Life is Full of Happy Surprises

Home again!
Oh what a fun weekend. Last Thursday, when I headed out on my road trip, on a whim I called an old high school girlfriend and asked her if she wanted to drive over and join me. Here's the deal, my friend lives a very busy life, she and her husband dairy farm and she has her own business ...I didn't really think there was a chance that she would take me up on my offer, short notice and all. When I called her (from my car, I was already under-way)...she paused...hesitated...and said "I'm gonna DO it!"
The next day she got in her car and made the three + hour drive to a place she's never been...all alone...remember - this is the girl that says her whole life has about a five mile radius. I was proud of her, and yes...very surprised.
The day after she joined me we decided to check out the blues festival that was in the little town where our cabin is. We met up with a lot of my old friends from different parts of the state, what a blast...it was so good to see everyone. We laughed, we talked non-stop, she met some of the friends she's heard me talk about over the years. We were so busy having fun that we completely forgot to take our lawn chairs when we left the blues grounds that evening. I didn't even realize it until the middle of the afternoon the next day. Fooey! The chairs weren't expensive but I was disappointed to think I had lost them.
On my way home the next day I stopped in at the festival, there they were...all alone, right where I left them.
I was surprised again...very surprised, and really happy.

Sceduled Programming

The scheduled program of Garden Party Recipes has been interrupted for...
RRRRRrrrrroad Trip!

comfy clothes - check
cooler - check
dog crate - check
dog - check
sunglasses - check
full gas tank - check
top down - check

Ahhhh...summer!
See ya next week ;)

Table Settings and Menus

Our annual Garden Party is all about the food, but it's fun to set a really pretty table too. This year I wanted to tie the color of the cocktail and appetizers to the setting. I borrowed moms seashell collection - piled it in the middle of the table around a vase that I filled with white roses and ferns from my garden and ta daaaa...the final result made me really happy. The photo below is of the table with the bellini cocktials. I did the napkins really casual because I was going for a beachy feel, not too contrived.
Our menus are always a big secret, but this year all three of us chose a tropical/beachy theme and menu...crazy coincidence. The photo below is of Karen's table, it was so much fun...she said the pots of grass were her starting point and she went from there. Lots of beach glass, driftwood, seashells - all down the length of the table....absolutely charming.

Tami set hers up under a tent on her patio...the dessert house is always "all about the lighting"...and this was so cool. She used a lamp from her bedroom as the centerpiece, it made for such a romantic setting. Sorry about the photo quality, I'm bummed I didn't get better shots at her house, I kept trying and failing..fooey.

Check out the menu for dessert at Fred and Tami's, she had it set up on a little corner shelf in the tent - each corner held photos of past garden parties. This photo is from the first year...I think that was 2002. The menus at Mark and Karen's house were set into scallop shells at each place setting - what a great idea..I tell ya, these girls are like idea machines...sheesh...if I didn't like them so much I would be intimidated.

The photo below is my menu, I'm not much of a paper crafter but I do cruise the paper aisles at the craft store when the garden party rolls around every year.

Next post? The food....ohhh...the food. It was crazy good I tell ya, I love my foodie friends!

Summer Slushy

Okay, so I'm abandoning the good ship Black and moving on to Garden Party recap...I've had requests for recipes so I gotta feed my peeps!
The photo captures a bit of my table setting and of course front and center is the cocktail I chose to accompany my appetizer menu. Oh yeah, we liked it...a lot - a whole lot.

Here ya go folks.
I made the peach mixture the day before and put it in the freezer, if I did it over again I would do it more than one day ahead. You were supposed to be able to make round scoops of this stuff, sorta like ice cream but the sugar and liquor content made it too slushy to scoop.

Peach Bellini Slushy
1 16 oz. bag frozen peaches - thawed
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup Proseco
Chambord for drizzling

Heat the sugar and water until the sugar melts, let cool. Put the peaches in a blender on low-med, add cooled sugar water, orange juice...then slowly add 1 cup Proseco. I put this mixture into the freezer in a tupperware container.
When you're ready to serve put a big scoop of the peach mixture into a pretty wine glass (about 1/3 full) drizzle with about 1 teaspoon of Chambord then add some very cold Proseco to the glass and stir. The mixture will fizz so fill the glass slowly. I garnished the glasses with little key lime and kumquat slices, very unusual and pretty dang cute.

So, I've tried these with Champagne, they taste a whole lot better if you use the recommended Proseco - those Italians know what they're doing I tell ya. I've made the original Bellini recipe and even ordered it at Harry's Bar in Venice. This slushy version is a fun twist that I'm quite fond of. I had something similar at The Boathouse Restaurant in White Rock, B.C. and I've been wanting to re-create that recipe ever since, they have them in a giant slushy machine - I need one of those things for the Party Barn!
Tell me what ya think Mar!

Settling Dust and a Meme

Allrighty then, the garden party is over and the dust around here is settling. This whirling dervish farmgirl has found center and I'm playing catch-up. Dishes, laundry, mail, phone calls, e-mails...oh...and blogging!
While I was flying around making the garden pretty and prep-cooking Diane Mandy over at
Martinis for Two tagged me with a meme. She's on my list of blogs I really enjoy reading every day so I'm more than happy to oblige. I've done one similar to this so some of it may be a bit repetitive.

Five Habits Meme

What was I doing ten years ago?
Working as a corporate trainer for a company that sold framed art. Work involved a lot of travel, mostly in the western half of the United States. My job required that I have a Seattle residence so we had an apartment in West Seattle that looked out over Elliot Bay...I loved watching the ferries go by. I was also taking classes to become a garden designer, I missed a lot of class because I was often in another city for my job.

Five snacks I enjoy in a perfect non-weight gaining world:
artisan cheeses
Twizzlers, creepy huh...I can't help it, I like the cherry flavor
ice cream, my fave is Dove with the chocolate on top of the pint..wicked good
pistachio nuts
really great breads, dipped in herbed olive oil

Five snacks I enjoy in the real world:
same as above but pretty soon I'm going to have to knock it off and eat:
veggies from the garden, raw and chilled
fresh seasonal fruits
soda water with lime
cold poached chicken - really...I like that a lot
cold poached wild salmon

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Build a small, green, eco-friendly house at the end of a dead end road.
Give money to my friend K to set up a shelter to train assistance dogs.
Set up a foundation so that kids who want to play sports have the money to do so.
Turn the farm into a park in memory of my late father-in-law.
Send all the kids I know to college, but they have to keep their grades up.

Five jobs I have had:
Corporate trainer,
Sales & Marketing for a wholesale nursery,
Director of Sales & Marketing, Industrial Packaging,
X-Ray tech,
Manufacturer's Rep

Five Habits:
I make a triple espresso every morning,
Check the prime rate on the WSJ site,
Read too many blogs - my other hobbies are suffering,
I love to start projects, don't always finish - and I don't care,
Reading a book at night is a must...I feel robbed if I don't.

Five places I have lived:
All in Washington State -
This Old Farm,
Seattle,
Friday Harbor,
Roche Harbor,
Winthrop.

Five people I'd like to get to know:
I'm sorry, I have meme paranoia. I was tickled that Diane tagged me and am pleased to be a part of her meme. When I was a new blogger I read a rather hissy post by someone who didn't like memes and it freaked me out.
If anyone would like to participate please join in on the fun!

Project Black, Take Four

Photo Frame Place Cards

For our Progressive Dinner / Garden Party we often make place cards for our guests. My friend Tami put a little twist on the idea, each guest had their own photo at their place setting - I've often wanted to do this, dang...she beat me to it! The photos were all from previous garden parties, there are a few to choose from since this was the seventh year of this event.

The photo above is of The Husband at the party last year, wow...is that guy ever tan! Last summer was a sunny one here in the northwest.

These black mosaic frames were really cool, and woohoooo...they qualify for Project Black!

Project Black, Take Three

I'm a day behind on my posts for PB, last night was the 7th annual progressive dinner/ garden party that we do with friends. It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun.
Imagine my delight when I walked up to my friend Tami's patio and her table setting was all in black and white! Yippie! It was so incredibly beautiful I could hardly stand it.

This morning I got out my camera and loaded my pictures onto my trusty little laptop, excited to blog about the event and thrilled I had a photo from the evening that would work for Project Black. When I went to sign on to the internet I got nothin' except an error screen. Ohhh nooooo!
I was flipping out, thought for sure I had some kind of virus. It was then that I realized that I'm a serious blog-a-holic. I went to the other computer (no pictures on that one) and I could get onto the internet, my suspicions were confirmed - the problem was with my sweet little laptop computer.

After hours of trying to figure out what was wrong I found the answer. My computer has been attacked by the dreaded BLACK DEVIL DOG VIRUS - BEWARE.

Here's what to look for when you suspect that BLACK DEVIL DOG VIRUS has attacked your computer or anything that may be connected to your device.

My table for last night is still set up in the back yard, I think I need to go attack those leftovers. See that bottle? I think it has my name on it.

If you'd like to see more photos of the garden party I'll be posting all about it soon. My friend and fellow blogger/garden partier Tami blogged about it today too, she's posted some great pictures - I know she would love it if you stopped by.