In the living room I placed some fall potpourri in an antique transferware bowl, and place a seasonal fall candle in the center. A bouquet of sunflowers and eucalyptus leaves from the front garden completed the decorations there, together with the candleholders I showed you a few posts back
It was such a hot day, that I served appetizers outside on the patio. I did take photos of those, but strangely, they are not to be found on my camera! It was a very simple spread: I bought olives, bruschetta spread, goat cheeses and yellow dried tomatoes at Trader Joe’s. Then I toasted a cut up French bread in the oven for about 10 minutes after brushing on some olive oil and herbes de provence. Appetizers =done.
Here you can see the table partially set, before I poured the wine, and added the other platters to the table. It’s very simple. While I love tablescapes with layers of plates, they look so colorful, rich and exciting, in my real world, when I have 10 or so people eating at the table, less is more. Those beautiful extra plates kind of get in the way. So no layering here….sorry!
Along with wine, I served big bottles of my Herbal Infused Water, so refreshing on a hot day!
FrenchGardenHouse Minestrone
Baguettes
French Country Butter
Salad with Pears and Pecans
Pumpkin Bars {recipe coming this week}
You will need:
1 stick or 2 sticks unsalted butter
a tablespoon of cut up Capers
a sprinkling of Herbes de Provence
chives, chopped small
a little freshly ground pepper
So easy, and just delicious! You can vary the ingredients, sometimes I make this with grated Lemon Peel and other herbs. It keeps well packaged up in the paper and bag in the freezer so that all you have to do is defrost for a special treat with some great bread for company or a week night with your family.
About the Giving Circle: We meet four times a year, and each contribute about $90.00 {$1.00 a day} to our pooled fund. That night, we ask our members if they know of a person or family with a need, and distribute the money right then and there to help those in our community. In the past, our {anonymous} donations have gone to a Vet for food and gas money, a family whose Mom & Dad are temporarily unemployed, to school kids needing back to school clothing and supplies, you get the idea. I love the idea of being to help people from our own neighborhoods, church families and in neighboring cities. You can google Giving Circles and find out all about them. Anyway, ours is a blessing, the ladies in it are becoming my dearest friends and together we have a lot of fun as well as helping our community.
I’ll write up the recipe for the Leek, Mushroom & Ham quiche next time, and then those scrumptious Pumpkin Bars. I hope you will try some of the recipes for your next girl’s night, or family dinner.
If you want to romance your Home and Garden with antique and vintage treasures to make you smile each time you come home, visit our shop FrenchGardenHouse.
