So we made a rookie mistake.

Turns out weekly newsletters are a lot of work (who knew?), and while we loved spilling our guts and goodies every week, we quickly realized we were burning the butter at both ends. We’re pivoting, babes. From here on out, we’ll be hitting your inbox biweekly with all the juicy updates, sweet drops, rants, recipes, and recaps.

Let’s catch you up.

I’m sweaty, exhausted, and behind on emails — but my cup is full. Hope your long weekend gave you even a fraction of that magic.

THE FIRST BIG GIG

It all started with our first real-deal catering event…and it was a massive hit.

The scene: a two-day birthday blowout at a private house in Atlantic City. Night one? Sardine Siren Summer, a seafood-forward dinner party complete with:

Giant tiered ice-block seafood towers

Hanging bread installations

Table side caviar service

Custom cocktails

Day two: Brat Butter Brunch.
We brought our signature extra to the table:

Custom coffee drinks on demand

Homemade oat bars for the post-party lounge

A beurre monté fountain (yes, really) with exquisitely poached lobster tails 

A full-on pastry chandelier

Tables covered with edible bejeweled Dubai chocolate, pickle towers and my signature fawncy chicken salad

Endless mimosas + caviar like it was nothing

It was indulgent. It was beautiful. It was brutal.

Now let’s be honest, ya girl was hurting. The timing? Impeccable. My period showed up right on schedule to join the party. So what was already a full-throttle 18-hour-a-day marathon of loading vans, prepping, styling, serving, and keeping the whole thing cute turned into an Olympic event. I’ve never seen my partner or myself so absolutely smoked. And still.. we did it, we freaking did it. To take a concept from a brainstorm over breakfast to a full-blown, transportable, edible art installation? It was like watching a heist movie in real time where the criminals also make you dinner.

R&R and friends

We needed a full week just to recover. The studio? Still a disaster. Our bodies? Slowly regenerating. Our souls? Fried. Literally.

We took the next weekend off and visited my college friend in LBI and just sat. No phones. No responsibilities. Just two crispy kitchen goblins roasting on the beach.

Time away from work, especially in the company of people you love, is truly priceless. In a world that constantly pushes us to keep moving, keep producing, keep chasing the next thing, choosing to be present, to turn inward and toward the people who refill your cup, is radical.

As a creative, that space is necessary. Lately, it’s been out of balance. Between grinding to find a new studio, expanding the business, and trying to keep my personal life from capsizing, making time for hobbies and creative play has been last on the list, when it should be first. Because that’s the stuff that fuels everything else. That’s what lets me show up fully, as a maker, a friend, a partner, a business owner.

More of that, please.

Sea, food

Of course, no beach trip is complete without some local seafood. On the way home, we stopped at my favorite shack, Sea Dog Grille in Barnegat. Oysters and shrimp cocktails kicked things off as we talked about how much they must spend on to-go containers and mentally braced ourselves for the return to real life.

As we waited for crab cakes and blackened shrimp, we couldn’t help but smile, tanned (okay, maybe a little burnt), sun-dazed, and covered in sand. Sitting in a 500-square-foot shack, eating off plastic plates with a porta potty as the restroom option and honestly? There was nowhere else we’d rather be.

And then the key lime pie.
This almost paper thin graham cracker crust, the perfect tart-to-sweet ratio, and a cold whipped cream top that felt like a sea breeze in dessert form and the texture of the curd was so velvety, we couldn’t figure it out. We took one bite, then another, then just sat in silence for a second, fully converted. It was the kind of dessert that resets your brain. The kind that makes you look up from the plastic fork in your hand and say, “is this the best we’ve ever had?”

Sure, the food was great. But what really needed to be savored was the fact that we made it there, together.

RANT TIME: enough with the ugly cakes

Let’s talk about this article (you’ve probably seen it): “Enough with the Ugly Cakes.”

I’m late to the convo, but I had feelings. I sent a fiery text to my partner the second I read it, and here’s the gist:

RECIPE DROP : GF Passion Mango Colada Bars

Think: key lime pie meets a tropical vacation
(AKA: the banger dessert I made for a friend I thought was gluten-free... turns out she’s just dairy and nut-free. Oops. Still, a total smash hit with everyone else.)

Layers of love: crunchy, tangy, summery perfection.

Get the recipe here…

That’s all for now. We’ll see you back here in two weeks with more updates, opinions, sweet treats, and party plans.

Go eat something delicious and live unapologetically.
See you next week, lovelies

Stay cool,

Mallory & the Party Girl crew