I know I’m late to post this festive Fourth of July cocktail, but the drink would be delicious any time of the year! The strawberry and blueberry ice cubes bring an otherwise boring and colorless drink to life. If you’re not a strawberry or blueberry fan, you can of course replace them with raspberries, blackberries, grapes, etc.
Last night, I hosted a dinner party at my house with some close friends. Like my parents’ party last weekend, I had a tapas style dinner accompanied by a plethora of white and red wine. We had a fabulous variety of foods—baked brie with jam, maple syrup and brown sugar, stuffed jalepeños, cheese crostinis, caesar salad with homemade dressing and pesto sandwiches.
I made mini pesto sandwiches, sausage and cheese stuffed jalepeños, a fruit tart and a peanut butter pie.
My neighbor often makes this fruit tart when my parents have dinner parties. She always expresses how simple it is to make the tart and doesn’t understand my family’s obsession with the dessert. However, my guests last night seemed to understand the tart addiction and cleared the platter in no time. This dessert might actually be my favorite Paula Deen recipe—her knack of creating dessert recipes never ceases to amaze me.
This past weekend, I invited a few girlfriends over for the evening. Our original plan was to get drinks and appetizers for happy hour in Laguna Beach. But due to the time crunch and our disinclination to spend a boatload of money, we decided to create our own happy hour. We managed to do just that minus spending money on gas, meter parking and a tip.
We wanted to make refreshing and delicious drinks that were all-natural sans the alcohol. I have to give credit to my friend, Ellen, as she was the mastermind behind our two drink concoctions.
Once we finished making the drinks, we lounged in my backyard by the pool, sipping on our cocktails as the sun set. Talk about a perfect weekend night!
A friend of mine celebrated her birthday last night—and we all know what that meant. I had a reason to bake! I wanted to make something that I had never made before, so I decided on blueberry and lemon cupcakes. The birthday girl was kind enough to share her cupcakes with our table of 12 so that everyone got a taste. I’m not sure how well blueberry cupcakes went with sushi, but they still got two thumbs up all around the table.
Since two of the main ingredients are fruit, one of my friends asked if that meant they were healthy. Unfortunately, I had to say no. But it would be ideal if they were, right?
The sweetness of the blueberries and the subtle tartness of the lemon is a surprising, yet delicious, combination. The recipe initially did not have a strong lemon taste, so I altered it a bit to make sure the lemon stood out. One suggestion for the recipe was to freeze the blueberries for 4 hours. By doing this, the blueberries would not sink to the bottom. I’d say this trick worked!
Blueberry pie and I have become very good friends. After my third attempt, I finally got the flavor and texture just right. The flakey and salty crust juxtaposed by the gooey blueberry and cinnamon filling is the perfect combination. I have to admit, I’ve gotten rave reviews with this recipe. Depending on the freshness of your berries, they will subtly pop in your mouth with each bite—definitely an unexpected experience!
