Reds and pinks together, gorgeous.

Tablecloth was made from an old piece of upholstery fabric.

I had plenty of late summer roses to place around the house.

I decided to arrange my dried hydrangeas on the sideboard in my living room.

They are almost dry after only one week and not one casualty!  They made a beautiful late summer statement.

This dinner party was a casual affair, and when I say casual, I mean really casual, like DIY casual, as in make your own BLTs.  This sounded like a good idea on Friday, but half hour before the guests were to arrive on Saturday it started to sound absurd.  What was I thinking?  Well, too late to revise, this was the planned menu.  My husband fried 1 1/2 pounds of our favorite thick sliced Daily's Pepper Bacon right before the guests arrived.   It smelled pretty bacony when everyone arrived so I fessed up right away.  Turns out that every one loves BLTs as much as we do.  Phew!

I served crab cakes (my go-to crab cake recipe) for appetizers and used my nana's cut glass for serving.  As I'm writing this I can't believe I'm saying cut glass and BLT's in the same post.  It doesn't seem like it should have worked, but I think it did.  The recipe says to serve with your "preferred sauce" and mine is 1/4 cup mayo processed with 2 large pieces pimiento and 2 dashes Tabasco.


We had a platter of large heirloom tomatoes and lettuce, plus some sliced pickles and sliced avocado just in case one of our guests was not a BLT purist.  I oven toasted hearty white bread and set out a large bowl of mayonnaise.  I nuked the bacon for a minute right before we ate and it was great that way. I put all this out on the bar and the six of us went our merry way making our sandwiches the way we like 'em.  


Alongside I served a homemade potato salad just like my mom makes with yellow potatoes, mayo, chopped hard boiled eggs, green onions, celery, pimiento and pickles...reminds me of my childhood. 


I was thinking, you all know how to make pimientos, right?  It couldn't be easier, and way better than the expensive jars you buy in the store.  When red bell peppers are on sale, or if you have a windfall from the garden like I did yesterday, here's what you do:

Bee you tee full.

Slice into large pieces, removing, stem, membrane and seeds.  Place them cut side down on a baking sheet.

Broil on high until black and blistered, 5 or 10 minutes.  Place them in a paper bag, close it up and wait to cool.

When cool, blackened skin removes easily and the peppers will last for a week or two in the fridge, no oil or vinegar necessary.  I didn't think of taking a picture of this until we had eaten most of them.  This is a great start to roasted red pepper soup, great on sandwiches or chopped into just about anything.  And of course makes the best Pimiento Cheese.

Dessert was my own crazy concoction, an apple tart made with frozen prepared puff pastry and a goat cheese filling with balsamic reduction slurried around it.  Ermm, it was OK.  I loved it, but you must love goat cheese to love it and I found out that not everyone loves goat cheese like me.  Live and learn.



I just finished the new Ivan Doig Book, The Bartender's Tale.   LOVED!  Ivan Doig, if you are not familiar with his work, writes about his native state of Montana.  This book is an excellent coming of age story taking place in the early 60's with a great dose of Americana nostalgia and fabulous character development for which he is so famous.   I don't understand why his books have not been made into movies with sweeping Montana vistas or a 3 part mini series.  Please Hollywood.

 'Till next time...thank you for stopping by.  xoxo Kristen

Linking to Twirl and Take a Bow , and  Tabletop Tuesday. Between Naps on the Porch and On The Menu Monday.