I’ve been volunteering at Anne’s high end thrift shop on Sunday afternoons. It’s such fun to see what treasures have come in from week to week. I love helping people with their “finds.” And I get to “play shop” as I restock the racks and shelves from things in the back, move around items to better display them, decide what price to put on things (oh such power). I am doing most of my Christmas shopping from the shop. I found just the perfect thing for my brother in law, and usually he’s the one I struggle with the most. Well second most to my father, who is usually really hard.
I was so excited to find these green plates this time around. A set of four for intimate dinners. They’d even go well layered with the new dishes I covet but can’t justify buying…yet…but this gets me closer! I had the gals over for dinner Sunday evening and so put them to use right away, along with the orange long stemmed goblet, also a treasure from the shop, that I used for candlelight. To complete the centerpiece I added my pot of paperwhites. They just bloomed and the house smells wonderful.
For dinner I made butternut squash soup, my first attempt. I used the basic approach (sautéed onions, broth and squash, roasted then boiled and pureed). Then I got creative on the seasonings. Used just the right combination of maple syrup (just a little) and Tika Masala spice (I was out of curry). I have to say it was really, really good. Guests thought so too. My attempt to make it really classy failed but I’ll do better next time. I poured a little fresh cream on top and tried to do “latte art” but the soup was too thick so it didn’t really work. I am definitely going to try again. I’ll make the soup a little thinner and maybe thicken the cream a bit with the frother first. The rest of the dinner was strictly ‘50’s comfort food with Rancho Dagwiddows (my family will know what I mean) and broccoli/cheese it casserole. Finished with de-caf eggnog lattes to go with the Tiramisu cake one of the gals brought.
I was so excited to find these green plates this time around. A set of four for intimate dinners. They’d even go well layered with the new dishes I covet but can’t justify buying…yet…but this gets me closer! I had the gals over for dinner Sunday evening and so put them to use right away, along with the orange long stemmed goblet, also a treasure from the shop, that I used for candlelight. To complete the centerpiece I added my pot of paperwhites. They just bloomed and the house smells wonderful.
For dinner I made butternut squash soup, my first attempt. I used the basic approach (sautéed onions, broth and squash, roasted then boiled and pureed). Then I got creative on the seasonings. Used just the right combination of maple syrup (just a little) and Tika Masala spice (I was out of curry). I have to say it was really, really good. Guests thought so too. My attempt to make it really classy failed but I’ll do better next time. I poured a little fresh cream on top and tried to do “latte art” but the soup was too thick so it didn’t really work. I am definitely going to try again. I’ll make the soup a little thinner and maybe thicken the cream a bit with the frother first. The rest of the dinner was strictly ‘50’s comfort food with Rancho Dagwiddows (my family will know what I mean) and broccoli/cheese it casserole. Finished with de-caf eggnog lattes to go with the Tiramisu cake one of the gals brought.
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