Foodie Friday and "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" Bookclub Luncheon

To see other great foodie items go to Gollum's blog!









For my bookclub luncheon, I made chicken and asparagus quiches, a green salad with walnuts and cranberries, strawberry and cantaloupe side dish and some mini lemon poppy seed muffins.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cup cooked chicken, cut in pieces.
  
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup half-and-half cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Saute onions until browned.
2. Cut eight asparagus spears into 4-in.-long spears for garnish. Cut remaining asparagus into 1-in. pieces. In a saucepan, cook all of the asparagus in a small amount of boiling water until crisp-tender; drain.
3. In a bowl, toss the chicken, onion, asparagus pieces, cheese, flour, salt and pepper. Pour into pastry shell. In a bowl, beat eggs and cream; pour over chicken mixture. Top with asparagus spears. Bake at 400 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean and crust is golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

I adapted this recipe from one I saw on Allrecipes. com. It used bacon instead of chicken. I increased the number of eggs, from 3 to 4 and the cream from 1/2 to 3/4C.





























When my bookclub selected the autobiography of Julie Andrews, "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years", I was delighted and excited to read her story. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to hostess that month and had so much fun in creating a table scape to go along with the book.

The very first movie that I saw after to moving to the US was The Sound of Music. I was 8 years old and didn't know the English language very well, but I fell in love with the big family with that charming and funny governess and I wanted to be one of those kids.









We all enjoyed the book and were fascinated by her childhood situations, but I was a tiny bit disappointed with the fact that it ended before she spoke about filming The Sound of Music.





I was all too happy to have a purpose for this antique typewriter that was one of my favorite finds in a "sailing" adventure.



All of the bright flowers on the table reminded me of "My Fair Lady".














Although the guest of honor "couldn't make it", I framed her picture for the tablescape.



































Thanks for joining me !











To see other great foodie items go to Gollum's blog!
To see other wonderfully creative tablescapes, run over to Susan's blog!

Beaming with Pride...

We are beaming with pride! Our youngest daughter, Kathryn graduated from the University of South Carolina this month.




Not only is she beautiful inside and out, she graduated with honors.



Graduation ceremony, Columbia S.C.





Class of 2009 !!!








Our Kathryn was accepted into MUSC... the Medical University of South Carolina. It is located in Charleston. The dental program takes 4 years to complete and she is excited about starting the journey to become a dentist.





She'll be joining her sister, Kristin who is starting her 3rd year there.
There's talk of a partnership once they are both finished !!!
As parents, we feel like we hit the jackpot with these two. We couldn't be prouder!
















Kathryn is not only beautiful and intelligent, but has a very kind heart and is very talented.

One of her summers as an undergrad, she spent in New Orleans as a volunteer, helping with the relief program. Although it was hard work and the conditions were rough, she expressed that it was the best thing she had ever experienced and gained so much from it.











Did I say she was talented? She has created many pieces of art for us.

This one is of the Tuscan countryside.






She painted these Christmas cactus flowers while in high school.







This is a piece she created using "pointillism". No lines were drawn, only tiny dots. It was inspired from a photo of her and her sister, when they were 2 and 5 years old.








Last year, for Mother's Day she painted this for me and titled it , "A Rose for a Rose"
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Katie, you make us so proud! You are going to be a great dentist and you'll always be our shining star!

Have a Seat !!!

Hey Y'all, I'm taking a break.... will be back in a week or so.
Gotta get some creative juices flowing again! See you soon.

Karen's "BEEutiful" Tablescape

While living in Chattanooga, I met Karen, who became a very good friend . She and I sure did have a lot of fun and I miss our wild and crazy times.
It has been 7 years now since we moved, but we have kept in touch and last month she called to say she was coming to Atlanta and wanted to meet for lunch! She told me while she was here she wanted to find some yellow and black plates for a tablescape she was creating! ( How funny is that? I had no idea that "other" people did that, I just thought it was the crazy women from Tablescape Thursday that obsessed about setting a gorgeous table.) When I told her that I participated in this TT event, she was amazed. Anyway... Karen was setting a table for a church function called "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party". Each lady signed up to festoon a large round table in any design that she chose.


This cute little beehive cookie jar was her inspiration for her theme, and as you'll see, she was able to tie it in to a Bible lesson.





The "Beatitudes" in the Bible!







Karen bought the black plates for a dollar each at our favorite "Big Lots" !
Luckily she and her husband own and operate a sign shop, "Scenic City Signs" and she was able to print out a different saying for each plate made from vinyl. (Isn't she clever?!) Now the "trick' here is that the guests had their food served on a clear plastic plate, so no food would touch the writing, but the designs are still visible.





In front of each setting she had booklets that she had printed with different verses from the Bible according to the theme of the plate.






In this booklet she printed out verses on being Happy.
I love the way she tied the napkins to "frame" the sayings.


Can you see the tiny bee on top of the handle?







She found this one on E-Bay! Wasn't it perfect for this tablescape?!






How fun is this cup! And I see another little bee here too!




I think this one is my favorite..you know how much I love black and white!





On these black handled utensils, she wrapped yellow vinyl for the bee stripe effect.




Here's the overall look of her table. I think she did an awesome job!
The other plates sayings that you are not able to see are:

BEE JOYFUL
BEE PRAYFUl
BEE FAITHFUL
BEE FRIENDLY
BEE THANKFUL
BEE PEACEFUL


Next year I plan to attend, so Karen, don't forget my invitation!

To see other fun designs please visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch!