Dear Tami

Just a little note to my dear friend Tami.

Hey girl,
Garden party was a-ma-zinnggg.
This is the only picture I have of my table.
Ya, remnants of a yummy appetizer course if I do say so myself.
Will you share your photos?
Cuz I got nothin'...

Love,
S~

I Say We Party

Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good party ...a theme party...big parties, small parties, garden parties, dinner parties, drinks parties, tea parties...who the heck cares people - let's gather and celebrate!
My parents threw great parties when I was a kid, we weren't always a part of the action but I always paid close attention to all of the planning my mom was doing, the food she was making and such, filing that info away in my "someday" file. Since dad passed away mom has created her own style of party, a neighborhood Christmas coffee gathering,a cousin get-together, last summer she even hosted a block party!
Tuesday night she played hostess again, and it was lovely...if I do say so myself.
My nephew got married in a civil ceremony and my mom, my sister and I couldn't let such a memorable occasion pass without a celebration. Mom ordered a cake and made finger sandwiches, I made a couple of appie trays ...we all bought a couple (or several) bottles of champagne and presto-partio!
I forgot my camera so I don't have a single photo of the bride and groom, the cake...nothin'...silly me. I found this one of me, mom, my niece, sissy and her hubby. It was taken this past June at my niece's graduation from college...


from the left, moi, mom, darling niece, sissy, sissy's hubby
the party peeps - my sissy isn't so much into party planning but she's my go-to girl for recipe taste testing...her hubby too...they're so much fun to cook for because they're enthusiastic with their appreciation - what's not to love about that after a long stint in the kitchen?
Now that I don't have a single party on the calendar until May it's time for the Jan-Feb pantry, fridge, freezer clean-out. I do it every January, go through the cupboards etc and get creative making odd meals out of odds and ends. We've taken to calling these meals "freezer surprise", I must admit they're not always a hit, but the good Dutch girl in me believes in the whole "waste not want not" quote so on we go.
Now about those 8 bottles of champagne leftover from the wedding reception Tuesday evening...I think I should call my sissy and niece for a little taste testing.

Happy New Year!

We're staying home tonight...it's all been lovely...but I'm tuckered out.
Last night was the last hurrah of the holidays, and a big hurrah it was!
Fab friends, fab food...oh my.
I stole this photo of hubby and I off of my pal Tami's blog.
Pop on over to her place to get all the lovely details...bliss!

Tomorrow?
Back on track with the wrecking bars and drywall.
Wishing you all a Happy and safe New Year...
Cheers to a New Year full of never ending projects!

Somebody's Gotta Do It!

So it might as well be me.
Tough duty, I know...testing the holiday cocktails.
My new favorite?
Champagne with a healthy splash of St. Germain...oh goodness gracious, I like it.
I've always had a fondness for champagne and a new version of a champagne cocktail was offered to me by my pal Lynne, thank you my dear friend...this is definitely a keeper...as are you.

Lynne added some of her hand foraged huckleberries, they literally danced in the glass! I don't know how she got them to do that but I intend to find out.

Just so you know, this champagne cocktail goes well with everything...
especially a selection of fabulous desserts.
Yes indeed...it was a very good week.

The Party's Over

Oh...I suppose.
That's as good a blog title as any.
It was an unintentional month long blogging break....I guess we could also call it
*And she lived to tell about it!
or
*Are you still here?
or
Fifty ways to hit fifty.
Yup..it's true. This old gal at this old farm hit the big five-oh, and it didn't hurt even a teensy bit.
Somewhere in that month I
got a job
quit that job
got rehired
quit again
had some wonderful house guests
had a not-party birthday celebration
went to a few outdoor concerts with fabulous friends
got invited to some really great parties
nailed down the design for the kitchen remodel
freaked out about kitchen remodel costs
moved the fridge to discover rotting floor
decided kitchen remodel isn't optional, it's mandatory...
unless I wanna fall through the floor

I was a whirlwind month, several times I tried to sit down and blog...but the words
just didn't flow...yup...the girl who can hardly talk today because she wore out her voice last week can't pull together enough words to write a paragraph or two.
Odd..I know.

So, if I find more words I'll be back..if not...I'll pop in now and then and read what the rest of you are doing out there in blogger land.

Cheers!
I'm off to the lumberyard and then it's time to sit down and plan the kitchen demolition...
Woohooooo!
I just love the feel of a properly balanced wrecking bar ;)

My Favorite Evening

I'm exhausted...but it was all worth it.
Last night was one of my favorite evenings of the whole year, it was our annual progressive dinner / garden party.
When I get overwhelmed with how much time and energy my yard and garden take...it's all worth it when I can go out with a clippers and a bucket of water and pull together an arrangement for a party. Yesterday I grabbed a couple of slips of scrap paper leftover from making my menus for the party...and ta daaa...the arrangement came together in no time flat - there is just so much to "pick from" here at the farm.
The really great part was that the arrangement perfectly picked up the colors of the drinks I served, sangria with slices of orange and lemons.
The funny thing is I was trying to pull out the colors of the menu and table settings, such a happy coincidence that I ended up with a drinkie matchy matchy, wish I could say I planned it that way ;)

Here is a little peek at the menus from each home...oh goodness gracious it was all so good - there are no words.

The menu for main course here at the farm.


Tami's menu for the appetizer course.


and Karen's menu for the dessert course.

I'm going to try to post recipes later on this week, Tami made a special request for a couple of them and I'm happy to share.

Good food, good friends...good times.

Prosciutto and Brie Dip

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe, mostly because I haven't tried anything new that I really liked. This weekend my friend Tami had a little spur of the moment, post holiday, clean out the holiday fridge gathering. What a great idea!
I had purchased the ingredients for this dip but didn't have the chance to make it. Other recipes always seemed to push this one over to the side.

The only shot I have of it...before I put it in the oven.

These crackers are yummy...a bit spendy but a nice change from the ordinary. I served the dip with the cranberry and hazelnut crisps, sliced apples and celery sticks. I think an assortment of artisan breads would also be great to serve with this dip.

Proscuitto and Brie Dip

1 cup sour cream

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

3 ( 5 ounce) containers creme de Brie

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups chopped Prosciutto (about 6 ounces)

1/4 cup chopped green onions (I used finely minced yellow onions, next time I'll use green)

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine sour cream, cream cheese, creme de brie, and Parmesan cheese. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer until smooth. Add prosciutto, green onion, and red pepper flakes, beating to combine. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until bubbly.

makes 10-12 servings

Note* if creme de Brie is not available, 15 ounces of softened Brie with rind removed may be substituted.

Fabulous Foodie Friends

I love it, I have foodie friends.
Last night we went to a Valentines dinner party at the home of our friends Mark and Karen, Fred and Tami ("the lady in the stone house" blog ) were guests as well. Over the years the six of us have shared some fabulous meals, but it's not just about the food. I feel incredibly blessed to have such "real", kind, compassionate, funny, creative women in my life ( ok..the guys are really cool too). The photo above is of the dining table, Karen is a master at creating the most amazing tablescapes.
The food? In a word, yum..but that's another post.

Sickie No Bloggie

So, I've been told by my blog pal Tami that I am
a very naughty blogger. No posts for dayyysss!
Sorry kids...I caught that nasty plague that seems to be running rampant. Instead of whining on-line I thought it best to lay low and focus on wellness. Besides...that's what I always do when I'm "broken", I get quiet...lay low..and mend. I thought of giving Disney a new set of dwarfs...Dopey, Sneezey, Coughie, Sniffy, Cranky, Sweaty and Droopy. I could play all the parts...not a pretty picture...I know.

Speaking of pictures, I have so many! Here are just a few from the last couple of weeks. Even though I wasn't in top form I sure had a great time!
Christmas coffee at moms with her neighbor
ladies. She still lives in the neighborhood that
I grew up in so it was really fun to be able to
see them all.

My pal Susie had a 50th birthday party! It was
at the restaurant Mission in West Seattle, great place!

Here is Susie ( in brown ) with some of the regular Sun Valley ski gang. The Husband went with me to the party...that doesn't happen very often. He can rarely attend functions in the city due to his work schedule (and let's face it...he's not much of a party guy ). It was great to have him there with me, he was almost as popular as the birthday girl since the gang hardly ever sees him. Pretty funny.


My trip to Friday Harbor was fast and furious and lots of fun. I went house shopping (dreaming) with my Favorite Friday Harbor Realtor, otherwise known as my dear pal Deb.

Check out the view from the deck of this place...wowwww. I loved the view but didn't like the layout of the house....good thing...this baby
is wayyy out of my price range. Who am I kidding,
what price range? It's fun to dream.





Love it that you can't see another house or even a rooftop!


The whole reason for the trip to Friday Harbor was to attend a 50th birthday party that Debs husband threw for her. It was really quite something. He rented Vinny's Restaurant for the evening, there was a band, a yummy buffet...heck...there were girls in gowns and gloves! Nooo...not me..I wore my Holiday Uniform - the outfit that you will see me in every photo that required dressing up.

That's Deb on the dance floor giving her hubby Pete a big smooch for throwing her such an incredible party.

OK...there are many more photos but I need to
focus on too many other things around here
that are sorely in need of attention. Like a very
messy house, putting away Christmas, loads of
laundry....annddd...spring being just around the
corner....this gardener is surfing the seed catalogs
for the best beans and peas and corn and lettuce.
Yum!
No more dreaming of a White Christmas, this
gal is dreaming of fresh garden produce.

My First Post...Yikes!

Here we gooooo....
Saturday night we had a small gathering here at the farm, Fred & Tami and their boys Sam and Max - Karen came too but we missed her hubby Mark and son Braden since they were out of town. The original plan was to go to the Lighted Christmas Parade in town and then come back to the farm for some yummy snacks.
Change of plans! It was very windy and realllly cold...so we opted to skip the parade and focus on the snacking and chatting.
I got crazy in the kitchen and both Tami and Karen brought yummy stuff to share.
Both gals asked if I would be willing to share my Spiced Shrimp recipe so I thought it might be a fun first post. I've always tried to pick up cookbooks when I travel and this recipe is from a book I picked up in Washington D.C. more than 20 years ago. I've altered the recipe a bit over they years to suit my taste.

Spiced Shrimp
2 pounds Costco frozen shrimp, peeled-tail on. Size 31-40 seems to work best for appetizers
1 tbsp minced dried onion
1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced fine...I use a garlic press
Oregano
Basil
Marjoram
Thyme
Rosemary
Sage
Tabasco, a couple of good shakes

Thaw the shrimp and then steam them in a large pan, don't boil them because they will taste watery.
Use a large pot - I use the Belgique 8 quart, with a couple of inches of water in the bottom. My colander nests perfectly in the pot and the pot lid goes on top of that....sometimes I wrap the top of the pot with foil to keep the steam in. I steam them in two batches for about three minutes each. As soon as the timer goes off I put them directly into a glass bowl and top that with plastic wrap...this method works the best for me but I'm always learning.
Chill the shrimp, while the shrimp are chilling I whisk together the rest of the ingredients. I've never measured the spices, I just give each spice container a few shakes. Once the shrimp are good and cold I drain off any moisture at the bottom of the bowl and then top them with the spice/oil/vinegar mixture. Chill again for at least a couple of hours or overnight if you can.
Serve in a pretty crystal bowl.
Enjoy