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Showing posts with the label Entertaining

Mother's Day Collection & Recipes

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Mother's Day It is such a special time of year.  Spring is really in full bloom, so much so that summer feels just around the corner.  And it is.  In just a couple of weeks, Emma will be out of school and we'll be spending our mornings on walks and our afternoons at the pool.  Between now and then, there will be graduations (Laurie's oldest is graduating from high school!), class picnics, elementary talent shows, Teacher Appreciation Week, and Mother's Day.  The Cherry Blossoms have come and gone, the lilacs are beginning to fade and the peonies are ready to burst in my garden (finally, after waiting about 5 years for a mature hedge to grow).  And I want it all to slow to a crawl so I can properly enjoy it. I love these slow quiet days of working on my computer, creating gifts, baking or taking photos while listening to birds singing, all while I can smell the sweet scent of everything in bloom through open windows.  The air is crisp and the sun is che...

Breakfast Hostess Gift | Banana Bread and Honey Butter

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It is important for us to be as gracious of a guests as you are when you’re the one hosting the party.   When you’re invited to someone’s home for dinner or a party, it is always appropriate to bring a hostess gift - the obvious choices being flowers and wine. When I’m hosting a party, while I appreciate these sort of gifts, I’ve already arranged my flowers and have selected wine to serve.  So when I’m the one giving the hostess gift, I like to think about what the host would really appreciate- something she can look forward to enjoying after the party is over.  Because your host has likely spent a great deal of time and energy preparing for the party, breakfast the next day is probably the last thing from her mind.  Wouldn’t it be so nice for her to wake up tomorrow morning after an evening of entertaining to a special treat waiting for her in the kitchen?  Create a breakfast basket filled with homemade (or home-packaged!) goodies like moist and dense bana...

Easter Bunny Cake | Continuing Granny's Tradition | Coconut Cake

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Country Living Magazine recently shared my Bunny Cake on their site.  Granny would've been "tickled pink" - as I'm sure she would've said : )   ..... We could always depend on what was going to come out of Granny's kitchen - spaghetti and meatballs any day of the week, shrimp dip on Christmas Eve, fried mushrooms during mushroom season, fried donuts on Saturday mornings and the infamous Bunny Cake on Easter.  Easter wasn't Easter without the Bunny Cake.  As I look back on the Bunny Cake, I can remember thinking it was amazing when I was really young.  We were fascinated by anything in the "cake decorating" realm and I loved seeing it come together in person.   W e never really ate the cake - none of the kids liked coconut and my Mom's cream pies piled with meringue tended to distract us.  None-the-less, the Bunny Cake always showed up and we always got a kick out of it.  She presented hers similarly, in a basket with fake green Easter "...