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

A Jane Austen Party Tablescape

Join the lovely ladies of my Craft Group,also known as the Overachievers, by some of the husbands.  We gladly embrace that title. 

We received a Save the Date in the 

form of a small vase filled with 

flowers at the beginning of the summer, 

and then we received this lovely 

invitation.  

Karen and her husband are the owners 

of Dove Cottage.  She is a master gardener 

and she and I have collaborated on 

several Relief Society parties this 

year.  

(Relief Society is our church's 

women's organization and 

we are both in charge of parties!)

Everything she does is over the top.

The gazebo is situated at the back of 

their property along the river and 

she lives in a Victorian house.  What 

a setting for a Jane Austen party!

The table was decked out with pink 

ribbons, pink flowers and pink candles 

with lots and lots of lace.  

The table settings were pink and white.  

We each had a fan and our name tag 

at the places. 

She purchased images on Etsy and 

sewed together little pockets that 

held our napkins and flatware.  

There are eight of us in the group.  Our sweet 

Jann Olson of Have a Daily Cup 

passed away earlier this year from cancer.  

We miss her dearly.  

The chandelier was hung with roses,

pink tea cups and cards featuring 

Jane Austen's books.  

It was so magical with all of the 

flowers and ribbons and candles. 

Karen made the center greenery runner 

with branches from her yard.  

We were each given an assignment for 

the food and it was all delicious. 

Even our punch was pink.  

As we ladies were gathered and 

taking photos and admiring all 

of the beauty, we got a huge surprise.  

Let me say first, before I show you 

the surprise - we were all watching 

Jane Austen movies in preparation 

for the party, and I had just seen 

this very scene in 

Sense and Sensibility.  

I thought - "We need this!"

Across the lawn walks her husband 

Gene carrying a tall cake on this 

magnificent stand that he made, 

and he was dressed in costume!!!

Karen and Gene holding the 

fabulous cake on the amazing 

cake holder!  Now we have to have 

yearly Jane Austen parties, just to get 

the use out of this.  

I had just given Gene a hard time.  

Silly me, I had assumed that the 

men were invited, so hubby has 

his costume all ready.  Karen said 

she had asked Gene and he had said 

there was no way he was dressing up!!!

Surprise!!!

The pound cake made by Amy 

was delicious.  We all said the 

Empire dresses made it easy to 

eat so much delicious food.

As night fell we had a 

reading by Becky.  She 

read an article her 

great grandmother had 

written and published in 

the Relief Society Magazine 

in the early 1900's.

The sun went down, the crickets 

came out and it was a magical 

end to a fabulous evening.  

We suggested to Karen that 

she leave the decor up and 

have this be the theme for 

their next Relief Society Party.

I am so blessed to have such 

lovely and talented friends.  

Thanks Jane Austen for your 

inspiration!

I learned I need a lady's maid!!!

Hubby was gone to a meeting and 

I had a hard time doing my own 

hair, zipping my own dress up, 

and even doing the clasp on 

my necklace!!!

Thanks for visiting and joining in our

fun!  

I will be posting with 

Tablescapes Thursday

and 

Love Your Creativity

Mad Hatter Party - Relief Society

Each year we celebrate the birthday 

of the Relief Society, which is the 

women's organization of our church, 

The Church of Jesus Christ 

of Latter-Day Saints.  

I am in charge of the 

Relief Society parties.

We have about four a year.  

I chose the theme of 

Finding Joy in the Madness.

That felt so appropriate with 

all of the crazy things in the 

world and on the news.  

My good friend Karen also has 

the same calling, or responsibility, 

as I do.  I told her about my idea 

and she decided to do the same theme.  

Karen added to my ideas with 

lots of creativity.  

The activity is held in the church 

cultural hall, or gym, so it is 

a large space that can be 

difficult to make inviting. 

She came up with this idea 

at the entry with a wooden 

feature from her garden.  It 

made the venue so inviting.

On the other side of the entry 

I hung a photo backdrop that 

I found on Amazon.  They are 

my new favorite decoration items 

and so reasonable.  

Another great idea of Karen's 

was to take a PVC pipe and 

hang it from the basketball hoop, 

and hanging from it is inexpensive 

lanterns.  I just loved the 

mushroom shaped ones.  These 

are also from Amazon.  

I made 48 Mad Hatter hats 

using 12x12 papers, headbands, 

and paper cups.  They were 

time consuming, but were really 

a hit.  We told them they couldn't 

eat without their hats on, and 

everyone gladly donned them. 

(That was Karen's idea and 

hubby suggested I only make 

a couple per table so people 

could take pictures, but 
I was so glad I did one for

everyone.)

We filled the cups with different 

colors of cotton candy, 

then the ladies could pour 

pink lemonade over the 

cotton candy, as it changed 

the color of the drinks.  

The buffet table had mini 

scones, ribbon sandwiches, 

blueberry goat cheese 

crostini and chicken 

sandwich cream puffs.  

These delicious scones 

were glazed with an 

almond glaze.  We had 

raspberry jam and lemon 

curd on the tables to 

enjoy with the scones. 

One of our committee gladly 

took the assignment of 

making heart shaped 

chocolate covered 

strawberries although she 

had never done those before.  

We found these foam cubes 

at the dollar store to 

place them in as they dried 

and also to serve them.  

I think they turned out 

beautifully.  

Another member of the 

committee made the 

painted roses cupcakes.  

These were displayed on 

the tables on adorable 

Alice in Wonderland 

tiered serving platters.  

You can find the cute 

paper products, tiers, 

runners and cut outs on 

Amazon also.  

I used two different tiered 

trays and will reuse them for 

a family party.  

Tables were filled with clocks,

rabbits, flowers and 

mushrooms.  

We haven't tended to 

take a group photo in 

the past, but with the 

hats on, we just had to.  

I think we need to make 

this a new tradition. 

Just before the group 

picture we had a speaker who did 

a great upbeat presentation 

on Finding Joy in the Madness.

  She used clips 

of Marjorie Hinckley, 

whose delightful humor 

had us all laughing and 

feeling joyful. 

This is my wonderful 

committee who stretch 

to try new things and 

follow all of my crazy 

ideas.  I love them!

And a great thank you 

to my dear friend Karen 

for all of her creative ideas 

and work.  

Thanks for coming to visit! 

I always enjoy your visits. 

I will be posting this 

with 

Tablescapes Thursday

&

Love Your Creativity