~ tapenade pinwheels ~ This is an easy appetizer to make if you have puff pastry in the freezer. I like to keep a package on hand at all times. It’s great for so many things! This little appetizer is made with tapenade, but you could use pesto too. This is a lovely addition to…
Wonderful memories of a beautiful night spent with friends. A pre-Christmas celebration. Candle light, conversation, fondue, a gift exchange and a champagne toast. How did you celebrate your friendships over the Holiday season? ~Melissa
tasting: apple cider floats, carrot cheddar curry tea sandwiches with raisins and apple on whole grain sandwich thins (and cut into wedges), cucumber sandwiches, chili and pumpkin filled crescent rolls. smelling: pumpkin crescent rolls baking in the oven, spicy candles burning, and fresh roses (that hubby gave me for our anniversary.) feeling: blessed by the…
I’m feeling that feeling that comes over me every October. Time to feather the nest! I’ve packed summer away, rolled out the woven throw rugs and wool area rugs, and exchanged summer’s crisp blues and whites for autumn’s tawny earth tones. I sipped tea and hot apple cider while I decorated and took photographs to…
I invited my friend Nancy over for a relaxing lunch to celebrate her birthday. Before she arrived, I lit candles everywhere, started Nora Jones playing low over the iPod dock, put the tea kettle on the stove, and made a batch of proper cucumber sandwiches. I’ve made almost as many cucumber sandwiches as I have…
~teacup lunch~ I came across this sweet idea for serving lunch in a stack of teacups while paging through one of my favorite magazines awhile back. I decided immediately that at some point I was going to enjoy a teatime lunch this way. Today was that day! It was really simple and I love the…
~ pumpkin votives ~ Time to start decorating for Autumn! Today I’ll be taking my Autumn decorations down from the attic and packing up the white slipcovers, blue & white and “beach house” decor for another year. Here’s one of my favorite, easy, centerpiece ideas for this time of year. I alternate mini pumpkin votive…
“He boils milk with fresh ginger, a quarter of a vanilla bean, and tea that is so dark and fine-leaved that it looks like black dust. He strains it and puts cane sugar in both our cups. There’s something euphorically invigorating and yet filling about it. It tastes the way I imagine the Far East…
“A book of verses underneath the bough, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou…” ~Edward Fitzgerald It’s my birthday week and the first celebration was a little picnic under our oak tree. We made a Muffuletta sandwich, sipped wine and rosewater lemonade, and had creamsicle Oreos and dark Dove chocolates for dessert.…
~muffuletta~ Yesterday was one of those days that was perfect for a picnic so I decided to get up early and make a muffuletta sandwich. This is an Italian delicacy that actually originated in New Orleans at a little place called Central Grocery. They have a specific way of making the sandwich, but as you…