A couple sneak peeks of our BBQ preparation.

Menu:
Burgers (beef, turkey, salmon, veggie) with a toppings bar
Grilled asparagus
Pesto pasta with peas
Chile corn custard squares
Green salad
Cheese plate with five different cheeses as well as some black grapes, hazelnuts, homemade marionberry jam, and stone ground crackers
Lemon cornmeal pound cake topped with seasonal berries and macerated peaches

We threw a small dinner last night for friends who were so helpful with watching over our apartment while we were away. Since our guests had certain food limitations that made most proteins out of the question, I decided that salmon fillets would fit the bill.

I went with a Spanish-inspired menu using a recipe for salmon that I had made before with much success. For a starter that could be enjoyed with wine, I thought of making some potatas bravas. Instead of deep-frying the potatoes, I used freshly dug fingerlings and rendered the recipe a little lighter by baking them, well-seasoned and halved, until crispy and soft in the middle.

In the original plan I was going to prepare a creme caramel for dessert, but after seeing a recipe for a Top Secret Chocolate Mousse in Dorie Greenspan's new book and remembering something that a French friend had said about serving chocolate mousse for dessert at dinner parties, I quickly altered my plan.

menu:
potatas bravas with spicy tomato sauce and garlic aioli
salmon al a sidra (served in hard cider) with mussels and clams
fresh baguette with garlic and chive butter
top secret chocolate mousse

 

[1-3. c. lynn]

I just saw these adorable Halloween party invitations from Rifle Paper Co. Once we're back from our trip, it will be high time we started thinking about our costumes. Last year I was a sailor and before that a matador. Hmm... We'll have to put this on the back burner. 

[1. Rifle Paper Co.]

All summer long I have been searching for a reusable melamine plate for barbecues and parties. I think that I've found it! Decoupage artist and East Village staple shop owner for all things that one might find in curio cabinet, John Derian just launched his collection for Target, featuring among other assorted prints on platters, a line of fabulous melamine plates!


[1-5. Target]

Our housewarming is coming up this weekend and I'm so excited to have everyone over. The house is in great shape now that A's office is properly organized and our kitchen is stocked with food and beverages for the big day. I've planned the menu with a few snacks and spreads followed by a vegetarian entree and a pulled pork slider.

Our menu:
Apricot chutney served over fresh cream cheese with crackers
Guacamole with tortilla chips
Freshly made white bean hummus with mini pitas
Garden salad
Chile corn custard squares
Niman Ranch pulled pork sliders with blue cheese and homemade red onion pickles

and a raspberry tart with a pistachio crust for dessert

[1. D*S]

Now that our couch has arrived and we can properly entertain, it's time for our first dinner party at our new apartment. I've been busily preparing a vegetarian menu for our friends B and M. Tonight, we'll start with a cheese plate to nibble on—aged Gouda, buttermilk blue, and a young Manchego. For dinner, we'll be serving a golden and red beet salad with frisee and chevre topped with a basil oil vinaigrette and a spring vegetable risotto with zucchini and asparagus. For dessert, we'll be having a delicious summer nectarine cake (adapted from this recipe) with a choice of ice creams—lavender or vanilla bean. Yum!

[1. c. lynn]

With a beverage dispenser of this sort, your guests will never forget who hosts the best parties. Each dispenser looks so pretty with sliced fruit bobbing along inside. While a bit pricey, they are definitely an investment in parties to come; for more.

[1 & 2; Roost]

I am starting to feel more at home in Portland and so I'm excited to throw a housewarming party on the third week of August. I'm trying to brainstorm some nice ideas for party decor. I'm liking these assorted amber bottles as vases for green and purple flower cuttings.

I'd also like to figure out a few crowd-pleasing recipes to pull together, too. I know that there will definitely be some watermelonade, but what else . . . perhaps the raspberry tart with a pistachio crust that looked so good in August's issue of Food + Wine magazine.

[1. Sunday Suppers; 2. Dayna McIsaac]

It's A's birthday this weekend—well, technically tomorrow—but we're celebrating with friends today. Dinner, gifts, cupcakes, and Champagne—what more could you ask for?

We love Butter Lane bakery. Clockwise from top left: vanilla cake with chocolate icing; "the Elvis," banana cake with peanut butter icing and marshmallows on top; chocolate cake with cream cheese icing; vanilla cake with cream cheese icing.

[1. & 2. c_lynn]

Oh no, I left these delicious Greek pastries that I was supposed to bring to my sister's engagement party in my freezer as I dashed to my mother's to arrange things. I realized it this morning as I opened the freezer door to get my coffee beans ready for the press. Oh well, I guess I'll have to dream up a reason to throw a little cocktail party!

By the way, our bee-themed party for T and J was ever so sweet with enormous yellow balloons, honey hive cakes, bumblebee cookies, and sunny mimosa cocktails with Veuve. While it was a really charming way to show our love and support, it was also important to bring up the plight of the honeybees in the U.S. and what we can do to help save them. In the last few years, honeybee colonies have been experiencing a crisis called Colony Collapse Disorder that has attributed to the loss of 1 in 3 honeybee colonies nationwide. We presented tips on how to help support the bees in your community by planting bee-friendly flowers, eating Häagen-Dazs ice cream (they donate a percentage of their proceeds to bee-saving research), dismantling any bee-killing contraptions, and also donating to bee research at UC Davis (one of the oldest bee research facilities in the country). To find out more about Colony Collapse Disorder and how you can help, click here.

J asked my sister T to "bee" his and we're simply buzzing with excitement.

I'm throwing my sister an engagement party in a few weeks. I just got the letterpressed invites and now I'm starting to pull together the fabrics, recipes, and guest list. We are having a yellow color theme with honey bees, sunshine, and bee-ing happy.

Summer dinner menu
--
Gruyere gougere
Ratatouille (Noelle's recipe)
Tamarind-glazed pork shoulder with spring potatoes
Nectarine clafouti

and a watercolor sunset on the side

Returning from the Arctic and slamming straight into a New York City heat wave, is unlike any other climate shock that I've ever experienced.

There is an inbox that needs sorting, projects at work that need tending, and an end of summer dinner party that needs planning. All this and I haven't even sorted through my Arctic photographs yet.

But despite all the hustle and bustle, it's good to be home in this noisy, dirty, sweaty city. I've missed you New York.
[Photograph by {this is glamorous}]

I'm going to throw a "back in NY" dinner party on the roof when we get back from our voyage in August. I'm going to pick up this tablecloth, and this fish plate, and we're going to have lots of summer seafood.

Last weekend's birthday party was a fantastic success. We served a pineapple sangria, champagne with raspberry sorbet, and a mod-Mex/Spanish Fiesta inspired menu that was just perfect.

Brochettes of Melon, Serrano, and Fresh Mozzarella
Chile-Corn Custard Squares
Lamb Meatballs with a Mint Tarragon Sauce
Mini Crab Cakes
and a Tres Leches Cake from our favorite Mexican restaurant in NYC

Here's the recipe for the yummy sangria that we made:

Pineapple Strawberry Sangria
Ingredients:
1 750-ml bottle Spanish table wine
4 6-ounce cans pineapple juice
4 cinnamon sticks
2 cups 3/4-inch cubes fresh pineapple
1 tangerine, sectioned
1/2 cup hulled strawberries

Splash of Orange Patron
Ice cubes


Preparation:
1) Mix first 6 ingredients in large pitcher. Cover and chill at least 6 hours or overnight.
2) Fill tumblers with ice. Pour sangria over. Garnish with orange slices and serve.

[1-2. Bon Appetit Magazine]

This morning I braved the drizzling cloudy skies and lack of cabs to the flower district on the west side. I ran along the street looking for the perfect blooms—I was not searching for orchids nor was I looking for baskets, florist’s tape, or twine. Just as the thick grey sky starting to give way to the dense droplets that hung above, I ducked into one of the shops along the street.

The floor was wet with strewn petals and branches, twigs and leaves—and all around were these blooms in all kinds of candy box colors. Bushes of lilac were stacked in the front, with tight bouquets of roses in fifteen colors along the wall. There were peonies just ready to burst with fluffy petals alongside pink and light periwinkle hyacinth and freesia.

I loaded up on deep purple hyacinth, tea party pink peonies, and blushing mauve ranunculus, and left the shop with a brown paper wrapped bushel of loveliness.

I'm so looking forward to tomorrow night.