Foodie Friday

Welcome to Foodie Friday.

Are you ready for July 4th? What's on your menu?

Here are a few of our favorite (but quick) desserts:

Apricot-and-Berry Jam-Tart

This is so easy.

You need one (thawed) puff pastry sheet, canned (or fresh) apricot halves, and jam. Bake, cool, and serve.

Apricot-Blueberry Tart

Another easy fruit tart.

Puff pastry (from the grocery), blueberries, apricots, and lemon curd (grocery).

Bake and serve with whipped cream.

I hope everyone has a safe, happy, food-filled July 4th.

 To add your recipe to the Foodie Friday linky party, look below for the blue Inlinkz frog. Add your permalink and select an image. It may take a few seconds for the entry to process. A red X on your photo allows you to delete your entry if you make an error. The Foodie Friday badge (or button) is located on the right sidebar (see below), and you can add the code to your FF post. If this is your first time to participate in Foodie Friday, a tutorial is available.

Social Bookmarking

Foodie Friday

Welcome to the June 22nd Foodie Friday.

No matter what you're cooking this summer, you'll be sure to find and share great ideas  at this week's recipe exchange.

This summer seems quiet but otherworldly, rather like you've ordered a meal in an uncrowded restaurant. The waiters are polite, candlelight quivers on the table, savory smells waft in the air...but the food isn't quite what you'd ordered.

Blackbird Pie arrives, like it has been whisked out of a nursery rhyme. Just beneath the crust, you hear the birds singing. Thank heavens, because you seriously don't eat blackbirds. But you remember what your mama taught you--when life hands you blackbirds, fly away in your mind's eye.

I set the table on the porch, and suddenly I was flying into an exotic place where time had stopped. Sometimes, when I'm messing around with dishes, I swear, time does seem to slow down. I found these square dishes a few years ago. The pattern is "Tangier," made by Tabletop Unlimited. The dishes seem exotic, like something I might find in a Marrakesh souk. The colors were surely inspired by the spice sellers, with their burlap bags lined up, each one a bright mound:
paprika, saffron, tangerine.

No matter where you live, an outdoor meal offers a chance to fly away. You can enter a fairytale of your own making. A throw quilt can become a tablecloth. Dish towels become napkins. Silk forsythias will not drop petals.
The wind rises, and it seems to tell a story.

Once upon a time, on a farm far, far away...

 Happy recipe hunting!

 To add your recipe to the Foodie Friday linky party, look below for the blue Inlinkz frog. Add your permalink and select an image. It may take a few seconds for the entry to process. A red X on your photo allows you to delete your entry if you make an error. The Foodie Friday badge (or button) is located on the right sidebar (see below), and you can add the code to your FF post. If this is your first time to participate in Foodie Friday, a tutorial is available.

Social Bookmarking

Foodie Friday: Summer Lunch

Welcome to Foodie Friday!

I'm so happy to see you.

Lunch is ready, simple, summery fare on the lawn.

Won't you join me?

I love to assemble picnic items. I began with a yellow-and-gray vintage tablecloth, a black tole tray, and a wire beverage caddy. I used a lidded jar for the salad--a great way to transport food (and it will keep the bugs away). I mixed French glassware with paper plates, napkins, and plastic cutlery.

 

A peek at the caddy--love the swirls and loops.

 

I made an apple-walnut salad and a raspberry vinaigrette.

These jars can be found in all sizes. Aren't they just perfect for potato salad, lemon bars, muffins, relish, and even fried chicken?

 

Ham and cheese croissants are easy,

and they taste so fresh on a warm June day.

When I think of picnics, I imagine the outdoor teas in English novels--huge baskets, a wash of green lawn and shrubs, and Wedgwood-blue sky . Here in Tennessee, the sky is just the same but with with different botanica:
a purple butterfly bush, red roses, shrubs.

 

Are you ready to eat?

  

 Happy recipe hunting!

 To add your recipe to the Foodie Friday linky party, look below for the blue Inlinkz frog. Add your permalink and select an image. It may take a few seconds for the entry to process. A red X on your photo allows you to delete your entry if you make an error. The Foodie Friday badge (or button) is located on the right sidebar (see below), and you can add the code to your FF post. If this is your first time to participate in Foodie Friday, a tutorial is available.

Social Bookmarking

Foodie Friday: An Early June Picnic for Two

 Welcome to Foodie Friday. Glad you're here!

Sickness still prevails in our neck of the woods. But I was cheered when I found photographs from a long-ago picnic at our farm.

The simple menu included salad, fruit, bread, and wine.

Colors were inspired by the vintage tablecloth.

The bee skep added a touch of texture and whimsy.

Polka dotted pottery and gingham napkins

beckon from the cheery tablecloth.

A tiered compote is a handy serving item when space it tight, as it is here.

(I covered a small metal accent table with the vintage linen.)

The red glasses are also vintage. I love mixing old and new tableware.

Quite by accident, the dots on the pottery mimic the currants in the bakery scones.

Another look at the compote.

The golden hour approaches, those lovely moments when the sun falls at an angle, softening as it passes through the atmosphere, producing a characteristic amber glow.

Love the chippy Adirondacks.

What's your favorite picnic menu? 

A short update on Rattlebridge. I haven't been able to personally check on the progress, but my contractor's assistant sent photos of the modified newel post.

Sunlight streams through the windows we added over the front door. 

Below is the old post--much, much fatter, isn't it?

And now, the smaller one. The scale is perfect.

I love it! 

Before you go, don't forget to leave a comment and share your favorite summer picnic menu. Or, if you know a good recipe for a healing bowl of chicken soup, I'd love to hear it.

To join the Foodie Friday linky party, look for the Inlinkz blue frog icon and follow the directions. After your link goes live, you may see an X; it's not an error--it allows you to delete your link. Also, I'm having issues today with Blogger and Inlinkz. I'm working on a solution. Have a great weekend.