The only course I plated for the Fall Picnic was the soup, the rest of the meal was served buffet style. As a result, I didn’t get a decent photo of the soup. I’m going to try and make up for it with quite a few in-process cooking pictures and a bunch of decor photos.

The first thing I do when I set about to create a theme for a party is to hunt and gather from around my house for decorating items. For this dinner party, I was thinking – of picnic baskets, blankets, thermoses, wicker, plaid, pumpkins, and squash.

I had two main areas to decorate, the buffet table and the dinner table. We’ll get to the buffet table in a later post, today we’ll focus on the dinner table. I started with a plaid throw as the tablecloth and plaid salad plates.

The centerpiece was a rustic stand with fresh pumpkins and squash above and below, a garland of fall leaves, a couple of candles, and my Bundt Pan Pumpkin from last year’s craft class.

Add in the setting sun…

… and it’s easy to have a pretty table!

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Do you remember my posts about Deer Lake in Canada? They were from July 2013. Deer Lake is a gorgeous property owned by our friends, Paul and Kim Howard. Barb and Terry Fenzl, Dave and I, and the Howards had a wonderful week at the lake that summer. Afterward, we talked about having a reunion dinner in our backyard. We were supposed to do that in the fall of 2013, but it didn’t happen.

When Barb, Kim, and I were at Rancho la Puerta in September, we were talking and realized we still needed to have our reunion dinner. On Saturday night, we finally did!

I decided on a Fall Picnic theme and then I asked Kim to bring the appetizer and Barb to bring the dessert.

All of the recipes will be posted in the coming week, with decorating ideas to boot.  Today, we’ll start with the salad.

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Today, I start with my favorite Funny of the week and end with two that are very closely related and on the mark!

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I am having a bit of a panic attack. I don’t want to give you one too, but…

Thanksgiving is 2 weeks from today!

If that wasn’t bad enough….

Christmas is 6 weeks from today!!!!

• How does this happen every single year?
• How do these major holidays sneak up on me?
• What the heck am I doing the other 10 months of the year that I can’t be better prepared?
• Does this happen to you?

Above is a true sign of my full-blown attack – I start asking rapid fire questions in complete and utter disbelief!

Breathe! In and out. Slow and deep breaths.

OK, I’m going to gather myself and dive head first in the holiday season by showing you how I’m going to get crafty with a recent windfall that was bestowed on me.

My dear, very sweet, thoughtful and generous friend, Kim, is moving. She has dropped off goodies to me for a few weeks now. Love!

The other day she brought a box filled with tartlet and candy tin molds.

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Marissa moved to San Francisco on June 19, 2011. I figure I’ve visited her and written about my trips at least nine times in these last 3+ years. Hence the SF 10.0 title.

The trip this past weekend was a wedding dress shopping trip. It was a success. We found the dress and had a glorious weekend, fog and all! (Do you see the Golden Gate peeking out in the background?)

Kaley, Marissa, Petra, and I went to the Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Mason, on Sunday afternoon.

There were so many wonderfully talented people selling unique, fun, and beautiful things. Marissa and I each pick up a set of these adorable berry napkins, perfectly packaged in berry boxes and tied with twine. It’s all about the packaging!

After the craft fair, the girls and I went to one of our favorite spots in the city, The Ferry Building.

It was there that we ran across this enormous pumpkin named “Roxanne.” She won 2nd place in the Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Competition, weighing in at 1707 pounds. Makes you wonder about the 1st place pumpkin!

Later that evening, Petra flew home to San Diego while Marissa, Kaley, and I went to a new restaurant for dinner, Sons & Daughters. The Michelin one-star restaurant is not new, it has been open for four years, but it was new to us.

The menu is prix fixe and expensive. Very expensive. We enjoyed it, but there are so many terrific restaurants in San Francisco that don’t break the bank… I just can’t add it to my “highly recommended” list.

Here are photos of our nine courses!

The portions are tiny, but the meal is rich, satisfying, and surprisingly filling.

The beautiful and fun plates were almost as delicious as the food!

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Marissa and I, along with her maid-of-honor, Kaley, and two of her five bridesmaids, Petra and Jessica, went wedding dress shopping on Saturday.

We visited two bridal shops and although the girls and I thought Marissa looked beautiful in nearly every dress, we have yet to find The One.

Marissa’s attendants were so helpful in finding dresses to try on! I just sat back and watched as they helped her choose dozens of dresses. What I loved most was how open she was to their choices. I knew some were not her style, but she gave all the dresses a fair shot.

I am not permitted to show you, Marissa, in any of them, but these “bottom half” photos will give you a small glimpse into our Saturday.

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You read it right, in place of the usual Friday Funnies – today I bring you Friday Frustrations.

Things that chap my hiney. Surprisingly, at the moment, I only have two. I shouldn’t say “at the moment” since these two things have chapped me for years. Oh well, they are the things on my mind at the moment.

You can ask anyone who has ever been at the counter in a Starbucks with me and they will tell you that I am embarrassing to be seen with. I don’t drink coffee, so I always order the same thing in the same way.

“Good morning, welcome to Starbucks what may I make for you today?”

“Good morning, I’d like a medium non-fat iced chai tea latte with 4 cubes of ice, please.”

“OK, a grande non-fat iced chai tea latte, light ice.”

“Yes, but not just “light ice” – only 4 cubes of ice.”

“Your name?”

“Linda.”

“That will be $4.43.”

Can you spot the embarrassing part? And I’m not talking about the fact that I refuse to use the word “grande” instead of “medium.”

No?

Well, imagine what happens if I get a cup that is half-filled with ice. If you’re looking to be embarrassed, stick around, things are about to get a little testy.

The reason for the “4 cubes of ice” is that I do not appreciate paying over $4.00 for a couple of sips of the refreshing beverage and being left with a cup full of frozen water. No one needs that much ice in their drink!

Notice how smart the cashier of this particular order was?

“Ask me.”

I’m sure when the barista did ask, the cashier had a few choice words to go along with, “Yeah, she only wants 4 cubes of ice.”

But what the heck do I care what they think of me!?!

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Peggy had a Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) party on Halloween night. The day before, I was at her house helping her make posole, just so I could give you her recipe.

The sacrifices I make for you lovely people!

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Let’s be honest, the best part about a Moscow Mule is the copper mug.

Without the mug, the Mule is just vodka, fresh lime juice, a bit of mint, and ginger beer.

With the mug, the Mule is the most refreshing drink on a hot day. It almost makes it worth it to be sweaty in the summer … almost.  It has become the “it” drink in recent years.

I became interested in Moscow Mules when I purchased this serving set at Sweet Salvage last year at about this time.

The Mule was introduced in 1941 as a way to promote Smirnoff vodka. For the full history of the drink and a recipe that is slightly sweeter than mine, check THIS out.

Since I’m lucky enough to have the copper pitcher and serving tray, I love to make a batch of the lime juice and vodka mixed together and then leave instructions for guests to add a 1/3 cup of the vodka mixture to an ice-filled mug, then top off with 1/2 bottle of ginger beer. Finish with a stir, a garnish, and drink with a straw.

The recipe below is for one drink. To make a batch, just multiply the ingredients by the number of mugs you have, set out a tub of chilled bottles of ginger beer, write out the directions and let your guests have fun making their own.

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Do you remember your first artichoke?

I do!

I was about 10 years old. There was an Italian family who lived across the street, three doors down from us. The family consisted of a very handsome dad, a seriously gorgeous mom, and an only child daughter who was a year or two older than me. I idealized the girl. She was pretty and nice and very well-mannered. Their home was calm and quiet and they were polite.

At my house, we were loud and there was always at least one of the four of us kids crying, screaming, yelling, or getting in trouble at any given moment of any given day.

Their family and home were like a perfect rose among a bunch of thorns. They only lived in our neighborhood for a year or two. No wonder with all that crying, yelling, and screaming going on!

Anyhow, one summer afternoon, the girl invited me to have dinner at her house. I was so excited. I remember being on my very best behavior and minding my manners. When the mom brought dinner to the table, there were the strangest looking, yet somehow intriguing, green thorny-looking things on one of the platters.

All three of them could see by the perplexed look on my face, that I had never seen an artichoke before. Of course, they were very kind and helpful in teaching me how to pull off one leaf at a time, dip it in the melted butter and scrape it with my teeth. I remember that when I had finished all the leaves, the mom expertly cut out the artichoke heart for me. I was hooked, I was enamored, I was in love with artichokes!

We lived a block away from the intersection of Chaparral and Pima, just down from Scottsdale Community College. A year or two after my introduction to the artichoke, Artie the Artichoke was adopted as SCC’s mascot to express a difference of opinion between the students and the administration concerning budget priorities. I remember that even as an 11 or 12-year-old, I felt a special kinship with those students and was thrilled by their mascot choice.

Strange what you cling to as a kid!

I use bouquet garni for my steamed artichokes. You may recall that we made bouquet garni at last winter’s craft party. If you don’t have any one hand, just throw in a few sprigs of fresh parsley instead.

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