“Aren’t these squash blossoms pretty?” I said to my husband, “but what do you do with them?” I asked.

“You fill them with ricotta and fry them” he says.   I’ve scouted this recipe from Epicurious. so far.

And so that is what we are doing this weekend,  and not much else.  We are desperately in need of some un-scheduled family chill (or fry) time.

Happy Hump Day.

Sometimes my ambition gets the best of me, and I’ve never really been one to tread lightly.  A Barefoot Contessa, I am not, none the less, we decided to host an outside garden dinner party, for 25 people.  Yikes!

No catering company, no hired bartenders or rented anything.  Just a whole lot of foraging, planning, borrowing, scrambling, and a little in-house brawling (ha ha) and frankly— a lot of having fun!

Here’s how it ended up.

First and foremost, I prayed for good weather as the garden was the only spot where the party could be–and a main focus for the event.

Then we selected a color palette of bright orange and turquoise to set the theme “summer bright,” with plates, candles & a whole lot more.  Mixed in with lots of neutral nautical nods, like shells, glass floats, starfish and…

despite my best efforts, I can never really pass up a few kitschy decorations procured from the local party store.  I’m sure you noticed the plastic red anchor on the garden gate! And the crustacean below hanging on the front door…

Florals from farmers markets and my own yard, lobster bibs (which doubled as place mats, sourced from IKEA, how surprising and great were they to stumble upon?!), etc. all fell in line with the vibrant color scheme.

Rustic while practical and still elegant (stemmed and wobbly wine glasses, simply would not do) touches like selecting and using these canning jars for cocktails and wine while doubling as place card holders (found these plastic oval stickers at Cost Plus World Market, I will be going back and buying packets and packets of them for future parties) positioned in front of seats for assigned seating.

My brilliant friend suggested a “signature cocktail” for the event.  It was such a hit, I cannot even tell you.  New must-have addition to the liquor cabinet for all summer cocktails, Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea infused Vodka.

Here’s the recipe:  Fill the jar up to the top with ice, fill 1/2 way with Sweet Tea Vodka, top with lemonade, add a lemon slice or two and sprig of mint (mine comes from our garden), stir and VOILA!

We all joked throughout the evening that they went down so easily we needed to keep a tally system for how many each person would imbibe.  Putting a straw in these babies, pretty much equals death.  Be warned!

I am a firm believer that for parties, people like to be able to help themselves, so I always set up self serve bars.  It’s just less stuffy, especially for an event in a home.

I have always been blessed with good looking friends, I’m kidding.

Or maybe not.

but I swear, I’m not superficial…:)  Moving on.

As we pondered the menu and wanted to play up the fruits-of-summer idea (and I ‘m sure you can already guess by previous photos), we agreed –lobster would make a great “one pot” meal that we could serve somewhat easily, buffet style.   Again love and need the casual vibe.

We ordered 17, 1.5 pound lobsters.  They were actually from Canada, (my apologies to anyone I told were Maine lobsters, as I truly did not know til after the fact, but they were just as delicious and didn’t have as far to go!) as many people asked/wondered.  They were all alive when they went into the pot, so it must have been a particularly speedy trip through Customs:)

Purchased a ginormous 60 quart pot, (and now we are able to boil spaghetti for a whole school if needed for future events/track meets) that requires a whole room in our house to properly store, but oh well.

And in they go!  We followed this recipe from Bon Appetit magazine.  By the way, did you know that if you throw in a couple of eggs, by the time they are hard boiled, the lobsters are DONE.  Pretty cool trick, Ehh? As those Canucks would say.

The round table worked great for the flow of the buffet.

Quick aluminum cover up (by this point, I’m all smiles) before we rallied the troops to load up their plates.

Demonstration of what everyone is in for (by Mi gorgeous Madre)!

Everyone got into the spirit and sported their bibs immediately.

The 3 dessert options consisted of #1 strawberry rhubarb pie that one my Besti-es made “with her own two hands” (as my daughter would ask…by the way, she also left a note requesting that we save some pie for her for the next morning).

#2 Klondike bars=summer treat as we all know, there are always some choca-holics in the crowd.

And for the grand finale– #3 fireside S’mores.  Cause we are all really kids at heart, right?

Yours Truly,

The Flip-Flop Contessa

There is nothing really quite like hosting a party or company to give one a serious “kick in the pants” to get some of the ole projects into high gear.  Combine this with the fact, that my Mom came to town, who has an awesome eye for decor and gardening in general, so we have basically been working around the clock to shape the yard up.

I must admit, we inherited a pretty cool looking yard and courtyard with established trees, bushes, and vegetation galore. Though one of my least favorite aspects for years, has been this visible eye sore–or side of my neighbors garage (visible on my property).  I had enough–and would be hosting a garden dinner party for 24 people in a few days.  It was time to take action.

Notice the brown chipping paint and moldy/mossy factor, pretty much looking all around ugly, for far too long.   There was also a broken window I was dying to cover.   I thought long and hard about how to transform it.  I had a vision with IKEA mirrors, but the practicality of it was, well, not practical…but I have still not given up on the concept all together, for the record (and much to my husband’s chagrin).

I love to re-purpose things, so I had all kinds of ideas floating around, like spray painting old Spanish garden sconces that I’ve had forever.

Knowing that white covers a multitude of sins, I decided to start with white paint. (29 coats or so, but who’s counting?)

A cheap bottle of some textured gun metal colored spray paint, totally did the trick for the sconces.  And was completed in a jiff, I may add.

A trip to Lowes to buy the contents for some oversize black planters, think bright green coleus, amazing blue-ish purple-ish clematis that I hope crawls up the garage some day, and funky red-ish bushy grasses for high impact.

And the unexpected “star” of the project–truth be told, were these old “shutters” or closet doors actually, that we replaced a few years ago and were sitting on the side of my house.

Oh the effect and re-purposing  (to cover that damn broken mirror) tickled me happy.

And this is what it looked like by “party time”

More about that soon!  I’m sorry I have neglected you all…soooo many projects, but I’m-a-back to bloggin and will be letting you know about them all!

A few solitary hours to fiddle in my garden.

Daisies are my “happy flower”  Our hydrangeas and black eyed susan’s are ready to explode.  We are going to undertake a pretty large garden project this weekend, complete with before and after pics., must check back in a few days….

I hope your day is filled with simple pleasures too.

That is what the SAM stands for.

Ok, Ok it may actually stand for Seattle Art Museum, but my acronym is true too.  We are so fortunate to have this cultural treasure in our city, set in front of the Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains, it is just breathtaking.

The SAM’s Olympic Sculptural Park is such an amazing addition to the landscape of downtown Seattle.  Walking this amazing sculptural garden is like a giving yourself a gift.

Split, 2003
Roxy Paine
(on loan)

Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, model 1998, fabricated 1999
Claes Oldenburg   and Coosje van Bruggen
(on loan) By Paul Allen

The Eagle, 1971
Alexander Calder

Artist’s working “hands on” on a new installation.

Future curators?

Today is a gift, that’s why it’s called The Present.  Happy Hump Day.