… we’ve got it all!

We’ll start with the coffee. As I’ve mentioned here before, Tram and her husband, Steve, own Press Coffee Roasters. They have locations in the Scottsdale Quarter and at Sky Harbor Airport.

Plus … there was a very special third, albeit temporary, location in my backyard on Saturday morning.

Steve came over on Friday and set up all the fancy machinery. I do not drink coffee, I know, weird for an adult, but it is what it is.

This means that I don’t know anything about coffee, except that I enjoy the smell of it and I adore the burlap sacks that the beans are shipped in. Oh, and I love love love coffee ice cream too!

Steve knows everything there is to know about coffee. As he was setting up, he tried his best to teach Peggy and me a thing or two. Peggy “drank it up” – the info and the coffee and she loved every drop of it.

Not only did we have our own Press Coffee station, but we also had our own barista to specially brew each cup for each guest to their specific tastes and requests.

Nanda graciously spent her Saturday morning serving coffee, even though her real job is Head Roaster at the Press Coffee Roastery. Thank you, Nanda, for not only spending your morning with us but for being a great group photo photographer too!

As you can see, the guests loved their coffee!

For some strange and somewhat annoying reason, most of the coffee table was taken up with coffee “stuff” – but I did manage to squeeze out the front corner for some decor to carry through the theme. A massive vintage scale and an old typewriter.

Three ABC flashcards added a pop of color to all that industrial-looking black.

Behind the station, on the kitchen window, I hung a couple of book page baker’s twine buntings. The book pages were taken from a nursery rhyme songbook that I found at a second-hand store.

On to the cocktail…

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Many of the guests at Tram’s Baby Shower had expressed interest in the recipes for the brunch food I served.  In fact, Tram commented that yesterday’s post was a “Cliffhanger” since so many of her friends were hoping for the recipes and I said that the recipes would be coming tomorrow.

That actually made me laugh. A Cliffhanger? Me?

No, I just have so much to share about the shower that I have to break it up into a week’s worth of posts. So, today I shall give you all the recipes!

It sounds more daunting than it actually is because all but one of the recipes have already been posted here on the blog. See, no Cliffhanger to be had. Most of them, I made exactly as previously written and a couple of the others – have a few tweaks. Let’s get to it!

First up, The Granola Bar.

I made a double batch of my Glinda’s Wickedly Delicious Granola. It is my take on a recipe from my friend and colleague, Gwen Ashley Walters.

To accompany the granola, there were bowls of fresh blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries, plus lemon curd, low-fat vanilla yogurt, and, my favorite store-bought yogurt of all time, Greek Gods brand Honey yogurt.

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… after nearly a week off, I’m back to share all the glorious details of Tram’s babies (twins) shower with you. In all honesty, I don’t know where to begin.

I don’t know if I should start by thanking Tram for being the most appreciative and gracious guest-of-honor, EVER! (I love this photo of Tram with her friend and colleague, Lin Sue. It so beautifully shows off her ever-growing baby bump on her tiny frame!)

Or by thanking Peggy for being the best friend and assistant party setter-upper and co-hostess that a girl could ever deserve, hope, wish, or dream of having!

Or maybe I, tell you all about the theme and show you a bunch of photos from the perfectly perfect day.

Let’s start there – at the beginning. This is how it went down.

Tram and Steve came over to our house before going out to dinner with the supposed reason of seeing our new back patio. The true purpose was to tell us that they were expecting… TWINS! How exciting is that?!

The very second after Tram told me she was expecting twins, I said, “I have to throw you a baby shower!”

I first went to Pinterest and started a new board for the shower. The theme was solidified in October when I found this vintage Fisher-Price toddler desk at Sweet Salvage.

Theme:

• School
• Books
• Vintage Toys, flashcards, and blocks
• ABC
• 123
• Chalkboards
• Pink & Blue
• Globes, Rulers, & Crayons
• …and the Number 2

One of four centerpieces … at a table for 10.

Table for eight.

Table for six.

An intimate table for four.

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I’m taking a break from party planning to put up a quick post about a kids’ recipe contest. It’s super time-sensitive – so here are the details…

The submission portion of the contest began on January 1, 2014 and ends on January 22, 2014 – that’s only 2 weeks from tomorrow!

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I want to give you a heads-up  – my blogging abilities are going to be compromised for the next week.

Yesterday, I began putting away Christmas. The tree is down and the New Year’s Eve tablescape and decor, that I’m about to show you, are put away. I hope to get the rest of the house “untrimmed” and “defrocked” today.

Then, Saturday the real work begins.

Fun work!
The work I love to do!

The sort of thing I live for…

Decorating. Shopping. Cooking. Making lists. Organizing. Setting up and Planning… for Tram’s baby shower.

Hence – very little time to blog. You may hear from me, or I may go “underground” and you might not. Either way, please know that I am in my element, experiencing joy and happiness and that I’ll share all the glorious details with you… after the fact. I don’t want to ruin any of it for my sweet friend, loyal blog follower, and mama-to-be, Tram!

For now, back to New Year’s Eve, from here out, referred to as NYE.

See that huge clock?

Isn’t it grand!?!  I bought it years ago at a cool store in the Scottsdale Airpark that, sadly, no longer exists. It is five feet in diameter and it is heavy! I put it out on the front patio for NYE and it was still there yesterday, when Chip, my landscape architect extraordinaire, came by with his crew to install more lighting in the front yard.

Chip asked me about the clock and I told him that when I bought it, my intention was to hang it in the front room. But I feared it was too heavy, so I’ve just had it leaning against walls in various rooms over the years. Most recently in the guestroom, better known as Marissa’s bedroom.

He said, “It’s so cool! Where do you want it to go? I’ll hang it for you.”

Hey, you don’t have to make a generous offer, like that, twice!

Quickly, before he could change his mind, I said, “OK!”

So I got the stud finder, nails, some wire, a hammer, and a ladder. He got his right-hand man, Roy, and another ladder. They wired it up and went to hang it… and the wire snapped. (I told you it was HEAVY!) Thankfully they were still holding on to it when that happened!

They got some “better” wire from their truck and tried again, and voilà, the clock is finally hanging where I wanted it to be hanging all along!

I really am going to get to the tablescape… but first a couple more photos of the front patio/entrance leading to the NYE dinner party.

Happy New Year. Do you see it?

Now you do!

Come on in.

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I served this dip on New Year’s Eve. It is my version of a recipe from the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.

It is good!

It may not be the prettiest thing ever, but what do you expect? It’s bean dip!

If eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is lucky, then it must be lucky the other 364 days of the year too.

Plus you only need to use and wash 2 measuring cups, a bowl, a fork, and a baking dish to make and serve it. Lucky … and as easy as can be.

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I would like to wish a happy, healthy, joyful, and prosperous New Year to each of you.

“May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but happiness come through your door.”  Traditional Irish Blessing

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I changed my decades old tradition of present wrapping this past Christmas. I’ve always wrapped each family member’s gifts in their own unique and individual wrapping paper.

None of them knew, until Christmas morning, whose gifts were whose.

When the kids were little, this method kept them from counting to see who had more and from shaking gifts they would have otherwise known belonged to them.

This year, I still wrapped the gifts, I just didn’t worry about using a specific paper or tags. Instead,  I used personalized Christmas Sacks from Harrow & Green, a small company in London.

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A look back on the Best of 2013 from LesPetitesGourmettes.com.

Plus a bonus recipe from way back in 2012 that I just have to add – because I love it and because I am going to make a big batch of it today! And… just because.

I know the question you are asking yourself, “Linda, how on earth did you compile your top 10 list of best recipes from 2013?”

Very scientifically, that’s how.

Here are the exact criteria needed to make the top 10 list:

1. Most feedback and comments are here on the blog.
2. Most often pinned on Pinterest.
3. Most shares, “likes” and/or comments on the Les Petites Gourmettes Facebook page.
4. Most loved by me – in other words, a recipe could make the cut because I really like the recipe!
5. Finally, the last criteria were that it was not one of the recipes from a three-week period in February when I did that stupid 3-week life-sucking cleanse. Not one of those would ever make any Top 10 list. Nowhere! Never! Not Ever!  I only wish I could get those 3 weeks of my life back.

On to the TOP TEN –

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I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.
We did.
Of course, the best part is having all my loves home with me!

For Christmas Eve, we brought back a tradition we began last year (when I had a fractured pelvis and could not stand up in the kitchen to cook) and we once again had blue cheese fondue. We are all in love with the new simple, fun, and communal approach to a special family meal. The kids voted that we add in chocolate fondue for dessert in 2014. Dave and I made that vote unanimous.

This was our Christmas day tablescape.

For our Christmas day dinner, the main course was something I taught at Les Gourmettes, individual beef Wellingtons.

You’ll notice that some of the photos below were taken while I was prepping for that class.

I purchased a full beef tenderloin and cut it into 16 pieces. This was the most economical way to feed a crowd.

For our holiday meal, I purchased already cut filet mignon.

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