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Is it Tuesday already?!

Last week was consumed with life + Gourmet Club preparations, which made for late nights and early mornings.  BUT, it went swimmingly!  Donna and I were so pleased with the results of our brunch on Saturday.  I guess 2+ months of preparation really does pay off!  Everyone was very complimentary, and we only had minor hitches that we would have changed.  My biggest regret is not being able to take more pictures!  I didn’t even get a pic of the main course.  We were way too busy to stop and snap photos.

Our theme was "winter into spring" and we used this poem as our inspiration (you might have noticed the last two lines were on the invitation):

"In winter’s cold and sparkling snow,
The garden in my mind does grow.
I look outside to blinding white,
And see my tulips blooming bright.
And over there a sweet carnation,
Softly scents my imagination.
{
On this cold and freezing day,
The Russian sage does gently sway,
And miniature roses perfume the air,
I can see them blooming there.
Though days are short, my vision’s clear.
And through the snow, the buds appear.
{
In my mind, clematis climbs,
And morning glories do entwine.
Woodland phlox and scarlet pinks,
Replace the frost, if I just blink.
My inner eye sees past the snow.
And in my mind, my garden grows."
– Cheryl Magic-Lady, Winter Garden

Here was our menu:

White Hot Chocolate: our guests were served a tea cup of hot chocolate as they arrived.  There was orange zest, toffee bits and cinnamon sticks to add if they chose.

Danish Puff Pastry: Donna’s recipe and it’s to die for!  In fact, I’m having some at this very moment!

Then they sat down at the table and we served…

Honeydew Granita Spritzer: granita is an Italian dessert.  You make it with pureed fruit and a simple sugar syrup, then freeze it and scrape it with a fork.  This variation was served as a drink, with ginger ale and club soda, garnished with a lime.  And for extra prettiness we sugared the rim of martini glasses.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches: this is favorite recipe of mine that I’ve been doing for years.

Vanilla Poached Pears:  these are so delicious!  Bosc pears poached and then stuffed with raspberry jam.

Eggs Florentine: you start with a fried potato cake (with bacon), sauteed spinach, a poached egg, and then top them with a mornay sauce (fancy cheese sauce made with Emmenthaler swiss)

German Apple Pancake:  kind of like a turnover, made in the oven with cinnamon apples, sprinkled with powdered sugar

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

And they all left with bound recipe books, homemade petit fours, and pebble magnets (that I made).

SOOOOO much work…but SO fun.

Here are some pics:

the menu/place cards

the pebble magnets

Here’s the other half of the story:

Friday night I was up until close to 1 am.  Then I was back up at 6, cooking away.  Jacob was up that morning early, as well, watching cartoons.  It was storming outside.  Around 6:30 a.m. we were pounded with large hail…and I do mean pounded.  Derek shot out of bed and was running upstairs, as Caleb was running down crying.  The baby was sitting up in his crib, crying.  It sounded and felt like the windows were going to shatter.  I felt like a mother hen gathering her chicks.  I went to the middle of the house, spread out my arms and held all three kids.  It was scary…and so loud.  Luckily we had both cars in the garage.  But our plastic grill cover and plastic toy bin outside all have holes in them. And outdoor lightbulb was shattered too.  Then about 15 minutes later the lights went out for a few seconds.  I almost had a heart attack…gourmet club was not going to happen without power!  But it all came back on and we were fine.  The only hitch was having to take 5 trips back and forth to Donna’s that morning…in the RAIN!