Cookbook Club Woodland Dream Dinner

It is time for another 

Cookbook Club post.

I have a lot to catch up on, 

but this is our latest.  

We figured it out that we 

have been gathering for 

two and a half years now, 

almost monthly.

The group was started by 

my niece and includes another 

niece, my daugher-in-law and 

my daughter's niece.  We 

all love to cook and we love 

to try new dishes.  I have to 

add that the husbands are 

always jealous and sometimes 

we let them join. 

Tonight we had my daugher 

in law's sister join us - the 

one with the floral headpiece.

L-R, my niece that started all 

of the fun, my DIL's sister, my 

DIL, my daughter's niece, 

another niece and me. 

We have had a few drop out 

and once in a while my 

daughter will join us.

The table was set up down 

in our wooded area, called 

The Hollow.  We brought 

our gazebo from our old 

house and this is the first 

dinner party we have had 

down here. 

For our Cookbook Club 

the hostess picks a theme.  

It ranges from any theme 

to a blog or cookbook, 

really anything we are 

inspired by. 

My niece and I worked on 

this one together.  She lives 

right by us.  She is a 

graphic designer so she 

creates our invitations.

Right away we start sharing 

what we think we might want 

to make, so that we have a 

complete dinner.  I chose to 

make this Fairy Pavlova. 

I started to scour through 

everything I owned to create 

the mood.  I have lots of 

flowers in the garden so 

I arranged those.  

The fall fairies came out 

to play too.  

White plates with gold leaves 

were perfect for the theme. 

The napkin has gold touches 

along with the napkin ring 

and I tucked in some fresh 

herbs.  The herbs really made 

the table smell nice. 

We used wood rounds and 

moss rounds and threw in 

a few mini pumpkins. 

My one niece made this 

Crispy Rice Chicken Salad. 

Another niece made this pesto 

pasta topped with Burrata.  

The pesto was so unique as 

it had peas blended into it. 

My daughter in law made 

sourdough focaccia sandwiches.

I made some passion fruit 

sauce to serve on the pavlova.

We also had these beautiful 

and delicious nectarine 

capreses.

Everything was amazingly 

delicious and beautiful.

And of course, knowing us, 

we had an additional 

dessert.  These blackberry 

mousses were so gorgeous and 

they tasted just as great.  She 

ordered the dried edible 

pansies off the internet.  

I will look forward to sharing 

some of my earlier Cookbook 

Club posts.  We decided we 

need to put together a book 

to remember them by.  That 

also makes us more aware 

of the fact that we need to 

take pictures of everything, 

including ourselves!!

Thanks for visiting.  

I will share this on 

Tablescapes Thursday

and 

Love Your Creativity

Farewell to Autumn Sunshine Tablescape

We have had the most glorious

autumn here at 

Purple Chocolat Home.

The weather has been warm and

the skies clear with that wonderful

crispness of fall in the mornings and 

in the evenings.  You can't have a

more beautiful autumn.

Time to enjoy that last bit of 

beautiful weather with the 

remnants of the bounty of the garden

before the frosts come, so I decided

to fill this basket with these 

exquisite creamy white squash.

Their beautiful color inspired the color

for the tablescape.  We are keeping everything

creamy white with a touch of silver.

Silver chargers and silver flatware

and a silver pitcher turned into

a vase for the remnants of 

sweet alyssum.

You can just feel the last rays

of sunshine as the days cool and

dusk falls more rapidly.

If the garden isn't gathered in

it will all freeze soon.

I thought the chicken wire cloches

went perfectly with my neighbor Christie's

wire basket that she loaned me

for this beautiful autumn table.

The whites are set off by the

tiny bit of green remaining 

in the garden.

My hard working bubble goblets

are always welcome at any table.

Although I love the greens of the

garden, they are starting to turn brown

with some glorious yellows and reds.

And to me, there is something romantic

about early evenings.

Farewell to the glorious sunshine

 of autumn days.

Winter, here we come!

All of these winter whites

can lead us straight into winter.

The boots are already out and ready to go!

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

Dressed Up Fall Table with Elegant Haagen-Dazs Pomegranate Swirl

It is time to set a dressier 

table for the season since we

have one of the new flavors of Haagen-Dazs

as a guest tonight!

Aren't these new containers so elegant?

I was lucky enough to have the

wonderful people at Haagen-Dazs

send me some of their new flavors

and their Pomegranate Swirl Gelato

just seemed to go with our fall

tablescape today.  It might be

a little early to find pomegranates

in the grocery section of your

store, but not in the freezer section.

Let's get the table set.

The table's inspiration came

from these inexpensive beauties

that I found at Home Goods 

this year.  I added the blingy

brooches 

(leftover from Amanda's wedding)

from Fabulous Brooch

and it took them to a whole new level.

They center the table along with a rich

beaded and fringed table topper.

We couldn't get too serious so I

added my home made grapevine

wreaths under a chocolate brown

plate to bring in more of the fall season.

I am loving this in the dining 

room so I moved two of my chairs

to the wall with the sideboard.

It is fun to leave tablescapes up

for the seasons and holidays

as part of your interior design.

I made eight of these grapevine wreaths

 two years

ago with the grapevines that grow

in the backyard just for tablescaping.

The plate stack consists of a chocolate

brown plate topped by a taupe textured

plate and finished off with the leafy

green and cream plate.

I just love the huge soup bowls.

Wouldn't they be great with a fall soup?

Don't you find that you change your

cooking once the weather changes.  My

first thing is I begin baking breads again

and then soups to go with the breads.

The rich wood of the napkin rings

brings some more rustic elegance

to the table.  

This tablescape is one that goes

beautifully with the uncovered wood

of the table so that it can be a star itself.

The green bubble goblets are my

favorite for fall.

I always find myself turning

to this green flatware year round.

These are just yummy all

dressed up in their finery.

This gives you a nice view of

the beaded topper.  I love to

scrunch up a topper for the center

of the table to give it texture and depth.

Are you craving candles with

the days shorter?  I know I am.  I

love soft candlelight as it gets cooler.

I can't wait for the candlelight

to shine through this hurricane.

Now that the table is set,

it is time to enjoy our dessert

inspired by one of nature's fall fruits

the beautiful pomegranate.

The Pomegranate Swirl Gelato

is another smooth and creamy dessert.

The flavor is really subtle and refreshing.

You wouldn't want to overpower

this flavor so I decided to just

accent it with some home made

pomegranate syrup and some

chocolate covered pomegranates.

Serve it up in a pretty dish

and squirt a little syrup over

the top and garnish with some more

chocolate covered pomegranates

and you have an elegant yet simple dessert.

Don't you just love their new packaging

for these flavors.  You know you are

serving up something elegant and

wonderful just with the packaging.

Pomegranate Syrup Recipe

1 C. pomegranate juice

2 C. sugar

2 T. cornstarch mixed in 1/4 C. cold water.

Red food coloring (optional)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Bring the juice and sugar to a boil.  

Mix in the cornstarch mix slowly until

the desired thickness.  Add a little red

food coloring if desired.  Stir in the

lemon juice.  Let cool then refrigerate.

This shot shows you how pretty the swirls

are in the Gelato.

A big thank you to the people at

Haagen-Dazs who have given me

the opportunity to sample and then 

highlight three of their new flavors.

We have one more to go.  If you 

missed the first one

Pistachio Gelato,

click here.  It was by far the

best Pistachio I have had.  You

could actually taste the salty pistachios!

The final one is

Midnight Cookies and Cream Ice Cream!!

Did I save the best one for last?  Who

knows!!??  I haven't cheated, yet!

Thanks for visiting today!

I will be posting this with

Tablescapes Thursday

and

Pink Saturday