Memories are Made of This

For years I’ve kept a “Dinner Party Diary” where I write about special parties ~ for the memories ~ it’s part diary, part scrapbook.  And this  MUSICA is for you, also for the memories . . . we can only imagine how many kisses there’ve been with this music playing in the background! (Just click on it and come right back, it will play while you read.)

♥     ♥     ♥

I started keeping track of parties in this book in 1993, but not every party I’ve ever given is here . . . it’s a tiny book and probably has only twenty parties. I only do them when I remember, or I’m in the mood, or the party is so good that I have to do it!  Our Sunday Breakfast Party went right into the book: I remembered, I was in the mood, and it was good!

♥                ♥

Our 9th Anniversary is in this book too . . . that one was an afternoon tea party and we hired a piano player to play The Glory of Love, and all the other old songs we love.  I always write down the names of guests, the menu, the dishes, and the weather. (And sometimes what we wore, and sometimes poems people say at the table.)

And here we are, getting ready for our 25th Anniversary Party.  Starting with putting a clean tablecloth on the dining table; Girl Kitty had grown fond of the old one and wasn’t letting go of it so easily.

And then the flowers . . . it was supposed to be a combination Valentine’s & Anniversary party, but with the gorgeous weather, it turned out to be an impromptu celebration of Spring!  We even had the door open!  Birds were singing.  It was gorgeous.

You can’t celebrate spring around here without daffodils!  They are the cheeriest things!

A little pink for the coffee table.

Happy singing bird vases, a heart teapot, a matelassé bedspread for the tablecloth ~ and what breakfast party is complete without chocolate kisses?

Love?  Romance?  Hearts and flowers?  Old music, best dearest friends . . . and delicious food.  And everything pretty in pink!

I made the place cards; luckily Joe has a cork fetish and never throws them away, so I thought, what says celebration and happy memories more than a popped champagne cork . . . ?

I tucked the cards into the wires on the back.

We needed a centerpiece.  Joe and I took the QEII on what we called “our test run,” to see if we liked it, in 1997 from New York to Bermuda.  Sailing on the QEII was something we talked about the first time we met — not necessarily doing it together (it was too soon for that at the time) but something we both wanted individually!  So, of course we saved this little bottle of port we found waiting, when we finally did go, in our stateroom, and now it’s part of the glory of, the story of, love. 

Almost there, need napkins!  Need food!

Jack helps by bouncing off the walls and aerating the chair backs with claw holes.  Thank you Jack!

Yes, actual food will be served.  I do adore setting the table, but I know that our guests are going to expect food, not just dishes and flowers!  Here, Joe’s making crepes the day before, for the Cheese Blintzes we’re serving.

There they are, the blintzes; the lemon, basil, and ricotta-cheese filling is all rolled inside…. we covered the pan and put it in the fridge; the next morning we browned them in the frying pan before serving with delicious jams, applesauce and sour cream.  The recipes for all of this will be in my new Breakfast Book!

Did the MUSICA go away?  Noooo.  Say it ain’t so.  Can’t have that. 

Is there anything better than plain, old-fashioned, ice-cold, juicy-pink grapefruit on a spring morning?  No, and I do what my mom taught me; I cut around each segment for easy eating.

Mmmmm, crisp-edged, crunchy Blueberry Corn Cakes and hot maple syrup!  Gotta have it!

Homemade Applesauce made with Granny Smith’s, so fresh and appley!  Yummy with Corn Cakes, delicious with pork sausages, perfect with Cheese Blintzes.

My Applesauce is full of apple bits with a little tooth to them, not the smoothed out stuff you get in the market . . . we served it cold.  I put some roasted cranberries (left over from the cranberry marmalade I made for the blintzes) in the middle as decoration.

We had bacon, sausage, sliced steak and buttermilk biscuits too . . . the platters warmed on top of the stove.  The southern style breakfast at Tara, with Scarlet O’Hara’s family, I read about in Gone with the Wind, was my inspiration for this . . . believe it or not we didn’t touch the decadence they managed to come up with!  But we tried!

Margot and Tom weren’t able to make it 🙁 , they’re on their way to New Orleans 🙂 , but before they left, they stopped by with Margot’s gorgeous bouquet of Valentine roses ~ which were still beautiful; she thought we might like to have them at the party.

She was so right!  I recut them and put them in a shorter vase and here they are, a little more Valentine love DNA, gracing the granola-yogurt-and fresh-fruit buffet we set up on the sideboard.  Thank you Margot! (BTW, that sideboard was here when we bought the house; Mrs Bowditch (a previous owner) told me it was here when she bought the house in 1949; maybe it’s been here since the beginning, 1859, when the house was built and the Smith family moved in!  I would like it to talk!)

Man Food.

And there it is in all its glory; we turned on the music and toasted to love and each other with icy tangerine juice and bloody Mary’s; we had tea, coffee, and everything you see on these plates!  We talked about local island news while the birds sang outside the window; what’s been in our papers, what the ferry boat is up to these days, the weather (of course), how far up the daffodils have come, the blooming snowdrops, our gardens, Facebook, Twitter, movies, spring vacations; and we ate, and ate.  I didn’t do a dessert (although I was tempted to make baked stuffed apples in a cream bath!) — but did we actually need anything more?  No.  We did not.  Then everyone kissed good bye and went home; we washed the dishes, read the paper, and took a nap, then we went to the movies and saw the new silent movie called The Artist.  And THAT was Sunday, pretty good huh?  Love morning parties!

And for your patience for reading through this, not to mention WILLARD, who has spring fever just like me, and is going out to play all day today and tomorrow; you have a reward . . . I have something I’m really excited about . . . a giveaway I think you will love.  Ready?  OK, it’s these ~

Two Johnson Brothers, Rose Chintz Teacups!  Yes!  With saucers!  “Sing Ho for the Life of a Bear!” My own set actually has twenty cups-and-saucers, many more than I will ever need!  So I am giving away two of them!  They come with invisible magic as they were right there on Sunday, at the party of love.  (But, of course, just like the sideboard, they won’t talk!)  All you have to do to be entered is to leave a comment; “Vanna” will draw a name in about three days . . . want to make sure you all get a chance to enter to get a little springtime pink in your life. 

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY GIRLFRIENDS! Sing HO!

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Stars

Good Morning Girls!   Did you have stars where you are last night?  Musica!

This is our sky last night! We walked into town for dinner with our BFF Lowely and John who live one door over; they came over to “pick us up.” As we stepped out the kitchen door, we were compelled to look up; we just stood there in the middle of the grass, transfixed, heads rolling back on our necks, staring at the sky in awe — it reminded me so much of those summer nights sleeping out in the backyard when we were kids — looking into the night sky until our eyes glazed over and we fell asleep.  Martha’s Vineyard is far enough away from the big cities, this little dark island spot in the Atlantic, to get these amazing starlit skies. My photos don’t do it justice; it’s hard for the camera to focus on such little faraway pinpoints; but the stars were clear as ice last night glittering hard in the black sky. I thought you might like to see it.

It’s not easy to say goodbye to the quiet season and I’m glad we have a few more weeks of it.  Right now this island belongs to us.  Nobody comes here; it’s healed beautifully from the tourist onslaught of last year. We could walk right down the middle of Main Street last night; there was no one out but us; our footsteps on sandy sidewalk and gravely road echoed against the old clapboard houses.  Lovely to walk through the neighborhood, in the cold night air with dear friends who live just one door over, and have dinner at the French restaurant (Le Grenier) in town that has been there forever and say Hello Jean, how are you . . . the proprietor hugs Joe, they’ve been friends for many years. I had melt-in-your-mouth Sole Almondine; Joe had Soft Shell Crabs;  Lowely chose Steak au Poivre; John had Swordfish, mmmmm; we shared a little hot pan of creamed spinach and some crisp fried potatoes; it was delicious. The boys, who love us, ordered two chocolate desserts and four spoons.  

We walked home, fat and happy from a wonderful dinner and even better conversation; about how to handle life, how our work is going, where we’d love to travel, our trip to New York, their trip to Costa Rica, Lowely’s taking French lessons, how Joe and I met; two couples, holding hands under the stars, chugging up the little hill to home; past the picket fences, the old trees, porch lights on the houses throwing long shadows.

. . . under the spire of the old church and the town hall . . . home to kitties and cozy bed and feather comforter; and that was our evening!

 And today?  Today is big; I’m going to turn on the music, smooth out the tablecloth, make place cards, set the table, arrange flowers, make crepes, make basil lemon filling and fruit salad; stir up blueberry corn cake batter, and roast some cranberries; getting ready, because tomorrow, we have breakfast for twelve at our dining room table at 10:30 am — some of our dearest friends are coming to celebrate our Anniversary, Valentine’s Day, and just LOVE, in general . . . So, that means I have to GO!

Thinking I might use old books like these for a centerpiece; maybe put some old photos with them.  Some glass candlesticks too.  I almost told everyone to wear their jammies, and then I thought better of it.  But we’ll have a fire.

Can’t decide between these happy no-name flowery dishes . . .

Or maybe a whole table of PINK . . .

But I’m definitely using this!  And I might even use this quilt for the table cloth, or would that be too busy? All these decisions, how much fun can one person have?

Or maybe I’ll use this old Matelassé bedspread as a tablecloth and keep the table light and bright and clean.  If Girl Kitty will get off of it.  That will be the challenge today, kitties love to spread themselves out on my projects and pretend they don’t know what they’re doing! 

I just went to the kitchen to start the tea water for Joe; the heater is humming; it’s the only noise in the old creaky house and a true comfort; it sent a blast of warm air across the wood floor making my feet very happy. I fixed myself a piece of sourdough toast, was shaking cinnamon-sugar on it and looked out back across the lawn.  There’s a heavy swath of dusty pink sky running along the roof tops, spires, and chimneys in our neighborhood; the leafless tree branches are black against the color; the sun is coming up . . . another beautiful day!  I hope it’s a good one for you!  Thanks for being here! 

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