Friday, June 26, 2009

Summer Salad Saturday/Blue Monday


I posted this on Saturday for Summer Salad Saturday, but since it also includes Blue Hawaiian drinks, I thought I would post it for Blue Monday also. Please visit our hostess for Blue Monday, Sally at Smiling Sally, for lots more blue!


Welcome to Summer Salad Saturday, hosted by KD at Southern Whimsy. Please visit her blog for more salads!

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For this week's Summer Salad Saturday I fixed Hawaiian Chicken Salad. Mr. Maison and I enjoyed this in the garden, along with some frozen Blue Hawaiian drinks.


Let's pretend the white tablecloth is a white, sugary sand beach.






Don't these flowers look like sea urchins?



Hawaiian Chicken Salad:


chicken breast
crushed pineapple
chopped macadamia nuts
scallions
celery
sour cream
mayo
salt
pepper

I served the salad in mini phyllo shells.
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Thanks, KD, for hosting Summer Salad Saturdays!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Double Post: Tablescape Thursday and Foodie Friday...June Wedding



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Welcome to Tablescape Thursday and Foodie Friday. Please visit our gracious hostesses Susan and Michael to see more participants in these events.

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This week's Foodie Friday's theme is June weddings. And how nice was it of my friends Debbie and Sid to accommodate me and have a June wedding? LOL!

This is a second marriage for both Debbie and Sid, so they wanted to do something small and casual. And since they're going to be honeymooning in the Bahamas, they went with a tropical theme. The wedding and reception took place on Debbie's sister's back patio.

I had seen a post on Kathleen Ellis' wonderful blog about floating tables, and thought it would make a neat cake table for the wedding. I brought my bistro table from my garden and covered it in a white cloth. Next I placed six clear votive cups upside down around the table (these will end up being the support for the glass). Then I put a strand of icicle lights all around the table top and votive cups. Next comes the glass, and voila! You have a floating table!



The cake was so cute, and the little adirondack chairs were edible!


The lady that made the cake also made these yummy little palm tree shaped cookies.


Here are the food tables. Debbie's sisters did most of the food. I brought shrimp ceviche, but didn't think to get a closeup picture of it. You can kind of see my shell-shaped bowl that I used.



And here's the happy couple. Congratulations, Debbie and Sid! May you have many happy years together!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Let There Be White...White Tablescaping Event


Welcome to Let There Be White, a White Tablescaping Event hosted by the incredibly talented Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen. Please visit Kathleen's wonderful blog for a list of others participating in this event.

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Tea Time Tuesday -- Just Peachy


Welcome to Tea Time Tuesday! Please visit our wonderful hostess, Barb at Grits and Glamour, for more tea time fun.

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Won't you join me for some tea in the garden?






Friday, June 19, 2009

Summer Salad Saturdays



Welcome to Summer Salad Saturdays! Please visit our hostess for this event at Southern Whimsy.



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This week I've fixed my simple, tried-and-true pasta salad. It's so easy to make, but everyone always loves it.



You can really just add in whatever you like or have on hand. Here's my usual mix: tricolor rotini, grape tomatoes (halved), red onion, black olives, freshly ground pepper, Italian dressing.


Thursday, June 18, 2009

Cloche Party


Welcome to the Cloche Party, hosted by sweet Marty at A Stroll Thru Life. Please visit her wonderful blog for a list of other participants.

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My son is graduating from high school tomorrow (yay!), so I didn't have time to put together any cloches. Since Marty is graciously allowing us to include apothecary jars, I thought I would show you the two I have as they are decorated at the present time.
This one is just faux apples. I sometimes switch it out with the seasons, but this is its everyday look.


This jar holds my Japanese fish floats.




Foodie Friday -- Paprika Chicken



Welcome to Foodie Friday, hosted by Michael at Designs By Gollum! Please visit Michael's blog for lots of scrumptious food!



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For this week's Foodie Friday, I'm showing you one of my favorite ways to make chicken lately: Paprika Chicken. I think I originally saw this in Gourmet magazine. I usually make a half chicken since there's only three of us to eat it.








PAPRIKA CHICKEN


Olive oil

1 1/2 T paprika

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t cayenne

1 1/2 t salt

1 t pepper

Onion, cut into wedges


Mix oil and spices together, then rub all over chicken. Pour the rest of the mixture in the pan and toss the onions in it.


Bake at 400 degrees for approximately an hour.


The onions and "sauce" that are left in the pan are delicious, and I usually serve jasmine rice with this and put the onions/sauce over the rice.


Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Tablescape Thursday...Let's Go To The Beach!




Welcome to Tablescape Thursday! Please visit our sweet hostess, Susan at Between Naps on the Porch, for lots of tablescaping inspiration.

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For this week's tablescape, I've once again used a lot of items that were bought at Dollar Tree.

A beach towel serves as a table runner.

I bought some child-sized flip flops to use as napkin rings.





A strawberry daiquiri candle in a coconut half. This smells so yummy!