fab & Fru Valentine’s Day!

By Karen Porter Sorensen

Thinking about all the money spent on Valentine’s Day is overwhelming, so this year I am going to do things a bit more economically.

According to an MSNBC report, Americans spent as much as $13.7 billion on Valentine’s Day in 2006, up 22 percent from just five years ago.  Valentine’s week sales account for more than five percent of annual chocolate sales, totaling $345 million. According to Hallmark, half of the U.S. population celebrates Valentine’s Day by purchasing at least one greeting card.  That figures out to be around 180 million Valentine’s Day cards exchanged annually, making it the second biggest holiday of the year next to Christmas.   Here are some big-hearted tips for those of you with small wallets!

• Don’t buy roses.  Give your beloved seeds instead.
• Memorize a love poem to recite
• Call a DJ, dedicate a love song
• Skip the expensive concert.  Find a street musician and sit down with your lover for a free listen.
• Invent a new term of endearment
• Invent kisses
• Pass on the box of chocolates.  Roll up your sleeves, and bake a homemade sweet.
• Serenade someone
• Make your own Valentines
• Nix the fancy dinner.  Make a quiet candlelit dinner at home instead.
• Write a love letter
• Read famous love letters
• Make your bed into a sacred space
• Go on a blindfolded date
• Don’t give diamonds, give less costly rocks: turquoise, lapis lazuli, amber.
• Make a baby (ok, maybe not so frugal in the long term)
• Skip the dance club, find a street corner to tango.
• Write a love poem on your underwear
• Bake a pie in the nude

And, of course, giving the book Love (luv) n. is a Fab & Fru Valentine’s gift anyone’s significant other will appreciate…It’s the one kind of Love you can actually buy!  Plus, it’s full of great “Love Homework Assignments” which you can do alone or with a partner – so have fun doing your own love research!

Entice Your Honey with Chocolate & Vanilla

By Kathy Pape– February 4, 2010

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, it seems fitting to discuss the power of fragrance.  Isn’t Feb 14th all about surrounding oneself with the the scent of flowers, decadent food and (hopefully!) good memories?  Scientists have proven that our sense of smell is our most powerful form of memory  – and actually triggers our emotions! Because scent has the power to pull on our heart strings, and Valentine’s Day is the holiday of love, Fab & Fru set out to find which fragrances will give you the most bang for your buck. It turns out the sweetest staples of childhood — vanilla and chocolate — are the top two picks!

Personally, the smell of vanilla reminds me of baking cookies with my mother as a little girl.  This is what perfumers call a “scent memory,” when a familiar scent reminds you of a special place, a wonderful time in your life, or a favorite person.  In fact, scent is why I dragged my son’s blanket across the country with me on a business trip.  The smell of it made me feel close to him. (Let’s face it, we also all have negative scent memories too! An ex-boyfriend’s cologne or that musk that your mean math teacher wore too much of? But for now let’s focus on the positive…)

“Studies show that men associate the scent of vanilla with love,” says our Fab & Fru fragrance expert, Jane Hendler, founder of Organic Parfumerie Ajne Rare & Precious. “The history of Vanilla goes all the way back to the Aztecs who drank it with chocolate and swore by it’s power of seduction.  In modern times, neurologist Dr. Alan Hirsch has scientifically proven that vanilla is the number one fragrance that attracts men!”

And speaking of chocolate, Hendler tells us the Aztecs were actually onto something. “Chocolate contains chemicals associated with feelings of happiness, love, passion, lust, and stamina”.  Many consider it a powerful aphrodisiac and cacao (cocoa) is found in many popular fragrances, including many of Ajne’s. The word Cacao means “food of the gods” and the Mayans actually worshiped the magical bean.  Researchers have spent years studying the effects of chocolate and whether it can truly be classified as an aphrodisiac.  While they haven’t proved that it causes feelings of sexual arousal, scientists have agreed that chocolate does release serotonin into the body, causing a rapid mood change, a rise in blood pressure and feelings of well being that are usually associated with love.

Ladies, did you know that your sense of smell acts directly on the limbic system, which regulates emotions and memory? A study by the Fragrance Institute shows the average person can actually recognize about 10,000 fragrances, and can recall smells with 65% accuracy after one year of smelling them.  This is amazing when we compare it to the rate we recall images, which is just 50% accuracy- 3 months after we see them.

There’s a reason delicious smelling chocolate, perfume and candles are popular gifts for Valentine’s Day, and it seems we should all be adding a little more cocoa and vanilla to our daily lives.  Both scents make us happy, attract the opposite sex and give us a feeling of well being. And best of all- they’re Fab & Fru! You don’t have to spend a lot of money to smell sweet.  Just dab a little vanilla extract on your wrist the next time you have a date, or try baking some chocolate chip cookies to get your honey in the mood…

Aside from raiding your pantry for vanilla extract, there are other reasonably priced ways to wear vanilla. Some of our friends’ favorites include: the Vanilla eau de Toilette from The Body Shop, and Bath and Body Works  Warm Vanilla Sugar.  And you know I just love the drugstore brand St. Ives.  They make a Swiss Vanilla lotion that will only set you back a few bucks, yet give your whole body a light flavor you will love!

We’ve found a ton of D.I.Y recipes online for making your own vanilla extract perfumes, and we want to know – have any of our readers ever experimented with making their own Fab & Fru perfume? How good (or bad) did your scents turn out? Here’s to a sweet smelling Valentine’s Day! Sending lots of LOVE to all our readers!  xoxo

Insider Holiday Tips, Deals & GIVEAWAYS

Steph and I were just on KTLA showing Los Angeles how to make the holidays a bit more Fab & Fru!  From entertaining tips on a dime to unique last minute gifts for under $50 plus FIVE amazing “LA GIVEAWAYs”, READ ON for DEALS & SIGN UP NOW to automatically ENTER TO WIN- a wine store gift certificate,  a handcrafted sterling silver pendant, a home decorating consultation, an organic candy basket, or an adorable kids outfit!

“Just Desserts!”

Who wouldn’t want to feel like a kid in a candy store? We created our own scrumptious Candyland by buying inexpensive old time candy favorites and doctoring up store bought mixes with some Fab & Fru secret tricks. By filling random containers that we already had in the house with colorful candies, we turned old, functional items into fabulous & festive serving pieces!

Here are our top party pleasing tips!

-Make Your Decorations Edible – Save money and time by turning brightly colored sweet treats into part of your décor – no need to spend twice for food and decorations when you can kill two birds with one stone!

-Wrapping Paper Runner – Finally, a use for all those wrapping paper remnants you have in the closet!  Tape a few pieces of holiday wrap together and make a cheerful runner for your table just by using what you’ve got around the house!

-Decorate a “Deconstructed Gingerbread House” – Everyone (especially adults, in our experience) loves to decorate gingerbread houses, but eating them can be messy and not very cocktail party friendly. Our solution? Bake simple gingerbread cookies (and by bake- we mean cut from a roll) and set up a “cookie” bar – let your guests go wild decorating their own gingerbread masterpieces.  Not only a frugal treat, but a great conversation starter at parties!

-Melt Chocolate Into Brownie Mix – aka Brandi’s Brownies!  Just buy a store bought mix, but upgrade it by melting a large bar of decadent, high quality DARK chocolate into the mixture!  It will give your Betty Crocker’s a sophisticated twist – people will think they came from the gourmet shop down the street – not from a box!

-One Beverage Fits All – You are not required to provide a full bar for all your holiday guests!  We love the idea of having a “one size fits all” drink like Apple cider at your holiday parties – children can drink it cold, adults can drink warmed spiced cider or spike it with rum for an extra kick! -Plus, hot cider will make your house smell divine…

Gift Deals & Giveaways from LA’s Best Kept Secrets!

Domaine LA

L.A.’s newest & most fabulous wine store!  This is the place to go for More Wine & Less Attitude!

-Mention KTLA and GET 10% off all in store purchases thru Sunday 12/20/09.

-GIVEAWAY: Sign Up on Fab & Fru for a chance to win a $25 Domaine LA Gift Certificate

Maes Design

Looking for some Alternative Bling? Jewelry designer, Erik Maes’s stunning collection of hand made sterling silver rings, pendants, cuffs, belt buckles and earrings is a total Fab & Fru Find!

-Contact Erik through his website and mention Fab & Fru to get 50% off all jewelry purchases plus special $50 deals on selected pendants & rings!

-GIVEAWAY: Sign Up on Fab & Fru to win Erik’s Sterling Silver Seed Trail Pendant!

Tweak 99

8383 West 3rd Stree

Unique Wrapped & Ready Gifts!  Everything in the store is under $99, but what we feature is Under $50!

-GIVEAWAY: Sign Up on Fab & Fru to win a half hour home makeover consultation with store owner Tara Riceberg!

Yummy Earth

Delightful Organic Candy!

-GIVEAWAY: Sign Up on Fab & Fru for a chance to win a gift basket full of Organic lollipops, gummy bears and delicious hard candy drops!

City Threads

Stylish & Comfortable Clothing for kids 0-12 year, City Threads has a line of amazing clothes for boys!

-Deal  – 25% all online purchases- just type in promo code CTFF25.  -Plus free gift wrap through 12/20/09!

–GIVEAWAY: Sign Up on Fab & Fru for a chance to win an adorable City Threads baby outfit!

We hope you enjoy all these exclusive deals and holiday ideas – proof that you can have a huge holiday season on a small budget!  For more Fab & Fru gift ideas check out our gift guide!