Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Retro Dinner of Aprons and Pearls for The Relief Society Birthday Party


Welcome to our Relief Society Birthday Party!
The Relief Society is the Women's Organization
of our church, 
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Every March we celebrate the beginning of the Relief 
Society, which was organized in 1842.  I am on the
committee.  The dinner is usually for around 60 women.
This year we chose a retro theme of Aprons and Pearls.


This was the invitation for the event, thanks to Annie.
Just seeing this darling invitation made you
want to attend.


The centerpieces of all the tables were beautiful packages
wrapped in pattern tissue, and topped with matching bows,
crowned with jewels.  There were vintage hats, books,
and trinkets tucked around the room.


Vintage hankies, aprons, gloves and doilies were 
hung as banners behind the serving table.
Laura and Joanne had all of the vintage items.
They purchased the patterns at a thrift store.


Laura had vintage dresses, and the dress forms were
dressed in them, with aprons and pearls.  These
"ladies" greeted the women at the door.  I think
these ladies at the door were my favorite decor
item.



What an impact a little bling and ribbon makes on
a package wrapped with pattern tissue.
Such a clever idea.  


The centers of each table also had mini sewing machines
owned by Joanne.


Volunteers made cakes to add to the table decor,
and also as dessert.




Here are the tables before the cakes were brought.


We had eight tables set up.


We are in the kitchen with one of our retro maids with a huge
bowl of mashed potatoes.


We had meatloaf, salad with retro dressings (Thousand Island, French, and Italian - bottled of course), 
Jello Salads, fresh rolls and mashed 
potatoes.




My favorite part was seeing ladies of all ages in their
aprons and pearls.


Of course, we made it a point to try out all of the
cakes from each table.  This one was made by
my neighbor across the street,  Hailey, who is a teenager.
This girl has talent!  It was the yummiest chocolate cake.

It was a fun and unique party theme, with adorable decor.

I will be posting this with 


Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Strawberry Pie with Margarita Glaze


The fresh strawberries are so sweet right now, and
I always crave a fresh strawberry pie this time of
year.  I just love the tang of the berries with a sweet
glaze, and I created a new glaze that had my mouth
singing.


We have strawberries growing in the garden,
but they are just flowering, so these strawberries
were from the store, but with this glaze they 
didn't disappoint.

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Margarita Glaze Recipe

9 inch baked pie shell - make your favorite, I did a an Oreo
Cookie Crust

7 C. strawberries (the large container from Costco
made two pies)
2 T. cornstarch
3/8 C. white sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. almond (because I like a hint of almond in everything)
3 T. Strawberry Margarita Mix - the liquid in the quart
bottle used for making Strawberry Margaritas.  Ours is by the
soda pop section.

Slice 6 C. of strawberries and place them in a large
bowl.  Chop 1 C. strawberries and place them in
a blender or food processor with the sugar and
cornstarch.  Blend until smooth.  Remove and place
in a small saucepan.  On medium heat, bring to a boil
and cook until thick.  It is going to be pretty thick.  Remove
from heat and add the vanilla, almond, and Strawberry
Margarita mix.  This will thin the mix down.  Let cool.
Toss berries in the glaze and place in your pie shell.

Pile them high and decoratively place a few in
the center in a circle.
Refrigerate and serve with whipped cream, ice
cream or plain.  
The extra tang of the Strawberry Margarita Mix made
the best glaze I have ever had on a fresh strawberry
pie.



 I ended up making two pies.  One I made with sliced
berries, and the other I made with whole berries.
We ate both of them, but there just wasn't enough glaze
on the one with whole berries to satisfy my sweet tooth!


Give me more surface to put this yummy glaze
on!  We were licking our plates.  


Grab some fresh strawberries, while they are sweet
and fabulous, and make a pie.

"Cut my pie into four pieces, I don't think I could eat eight!"
Yogi Berra

I will be posting this with


Tuesday, April 12, 2016

A Holland Flower Shop - Birthday Tablescape


It has taken me a while to get this tablescape
posted as we were gone with some of the
kids for Spring break, but I wanted to share
with your our birthday celebration for one
of my dear friends, Laura, who is part of our
craft group.  


The celebration was held at my home, but the
dinner and table were a group effort.  It looked like
a display table in a fancy European flower shop, and
was such a stunning spring table.


Joanne, who loves vintage things found a collection of
post cards to a Laura from days gone by.  What a fun
addition to the setting these were.  The birthday girl
always gets the crown on her placesetting.


I provided the tablecloth, sterling, tall blue glasses, charger and
grass chargers.  Joanne hauled all of the plates and clear stemware,
along with napkins and rings to my house.  She had also picked
up a ceramic shoe for each of us in Amsterdam and brought
them home for each of us to have one. 


 She made the napkins,
chair decor and a matching banner.


The gorgeous mesh napkin rings were dressed up
with ribbon and jewels.


She brought a collection of flow blue china.  I hadn't
even known what flow blue china was, but it was
gorgeous.



Our friend Karen forced bulbs in flow blue pieces and
silver pieces, in addition to our shoes.  This lovely bust
formed our focal point, surrounded by the bulbs, tulips
and forsythia.












Amy Perkins made a gorgeous cake with a
flower made out of edible paper to go with the
color scheme of the table.  They are always as
delicious as they are beautiful.







I adore the beautiful chair decorations.



Everyone's efforts came together gorgeously.  We
felt transported.






 This shot shows the banner Joanne made.  All of the postcards
are written to or by a Laura.  What a find.
  

Here is a shot as dinner begins, with everyone's salad
and Italian sodas.


I made cookies to go at everyone's place.





We all stepped away from the table to take some photos
as the blue hour approached.


It was a beautiful and delicious dinner, and a perfect way
to celebrate our lovely Laura.

I will be posting this birthday celebration
with


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