Tag Archives: Entertaining

Foodie Friday

One of my favorite signs of Spring is when the Local Strawberry stands open selling Strawberries straight from the fields.

 

This was a fun dessert I put together for my kids one evening. I bought the Belgium Chocolate cups from the local grocery store. Then I whipped up some instant vanilla pudding. I filled the cups with the pudding and flared a strawberry for the top of each cup. Fun, fast, easy dessert. Enjoy…

Oops! Just found out this is suppose to be an Irish Foodie Friday so I’m adding this last minute Irish.

 

To see lots of Foodie posts visit Gollum at Designs by Gollum by clicking the Foodie badge.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Three or More? ~

 

So I’m trying to figure out exactly what the 3 or more boundaries are. I’m going out on a limb here. I’m going to show you the inside of my kitchen cupboards in our home in Washington that definitely have more than 3 in all of them. I’ve been asked many times where I store all my thrift store finds. Where do I put all the dishes that I enjoy. On Monday for Metamorphosis  Monday I showed my kitchen with all my great cupboards. Well here’s what’s inside of them.

Everyday dishes, Italian Countryside by Mikasa, that I bought at Macy’s for a super price. Soup bowls and cereal bowls and tea mugs and dessert dishes that were all purchased at Goodwill or other Thrift stores..

Wine glasses, Water Goblets, and on the top shelf some of my creamer collection. Bottom shelf all our coffee making accessories…

 

Water goblets and Cocktail glasses. I really enjoy different styles and shapes of glasses.

 

Serving bowls, serving trays,  platters, and bread baskets.

My large platters and some cutting boards.

Cake plates and shower and tea plates, doilies, napkins, place cards, mirrored coasters.

More luncheon plates. Some thermoses. Oh and those old fashioned glasses for my gin and tonic ( don’t tell my mother).

 

The cupboard above the refrigerator. My sets of champagne flutes in their boxes for special occasions. My pitchers, vases, fondues, punch bowl, cookie cutters, etc.

Oh dear more glasses. These are the everyday kind and then some fun sets way on top. I think I could give water to 200 people easy in all different shapes and sizes of glasses!!

 

I really love these divided drawers for my flatware.

 

And right under my everyday stainless is another drawer with dividers for my serving pieces and extra stainless.

 

Knife drawer and knife sharpeners.

My Le Creuset and my bake-ware. Maybe I should just insert here that I was a Home Economics Major so these are just the tools of my trade. And while I’m inserting stuff…can you feel my pain that I am living 1200 miles away from all this equipment. :0)

 

My baking, measuring, and other stuff drawer.

 

More specialty equiptment and my large stock pots.

More bakeware. This is where the cake pans, bundt pans, muffin pans, pop over pans and mixing bowls, etc. are.

 

Springform pans, tart pans, pie pans.

 

The mixer and the food processor plus the large bowls and flour and sugar in the bottom of the pantry.

The tupperware I haven’t gotten rid of yet :0)

I’m so sorry for this boring post but now my insurance company knows some of what they’ll need to replace if anything happens!

So does anyone need to borrow something?

For more Three or More visit Tam at The Gypsy’s Corner.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Tablescape Thursday ~ Red-White-Black

Tablescape Tuesday is now Tablescape Thursday! To see some pretty Tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

 

 

My table today was set in honor of my brother Tim’s birthday in January. This would make a fun Valentine Day Table, too.

 

Some of the details…the Pineapple candleholders are silverplate, Godinger. I bought them at my little thrift store. Napkins are Martha Stewart K-Mart from her Christmas line. I think they don’t scream Christmas. The napkin rings are from Pier 1, a gift from my son and wife. The rose etched goblets are from Goodwill. The red, white and black salad/dessert plate is from T.J. Maxx and oh my I paid T.J. Maxx full price for them $3.99. What a splurge on my part :0). The red chair scarves are from Target after Christmas clearance.

 

Am I boring you yet? The dinner plate is from Pier 1 clearanced for $1.64. The white chargers with black beaded rim are from T.J. Maxx and were clearanced for $1.00 each.

I’m happy to say that we actually ate food at this tablescape and had a very nice time celebrating my brother’s birthday. Here is our salad course. We also had Steak, Creamed Mushrooms, Roasted fingerling potatoes and a Limoncello Cream cake for dessert. UPDATE: So I didn’t include my true confession this week. Here it is…I did not make the Limoncello cake I bought it at costco. It was from the Cheesecake Factory. Here’s a link to a great recipe that should be pretty much like it. Limoncello Cake Recipe.

 

My younger brother Tim and his wife Letty.

For more tablescapes make sure you visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Friday’s Fave Five ~

Time flies when you’re old having fun. Here it is Friday already and it’s time to list our favorites from this past week. Visit Susanne from Living to Tell the Story to join in on the fun.

 

1. We had two good walks on the weekend. Our first walk was to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning while it was drizzling. Then on Sunday we walked to our usual Mexican Restaurant for lunch. We were feeling oh so European.

2. On Saturday my brother Tim and his wife Letty came over for most of the day and we had a special birthday dinner for Tim. We served barbecued Rib Eye Steak, roasted fingerling potatoes, mushrooms sauteed with onions with a cream and white wine reduction, and a salad with persian dressing. For dessert we had a limoncello cream cake. From some of those descriptions can you tell I watch Top Chef? Anything is fancy if you put the right description with it :0)

3. We’ve experienced some “weather” here in Southern California and it was nice to have rain and big fluffy clouds around. Now we are in another Santana Wind pattern which warms things up considerably. Willow and I had quite a windy walk on Thursday.

4. Every couple of months my mom and dad have the “girls” over for dinner. This past Tuesday my sisters, my SIL’s, and my nieces along with grand nephew Jackson met at mom and pop’s for dinner. It’s always so much fun to get together. We laugh a lot.

5. One more of my favorites was to meet up with my bloggy friend Cori face to face for the first time this past Tuesday.

To read more Fave Fives visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Blue Monday and Tablescape Tuesday!

This is a busy week for many of us here in the U.S.A. with Thanksgiving on Thursday. I’m going to combine my Blue Monday Post with my Tablescape Tuesday Post because my tablescape is predominately blue. I’m flying up North to Seattle on Tuesday and I’m busy getting all my ducks in a row…

 

I set this table for two putting together anything blue and gold that I had at our condo in Southern California.

 

I just picked up the Santa and the Gold large floral ornaments at my favorite little thrift store in town. The Snowflake napkins and Tablecloth are Big K Martha Stewart that were clearanced after Christmas last year. I also purchased the snowflake napkin rings at the Christmas clearance.

 

The Blue holly dishes are Target Christmas clearance from a couple years ago. The blue beaded sprays are also from Target clearance. The glasses, which I love the shape of, are from my favorite little thrift store. I was sorry they only had two, but most days it’s just the two of us here in the condo anyway.

So if you’d like to see more Blue Monday click over to Sally’s on Monday and if you’d like to see more Tablescapes click over to Susan’s on Tuesday!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Trash to Treasure ~

Diane at A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words hosts a Tuesday Meme called Trash to Treasure. You can click over to her blog and see an explanation.

 

I was doing some thrift shopping and found these items. Someone took a great old silverplate sugar bowl and made it into a lamp. I thought it would be fun to use in the guest bathroom (our only bathroom) in our condo. It’s a nice soft light that we can keep on while company is over to help them find their way in the dark.

 

This silver planter/candle holder was another item someone trashed and I thought I could use. Both the lamp and the centerpiece were $4.00 each. These little tea lights that I think are so pretty were $1.00 for the box of 6. I got 2 boxes. Here’s a photo of how I ended up using the planter/candle holder at a recent Open House at the Condo.

For more Trash to Treasure or to participate visit the Hostess Diane here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Tablescape Tuesday ~ Bridal Shower

Welcome to Tablescape Tuesday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. This week I’m sharing a Bridal Shower Tablescape.

I’ve been experimenting with a new Picasa program. Here’s something new in collage formatting for me.

For more Tablescapes visit Susan on Tuesday here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

Blue Monday

Welcome to Blue Monday

 

These images are from the flowers at my niece’s 30th birthday party this past weekend. Lots of Tiffany Blue!

For more Blue visit Smiling Sally!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

Tuesday Tablescape

I’m re-linking to Susan’s Tablescape Thursday with this oldie. Disregard the link above.

Since Susan is reminiscing with the first ever Tablescape party that was called Tablescape Tuesday way back at the beginning today 7-5-2012. I looked back to find my first table that I participated with on September 16, 2008. Fun times and boy things have changed a lot in my dining space since this table setting.

Each Tuesday’s, participants will be posting a tablescape of their choice on their blog. It can be a single place setting, a bistro table set for two or a full blown dinner table, for a party of six or more…what ever tickles your fancy. Have fun with it!

I’m going to post one of my Fall Tables

 

For more Tablescapes visit Susan here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

Mango Crockpot Chicken

Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers shared this recipe on her blog and I decided it would be perfect for my Saturday Company/overnight guests. Sandy has the gift of hospitality and if you are timid about entertaining she has a lot of great tips and inspiration on her blog for you.

Spray the inside of your crockpot with whatever cooking spray you like. Load it up with whole boneless chicken breasts. I used boneless/skinless half breasts – 6 of them. Pour 1/2 a plastic tub of the Mango Peach Salsa that Costco sells over the chicken. Cook on low all day long. Do not open, do not stir. When it is done you can shred the chicken and stir it into the sauce.

This is what it looked like before I shredded the chicken.

After I shredded the chicken

 

Here is how we chose to serve the chicken up this time around. Build your own soft tacos with corn or flour tortillas, cilantro, rice, more salsa, beans, onion, cheese, and jalapenos.

Here’s Dear’s creation before he gobbled it up.

After the 4 of us had our fill I still have enough of the shredded chicken left over to serve up a lot of meals this week. Let’s see there’s chicken enchiladas, chicken salad, chicken tacos, chicken burritos, chicken soup…

My brother Tim and his wife Letty came up to visit us on Saturday and stayed overnight. The beauty of cooking a meal in the crockpot is that you don’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen while your company is around. We went out for lunch and did a little antique shopping in Old Town Camarillo while our dinner was taking care of itself. The toppings were all easy to put together at the last minute especially since I made the 90 second Uncle Ben’s Santa Fe Rice :0). Everyone gave the recipe a thumbs up!

Thanks Sandy!

Tonight I used some of this leftover chicken for chicken enchiladas.

 

I bought Green Enchilada Sauce for these. Heat up half the sauce in a saucepan and heat up each tortilla in the sauce to make it more pliable. Fill the tortilla with the chicken and some cheese. Roll up and put in baking dish. ( I sprayed the baking dish with Pam before I filled it with the enchiladas) After all the tortillas are in the baking dish cover with remaining sauce and with more cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so…

Here are the baking dish of enchiladas after they have been heated through.

They made a great dinner for Dear and I with a fresh salad on the side…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!