A Little Sunshine

 A welcome gift.

 They came with a dozen chocolate dipped strawberries. I got five. Gotta be quick around here.

Hop on over to Today's Flowers # 339  for more sunshine.

Summer Flavor

Nothing says summer dinner like ...
Heirloom tomato

Sweet corn

Soft shell crabs

 

Diggin' in

or home made Lobster rolls

 "Oh, yummers," said Emily. (Quote from "Yummers!" by James Marshall.)

Valentine

 Be my grilled cheese Valentine.

Hosting the Holidays

A late holiday season party...Sunday open house for forty or so friends and neighbors.

Entry hall

 Many decorative touches around the house. Main table flowers

 Dining room

 My very old shell tree.

 Living room

 Bedroom

 Some of my rowing trophy collection put to use.

 Bath

 On the table family and yard sale napkins.

Menu: Ham with biscuits

 Cheese Dreams (Bon Appetit) easy make ahead and freeze. Everyone loved these.

 Roast beef, cooked the day before.

Corn muffins (again a BA find, super easy) with home cured salmon and creme fraiche.

 Veggies

 Cookies and strawberries.

Chocolate mousse made by T the day before. He insisted he wanted to make more on Sunday and I told him there were other things to do before the three o'clock start of the party. When we went to fill the filo cups I saw his reasoning....some elf had been eating the mousse.

I confess (and regret) I did not get any pictures of the whole table but these give you the idea. I'll do better in the new year! HAPPY 2014.

Sunday Lunch

A week ago Sunday we hosted a friend from Indonesia who was back for a visit. Enjoyable conversation all around as our friend Jim Kutz is the curriculum developer of the model curriculum PK - 12th grade for a model school in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  He is also involved with the Geology World Park to be located in Bogor, Indonesia.

I still have my living and dining rooms switched around, good for a table of eleven.

 Simple red tulips on the table.

Stock and carnations in the other room.

Food waiting to be put out.

Lemonade and wine in the kitchen.

Cheese boards.

Roasted asparagus with balsamic vinegar, mixed cherry tomatoes on the side.

 Chicken salad.

My sister's excellent pound cake and fresh strawberries for dessert.  A really easy party to prepare since poached chicken breasts take less than 30 minutes to cook. I used red grapes, dried cranberries, celery and walnuts with a minimal amount of mayo/yogurt/mustard/curry dressing.