You Are Cordially Invited...

... to our most recent Luncheon Club adventure. 

I've yakked before about the Luncheon Club I formed with a group of good friends a few years ago.

 I've said it before, and I will say it again:

 It was one of the best ideas we have ever had. 

Last Saturday, it was my turn to host. 

In full disclosure, I actually reset this table after the fact to take pictures. 

As usual, I was running too late to do that before the hens arrived.  

In case it isn't obvious, my theme for this luncheon was a 

May basket theme.

Flowers, flowers, everywhere...

Flowers on the white tablecloth (borrowed from the Duchess).

 It overlays some magenta fabric for just a hint of pink. 

White linen napkins were folded in the Royal Orchid Fold

and garnished pink flowers. 

(You can see a video of how to do this fold here)

The flowers on the place setting were my color inspiration.

 Technically, that beautiful china belongs to one of my two daughters.

It's just waiting here for safe keeping.

It was the wedding pattern of my  late mother-in-law,

Charnwood, by Wedgewood.

  

I used  white chargers rather than silver or gold 

because I wanted the table to feel light and garden-y. 

Did it work?  

I wanted some pink hydrangeas

to fill this white iron May basket for the center.  

Rather than buy expensive stems, though, 

we purchased a huge bush of pink blossoms 

 from the farmer's market to plant in the yard. 

(I'm researching what I need to do to the soil to keep them pink. 

 Any suggestions are welcome.) 

More May baskets for place card holders. 

I specifically purchased the hot pink gerbera daisies for my garden, too.

I guess that's my tip of the day: 

Plant your own centerpieces.

When planning a garden, choose colors and flowers that you

 know you like to use on tables and vignettes.

(Yes, I realize that for some of you this is obvious, 

but it took this blonde a quarter of a century to figure it out.)

 For me, it's a lot of pink and yellow.  

I planted some "poppy" red, too, since that's my color of the year.

Flatware is my overused Act 1 by Oneida.

Even my stems have flowers. 

That's (my) Moonspun by Lenox.

And there you have it:

A May Basket table for my luncheon.  

And since I have admitted to restaging it, I might as well admit that I came back 

at twilight so I could light the candles.

I really do plan to share the cake recipe

 from the previous post either tomorrow or Friday.

I actually made another one so I could take pictures. 

That's right. Another cake.
Ah, the joys of blogging...

*****

  Sharing with Let's Dish!

Orzo Caprese Salad

Listen up, folks.

 Today, May 6th, is National No Diet Day!  

Who knew? 

I certainly didn't. I had no idea there was only one such day a year. I've been celebrating it about once a week.

It couldn't have fallen on a better day for me, either. As I mentioned on my last post, I hosted my luncheon club here on Saturday, and I just happen to have some left over food. The fact that it's all pretty light and healthy food doesn't matter one iota, either. Everybody knows there's more than one way to break a diet.

You can eat liberally from your restricted food list...

Or you can just plain eat... liberally. 

Personally, I prefer the second option. 

So before I pull the chair up to the refrigerator, I thought I'd share the most requested recipe from the recent luncheon adventure.  It was even requested by the Farm Sister, who inherited the cooking gene. I just inherited the eating gene.

Believe it or not though, I actually concocted this one myself.  I tried three different recipes on Pinterest and ended up using parts of each to create my own version.

Orzo Caprese Salad

1 3/4 cup (dry) orzo

1 bunch asparagus cut into 1-2  inch pieces (I actually just used the tips)

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

2 cloves garlic

2 scallions

fresh mozzarella cut into bite sized pieces

       (or if you can find them, mozzarella balls, halved)

Parmesan, (about a half cup, freshly grated)

basil (about 2 heaping tablespoons)

1 lemon, zested and juiced.

1/3 c. olive oil

1/4 c.balsamic vinegar (preferably white)

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Cook orzo according to package directions. Blanch asparagus (about 2 minutes) and saute garlic and scallions about 2 minutes in 1 T. olive oil.

Mix all. Add tomatoes.

Add about a half cup of freshly grated parmesan. (I didn't measure this. I just kind of heaped it up. If you are using the dried stuff, I imagine you would use less. )

Cut fresh mozzarella into bite sized pieces. (I used a little circle cutter.) I didn't measure this either. I just kept adding until it looked like as much as I would want. I love mozzarella so I put a lot in there.

Add about 2 heaping tablespoons of fresh basil
(Or more if you happen to love it like I do)
and the lemon zest. 

Wisk together:

Juice of 1/2  lemon

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (I always use white balsamic for pasta salads to maintain color. Please do not blame me if you use the regular and it turns all brown, OK?) 

1/3 cup EVOO

Toss. Nibble. Repeat. 

Let stand several hours or overnight. Toss with just a little more lemon juice and a sprinkle of Parmesan before serving

Makes a gracious ton of salad, easily enough for 10 hungry people... or five lunching ladies and a blogger celebrating National No Diet Day all by herself.

Think I'll polish off the rest of this easy 

strawberry cream cheese cake that I dreamed up, too

 I might just post that recipe tomorrow
 if I can waddle to the keyboard after celebrating
 National No Diet Day today.    

*****
Sharing On the Menu Monday

Pinning and Spinning

I might as well post a view from the driver's seat this morning since all I have had time for this week is drive- by blog reading.  I just thought it prudent to let you know I was still alive and that no new catastrophe had fallen upon us.

Quite the contrary, I was busy with an impromptu visit from my favorite Practical One from Capitol Hill, and as always, Motherhood trumps the bloggerhood.  After that, my only excuse is that I have been chin deep in planning for luncheon club this weekend since it's my time to host.

Now, I actually had an entire meal and theme planned for this rotation. Unfortunately, it was a wintery/valentiney theme since I was supposed to host in February. Silly me... I actually thought that the kitchen would be finished by then.

Yeah, right...

So here I am in May, changing the whole thing to a May basket theme. Since we've been doing luncheon club long enough to exhaust my short list of recipes, I have been hopelessly  lost on Mt. Pinterest, too, looking for new ones.

Which then, I had to try.

And then, I had to taste.

I wonder if you can sew a hostess apron from a king sized sheet?

Bet I could find it on Pinterest.

So  anyway, that's where I've been this week, pinning and spinning, which for a blonde isn't always the wisest thing to do.  We tend to get a little lightheaded and forgetful when we spin...which is the reason that I've been burning up the roads as well.

See how I brought this full circle?

 Pretty good, huh?

Fortunately, my country roads are full of wildflowers this year. After over five years of serious drought, they are a welcome sight.

So along the way...

I took time to enjoy those flowers.

I have taken off the comment option for this post 

so I won't be tempted to come back feel rejected. 

 I admit it. 

I'm kind of pathetic and needy like that.  

A Time To Plant

Let me tell you 'bout the 

Birds and the Bees and the Flowers and the Trees

(Admit it. You've got that song stuck in your head now, don't you?)

It's time for the April tablescape challenge

at Cuisine Kathleen's

 Let's Dish!

After several months sabbatical, my tablescape team and I are joining in. 

Since we didn't have any bird stuff, and the Duchess is allergic to bees, and the blossoms are pretty much gone from Georgia trees, we settled on flowers. 

We started with these flower rimmed dinner and salad plates. 

Then we added this dessert plate for a big pop of color. 

We've used these plates before. 

Back then, we called them sunflowers. 

But really...

Don't you think they look a lot more like

 gerbera daisies?

I think they look just like gerbera daisies...

... and it has nothing to do with the fact

 that I just happen to have a bunch of  gerbera daisies waiting to be planted.  

Nothing whatsoever.

So we dubbed them gerbera daisies 

and named this table 

A Time to Plant. 

Dinner plates and charger all belong to the Duchess.

Just about everything else belongs to the Farm Sister.

Her bright orange napkins  break up the field of green. .  

Her flatware

 Dover by Oneida. 

Her casual green stemware.

I added the nifty little stenciled coaster, though.  

I stenciled the little flower pots too.

Then, I filled them with zinnia. (Zinnias? Zinniai?)

Because if you're going to call that flower a gerbera daisy, 

you might as well call it a zinnia too.  

The view through the chairs

inspired by

 See Thru Sue@ My Place to Yours. 

And there you have it. 

A Time to Plant. 

                             Which, based on the condition of those droopy flowers, is now. 

One final shout out tonight to a very special couple that I know. You see, while the Farm Sister helped put together this table, she was actually not on hand to set it. She was too busy celebrating at her own table with the cowboy she married 31-derful years ago today.

Happy Anniversary to... 

... and the moon up above

and a thing called love. 


*****
Also sharing at Tablescape Thursday

Ka-Ching! This One's A Keeper

So I finally stopped griping about the cost of something and tried a homemade version of it for pennies on the dollar.

It's this.

source

I didn't make this up myself, and I have absolutely no clue who actually did. There are versions and variations all over the internet. I'll just say that whoever you are, Miss Makeup Wipe Person, you deserve two thumbs up.  You have just saved me a lot of money.

And this is all it takes.

(boiled or distilled) water - 2 cups

baby wash -2 squirts

coconut oil - 1 to 2 tablespoons

That was the first thing I liked about it: I didn't have to head to the  nonexistent health food store in town; it was all at Walmart.  Lucky me, I already had the coconut oil because of a recipe I saw on Pinterest. The fact that I never actually tried that recipe should in no way negate the thriftiness of this project....

The second thing I liked was that it was fast and easy.  That part was kind of important. Let's face it: Any woman who is too lazy to wash her makeup off at the bathroom sink isn't interested in a chemistry experiment. It took about ten minutes, max.

Just mix the coconut oil with the (warm) water until it dissolves.

 It will start out a soft solid,.

Squirt in the baby wash and stir.

Then place some paper towel in the water and let it absorb.
  I used Bounty select-a-size and folded each sheet in half to fit my container. 

You're supposed to let it absorb for at least five minutes

so that's exactly what I did.  

I waited exactly five minutes to try it out.

Now, here's the part where you get to benefit from my guinea pigheadedness.
  Don't do that.

My first swipes worked well but felt kind of cold creamy on the face. I squeezed out the excess liquid and stored them anyway.  When I tried it again at bedtime, they had a better consistency.

So, if you try this, wait a while.
Of course, you can also dink with your oil to get it the way you want.
 I used 1 1/2 level tablespoons in mine. 
I'm thinking you could even use less. 

The third thing I liked about it was that it actually worked. I don't mean worked like a cheap brand, either. I mean worked like the $7.00 brands.  ( I have no idea how they compare to something even more expensive because I've never tried anything more expensive.) There was no stinging, no drying, and no tugging. I checked the mirror this morning, and there was no football player looking back at me, either. My face feels soft  but not greasy.

Since I like math about as much as I like chemistry, I didn't whip out the calculator for a detailed price analysis, but I estimate the cost to be less than $0.50 for the whole thing. Considering the fact that you can't even get cheap baby wipes for that price, I give it the Ka-ching Award for money in the bank.

I'm putting the difference in my living room chair fund.

It's so cheap that I'm going to buy one more ingredient for my next batch.

Apparently, some folks have discovered mold growing on them if they last too long. Since I'm pretty sure I don't want to add moldy face  to the list of things that freak me out, I'm going to do as suggested and add a few drops of tea tree oil to the solution.  I just didn't want to buy it if the wipes weren't going to work anyway.  

In closing, can I just add one more thing?

Just in case the green police show up at the blog door and attempt a citation.  No... I do not feel guilty for using one, lousy, piece of select-a-size paper towel to wipe off my makeup. I say this because on every source I clicked, there seemed to be some banter between the crunchy hipsters about the waste of paper for this project. Apparently, the hip thing to do is make what they called reusable makeup remover wipes out of  cotton.

Now folks, please do feel free to do so, but I kinda think the idea begs a question:

 Isn't a reusable makeup remover wipe what we old timers call 

a wash cloth?  

Yeah, I think so too.   

Really, I do suggest you try these if you haven't already.

A Farmhouse-ish Kitchen Table

Yes, I realize this is a random time to be posting.  I don't normally post on Friday afternoons, but since I actually finished a project and have a few minutes to spare before the man of the house brings his traveling pants home, I decided to go ahead and share it. 

It's the kitchen table. 

In case you forgot, 

here's what it looked like before. 

I have never been fond of that table. 

We bought it from a friend when we moved here and discovered that the space wasn't suited for our round one.  It was supposed to be temporary... 17 years ago. 

I have always wanted a farmhouse table with big, old, beautiful legs. The husband, on the other hand, actually likes this one, mainly because of the butcher block top. Since he rarely if ever has an opinion about stuff like that  (and since I haven't found a replacement anyway), I decided to make this one work in the new kitchen.  

I sanded the top, first with  coarse (80 grit) sandpaper,

then with medium (150), and then with fine (220).

Then a coat of  prestain conditioner

 and a painted trestle. 

Starting to look a little more farm house-y, don't you think?

I had it in my head  to stain the butcher block dark like all the hip, young, bloggers are doing, but apparently, I'm not young and hip.  I tried five different stains on the flipside of the table and never did feel the love.  

So...

I ended up staining it the same maple that it was to begin with.  

Only darker and richer in color. 

It took two good coats of stain 

(Colonial Maple, Minwax)

and three good coats of tung oil to get the color I wanted.

Maybe not young and hip but very, very, much Debbie.

That's OK with me. 

I checked in the mirror, and a young, hip blogger doesn't live here.

Debbie does.

(You can tell because the table is perpetually set...)

After all these years, I can finally say that I like this table.

In fact,  at the moment, I kinda love it just a little.

I don't even miss the farmhouse legs... 

all that much.

And there you have it:

My make- it -work farmhouse table.

Next up: The bare naked wall behind it.
Yeah, I know.
More decisions.