tap, tap...is this thing on???
Alright then. I'm back.
Contrary to popular belief (popular meaning my brother, Luke), I have NOT been sitting around doing nothing. I have been doing many, many things which have precluded my presence on the computer. I know. It feels blasphemous even as I type it, but I've been away from the computer. I am certainly not quite myself.
Last week we had some lovely guests come into town (my two Aunts from Utah,) and I accompanied them (and my mother) to the country estate in Lampasas for a few days. Here I watched and listened to the three sisters tell about their childhoods, Houston in the "good old days," squirrely neighbors, intersting churchfolk, and trashy relatives -- all subjects I highly recommend (particularly the trashy relatives). Yep, I left my kids and hubs behind and took off with the women. I figured such a gathering might not present itself again, and I wanted an up close and personal look at the women-folk who came before me. I returned home with more vim and vigor (if that's even possible) and a commitment to forge valiantly ahead (at what...I'm still not entirely decided).
Here are the three infamous sisters (Rebecca, Mary, and Judy):
Once home on Friday and I had to kick things into high gear. I had promised a family dinner party on Sunday and then to attend our church girls' camp on Monday. I started making lists and buying food. Oh, and cleaning my house. Dinner parties require clean houses.
For some reason, the dinner party deco ended up with a lot of green and yellow and just the tiniest bit of turquoise. (The paper lanterns came from Hobby Lobby.) It all started with this image:
Image via marthastewartweddings.com
I wanted something summery, and this lemonade spoke to me. I opted for green instead of gray...because I have a lot of green in my house, but otherwise...I wanted those cool bottles...and the paper straws...and the lemonade.
I ordered up the bottles. And the straws. The bottles? They arrived ONE DAY AFTER the party. Typical. But my next dinner party? Bottles are ready to go.
As for food, I served grilled chicken and beef skewers. I included squash, zuchinni, mushrooms, red onion, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes and marinated it in an Italian dressing from Our Best Bites. The recipe is not from their site (but from their cookbook) and is good enough to drink as a beverage. In fact, it's worth buying the book just for the dressing recipe. I also served PW's sundried tomato risotto. I was a little worried about the cooktime since I doubled the recipe...but it all turned out just fine. There was watermelon (no recipe needed), what I like to call THE BIG SALAD, Brazilian lemonade (NOT in the bottles I paid for and had shipped to my home), and THE CAKE.
The cake is Stephmodo's triple layer coconut cake with homemade lemon curd and cream cheese frosting. You must make the lemon curd the night before. I only tell you this because I am TERRIBLE about reading through entire recipes and thus often have to abandon plans that include "night before cooking"...when I'm in the throws of "day of" cooking. Otherwise, this is a straightforward, mighty tasty cake. Also, I'm now a big fan of the cake banner. It's festive and aesthetically pleasing and only takes about five minutes. Those are my three current requirements for cake deco. No, I didn't save the banner for next time. But I considered it.
I also painted some old Barilla sauce jars in lieu of expensive, antique vases (pronounced with a short o). This involves simply pouring paint into the jar and rolling the jar around until all surfaces are covered. Allow at least three days for these to dry. I allowed one day...and well, they will need some definite touch ups.
After the dinner party, Sterling washed the dishes, I dried...and then I started madly packing up the kitchen for cake.
Up tomorrow on UnhistoricActs...How I served raw potatoes to 35 people. It was semi-tragic. Stay tuned.
Sarah, you are one of the most fun girls I know and I'm proud to call ya family. Dinner at you house was fabulous of course and that cake, oh my gosh, it was to die for. All your cutsie little domestic touches were very cool. Not being the domestic type that's really saying something. The trip up to El Rancho Lampasas for great too and your company, as usual, was the best.
Posted by: Mary Theodosis | June 16, 2011 at 08:44 PM
I have to agree; you are very cool. LOVE the dinner party decorations. Those paper lanterns must have been sending out strong signals because I also used some over our table for our grad party last week. Can't go wrong with paper lanterns, I always say. (Well, not always. Maybe just this once.)
Are you hitting Utah at all this summer? I'm going an overabundant three times so maybe, just maybe, the stars will align and you will be there too at some point?
Posted by: Annie | June 17, 2011 at 05:29 AM