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Braised Pork Belly

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A silver spoon with pours raw apple cider over a bowl of braised pork belly and fresh vegetables.

The luscious fat of pork belly plays harmony with the acid of raw apple cider vinegar. Singing backup are garlic and ginger. This dish is a catchy tune, and you’ll want to hear it over and over again.

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A silver spoon with pours raw apple cider over a bowl of braised pork belly and fresh vegetables.

Braised Pork Belly


  • Author: Anna Franklin

Description

  • 1 ½ lb pork belly
  • 2 green onions, cut into large pieces
  • 3 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 2 ginger pieces about the size of a thumb
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp mirin
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Ingredients

  1. Cut the pork belly into strips about 3 inches thick. Roll each strip up into a spiral and tie off with butcher’s twine.
  2. Place inside a gallon-size Ziplock bag and add the rest of the ingredients. Seal the bag trying to get out as much air as possible. Give the bag a good shake making sure all the ingredients are evenly covering the pork.
  3. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours but preferably overnight.
  4. Once the pork belly is done marinating, place the entire contents of the bag into a crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
  5. Once the meat is tender, strain the juices into a sauce pot and reduce it by half, creating a thick glaze. Drizzle with glaze before serving.
  6. Serve this pork with your favorite vegetable; we used fresh peas and radishes.


Recipe and Styling by Anna Franklin
Story by Keith Recker
Photography by Dave Bryce
Dinnerware courtesy of Blue Pheasant

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Mathieu Lehanneur’s Unique Design Perspective

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An interior white space with various funky furnishings around the room such as a pink chair on the left side and a blue orb in the middle that designer Mathieu Lehanneur sits beneath.

Mathieu Lehanneur, named Designer of the Year by Maison&Objet for 2024, often takes the hard edges off high technology and adds something poetic. For example, the dreamy portal below, Demain est un autre jour (Tomorrow is another day). Designed to provide comfort to patients in hospice care, this very much of-the-moment design seems to be making its way into homes and offices, too. When users choose where in the world they’d like to see the sky, the device retrieves the location’s weather and replicates it on-screen. Lehanneur’s most recent work includes the torch for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. He based the torch on the idea of symmetry (and, by extension, equality).

A circle window showing a blue sky and clouds sits on a white wall as Mathieu Lehanneur sits to the right, looking at it.

Café Mollien, Musée du Louvre, Paris

For the Café Mollien in the Louvre, Lehanneur wanted to create a space where you could catch your breath and prepare yourself for the priceless artworks and grand settings. “We must let our eyes relax to see the best views over Paris and the paintings in the museum.”

In a white room sits a pink elephant armchair and a pink smoke lamp with a glass globe.

Elephant Armchair and High S.M.O.K.E Floor Lamp

The gentle pachyderm in the room has a sense of humor while providing a very comfortable place to perch. Nearby, the pink onyx base supports a dimmable hand-blown glass cloud fixture.

A lamp with a glass pink shell sits in a room with tall reaching windows and columns.

Story by Stephen Treffinger and Keith Recker / Photography by Felipe Ribon©

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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Cocktails

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Kong and Godzilla figurines standing next to cocktails. One in a rocks glass and the other in a coupe with a deep purple background and a peeling black surface.

An epic battle for the ages between two powerful monsters can only mean one thing: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Cocktails! It’s a showdown of two tasty beverage concoctions inspired by the iconic monsters, Godzilla and King Kong, that will transport you right to the heart of the action. Take your tastebuds on a thrilling ride with these uniquely crafted cocktails.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is scheduled to be released internationally on March 27, 2024, and in the United States on March 29.

Kong Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Add rum, marmalade, and lime juice to a cocktail shaker.
  2. Shake vigorously until a frost forms on the shaker.
  3. Strain over ice in a rocks glass, top with ginger ale, garnish, and serve!

A photo of a light yellow cocktail in a fancy rocks glass with a King Kong figurine next to the glass on a peeling black surface with a deep purple backgroundGodzilla and the almighty Kong face a colossal threat hidden deep within the planet, challenging their very existence and the survival of the human race.

Godzilla Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz Haku Vodka
  • 2 1/4 oz Haiku Gekkeikan Sake
  • 1/4-1/2 oz spicy ginger simple syrup (recipe below)
  • 1/4 oz fresh squeezed lemon (to taste)
  • Garnish: shiso leaves and takanotsume pepper bunch 

Instructions

  1. Add ice, vodka, sake, spicy ginger simple syrup, and fresh lemon juice to a cocktail shaker.
  2. Shake vigorously until a frost forms on the shaker.
  3. Strain into a chilled coupe glass, garnish, and serve.

A coupe glass with a light colored cocktail garnished with a red pepper and shiso leaves with a blurred. Godzilla figurine in front of the cocktail

Spicy Ginger Simple Syrup Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup thinly sliced fresh ginger
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 cups water

Instructions

  1. In a small saucepan add water over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Then add ginger and reduce to a simmer.
  2. Cook for about 45 minutes.
  3. Syrian the mixture into a container and measure the liquid.
  4. Discard all solids.
  5. Next, dissolve the sugar (1:1 ratio based on the volume, taking into consideration the evaporation) into the ginger concentrate.
  6. This simple syrup will keep in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.

Tip: If you add a tbsp of vodka or rum, your simple syrup will last longer!

Recipes by Sarah Cascone

Every movie requires a hefty helping of popcorn! Try our Chili-Lime Popcorn Recipe. We think it pairs quite nicely with both of these cocktails.

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Girl Scout Cookie Inspired Recipes

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To represent Girl Scout Cookie Inspired Recipes, various Girl Scout Cookies surrounding a panel table and some crumbled up into crumbs.

It’s Girl Scout Cookie season, and this year, we’re taking our favorite seasonal sweets and using them in various Girl Scout Cookie-inspired recipes, instead of just sitting down and eating a whole box of cookies on our own. Find new ways to use those happy little treats, like in blondies, cheesecakes, or even ice cream and popsicle treats. Let your inner Girl Scout out and get innovative with Samoas® or your cookie of choice! Plus, don’t miss our Girl Scout Cookie Wine Pairings, which allow the cookie flavors to dance on your tongue. 

Lemon-UPS® Crunch Pops

Light yellow popsicles on a textured surface covered in a Girl Scout Cookie Lemon UPS crunch coat with sliced lemons an Lemon-UPS in between the popsicles.

Bite into a refreshing, creamy lemon-flavored popsicle with a crunchy twist, reminiscent of the iconic Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake Bars. They’re made with crushed Lemon-UPS® Girl Scout Cookies coated on the outside of each crunch pop. These cookies add a crumbly, extra squeeze of lemon.

Toffee-tastic® Gluten-free Cheesecake

An overhead picture of a cheesecake with caramel and chocolate pieced around the edges, and a slice of the cheesecake on a plate with 3 gold forks.

Indulge in a gluten-free cheesecake that takes after the gluten-free Girl Scout Cookie, Toffee-tastic®. It features a buttery Toffee-tastic® Girl Scout Cookie crust, topped with a smooth and creamy cheesecake filling, offering a delightful balance of sweetness and richness. Just don’t forget the Health bars on top for a little more chocolate-caramel goodness.

Adventurefuls® Cocktail

An Adventurefuls® Cocktail is placed in a cocktail glass drizzled with chocolate syrup and rim coated in crushed Adventurefuls® cookies. Three Adventurefuls® cookies sit in front of the glass.

We give Girl Scout Cookies the adult treatment with our Adventurefuls® Cocktail. A decadent cocktail infused with the flavors of Adventurefuls® Girl Scout Cookies, combining vodka, chocolate liqueur, and Irish cream. The rim is garnished with crushed Adventurefuls® cookies for a sophisticated twist.

GS S’mores® Mini Cheesecakes

GS S'mores Mini Cheesecakes sit on a pale table with a few broken GS S'mores cooking scattered in front.

These handheld cheesecakes are inspired by the classic S’mores campfire treat that all Girl Scouts delighted in. It features a GS S’mores® Girl Scout Cookie crust, chocolate ganache, a baked cheesecake filling, and fluffy topping of roasted marshmallows. This treat is truly S’mores in a cheesier, creamier form. 

Samoas® Blondies

A pile of Samoas Blondies lay on a marble table top with lightly toasted tops.

Don’t rely on regular old blondies for your next get-together. Instead, try chewy, caramel and coconut-packed blondies infused with chopped Samoas® Girl Scout Cookies into the mix. Get a bite of irresistible buttery sweetness with a hint of tropical flavor and plenty of chocolate for your sweet tooth. 

Thin Mint® Ice Cream Sandwiches

Three Thin Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches made with Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies sit on a green table with more in the background and a few thin mint cookies scattered throughout.

For all the chocolate-mint lovers out there, here’s the perfect combination. Cool and refreshing ice cream sandwiches are made with mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiched between two Thin Mint® Girl Scout Cookies. These bite-size treats offer a perfect balance of minty freshness and chocolate crunch.

Do-si-dos® Cupcakes

A gathering of chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting as one sits split open in front of the group and two do-si-dos cookies sit to the right next to a spoon.

Our irresistible cupcakes feature a peanut butter lover’s dream. A Do-si-dos® Girl Scout Cookie placed in the bottom gives each of these cupcakes a burst of peanut butter in the bottom of a rich bite. Plus, you have the option to use your favorite cake mix alongside almond extract and your favorite frosting with a cup of peanut butter added. 

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Pie

An ice cream cake pie decorated with strawberries and flowers with a slice taken out of it sits on a cutting board on a white table. Strawberries and Trefoil Girl Scout Cookies surround the pie.

Use Trefoils® Girl Scout Cookies to make a decadent crust for this tasty Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Pie. It’s a sweet strawberry treat prepared with crumbled Trefoils® Girl Scout Cookies as a perfect shortcake substitute.

A Girl Scout Cookie Trifle layered in a clear bowl decorated with green cake moss and mushrooms on top and below the glass bowl.

Tagalongs® Girl Scout Cookies make an excellent layer for our Girl Scout Cookie Trifle. The peanut butter combined with brownies and other chocolatey treats leaves you wanting another scoop. Plus, decorate it to your heart’s content for something tasty and visually stunning.

A variety of Girl Scout Cookies sit around different glasses of wine and wine corks.

If you’re still looking to upgrade your Girl Scout Cookie game, pair them with different sweet wines to bring out the flavors of each cookie. Set out a tray and tasting session for your friends and decide which pairing fits best. Ignore all those other cookie and wine articles or Facebook posts you’ve seen lately. Dry wines have no place in these pairings.

Story by Kylie Thomas

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Toffee-tastic® Gluten-free Cheesecake

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An overhead picture of a cheesecake with caramel and chocolate pieced around the edges, and a slice of the cheesecake on a plate with 3 gold forks.

Spoil yourself in guilt-free decadence with this Toffee-tastic® Gluten-free Cheesecake Recipe made with Toffee-tastic® Girl Scout Cookies. The TABLE team embarked on a challenge to create fun and simple recipes using all of the beloved Girl Scout Cookie varieties, and this is the recipe created by Director of Operations, Star Laliberte. Perfect for those with dietary restrictions, this cheesecake is a celebration of flavor and inclusivity. What’s even better? Its creamy, velvety texture and buttery, toffee-infused crust is a symphony of indulgence that’s sure to satisfy even the most discerning sweet tooth. Don’t bother telling those who need not know that it’s gluten-free. They will be none the wiser!

A look-in photo of a cheesecake with caramel dripping down the sides, garnished with chocolate pieces.

What is a Bain Marie?

Basically, a bain marie is a fancy culinary name for a hot water bath. It is typically used when making delicate dishes like custard, mousses, sauces, and in this case, cheesecake. It can also be used to melt ingredients for cooking. When using a bain marie in baking, it creates a barrier between the food and the heat of the oven, helping the food to cook more evenly. It can also be used to keep cooked foods warm.

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An overhead picture of a cheesecake with caramel and chocolate pieced around the edges, and a slice of the cheesecake on a plate with 3 gold forks.

Toffee-tastic® Gluten-free Cheesecake


  • Author: Anna Franklin

Description

Toffee-tastic® Girl Scout Cookies get an upgrade into a decadent, caramel cheesecake.


Ingredients

Scale

For the crust:

  • 14 oz Toffee-tastic® Girl Scout Cookies
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar

For the cheesecake:

  • 32 oz reduced fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/8 salt
  • 5 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the topping:

For the caramel sauce:

  • 1 14 oz sweetened condensed milk


Instructions

    1. Using a gallon freezer bag, crush the cookies to a sand-like texture with a rolling pin. Alternately you can also use a food processor.
    2. Melt butter and then mix the crushed cookies, butter and sugar together in a medium sized bowl until well incorporated.
    3. Prepare a 9″ springform pan by lightly spraying with cookie spray.
    4. Press the cookie mixture into the bottom of the springform pan and 1 1/2-2″ up along the side of the pan.
    5. Place in the freezer for 45 minutes to an hour.
    6. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until creamy.
    7. Add sugar and beat again until creamy.
    8. Add sour cream, vanilla extract, and salt and stir until well combined. Pause occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
    9. With the mixer on low, gradually add 1 lightly beaten egg at a time stirring only enough to incorporate all of the ingredients together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and gently mix to incorporate, making sure all ingredients are well combined.
    10. Remove springform pan from the freezer and pour cheesecake mixture into the prepared pan. Then wrap the bottom of the pan with enough foil to cover the sides as well.
    11. Place the pan in a bain marie (hot water bath) and bake in a 325 degree preheated oven for 1 hour.
    12. After one hour, jiggle the pan. If the center seems too loose, turn off the oven and leave the oven door closed for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, take the springform pan out of the bain marie, remove foil, and place on a cooling rack to cool.
    13. Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours.
    14. Using your favorite caramel sauce or a simple, one ingredient homemade sauce (recipe below), spread the caramel over the top of the cheesecake, leaving an inch around the edge. The caramel will naturally run to the edge and drip over the sides just a bit. Add crumbled Toffee-tastic® cookies over the top of the cheesecake and garnish the edges and the center with HEATH pieces.
    15. Lastly, transfer to a sealed container to store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the caramel:

    1. Before getting started, remove label from the unopened can of sweetened condensed milk. Do not remove the top of the can.
    2. Fill a deep medium saucepan with water, and bring water to a boil.
    3. Carefully place the can in the boiling water, ensuring there’s enough water to completely cover the can at all times.
    4. Lower the flame and simmer, uncovered for 3 hours.
    5. Using a set of tongs, carefully remove the can from the water.
    6. Once the can is cool, remove the lid.
    7. Lastly, transfer to a sealed container to store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the bain marie (hot water bath):

    1. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with 2 layers of heavy-duty foil. Make sure to cover sides of the pan.
    2. Pour in the cheesecake batter.
    3. Place the springform pan into a larger baking dish, then place on the middle rack of the oven.
    4. In a medium saucepan, boil enough water to cover the bottom 2″ of the springform pan.
    5. Next, gently pour in the water without splashing into the batter.
    6. Finally, bake as directed.

A look-in slice of cheesecake with caramel sauce and chocolate pieces.

Help the Girl Scouts of America!

If you want to help young women entrepreneurs, buying Girls Scout Cookies is a great annual act of support. Get to know all the Girl Scout Cookies on offer, and dream up your own recipes!

Adventurefuls® Cocktail
Do-si-dos® Cupcakes
GS S’mores Mini Cheesecakes
Lemon-UPS® Crunch Pops
Samoas® Blondies
Tagalong® Girl Scout Cookie Trifle
Thin Mint® Ice Cream Sandwiches
Trefoils® Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Pie

Recipe, Styling, Photography and Story by Star Laliberte

Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.

 

Your 2024 Astrological New Year Horoscope

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An illustrated photo of various pastel spring blooms to represent the Astrological New year horoscope for 2024.

The Moon will be waxing in Leo at the moment of the 2024 spring equinox on March 19 at 11:07 p.m., EDT when the Sun enters the first degree of Aries. Which also marks the start of the Astrological New Year, both in fire signs and in close contact with Pluto in the early degrees of the fixed air sign Aquarius. Like air feeds fire, our thoughts fuel our actions.

Healing Cultural Wounds

This planetary combination at the moment of the equinox initiates a season focused on our relationships to unhinged power structures and the more precarious aspects of the hive mind. The Moon in Leo asks us to think with our hearts as Pluto in Aquarius reveals ideologies buried deep within our collective dreams that have decomposed. God of war and protection Mars, who guides the Sun’s ingress into Aries, is transiting the final degrees of headstrong Aquarius without contact to any other planet at this moment and is therefore unpredictable in its objectives.

Air and fire signs tend to operate with less emotion but instead are interested in the ignition and dissemination of pioneering luminous thought, apart from the ponderous concerns of material reality. This configuration is calculating and action-oriented, moving through generations of inert subterranean societal agendas, resolving gut-wrenching truths about the state of the world. Provocative as well, the Moon, Sun, and Pluto in contact has the potential to expose profound cultural wounds that are difficult to digest while pollinating worthwhile growth and systems rooted in compassion.

Change and Action

The following aspect the Moon will make is with beneficent Jupiter, who, with significance, joins Uranus for the first time since 2011 in the fixed earth sign Taurus. A catalyst for upset and dynamic change, Uranus tests Jupiter’s call to believe and to prosper. This configuration could herald no turning back breakthroughs in the stability of the green earth beneath our feet or the hubris which runs through the erratic discourse of its condition. Taurus represented by the bull is one of the most ancient signs of the zodiac and stems from a time when humans domesticated and siphoned the tireless strength of the bull to advance the productivity of agriculture. Earth and civilization was a different story at that time. Taurus is the land and Uranus is epiphany.

The conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus could illuminate real consequences of the extraction of earth-born resources and our collective labor pains in the seemingly insurmountable consensus on productivity levels. Enough appears to never be enough. At a time when our needs and wants, justified or not, have outweighed our ability to responsibly procure and sustainably manufacture them, this conjunction of planetary titans is yet another reminder that the material world inherently holds restraint respectably.

Aries

As the Sun enters Aries in your first house of the body and mind, Mars, your planetary guide, is in the final degrees of Aquarius in your eleventh house of camaraderie, hopes, and affiliations. You recently entered a space, possibly a job, committee or circle of friends where a subtle but considerable shift in power dynamics has become a discomfort for your sense of sovereignty. You may feel bound to a cause or ideal approach to life that is at odds with some of those around you. This tension is not necessarily futile as it leads you to further interrogate your ethics within group settings.

Mercury in Aries is transiting your first house, guiding your style of communication. At this time your communication is idiosyncratic and interested in voicing systems of freedom. You possess a confidence level with your ideas here that has the ability to catch the collective wind like a sail. But, first you must find your distinct way of making the abstract and uncharted a place for others to enter as well. This is a cerebral tightrope to walk that could leave you breaking new ground in relationships and community or distancing yourself from herd mentality.

Taurus

Spring will be a time of clarifying your expectations for your plans in the near future. Venus, your planetary guide is well positioned in Pisces in your eleventh house of goals, ambition, and triumphs. Close by, Saturn who influences your visibility and recognition, is also in Pisces where it asks you to ponder the boundaries between the imaginary and the real, particularly in the realms of work and career. Venus and Saturn together in the eleventh house can create crooked visions of what is truly possible right now for yourself but also for others.

Venus says “yes please” and desires to do it all. But Saturn is prohibitive and adverse to the emotional chaos of Piscean possibilities. Be aware also of the tendency to become self-sacrificing at any cost in the pursuit of your vocation. This could be a possible drain on yours and others’ well-being. Venus is applying to a favorable aspect with life-giving Jupiter in your first house of the self, implying that no matter what you are toiling for right now chances are you have already been blessed with enough to work with. Trust that plenty is already enough.

Gemini

Mercury, your planetary guide will spend an elongated amount of time ruminating in Aries this spring due to its retrograde in that sign April 1 through 25. Mercury has heightened charisma and curiosity in fire sign Aries rousing willful and arbitrary experimentation regarding your philosophical worldview specifically at the inception of spring. Saturn in Pisces in your tenth house, where your talents shine, shares a special hidden aspect with Mercury where issues regarding where you see yourself in a place of visibility or significance can feel like an awkward initiation right now.

You’re reconsidering where you connect socially as well and where your gifts would be shared most effectively within an environment that shares symmetrical values. Perhaps tune into this Mercury retrograde, releasing wilting social distractions and shedding expired dreams which can instead be innovatively recycled. Make way for new opportunities by the first week of June when an influential new Moon in Gemini will reset a new and dynamic sense of identity and purpose. But it may require kissing a few frogs along the way.

Cancer

As the Sun enters Aries in your tenth house of destiny at the spring equinox, the Moon, your planetary guide, has recently entered Leo in your second house of substance. In a separating benevolent aspect, the Moon and Sun have just made contact that speaks of a generous outflow of life-force and expression in a direct and clear manner. The atmosphere is warm within the beginning of spring for sharing your warm-hearted vulnerability. The Moon is transiting a portion of Leo in accord with open-handed Jupiter, who ensures a grand appetite for life and abundant resources, especially in the pursuit of showmanship and visibility in a vocation or career.

Simultaneously, the Moon opposes Pluto in your eighth house of doubt. There is a great opportunity in your astrology this spring to bring to fruition a message or enterprise you have developed by tapping your deepest and most delicate roots. A place where fragments of your endangered self has fortified into a source of sustenance and beauty. It will be received graciously as a gift of service to others and coincide as a source of profound healing within yourself as well.

Leo

This spring marks approximately the halfway point in the ongoing eclipse cycle in your third house of subjective practical matters and ninth house of pursuing wisdom. Just past the equinox on March 25, there will be a penumbral lunar eclipse in Libra in your third house. Here you’re processing the unraveling of rapid cerebral adaptation, daily upkeep, and running on unconditional momentum. Venus who guides your third house is exalted in Pisces tethered close to leaden Saturn in your eighth house where both planets stew in the gravitational intoxication that can arise in disenchantment. Or when holding onto discomforts within relationships and the work you do may feel less daunting than questioning and reframing the bigger picture.

The total solar eclipse on April 8 will occur in your ninth house seeking perspective through frank but clarifying discussions with a friend or trusted colleague. This insight offers sound advice that perhaps cuts deep but steers you through undermining preoccupations where you no longer see the forest for the trees. This eclipse cycle, ongoing through spring 2025 will broaden shortsighted contentment with the breadth of an eagle’s eye.

Virgo

Mutable earth sign Virgo adapts to changing circumstances with discernment and yearns for practical outcomes. But as an earth sign guided by cerebral Mercury, Virgo is also somewhat reluctantly adept with the intricacies and complications implicit in natural time and organic processes. Mercury will be retrograde April 1 to 25 in your eighth house of trial and tribulations, where issues of personal income and shared expenses with either a partner or family member enter a state of consideration.

You may be questioning whether your current income can sustain the never-ending whims and needs of the ideal meaning of home, a possible source of stress this spring and something to prioritize by adjusting your expectations short and long term. Reconsider the ebb and flow of income streams if needed. Concurrently you may be dealing with shared resources that involve partnerships or family members where feelings of resentment may easily arise. It will be important this spring to remember that your concept of reality is as complex as others and their perspective may be as justified and true.

Libra

You’re approximately halfway through a cycle of eclipses in Aries and Libra in your first house of self and seventh house of others. This is a zodiacal axis that, among many things, is concerned with freedom, compromise, and how it all looks. Eclipses reveal and conceal things. The full Moon in Libra during the eclipse on March 25 will briefly be darkened by the shadow of Earth, marking a culmination in the releasing process of appropriateness and appearances for the sake of reputation. It may also make known emotional dependencies on recognition received from authority figures, a decent paycheck, or a job well done.

Recognition is a powerful aphrodisiac but this set of eclipses lasting through spring of 2025 will rid you of conventional notions of expectations from colleagues and numbing social norms. With respect but without courtesy or compromise, the freedom you are sizing into is so raw that you may struggle or even fear coming to terms with its complete but untidy potential. This unfolding of a naked and accountable-to-nobody-but-one’s-self can feel like swimming upstream, which is the great paradox of this process because, ultimately, you’re becoming someone you remember quite well.

Scorpio

Imagine what your living space would be if it most accurately reflected the inner workings of your brain. As spring arrives, Mars, your planetary guide, and Pluto, god of imminent change, are transiting Aquarius in your fourth house of home, land, and family matters. Mars in these final degrees of Aquarius is peregrine, not in contact with other planets and therefore impressionable but prepared to abandon previously held ideals of a particular lifestyle. Left to their own devices, peregrine planets must make it up and find a way. This may stir feelings of disillusionment regarding the foundational grounds of your life at this time. Primarily, the state of your home and family life which may feel unresolved and out of tune.

This spring may involve letting go of or adjusting to a new lifestyle or living situation that affords you the flexibility to lead a more fluid and creative existence apart from tradition and keeping up with the Joneses. This living situation may appear and operate more like your working brain where the elements of home wire very specifically. Make home a multitasking nerve center that adapts easily and comfortably to your changing needs and aesthetic whims.

Sagittarius

Spring begins with a friendly aspect between your planetary guide Jupiter in Taurus in your sixth house of struggle and Venus and Saturn in Pisces in your fourth house of origin, family, and a sense of home. Jupiter has been transiting your sixth house since May 2023 where you’ve been chopping wood and carrying water while making ends meet in work and friendships. As Jupiter makes contact with Venus and Saturn in your fourth house you may feel a sort of homesickness for creature comforts but you are uncertain of where that sense of home and family lands. Especially if you’ve moved away for a job or greener pastures.

A sudden change in the way you endure work-related stress will come when Jupiter joins Uranus marking a threshold in your relationship to work, home and family, chosen or otherwise. Follow that desire to show up for family, friends, and your basic survival needs. Consider adopting a pet from the shelter if that has ever crossed your mind. Open up to companionship that weaves a holistic cloth of resilience to any paradigm but your own. By the time Jupiter awkwardly enters Gemini on May 25 in your seventh house of relationships, you’ll no longer feel like you’re going at it alone.

Capricorn

This spring, you may be learning through tough love how to define elastic but firm boundaries within yourself. Venus, goddess of love, is about to join Saturn in Pisces where subdued conversations with siblings, children, or partners may address topics of their undermining roles and habits in your life. Well-resourced in Pisces and applying to a benefic connection with generous Jupiter in Taurus, there exists a wide emotional range on both parts that makes receiving each other’s honesty a great possibility.

Jupiter is in reach of a conjunction with shattering Uranus who offer catharsis, exposing secrets and sore spots that were once unapproachable but as a huge relief feel now reconcilable and grounded in mutual understanding. There is a residue here of issues within family and partnerships that are complicated to unpack, like psychic and behavioral heirlooms inherited and then subsumed by appropriateness, patriarchy, and the institutions of religion and marriage. This spring will feel like a sea change in your relationship with people close to you and it won’t come without the fear of deep emotions and sympathy. It is a ponderous time for profoundly healing discussions that offer remediation and conflict resolved within a celestially supportive atmosphere.

Aquarius

The second house in astrology is one of the places we can have our needs met with economic stability, nutrition, and born talents. The fourth house of property is another place where our needs can be met but it is more environmental; where we’re able to rest, regulate, and enjoy a level of comfort ideally sheltered from the inhibiting effects of cold, heat, and moisture. Venus who guides your sense of home is noble in Pisces and about to join frugal Saturn in your second house of resources where you may become more conscientious of where in life you tend to short-change yourself. In turn, limiting your possibilities of reasonable growth.

Since 2018, Uranus has been transiting your fourth house of home and lifestyle where the reality of a steady living or family-like situation has been under seismic shifts in condition or location. Linking the second-house topics of sustenance and fourth-house topics of a solid roof above your head, an accommodating aspect is forming between Venus and Saturn with Jupiter and Uranus. This cohort of planets offer an opportunity for stabilizing ongoing turbulence of home matters but ask that you come wholeheartedly clear about the financial circumstances necessary to make that life-changing possibility a reality.

Pisces

Venus, who guides your idling fears and attachment to others, is exalted in Pisces in your first house of self where you are feeling empowered to reconcile the beliefs and ideals of how you embrace friendships and love. As a mutable water sign, at this time your emotional range is further amplified by a communicative aspect Venus is making to your planetary guide Jupiter in your third house where you’re considering the stories, and fantasies, you tell yourself about love.

Pay attention to the undermining overwhelm your fickle fascination with other people’s business can bear on valuable mental real estate. As a sign ruled by generous Jupiter, your tendency can be to make space for everyone’s business whether they have asked for it or not. Venus is applying to the conjunction of Saturn, also in Pisces since March 2023, in your first house where defining a new sense of autonomy has been on the top of your mind. Saturn in Pisces comes with expected slips and falls along the way. But, fresh routines in and separate from career have given you a boost of confidence where you’re focused on how you interface with your own reality less the voices of others in your head.

Don’t forget to check out your New Moon in Pisces Horoscope for March 2024.

Story and Illustration by Shane Powers, Enon Valley Astrology

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Apple and Rutabaga Salad with Date Vinaigrette

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Two yellow bowls hold an an Apple and Rutabaga Salad with a Date Vinaigrette in a small dressing bowl to the top right and forks in the bottom left corner.

Two kinds of apples bring sweet and tart into play here. They serve as a wonderful counterpoint to chopped raw rutabaga, which is further enhanced by a date vinaigrette that features raw apple cider vinegar. With minimal effort and entry-level knife skills, a fresh and oh-so-healthy salad emerges. Do you wonder whether the picky eaters at your house will eat raw rutabagas? Ssssshhhh! Don’t tell them until they’ve tried a bite. They’re crunchy and delicious, and very different from boiled or roasted versions.

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Two yellow bowls hold an an Apple and Rutabaga Salad with a Date Vinaigrette in a small dressing bowl to the top right and forks in the bottom left corner.

Apple and Rutabaga Salad with Date Vinaigrette


  • Author: Anna Franklin

Description

Create an autumn salad right at home.


Ingredients

Scale

For the vinaigrette:

  • 1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
  • 3 dates, pitted
  • 1 tbsp preserved lemon mustard
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:

  • 1 bunch lacinato kale
  • 1 Honeycrisp apple
  • 4 dates, pitted and chopped
  • 1 Granny Smith apple
  • 1 rutabaga


Instructions

  1. In a blender mix together all of the vinaigrette ingredients and blend until smooth and emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
  2. Chop kale and add to a large bowl. Add half of the vinaigrette and massage the kale.
  3. Chop apples, dates, and rutabaga then add to the massaged kale.
  4. Drizzle with more vinaigrette and serve. You can add a protein to this as well, like chicken breast.

Recipe and Styling by Anna Franklin
Story by Keith Recker
Photography by Dave Bryce
Dinnerware courtesy of Blue Pheasant

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GS S’mores® Mini Cheesecakes

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GS S'mores Mini Cheesecakes sit on a pale table with a few broken GS S'mores cooking scattered in front.

Gather around the campfire and delight in our S’mores Mini Cheesecakes. Made with Girl Scout S’mores® Cookies, this recipe takes your favorite summer snack and turns it into an especially sweet treat. You’ll find it hard to go back to traditional s’mores once you take one bite of our pillowy and perfectly baked cheesecake. And there will be no fighting over the size of slices — everyone will have their own individual cheesecake to enjoy.

GS S’mores® to be Discontinued After 2025

You read that right, sadly these cookie sandwiches featuring a marshmallow cream and chocolate will be leaving after the 2025 cookie season. The Girl Scouts are putting this cookie into the retirement vault to make room for new additions in the next season. Toast-Yay® will also be retiring for the same reason. After you can no longer get GS S’mores® Cookies, you can substitute with any other cookie of your choice. You could also substitute with additional graham crackers.

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GS S'mores Mini Cheesecakes sit on a pale table with a few broken GS S'mores cooking scattered in front.

GS S’mores® Mini Cheesecakes


  • Author: Kylie Thomas
  • Yield: 12 Mini Cheesecakes 1x

Description

Layers of cheesecake, chocolate ganache, cookie crust, and marshmallows.


Ingredients

Scale

For the crust:

For the chocolate ganache:

For the filling:

  • 2 8 oz blocks of cream cheese, thawed
  • 6 oz of sour cream
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs

For the topping:

  • 1 bag of marshmallows


Instructions

For the crust:

  1. Combine melted butter and crushed graham crackers. Once mixed, press the crust into the bottom of a greased muffin tin. It should fill just the bottom of each tin.
  2. Top crust with a layer of crumbled Girl Scout S’mores® Cookies.
  3. For the chocolate ganache:
  4. Finely chop the chocolate bar into small, meltable pieces and then place in a heat-proof bowl.
  5. Heat heavy whipping cream until it starts to simmer. Remove from heat before a full boil occurs (a full boil means the cream is too hot).
  6. Pour cream over the chocolate and let sit for a minute before mixing together.
  7. Top each crust with a thin layer of chocolate ganache and then place in freezer for 5 minutes to let the chocolate set.

For the filling:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine cream cheese, sour cream, and granulated sugar in a bowl with a mixer until smooth.
  3. Add in the eggs and continue beating until well combined. The filling should be light and airy.
  4. Finish filling muffin tins with cheesecake batter then bake for 25 minutes.
  5. Top with a marshmallow on each mini cheesecake and place back in the oven for 5 minutes or until the marshmallows are toasted.

Serve alongside our other Girl Scout Cookie-inspired treats.

Recipe by Kylie Thomas
Styling by Anna Franklin
Photography by Star Laliberte

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Adventurefuls® Cocktail

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An Adventurefuls® Cocktail is placed in a cocktail glass drizzled with chocolate syrup and rim coated in crushed Adventurefuls® cookies. Three Adventurefuls® cookies sit in front of the glass.

Grown-up Girl Scouts of America rejoice! We’re giving Girl Scout Cookies the adult treatment with a cocktail inspired by their Adventurefuls®. This chocolatey caramel delight uses vodka, chocolate liqueur, and Irish cream for a deliciously boozy base. (We recommend using our homemade Irish Cream recipe to make sure your drink carries a fuller flavor.) Finish it off by coating your rim in crumbled Adventurefuls® and treat yourself to this sweet symphony of a drink.

What Are Adventurefuls® Girl Scout Cookies?

A chewy, caramel-filled cookie, bursting with sea salt and a rich, fudgy flavor, Adventurefuls® hit the shelves in 2022. This isn’t just a flavorful Girl Scout cookie, it’s also an ode to the imagination and adventure that this program brings to young girls. Each bite is a sweet escape into a realm of gooey caramel swirls and satisfyingly salty contrasts.

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An Adventurefuls® Cocktail is placed in a cocktail glass drizzled with chocolate syrup and rim coated in crushed Adventurefuls® cookies. Three Adventurefuls® cookies sit in front of the glass.

Adventurefuls® Cocktail


  • Author: Zack Durkin

Description

A cross between a cookie and a brownie with caramel and sea salt.


Ingredients

Scale


Instructions

  1. Dip the rim of your glass in caramel syrup and then into a plate of Adventurefuls® cookie crumbs.
  2. Drizzle chocolate syrup over the inside of your stemmed glass of choice.
  3. Add vodka, chocolate liqueur, Irish cream, caramel syrup, and ice to a cocktail shaker.
  4. Shake for 15 to 20 seconds, until cold to the touch.
  5. Strain into your rimmed and drizzled glass.

Try our recipe for GS S’mores® Mini Cheesecakes for more Girl Scout Cookie fun.

Recipe by Zack Durkin
Story by Kylie Thomas
Photography and Styling by Star Laliberte

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Cinque Cerra-Saunders Brings New Life to Old Spaces

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A yellow fireplace sits in a living room with a bright teal chair in the corner and decorations all around.

What do you get when you merge post-modern, mid-century, and Victorian aesthetics? Cinque Cerra-Saunders’ mod, quirky, and undeniably fun condo redesign. 

Moving to Pittsburgh

The former creative director and current host of A&E’s Living Smaller recently moved from his hometown of New York City to Pittsburgh. Here, he found he could invest in “brownstone-like homes at a fraction of the cost,” and redesign them to his exact specifications. “What I really look to create as a developer and investor is the moment. I’m about the moment.” And there are plenty to be experienced in this vibrant creation. 

An interior shot of a bedroom with dark navy sheets, dark walls, and a splash of gold around the window.

On the left is an image of a bathroom sink and mirror with a black tile wall and speckled black and white wall. On the right is an image on a dining table with light coming through the window and brick walls.

Top: Cerra-Saunders uses dark paint on the walls and dark sheets to match, while a Chrome Plump Stool from Weisshouse sits to the left of the bed. Bottom Left: Black tile covers the upper half of the bathroom walls. Bottom Right: Eames Molded Fiberglass Side Chairs and Upholstered Eames Fiberglass Side Chair by Herman Miller from Weisshouse furnish the kitchen. Splatter bowls from Weisshouse accessorize the table.

Rather than flipping spaces and stripping them of character, Cinque-Cerra focuses on enhancing what’s right under the surface. “My point of view is, ‘How can I find the soul of the space and make it more of what it is through today’s lens?’” he says. “I feel like old spaces should feel like old spaces, but for how we live today.” 

Creating a New Space Out of Old

The two-story Shadyside home is situated on the top floor of a Victorian-era mansion and was previously updated in the late 1980s or early ‘90s: think baby blues, ditzy florals, oak-casing baseboards, stained-glass panels, and carpeted steps.  

A picture of a kitchen counter with a dish washer built into the side and a side window above it.

Splatter Bowls from Weisshouse sit on the white countertop above a black cabinet.

But with its geometric, architectural elements, including angular walls and bulkheads, “the bones of the place really spoke for themselves,” says Cerra-Saunders. “Modernism is all about clean, impactful shapes [so] it was [about] making those details shine, eliminating the traditional, natural elements, and allowing the modern elements to take center stage.” 

For example, black paint transforms the vaulted, knotty pine, tongue-in-groove ceilings into something very of-the-moment. 

Sticking to Organic

Conversely, Cinque Cerra-Saunders opted to keep the original floating staircase’s natural oak finish. He describes the staircase as “the most dramatic moment, the coolest moment, the moment that made me fall in love with the space.”  

A brick wall sits behind a wooden staircase with a metallic silver sculpture on the wall and on the stair. On the left is an image of a kitchen interior with a black counter with white top. On the right is a picture of a snack mix set up on a table in different bowls featuring beverages as well.

Top: A chrome Tulsa Mirror and two Walnut Eames Turned Stools from Weisshouse decorate the oak staircase that Cerra-Saunders left as it was. Bottom Left: Black paint transforms the cabinets of an otherwise white kitchen into something sultry. Bottom right: A snack table. 

In a fully post-modern design, “You’d expect something like that in steel, in glass, but here it is in oak. Because the oak was so prominent, I wanted to find a way to make it all make sense. That’s where the mid-century modern moments come into play.” 

Cerra-Saunders drew upon the Eames‘ philosophies — “organic materials interpreted through a very modern sort of lens” — to tie it all together. You can spot this in the kitchen, where stained oak panels and a wood backsplash mingle with sleek, matte black cabinets and glass and chrome shelves.  

Adding in More Modern Flair

He also incorporated “gentlemen’s club, Mad Mentype references into the home. For example, the existing Malm-inspired woodburning fireplace is a standout nod to the past, and primary yellow Sherwin-Williams high-heat paint gives it bold new life.
 A yellow fireplace sits in a living room with a bright teal chair in the corner and decorations all around.

Cerra-Saunders uses a primary yellow paint to give the fireplace a Mad Men feel as a teal blue Grande Papilio Chair by B&B Italia from Weisshouse decorates the corner.

Neon and neutrals coexist in harmony. La Cienega, an original painting by Deborah Sussman, art director for Charles and Ray Eames, centers the living room. It’s juxtaposed with a modern, Campaign-style sofa and newly installed “old, iron-style” doors featuring frosted panes and crossheads. “The doors speak to something that’s about to happen. When you see a grand door, that means you’re going into a grand space.” 

Step into the primary suite, where a touch of magic balances the off-center window. By placing a mirror to one side of the bed, the designer created an optical illusion of symmetry. 

A living room holds a minimalist white couch with pillows and a blanket as an orange painting sits above it. To the left Cinque Cerra-Saunders walks through a doorway, blurred. On the left is an image of a wooden dresser with a black top, on it sits a grey ball, a metallic lamp and two framed photos. On the right is a kitchen interior by Cinque Cerra-Saunders with two cacti decorations sitting on the counter top.

Top: La Cienega, a painting by artist Deborah Sussman sits above a white sofa as designer and real estate investor Cerra-Saunders walks through the doorway. Bottom left: A chrome Callicoon Table Lamp from Weisshouse sits on a vintage wooden dresser with a black top. Bottom Right: Two Cactus Vases from Weisshouse sit on the countertop in the kitchen.

Decorated with Weisshouse

Objects from Weisshouse round out the design, including mismatched Herman Miller dining room chairs, whimsical cacti-shaped vessels, and sculptural chrome pieces. “Variation is really the name of the game: layers of color, layers of texture, without feeling fussy.” 

The finished product is inviting and innovative, an effortless presentation that’s timeless in its creativity. “In my mind, I’m always designing spaces that are Parisian apartments,” he says. “It’s about the way Parisians look at design and eclecticism and all those sorts of things: an amalgamation, a pastiche of different times, and aesthetics that are unified with color and shape and texture — but always referencing something in the past.” 

Featured Products from Weisshouse

Grande Papilio Chair by B&B Italia
Chrome Plump Stool
Callicoon Table Lamp
Eames Molded Fiberglass Side Chair by Herman Miller
Eames Molded Plastic Side Chair by Herman Miller
Upholstered Eames Fiberglass Side Chair by Herman Miller
Splatter Bowls
Walnut Eames Turned Stool
Tulsa Mirror
Cactus Vase

Story by Nicole Barley / Styling by Cinque Cerra-Saunders and Keith Recker / Furniture and Accessories courtesy of Weisshouse / Photography by Dave Bryce

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