The Monthly Bloom

from June:

I desperately need a somewhat cool free Saturday morning to do some weeding this month, or July's post is going to be very sad. However, here a few from way back in June, before the humidity and weeds took over. Are we in the dog days yet? I actually love them... doesn't get much better than long summer nights!

June and Lemon Cake with Ina

I've been a little bit blogged out this summer. So I'm back-posting some photos and fun until I catch up with the calendar. I'm sure you all don't mind:) Not sure I'll be able to post everything in sequence, but let's start with food! Remember one of my resolutions to cook with the Barefoot Contessa whenever possible? I've had some good excuses to bake lately- I'm always looking for a reason (more than two of us) to get out the beaters.

First- Lemon Cake, lots of lemon cake from Ina's Parties cookbook for our summer garden party. It was so delicious, lemony, and sweet, with blueberries and Ready Whip for the perfect accompaniment. (It's much easier to take before and during photos of food... people arrive, too much to finish up to get the camera back out, food is gone- that's just the reality) Thankfully we had a few leftover slices to fancy up for a photograph before indulging again. 

I baked six of these the day before the party. After the first batch, which seemed to be overdone on the edges and not so much in the middle, my mom gave me the tip to turn the temp down and let them bake longer. Perfect! While baking these Friday night, Elizabeth told us that growing up her mom wouldn't let them play around the oven when she was baking a pound cake because they would fall. Sounds like an old-wives tale, right? Well, the last two I put in the oven Saturday morning while we were setting up and cleaning up for the party- i.e. running in and out and up and down all around the oven. You guessed it- they fell right down in the middle! They still tasted ok, but weren't as nice and airy as the other ones that rose properly. I'd say there's a lot to be learned when baking eight cakes!

Next up, and from quite a while ago, Ina's Chicken Piccata, just as indulgent as her lemon cake, with white wine, lemon, and butter!! I love cooking with lemon lately, and Laurence loves chicken.

And, a summer staple since living in Atlanta with Colleen and Amy, Summer Orzo! Every ingredient in this is so yummy... and all roasted together! I've learned so much about roasting veggies from Ina. I love any veggie roasted... just add some salt, pepper, olive oil, and garlic. Our favorites to roast together from the garden last summer were eggplant and green beans- unfortunately we'll have to buy these at the Farmer's Market this summer.

And lastly, Maple Oatmeal Scones. Perfect for a baby shower brunch... or for an afternoon snack, but really they should be enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee, while sitting:) These are the most time intensive of the recipes, but it makes a lot, and is so worth it. I'm eager for my next excuse to bake so I can try out her strawberry and cranberry orange scones too. Such a rare treat!

Until next time I would recommend getting out some kosher salt, lemon, and butter, Ina won't disappoint!

a real hootenanny!

Last Saturday we hosted seventy people in our yard for a garden party! It was "a perfect romantic evening" as one guest said, complete with some old time music, a barefoot contra dance, bountiful fireflies, candles in jars in trees, and Sonar's cookin'! A "real hootenanny" as Laurence called it. I second all of the above and say, I can't believe we pulled it off. Sonar agrees. My is it a lot of work to host and cook and prep and decorate and get an old house and crazy yard clean. We're crazy, but it was worth it to celebrate with our good friends heading off to NYC to pursue their dream. We've been dreaming with them for almost three years, mostly sitting around our patio talking about food and opening restaurants and gardening, and now they're off to culinary school, hopefully to return to Knoxville one day:)

A few lessons I learned from hosting a party people usual hire help or caterers to have:

1) Ask for more help

2) Ask for help to arrive earlier

3) Don't expect to be able to take photographs :(

4) Pound cakes really do fall if you're jumping around the oven too much!

5) Good keg of beer = happy people; good food = even happier people

6) Ask for help cleaning up the day after too!

7) Sit down some, eat, enjoy the company, and take your shoes off to dance!

Here are a few photos I snapped quickly. We had a few friends taking photos, so hopefully I'll have some better ones to post on here for you all to see. 

The arbor Laurence decided to build for the party:

The chef with his assistant:

Ha! This cracked me up when I walked into the kitchen and saw Megan had been divvying up left-overs, perfect!

The guests of honor retreating to the bedroom during the after-party:) The night before we were all excited making a dance mix for our after-party: 

Day after activities included loading up tables and chairs, finishing off some beer, and target practice with a plastic cup, of course:

I hope to have lots more photos to share with you, and I'll post soon about the yummy lemon pound cake we had for our garden party dessert!

The Monthly Bloom Part II: Flower Arranging

A few weeks ago a friend asked if I could provide some flowers to help liven up an engagement party, "you know, just something from your yard." Hmm, what on earth could I bring!!? No more dogwood blooms, quince, or forsythia... my knock out roses aren't producing their next flowers yet, and no pretty summer annuals to be seen either. I was lamenting my lack of beautiful hydrangeas or magnolia trees and thinking this monthly bloom was getting me into trouble, but I grabbed some pruning shears and my flower collecting basket to see if I could come up with something. Beautiful! If I say so myself. Again, our yard surprises me: 

Isn't this the loveliest flower collecting basket! It's a favorite wedding present from kathryn. I don't think she really knew what it was when she gave it to us, but how perfect is it!? If only it got more use. Don't you love the scenes in Jane Austin movies when the girls are out with their baskets collecting wild flowers or herbs or something. Such an idyllic life, sigh.   

Some wild, yet dainty, sweet pea with the first blooms from our butterfly bush, which smell great too:

Some dried lenten roses on their last leg, with a not yet blooming sedum flower head, a few clusters of my new yarrow, and lots of aromatic lavender as filler. Again, not fully blooming in purple yet, but it does the job:

Now I'm inspired to plant my bed of cut flowers. I should be bringing lots more of our yard inside when I can. Hopefully I can get some seeds in the ground soon. And, we finally bought some hydrangeas last weekend! Now on to find a place for a nice big magnolia tree:)

my loves

It is June! Sunshine.

Canoe. River. Toes. Water.  

Ears flopping in wind.

Can you smell summertime yet?