Things To Come

Wow, I am really amazed at how well our garden is doing! I think we just picked a great spot in the yard....it's getting lots of sunshine and apparently is very happy!

Soon we will have yellow squash. The tomatoes are also blooming like crazy...can't wait to have a tomato sandwich. There's nothing better in the summer, right, than a tomato sandwich with mayo and salt and pepper.


I have picked lettuce about 6 times now and there's still a lot still to go. I've shared with neighbors too and I'll need to pick again this weekend. But the spinach....it is delicious! We had some in a salad again last night. This I planted from seed and love how a pack of seeds that cost $1.29 produced so much spinach. I'll definitely plant spinach again. Who wants some?

In-Home Cooking Parties

I have been working with a client to develop monthly in-home cooking parties. Last weekend we had our first one, and it had a French theme. My client sent out an e-vite invitation to about 30 people and within minutes, the 15 available slots had been confirmed!

I developed the menu, which included appetizer terrines, French brie soup, sole meuniere, haricot verts, potato/fennel gratin, and chocolate pots de creme.

I prepared the appetizer terrines ahead of time so that when the guests arrived they'd have something to munch on. One was a layered vegetable terrine, the other a gorgonzola/fig/pecan terrine.

Once everyone arrived, we chatted a little about what we planned to prepare, then divided into groups and everyone got busy.

The soup group prepared the French brie soup....onion goggles helped since this needed lots of chopped shallots and we were doubling the recipe. The soup turned out great!


The haricot verts team was also busy. Success also!

The sole meuniere team prepared the fish at the last minute, since it doesn't take much time. It was also delicious and everyone did a great job.

Everyone did such a good job cooking and the food was fantastic! In the works for upcoming months are many more cooking parties with themes including Healthy Southern, Italian, Mediterranean and lots more!

This really is lots of fun and everyone enjoys being in the kitchen and learning new techniques and sharing the cooking experience.