A Funeral Party~ And the Fairy Hobmother

She is dead...gone.  And I couldn't be happier!  She was a pain in the neck, disruptive, loud and downright mean, so she won't be missed.  No one will grieve for her, but she caused A LOT of grief! 

Good Riddance IRENE!!!

We are having a party to celebrate her demise.

I almost didn't post, but the power and phones are back! 

One thing I learned, keep that land line.  The cell phones required running the car to charge the battery, and it was hard to get a signal! 

Some places ran out of gas, and needed electric to pump anyway. 

It was a perfect time for the Fairy Hobmother to visit!

I was surprised when I was finally able to get back on line to see she had flown in!

I was gifted with a 50 dollar gift card to Amazon.com!  That definitely cheered me up.

The Fairy Hobmother wants to gift you too!

I am waiting for next week's post as so many are still without internet service.

  She will pick one person who comments on that post and pay a visit bearing gifts, so do come back! You could be the lucky winner! To make it more fun, when I get to 500 followers I will be doing a give away too!

Since it is till summer, and very summery I might add, I chose this floral tablecloth.  I got it a few years ago on ebay, 3 of them from a party rental place.  Very reasonable, and very colorful!

This pic is from a few years ago.

And here when my friend Susan, Savoring Time in the Kitchen, had a garden party.

 

Today...

Irene whipped the gardens, and the deer came to eat the roses, so I used a pot of impatiens, diamond frost and petunias for the centerpiece.

The dinner and soup are from Pottery Barn, and the salad is from Pfaltzgraff.  I liked how the edges all had different textures.

Green flatware from World Market.  Susan sent me some for my birthday and I completed the service for 12 afterwards.

Two place settings have a purple salad, 2 have yellow, as I only have 3 of each color.  They came in a box of four colors, for 2.99 at CTS, but part of the Circle of Friends group from Pfaltzgraff.

The purple cabbage bowls are from my friend Marigene , In the Middle of Nowhere.  We have been friends many years from a cooking forum, pre blogging.  Marigene is a great baker, I wish she would share more of her baking with us!

The napkins are linen towels from a huge Trash to Treasure sale they used have out here over 25 yrs ago.

Monogrammed H L.  Hobby Lobby?  I wish they would come to NY!

I used a green beaded napkin ring from CTS, I think they were .25 cents!

The picket fence candle holders I bought 11 years ago, cheap!

The pink glassware is by Gorham purchased at the Lenox outlet.

 

 

Since this is a party, we must have some food!

First we'll have Hurricane Salad.

Use everything you have in the frig so it doesn't go bad from lack of power!

Shrimp, chicken, fresh pineapple, the works!

 

For dessert, Carrot Cup Cakes, because I had a huge bag of carrots I had peeled and grated in the freezer .

I made some double deckers...

And some regular.

I used this recipe as I couldn't find the one I usually make.  It was pretty close!

Here.

 

I am joining LA for her End of Summer Party, although I will be resisting the push to do F'all Y'all , till late September!

Also, Susan for Tablescape Thursday, Gollum for Foodie Friday, Diann for Thrifty Friday, and Ann, On Sutton Place Open House Thursday.

Thanks for visiting, and do come back to see what I used my Fairy Hobmother gift card for, and a chance to win one yourself!

My prayers go out to all those suffering the aftermath of Irene, no power, floods, so much hardship. 

I want to thank all of you who emailed to see if we were ok out here on the east end of Long Island. I was touched by your concern! I haven't been able to visit, oh did I tell you we had a Hurricane? :)

Will You BEE Joining Me?

 

I hope so!  It was a BEE utiful day, so I set a place for you out in the garden.  We'll have Brunch.

The Bees are loving the Black Eyed Susan's!

The cloth is a piece of fabric I got for a dollar at Duralee.

I didn't hem it yet, I wasn't sure I would have enough to fit the table, but it did!

I used the bee yellow candle holder as a vase.  The lines reminded me of a skep.

I filled it with white pee gee hydrangea and some yellow portulaca.

You can see the BEE on the glasses, which were from CTS as were the candle holders, 1.29.

Ruffled yellow charger, CTS, 1.69

Black and white Spode plate, from Savers.  More info HERE.

Yellow cake/salad is by Pfaltzgraff , Circle of Friends pattern.  They came 4 to a box, yellow, purple, pink and green.  Less than a dollar each, pretty edge too!

Yellow Fiesta Flatware from Tues. Morning.

See how the bee's head pops up on the napkin ring?

Those were sent to me by sweet Diann at The Thrifty Groove.  They were from CTS.

Solid yellow napkin with a polka dot to match the plate.

If you have Bees, you need birds, and these Salt and Peppers are from Pier One. They are similar to the ones from Target that flew throughout blogland when Susan did a special event with them.  That was fun, something different than the same old, same old.  We should do something like that again.  Let's see, what is something most of us have and could have an adventure using?

I'll be thinking about it!

The yellow pitcher was my mom's.  So are the Susan's.  Before we sold her house, I dug some up to plant here.  They are flourishing all over the berm in the left of the pic.

There's  a gorgeous breeze today!

I will enjoy it.  Yesterday the earthquake, and the weekend IRENE may hit Long Island.  :(

I made individual cheese stratas for us.

They puff up so beautifully.

But it will deflate so you can dig in!  I have to have ketchup on mine!

My friend A., The Tablescaper, posted my recipe last week.   HERE 

I would just add to make sure when you cover it and place in the frig overnight, push the plastic wrap down so that all the bread is submerged in the egg, cheese mixture.

It heats up well in the microwave the next day too.

Use ham, broccoli, whatever you like!

A little something sweet to have with our coffee...

Some BEE hive sugar cookies.

See the little BEE trying to get it?  :)

Don't let it sting you!

Thanks for visiting!

I am joining

Susan for Tablescape Thursday

Open House at On Sutton Place

Diann for Thrifty Friday

Gollum for Foodie Friday

Summer's Not Over Till the Calendar Says So!

You won't see any Autumn decor here.  I am not pulling out those crisp Fall day recipes either!  It's summer, and the kids don't go back to school here till the 7th.  19 more days to wear your flip flops and enjoy the season!

My table today was inspired by this cloth I got at the Duralee Outlet for $1.00, called Caribbean.

A bright plaid with orange, green, pink and yellow.

Yellow ceramic flip flops from CTS, last year.

The pineapple is the sign of welcome, so welcome to my back yard!

I had 3 of these food screens from CTS, so the table is set for 3.

Ruffled yellow charger, CTS, orange dinner, $ Tree, lime ruffled bowls, a gifts from my friend Karen, years ago.

Yellow napkin held by a big bright pink flower napkin ring.  Diann at The Thrifty Groove sent me these and some other adorable napkin rings you will be seeing in the future!

Yellow flatware by Fiesta.  I got it when The Tablescaper and I went shopping last time.  It's from Tues. Morning and was 6.00 a place setting.  Macy's is selling it for a lot more, A LOT!  

Bright green hurricane, .39 cents from CTS, with a tall yellow candle inside.

Orange glasses from CTS, 90% off, were   .22.  And the orange pitcher is from WalMart a few years ago at the end of the summer, .50.  I grabbed a bunch of them in different colors.

Lemon and Kiwi shaped candles, don't remember where I got them, years ago.

So put out your pumpkins and leaves if you must, but I will enjoy the big chunk of summer that is left!  :)

All of these flowers came back from last year, they seeded themselves! 

Since I had a pineapple, I made some chicken salad  with bow ties and served it in the shell.

Chicken breasts  baked and cut up, season, snow peas, bow tie pasta, onions, mayo, juice from the pineapple, and a shake of powdered mustard. Lots of fresh ground pepper , too!

A good summer lunch, or a side with something from the grill!

Thanks for visiting, be sure to go catch a wave before the F_ _ L  season starts!  :)

 

Look at those rosy cheeks and smile.  He's my favorite youngest gson!  :)

I am joining Susan for Tablescape Thursday, Gollum for Foodie Friday. Diann at the Thrifty Groove, The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday, and Stone Gable for On the Menu Monday.

PS...

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Those Boats Sail Again!

In my last post I showed you pictures of the centerpieces I used for a community dinner dance.

Last  Saturday night they set sail again for a neighborhood Covered Dish Supper.

This is one of my favorite covered dishes, from Villeroy and Boch scooped up at a great price at a sale.

I bought the blue and white fabric at the Duralee Outlet.  I used 2.5 yds for each 6 ft table, so each cloth cost me 6.00.  They are heavy weight fabric, and I am sure they will be used many times. 

The sailboats were on clearance for .70 cents, and I filled them with hydrangea.

The cloth napkins and stainless flatware were tied in a blue ribbon.

 

Different shaped shell votives , also from Christmas Tree Shop were .80 cents and again, will be used for other parties.

There were over 80 adults and 15 children. 

Three long tables held the salads, main dishes and desserts .  Each family was asked to bring a main dish enough to feed their group plus 3, and a salad or dessert.  There was plenty of food!

A fresh pear cake...

Pork Fried Rice   

The way I make it is similar to the recipe in the newest Rachel Ray magazine.  She used pulled pork in hers, I use a loin of pork cut into chunks.  We like more pork than rice!

Here's another of hers,but I don't use ginger or peppers.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/special-fried-rice-recipe/index.html

Dh made a pot of his famous chili, and I made a pot of New England Clam Chowder too.

A wonderful summer evening in a very special place!

Thanks for visiting!

I am joining The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays

Stone Gable for What's on the Menu Monday

Happier than a pig in Mud for the Celebrity Cookoff

Marty for Tabletop Tuesday