date day :: tea for two

“Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.” ~Henry Fielding One of the things I like about the tea ritual is that it can be made as simple or elaborate as you wish. Today I decided to fill a teapot with lilacs, pour iced tea with lemon and mint into our crystal wine glasses,…

grilled thai chicken pizza with spicy peanut sauce

photographs by Melissa Placzek ~ grilled thai chicken pizza with spicy peanut sauce~ makes four 10 inch pizzas So far this is my favorite gourmet pizza that we’ve made on the grill. The Margherita pizza is my second favorite (fresh romas, mozzarella, and basil) and the purist’s pepperoni pizza is always good…but this pizza is…

paris garden sandwich

photographs by Melissa Placzek “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast.”~Ernest Hemingway ~Paris Garden Sandwich~ This is a gorgeous sandwich inspired by a Paris garden.  I made these…

six senses saturday

“Tasting, seeing, experiencing, living– all these demonstrate that there is something common to enlightenment-experience and our sense experience; the one takes place in our innermost being, the other on the periphery of our consciousness.” ~D.T. Suzuki ~Seeing~ This adorable recipe for Krabby Patties penned by Gracie when she was 5… ~hearing~ Christina Perri jar of…

scented geranium lemonade

~scented geranium lemonade~ When I worked at the Tale of Two Sisters Tearoom I was introduced to a beautiful herb called Rose Geranium. Bonnie used this herb in her cakes and as a garnish for sandwich trays. SO pretty. Just recently I had a yen to recreate her chocolate rose geranium cake and ordered rose…