My formula for a PERFECT summer dinner….
Grilled chicken burgers topped with ripe tomatoes, avocado, pickle slices and crisp lettuce + chilled white or rose wine + a huge bowl of ripe cherries for dessert.
Hope this summer treats you right friends!
xo,
Lydia
via
Now that my little chubster is making her presence known via little elbows, feet and fists, it’s time to get serious about a nursery. Her room is painted a soft gray with a sky blue ceiling and I’ve found two very different plays on that color scheme. The first, above, is super sweet…
via
…while this one is more surfer girl glam. And features a soft, shaggy rug perfect for rolling in diapers. Fluffy poms versus a fluffy rug. A difficult choice.
Which do you prefer?
xx
Sarah
Don’t you love to see how other people entertain? Like what simple (or not so simple) apps they throw together and what flowers they like to buy? My pal Mary had the ladies over for a Sunday afternoon catch up session in her garden and she put out a beautiful spread.
Nibbles on a Missoni for Target platter and those amazing octopus plates are from Anthropoligie.
You can learn a lot about someone’s style by the way they entertain.
xo,
LEH
Friday
Watermelon margaritas
Potato chips with creme fraiche and caviar
Crostini with prosciutto and peach & mozzarella and tomato
Pepper Jack Mac & Cheese
Romaine with radish and cucumber with Chive Vinaigrette
Grilled vegetable platter with warm vinaigrette
Heirloom Cornbread Muffins with Estate Honey Butter
Hamburgers, garden burgers and hot dogs with all the fixings (caramelized onions, pickled onions, bacon, avocado, cheeses, roasted tomatoes, lettuce and buns)
Barbecued ribs
Grilled BBQ Chicken
Rib eyes with chimichurri
Ice box key lime pie with whipped cream
Saturday
Almond-Lime margaritas
Watermelon and mint water
Mexican baked crab dip with corn chips
Guacamole and fire-roasted salsa
Heirloom tomato salad with blue cheese vinaigrette and fresh basil
Grilled corn on the cob with lime butter
Summer squash & potato gratin
Cheesy Garlic Bread
BBQ pork ribs
Rib eyes with chimichurri and homemade steak sauce
Hamburger & Hot Dogs with all the fixings (caramelized onions, pickled onions, bacon, avocado, cheeses, roasted tomatoes, lettuce and buns)
Grilled Tequila Lime Chicken
BBQ Brown Sugar Salmon
Summer fruit pies and homemade vanilla ice cream
What’d we forget?
xoxo
via
Can you guess what book character would pull her chair up to this table? Hint: she’s a curious girl with a penchant for tea and daydreams.
via
Or this one? He’s an orphan, a hungry one.
According to photographer Dinah Fried, her Fictitious Dishes series “embraces food as a means of transportation to the fictional worlds of some very delicious novels.”
Click through to see her visual interpretation of what it would look like share a sandwich with Holden or Lisbeth.
Whose table would you like to see?
xx Sarah
via
Happy Friday, lovebugs!
Here’s what I served for an intimate dinner party last night:
Crostini with goat cheese, white peach and prosciutto
Crostini with fresh mozzarella and slow-roasted tomatoes
Mixed olives
Homemade lemon basil sodas
Arugula, strawberry and fennel salad with creamy basil vinaigrette
Spaghetti with pesto
Affogato– homemade Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream chocolate ice cream, cinnamon whipped cream, candied walnuts and hot espresso poured over the top.
The best part – aside from the company- was all the delicious summer fruit and bright green basil.
Have you tried Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream? The recipe calls for a base of evaporated milk and corn syrup instead of an egg custard. The result was a little sweeter and less creamy than a classic (for me, a David Lebovitz) ice cream. In terms of texture and sweetness, it reminded me of frozen nutella. Plain, I think it would be too much. With the bitter espresso, however, it worked.
Anyone know if it tastes like that from the store? Might be just the excuse for a mail-order pint.
Have a wonderful weekend!
xx
We attended the most beautiful wedding a few weeks ago in Carmel Valley. From the moment we sat down at the ceremony we were enveloped into a shimmering aura of love and whimsy, captured so well by Keana Parker of One Love Photography.
The bride and her maids did ALL the decor themselves including the flowers! If I had to pin down a theme I would say it was a Vintage, Rustic, Elegant, Musical Wonderland with pops of purple.
A hand drawn save-the-date and wedding program cover set the tone. Homemade lavender eye pillows welcomed guests in their hotel rooms. And at each place setting, chewy caramels with a side of Himalayan Pink Sea Salt were best when enjoyed together, of course.
Humble coffee tins were transformed by cooper spray paint and frothy baby’s breath or fragrant lilacs.
The bride and her dad DANCED down the aisle to this darling song Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color for Your Eyes performed live.
Those creative, hardworking bridesmaids in 50 shades of violet. Notice how the banister is wrapped in baby’s breath? Love this touch!
The handsome groom and his stunning bride.
The seating cards were hung with mini cloths pins and nestled between wedding pictures of family and friends.
And thanks to RedShoeLA we danced for hours and hours under the twinkle lights. Some danced so much, they even ripped a dress.
xo,
Lydia
I feel like a true business woman today, I’m taking a 12 hour business trip to Lake Tahoe today to prepare for a big event for our lovely clients. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it right?
Turns out it’s snowing there!
So excited to smell the crisp piney airy and see the crystal clear waters on my way to and from meetings.
xo,
LEH
When is a pancake not a pancake? When it’s a bona fide dessert. Like this cherry clafoutis. See, I was feeling bad about sharing another oven-baked pancake. I’m a little obsessed with them. But this pancake is really a custard and fresh cherries are so juicy right now that I can’t resist.
Cherries bubbling away in butter & sugar
The French serve it at dinner parties with the pits intact! Talk about a buzzkill. Supposedly the pits enhance the cherry flavor. This is one situation in which I’d willingly sacrifice flavor to keep my teeth.
I used fresh, pitted cherries and followed this recipe. First I made the batter then sauteed the cherry halves briefly in butter and sugar in a cast-iron skillet.
Next, I poured the batter over the softened cherries and placed the skillet in a preheated 425 oven.
20 minutes later we had a puffer ready to be powdered. I’ve read that clafoutis can be made ahead and served room temperature, but doing it that way detracts from the whole effort. You want to see it puffed, smell the warm cherries and watch the powdered sugar and cherry juice thicken to a sweet syrup.
Would you serve pancakes for dessert?
xxSarah
I want to send a fruit basket the person who selected Diane Kruger to be an official Jury Member of the Cannes 2012 Film Festival. So many double days of amazing outfits from my favorite fashionista.
and the best dress of all time (maybe she will let me borrow this one?)
Her casual day time looks were amazing too.
What was your favorite look?
xo,
Lydia