Gone Fishin' ~ How to Design a Pretty & Elegant Coastal Blue & White, Fish-Themed Table Setting

 

At long last, the fever broke. 

It was a red-hot, sizzlin’ summer that wreaked havoc on my gardens.  

By the time relief came in September, I was already dreaming of a tablescape design that would capture the spirit of the season. 

And then, just like that, while gazing at the blue bay in front of me, I was tickled by the idiom, “Gone Fishing” ~ meaning we are taking a long break. And as Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong crooned in Gone Fishin': A way of getting away from the routine; taking time off; a vacation from the realities of life.    

I got super excited to create a tablescape with a fishing theme!

Do You Slap Your Herbs? Tips on How to Grow & Harvest Garden-to-Glass Cocktail Garnishes

 

If your herbs are too sassy, do you know how to slap them?  

Seriously, a good whack releases or activates the aroma in an herb. 

You can rub them and crush them and muddle them, too -- along with spices.  

The sheer emphasis on quality, garden-to-glass ingredients has elevated mixology from “merely” bar tending to the art of using homegrown, hard-to-find and hand-crafted fixings to create innovative, sophisticated cocktails, as well as artful and reimagined takes on classic cocktails.

Here I am sharing some tips, recommendations, and informed guidance from my Art of the Garnish book to help you grow, cultivate, harvest; and hopefully expand your repertoire of garden-to-glass cocktail garnishes to make your happy hours, well, happier!

An Inspiring Guest, Marion Nestle, Debuts her Memoir, “Slow Cooked, An Unexpected Life in Politics”

 

Cooking is a metaphor for life. 

"Getting cooked means going through different experiences in life, and these help you evolve to become a better person” is a terrific quote I discovered on the web while writing this post. And it’s rather a delectable prelude (dare I say, amuse-bouche?!) to my post about Marion Nestle.  

The Marion Nestle was a recent guest on my Ladies Who Lunch Conversations Facebook videocast.

At that time, I preordered Marion’s long-awaited book, Slow Cooked. Now, finally, it’s getting ready to ship ~ very soon according to the tracker.

Change is Constant: Never Underestimate Mother Nature & Other Gardening Lessons I Learned

I have to thank Mother Nature that we completed our planned garden design changes during the spring’s “Silly Season” ~ long before the relentless, blistering temperatures and water shortages we’ve endured this summer.  

Remember my last post introduced my garden design plan to “do less.” Well, we shuttered the garden changes not a moment too soon. 

They say war is hell.  So is trying to garden in an extraordinary, inhospitable climate.

Still, like any great matriarch, Mother Nature teaches us many things.  Here are a few I took to heart this growing season….