A Very Berry Breakfast

Some days are just special.  It's nice to indulge in a totally unexpected, middle-of-the-week breakfast as a treat for someone you love.

The food doesn't have to be fancy.  In my humble opinion, an ordinary breakfast, or any meal, actually, can be elevated with the proper setting and mood.  Mornings start early at our house, so I did most of the prep work the night before.

For a change of pace, I am using a pair of delightful Berries Kitchen Towels that we received recently as a gift.  That was the starting point for the rest of the table.  

Pairing bees with berries seemed like a no-brainer, so the La Rochère Bee glasses came out to play.

The cream tot was filled the night before, then covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated so it would be ready to go right away.  Mr. & Mrs. Red volunteered to help out.  They usually come out for patriotic tables, and occasionally for other holidays.  It's fun having them around.

The Blue Calico sugar bowl withdrew in a snit when it realized that neither my husband or I adds sugar to our tea.  Very temperamental, that Blue Calico.

We like berries and eat a lot of them at our house.  They are high in polyphenols, those magic antioxidants that do so many great things for the human body, and it's wonderful that something that is good for us, is also so darn delicious!

Won't you have a croissant . . . or a scone . . . ? 

The jam came along with the dish towels, and I couldn't wait to try it.  Oh, my!  If you have a chance, please don't pass the opportunity to buy a jar.  It is so delicious.  Most of the berries remain whole.  I wish I had taken a picture, but I was too busy licking my fingers!

And, since we were serving Blueberry Jam, the Blueberry spoon came out.  This was part of the gift package.  I'm going to remember to do this for someone else.  Everything was a delight from beginning to end!

Don't you love the Mason Woven table runner from Pottery Barn?  It adds so much to the textural mix on this table!

Even a few simple daisies can brighten your day.  The miniature vases are part of a set of three that my son, David, gave me for Christmas a few years ago.

I've gotten into the habit of always taking a rim shot, to see how my plate stack looks to any tiny bug that might wonder to the top of the table.

The Napoleon Bee flatware did not want to be left out.  I say, the more the merrier!

Breakfast in heaven includes a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.  Did you know that?

The mini vase on this side has a different shape.  There's a lot of texture and color on this table, but the white Wedgwood Nantucket Basket dishes calm everything down.

Hard-boiled eggs, with extra ones to snack on later in the morning, or tomorrow.

Another low-carb offering:  Prosciutto wrapped in Mozzarella, and Emmentaler cheese slices.  I prefer Gouda, but he likes Emmentaler, and it's a special day, so he gets his Emmentaler with a pretty tomato rose to fancy up the plate.  Everything had to be pretty today.  You see, today my husband and I celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary.  

“Come grow old with me.  The best is yet to be.” 

—William Wordsworth

A Stars and Plaid Independence Day

Hurray for the Red, White and Blue!  I love Independence Day!  A day to celebrate our freedom and the many blessings we enjoy, even in these trying times!

The plaid patchwork quilt came straight off the bed of one of our guest rooms.  It used to belong to my son, John.  Well, just for today, it's gonna do double duty as our tablecloth!

Let's start things off with some watermelon stars and blueberries.  They were surprisingly easy and fast to do, and they look so festive!

See what happens?  Give me an inch and I'll take the whole arm!  The watermelon stars turned out so well, that I decided to make apple stars for the sangria.  Ugh!  What did I get myself into?  The process was painfully time consuming.  The apple wedges were barely big enough to get one star out of each wedge.  For the thrifty souls among you, don't worry, we turned the discarded apple pieces into delicious juice.

We soaked the apple stars in lots of lemon juice to keep them from turning brown, then incorporated them into the sangria.  It was delicious!

I have to confess that we wimped out and added a 20-oz. bottle of Sprite to the sangria.  It was too hot for alcohol, and we're not big drinkers anyway.

Red Cambria Stoneware dishes, American Star Flag napkins and Bistro Flatware all came from Pottery Barn.  The chargers came from Pier 1, they were originally hot pink, and were spray painted in this soft ivory.

Our guests could snack on some treats while the rest of the lunch was prepared.  In addition to the watermelon and blueberry, we had pretzels, popcorn and dark chocolate-covered almonds.  A little juicy, a little salt, a little sweet, a little chocolate.  All the bases were covered.

Red, white and blue . . . and berries, too!  I am forever on the lookout for cute cocktail napkins.  

Have you ever seen Gerbera daisies in such a brilliant red?  I didn't have to work very hard at putting together a centerpiece for this table.  With these beauties, anything else seemed redundant.

Voilà!  The table is set.  Given the pandemic, I was thankful to be able to pull all these pretty things out of storage without having to shop.

We grilled the most amazing shrimp.  Here's the recipe:  2 pounds of extra large shrimp, peel and deveined.  Make the marinade with ½ cup honey, 6 tablespoons low-sodium tamari sauce, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 6-8 garlic cloves, peeled and minced (be lavish with the garlic!), and ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes.  Add the marinade to the shrimp and refrigerate for 4 hours in a plastic bag, turning occasionally.  Skewer the shrimp and cook on the hot grill for 3 minutes on each side.  You've got to try this!

We served it with Spanish rice, corn on-the-cob, and cornbread.  

These are, hands down, our favorite corn holders - and we've owned a lot of them.  Our kids loved corn-on-the-cob, and we made it frequently.  Consequently, we went through a lot of corn holders.  They are generally rather flimsy, and the tines break off after a few uses.  The clear acrylic with brilliant colors, and the fact that they interlock with each other for storage are nice features, too!  I bought them at Whole Foods, but they are available at other supermarkets as well.

Among my favorite memories of our trips to Italy are the wonderful cakes that hotels serve for breakfast.  When we travel abroad we prefer eating a hearty breakfast at the hotel before heading out for a day of sightseeing.  These cakes tend to be a bit on the dry side and not overly sweet.  They are meant to accompany a great cappuccino.

A Cherry Almond Cake was just the ticket.  My husband was very helpful in photographing a few shots for this post, while I was busy getting lunch ready.

Aha!  So this is why he was being so helpful . . .

Easy, Tiger!  We've got to keep this G-Rated!

Anyway, the cake turned out delicious.  I used a yellow box cake mix, added almond extract and fresh cherries.  Then, I covered the batter with sliced almonds.  When the cake cooled, it was covered with powder sugar.

These days, I don't wear makeup for just anybody.  We got up early to watch the neighborhood's Independence Day car parade.  We wanted to support our association, that has worked so hard to keep the neighbors engaged, and safe during this pandemic.

One more picture with my hubby because he's a cutie pie, and has made the day tremendously fun for me.

And one more picture of the Gerbera daisies because, flowers.  I hope your holiday was fantastic!