Stars and Stripes...Festive Food for the Fourth

    The Fourth of July is always about food, friends, and family at our house. We have celebrated for more years than I can count with the same group of folks (except when one or the other of us just happens to be out of town). Our get togethers are always casual affairs with each of the women bringing a few of her favorite dishes. Thus the meal usually shakes out as more of a pot-luck than a party that is planned and executed to perfection. However, the food is always delicious and the company delightful!
    This year I am bringing my favorite marinated tomato, onion, and cucumber salad with fresh dill and fresh basil, bacon baked beans, and corn on the cob (we'll just throw it on the grill so no real prep necessary except for the shuckin').  I'll also come up with some sort of appetizer and maybe add a pick-up dessert.
   If you are lacking inspiration for table settings or food to share, check out some of these great ideas!

I love the idea of a patriotic cake. And this one works well for a larger crew. 

Leave the cake pop sticks off (it's safer for little ones) and let folks help themselves!

This patriotic pie features a yummy crust made of sugar cookie dough (store-bought, of course!); followed by a layer of low-fat cream cheese mixed with low-fat Cool Whip; 

then topped with a wonderful "flag" of bananas, blueberries and strawberries. 

Finish with a glaze of cornstarch, orange juice and sugar to keep the bananas from turning brown. 

So much fun! 

These strawberries are showing off their colors. 

Dip them in yogurt and finish them with turbinado sugar that has been colored blue!

And speaking of yogurt, this is a fun not-too-sweet dessert alternative

And this layered dessert trifle makes use of pound cake cut in the shape of stars.

Love it!

Finally, this unusual red, white, and blue salsa puts a different spin on the traditional flavor profile.

Every Southern woman worth her salt has a stash of mason jars. 

Why not pull them out, add some festive paper straws, and a little grosgrain ribbon? 

Voila! You have the perfect festive accent to your celebration!

And you don't just have to drink out of the mason jars! 

They make a great container for utensils. 

No wrapping or tying here...just drop the bandana aka napkin in the mason jar and add the silverware!

And for a vintage touch, take a tea-stained flag and secure it to a mason jar with twine. 

Drop your flickering votive inside. Easy peasy and so sweet!

And we all know that life goes a little better with chocolate...

This treat is so simple, but oh so good!

To make it a special snack for the Fourth of July, add blueberries to the centers of the raspberries 

(but keep the white chocolate, of course)!

I've featured this recipe before, but couldn't resist using it again. 

Chocolate, strawberry nachos anyone?

Stay cool with this treat: Frozen Bottle Rockets!

Use 1 bottle of blue soda, 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream, and 1 cup of raspberry sorbet.

Put some sorbet and ice cream in each glass. 

Pour the blue soda over the ice cream and serve immediately!

And here's to the sacrifice and service of those past, present, and future 

who continue to make this the Land of the Free

and the Home of the Brave

God Bless America, land that I love...

Numero Uno for Baby O

   I finally got to meet this great-nephew of mine when we traveled to the family wedding celebration. This adorable little hunk of a man is cuter than sliced bread, I am tellin' you. Baby O is laid-back, easy going, and smiles like there's no tomorrow. Happy should be his middle name. Take a look at the rockin' first birthday party that Baby O's momma and daddy put together for him. It looked utterly delightful, and I wish I could have been there. Thanks to the marvel of DropBox, I was able to join in the fun!

Party favors for everyone to take home!

With room for everyone to roam, this public park pavilion is just the place to throw down some fun!

Check out this adorable Baby O on parade

The eats were great and guests were invited to build their own fruit kabobs!

 Wanna juice cooler anyone?

Let's have some fun!

 

 A cake to share

And one to spare
that's just for Baby O!

But first, let's have some fun in the sun!

Then we'll share the love with everyone!

 

Check out the grandmothers who had shirts made especially for this occasion

 More grandparent love!

 I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for some cake

How about a "V" for victory!

 Baby O came, he saw, he conquered!

Whoa, I am ready for a nap now!

Just kidding! It's rally time!

Thanks Mommy and Daddy for a great birthday party

Hope you had as much fun as I did!
Can we do it again next year?!

Best Southern Style Food in Music City

   I grew up in a part of the country that considered the meat-n-three a form of elevated cuisine. My tiny hometown prided itself on the fact that every single restaurant in town (including the Tastee Freeze) served up some form of the meat-n-three. However, at the time I did not fully appreciate the rich tradition and fine Southern cooking that these establishments provided.
  Part of the allure of going away to college in the early seventies was my desire to experience a more urban lifestyle. Therefore, I was attracted to a campus that was fully integrated into a burgeoning metropolitan area. Imagine my surprise when as a freshman my newly acquired college friends began raving about a place away from campus where you could get the most unbelievable food. After much conversation accompanied by a growing dislike of dorm food, we finally piled willy nilly into some commandeered automobiles and made the trek out to this much talked about place. I should have known something was up when we soon left the lights of the city and drove for what seemed an interminable length of time. As soon as we pulled in, I immediately recognized the restaurant. My first dining experience out in Nashville, Tennessee, and I am suddenly back in the land of the meat-n-three. Oh, the irony.
   Now all roads happily lead to home. In the intervening years I have enjoyed many a great meal at this establishment and enthusiastically recommend it to all comers to Nashville. It is an iconic eatery and serves some of the best Southern food on the planet. And what is this place? Why, it's none other than the nationally renown Loveless Restaurant.

And no, it's not a motel. It used to be. A long, long time ago. 

The restaurant folks just kept the sign because it was retro before retro was in.

   Don't be fooled by this seemingly small and unassuming exterior. Just roll down your car window when you pull into the parking lot and breathe deeply. The smell of all that fine Southern cooking is your first clue that it's gonna be good. Real good.
   Here are some things you need to know before you go: 1) Call ahead for a reservation, if possible or you are going to have a good long wait. 2) No matter what time you eat, you will not be eating dinner...you will be eating supper. It's a Southern thing. 3) Biscuits are served with butter, preserves, honey and sorghum. If you don't know what sorghum is, look it up. 4) Loveless actually serves moonshine (it's legal now), but the best thing to aid with your digestion is to finish off your meal with a little Whisper Creek Tennessee Sipping Cream. Finally, 5) Forget the diet and go ahead and order the fried chicken. If you don't, you are gonna need to have your head examined. Immediately. It's also probably some kind of sin.

This photo of Loveless Cafe is courtesy of TripAdvisor

 My family always eats family style because that's the only way to go in my book. I am really not a fried chicken aficionado so I spend most of my meal savoring the unbelievable biscuits slathered with butter and peach preserves. I also eat my fill of the sides.

This photo of Loveless Cafe is courtesy of TripAdvisor

My friend Carol Fay was the famous Biscuit Lady of Loveless. We have a family connection with her that runs pretty deep. She helped me raise my children and keep my house. I just didn't know then that she was gonna be so famous or I would have gotten her to teach me how to make those biscuits.

This photo of Loveless Cafe is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This is the wall of fame. Everybody who is anybody has eaten at Loveless', and chances are pretty good that you are sitting next to someone who is famous. But in Nashville, we don't act like we recognize them because a lot of the time we don't. So we pretty much leave everybody alone. 

Even if it's Brad Paisley and his beautiful wife and their cute two little boys.

This photo of Loveless Cafe is courtesy of TripAdvisor

So if you want an authentic version of Southern cooking that hasn't changed much over
the past sixty years you need to pay Loveless' a visit.
As I said before, it's some of the best Southern food on the planet.
Can I get an Amen?!

Party Pretties

   The Daughter turned me on to the flowers at Trader Joe's. I am now officially hooked. Instead of spending a minor fortune at a wholesale flower house, I actually found that purchasing the flowers for a party at Trader Joe's was a much cheaper option. Who could have guessed?!
    Take a look at the flowers that I pulled together for a sweet little Sip-n-See in honor of a new baby girl!

Here is the "Before," and yes, that is my thumb partially obscuring the clumsy photo taken with my iPhone!

And here are the "Afters"

Ranunculus just might be my new favorite flower. I paired them with white tulips, hyacinths, pink flowering branches, hydrangea, spray roses in two shades of pink and also white, and some lovely bluebells for added height. The fragrance of the hyacinths nearly scented my whole house.

 As soon as I knew that this little one would be making her debut

 I started scouring the antique malls for some vintage

baby planters. I arranged flowers in them and scattered them on the main table

 and throughout the house.

I love this little lamb...so sweet!

Here's a close-up of that little vintage lamb planter!

When I discovered these little pink ceramic McCoy shoes on one of my forays, I snagged them

right away. They looked perfect on the table filled with pink spray roses!

To display the yummy petit fours, I simply used an oblong silver footed tray on 

which I placed a small pink cake stand. 

In the center was a tiny pink shoe filled with more roses and a bit of pink heather!

 Here is another look at the petit fours. Hands down, these are the best I have ever eaten.

A friend referred me to the baker, who works out of her home. 

If you need a custom cake or more of these amazing petit fours, call Katie at A Perfect Bite.

 As you can well imagine with a baby girl, it was pink, pink, and more pink EVERYWHERE!

 These gorgeous pink pressed glass plates with the lattice design once belonged 

to my mother-in-law. I have always loved them. 

One of my favorite touches was this banner that I purchased back in December

 at Catherine Clement's Christmas on 18th Avenue Show.

(If you have never been, you simply must!)

She uses vintage linens and some lovely fabrics to create the perfect look. 

I added the ribbons for a special accent.

 The little bunny is sitting on the entry hall table in homage to the baby's grandmother, 

my dear friend Ann (the little baby girl, the honoree, is named for her). 

Ann had a thing for antiques, bunnies, and flowers.

Her daughter is much more contemporary in her choices, hence the tiny Chuck Taylors!

The little bitty chair was mine as a child and was made from an oak barrel
purchased in England in the 1950's.
I had it recovered some years ago in a vintage circus fabric.

 I apologize for the poor quality of the photos which were all taken with my iPhone.

The Husband was off galavanting at the Final Four and of course, he

had the good camera with him!