Rub N Buff

Maui Film Festival's glitzy parties the reel stars of Wailea this weekend

Whether you're a film buff, a food buff, or just want to gawk at all of the Hollywood buffs, the Maui Film Festival at Wailea is the place to be with its larger-than-life parties through Sunday.

The 12th annual film fest kicked off Wednesday night, as the full moon rose over Maui, and Capische? and Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar dazzled moviegoing crowds at separate events.

The culinary lineup keeps getting better and better, and on Friday the Taste of Chocolate will be a show-stopper at the Four Seasons Resort Maui.

Each of the parties includes admission to the Celestial Cinema the evening of the event. Other culinary parties that we'll talk about here are the Taste of Wailea coming up on Saturday, and the Cosmic Closing Night Fashion Show and Poolside Party Sunday at Hotel Wailea.

Let's indulge in Taste of Chocolate first.

"Friday is our over-the-top event for chocolate lovers!" says Barry Rivers, festival co-director with his wife, Stella. "Eat it, drink it, love it."

"Dress up and come experience the never-been-there, never-had-that, extraordinary flavors and sensual experience that is the Taste of Chocolate. If you've attended before, you know what I mean. If you haven't, come experience what you've been missing."

For starters, the drinks sound incredible. Ruby Slippers will take you back in time to 1939, one of the best film years ever, when "The Wizard of Oz" premiered. It consists of Dows Ruby Port, Godiva Chocolate Liqueur and Scharffenberger Brut for effervescence.

"This year's theme is bubbles," says newlywed and Four Seasons Executive Pastry Chef Rhonda Ashton-Chavez, who is all pumped up about creating a wow factor for the event after a relaxing honeymoon.

"One of my desserts will be pomelo mousse with Earl Grey tea foam. Others will have fizzy aspects with carbonated components."

The stage will be set on the Four Seasons' Ocean Terrace Lawn with ice sculptures, six dessert stations and live music by Eddie Avilas.

Other must-try cocktails at Taste of Chocolate include the Mocha Arancia, Framboise White Chocolate Truffle, Java Classique, and Mocha Caramel Macchiato with a perk me up of chilled espresso.

"This year, we're pairing drinks with chocolate, so you may have a glass of wine or champagne with a chocolate and experience them together."

The pastry chef's "newest toy" is a machine that pops out hot, fresh mini doughnuts. She'll serve them with milk, dark and white chocolate sauces. Or head to the chocolate fountain and dip the housemade marshmallows, short bread, banana cake, and fresh pineapples and strawberries into the molten goodness.

Rub 'n Buff, Thrifty finds, and a Reupholstery Question | Home ...

Amaco sent me some samples of Rub n’ Buff to play with, and oh my goodness how fun!  Rub n’ Buff is a wax based paste that comes in a variety of colors and I am excited to try them all.  I have seen other bloggers using this stuff and claiming that after using it once they were looking around their house for other things to rub it on.  I totally understand that now!

Below is a little shelf that I had spray painted black awhile ago.  I was never happy with the way it turned out.  The flowers and leaves just looked dull and boring. That would be the fabric I’m talking about here…not the wood.  I know. Dumb.  But in my defense, I have successfully spray painted fabric before. (And yes, I do know they make special fabric spray paint but it costs a gillion dollars and you’re talking to the girl who just bragged to you about her dollar store plates!)  Also, I never really sit in this chair; it has the important job of holding important items…like dirty clothes and such. I didn’t even take an “after” of this disaster because it was just too sad.  So…how do I reupholster this kind of chair?  I don’t see any screws to dislodge the seat nor the back.  Do I have to remove the nailhead trim first?  And how on earth do you cover those cute little arm pads?  Someone steer me in the direction of a tutorial….or a seamstress. On the chair, this is definitely a DIY if you're game. Just remove the nailhead trim, then the staples that are holding the fabric to the frame. If you do this carefully you can use the old fabric as a template for the new. Basically just take note of the steps to un-do the chair and then reverse them to put it back together. One tip when putting the fabric back on is to keep it snug as you don't want it loose fitting. Once you've stapled the new fabric on, just hot-glue some trim/braid of your choice around the edges to hind the staples. Same for the padded arms. You can do this, yes you can!!!

That Rub N Buff is great, isn't it? I used it for the first time on that mirror I did in Oil Rubbed Bronze. Brings out the details beautifully! Hmmm, the chair. I haven't done one of these, usually I do the chairs that the seat unscrews, but it looks like you probably have to remove the nailheads. They may be covering staples. I know I've seen blogs where people have done chairs like this with that bit of fabric on the arms, but I can't remember exactly who. Maybe Centsational Girl? Or Kelly from Much To Do With Nothing?

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