Barefoot Contessa At Home

Don't you just love this?

"Something smells really good!" my husband Jeffrey exclaims every Friday
night when he walks in the door. Most weeks, Jeffrey has been around the world
and back and when he walks in that door, I want him to feel that he's really
home. What he doesn't realize is that what feels very casual is, in fact, quite
deliberate the music is playing, all the lights are on, there are flowers
everywhere, and chicken and onions are roasting in the oven."

And more

..."All day long, I feel as though I'm batting back the baseballs that are
being hurled at me; decisions to make, places to go, cranky people to deal
with... and when I come home I want my house to feel serene and beautiful, like
the way you feel when you get into a bed piled high with down pillows: you're
safe."

from the Barefoot Contessa at Home

For those of you not familiar with her cookbooks- she has some terrific simple recipes.

Breakfast Fun

Sometimes it's not so much what you serve, but how you serve it.


....we wished we had some granola to sprinkle on top :)

Songs that touch the heart

A friend of mine posted this video on her blog a few days ago. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share it with all of you.







Jon Schmidt is an amazing pianist and has many other songs you can listen to on his website.

http://www.jonschmidt.com/catalog/index.php

I hope that you enjoy this as much as I have!

Formal For A Change

As a pleasant change from buffet style we decided to try our hand at a formal dinner. It was so much fun playing with the dishes trying to achieve just the "right look". Because of the number not everything matched so we mixed pewter, solid white dishes, and a botanic garden pattern. We also had to do a little on line research to learn where to place everything and for directions on fun new napkin folds.

It looked really nice and we were pleased with this change of pace style dinner. We alternated servers for each course so everyone could enjoy the meal (not to mention learn how to serve). It made for a special and yes in a way relaxing meal.