Shiny Happy People

One of the best lovelies I know, a one Miss Rachel Best, gave me the most astounding book for my birthday this past weekend.

The Shiny Happy People Book is a cookbook by Neil Roake cataloging exquisite dinner parties and beautiful homes curated by the people he admires best: his good friends. When I fist unwrapped the book, my first reaction was "How Beautiful! It reminds me of my blog roll!" But upon further inspection, I found that not only was I interested in these people, and the food and decors they had to share, but that the author and his friends-featured were all located in South Africa, which I visited this past April and fell hard, madly, deeply in love with. This weekend has been a whirlwind of birthday celebration-chaos (Cheers, 26!), but each night I've found myself getting ready for bed, slightly (or maybe more) tipsy, thumbing through this book, marveling at the beautiful pages inside, planning the perfect dinner party occasions where I shall unveil certain recipes (to everyone's surprise and delight!) and also, feeling a certain (severe) longing for South Africa growing in my heart. The places I saw there were off the beaten path and truly unreal (I am so lucky!)! This book is filling me with a rush to get back to the Garden Route with a moment's quickness, as soon as possible. Thank you, Rachel Best , you've stirred South Africa up inside of me.

Outstanding In The Field

This is one of the best things I've seen in a long time. Outstanding In The Field is a roaming dinner experience, a restaurant on wheels.

They travel across the country setting up their long tables outside in the middle of fields, crops, mountainsides, and shorelines. The food they prepare is locally grown from the region they are in and often prepared by a local chef icon.

Once the meal is prepared, the dinner guests (local farmers, producers and members of the community) gather around the long tables to dine, drink and enjoy together.

The majority of their tour list takes place out west. Unfortunately, I see no dates in Florida and only one in Georgia. Nonetheless, I joined their mailing list, in the hopes that they notice at least one Floridian is interested! They also have plans for a European tour in 2011.

Lamb and Yogurt

Quick. Tangy. And already had all the ingredients in the fridge ready to be thrown together. Served with orzo pilaf, delish.

Summertime Pasta Salad

I whipped up this pasta salad earlier this afternoon, using these ingredients all found in my cupboards and fridge:

- 1 box Betty Crocker Suddenly Pasta Salad
- Several Polly-O Mozzarella Cheese Strings, sliced
- Grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- Hormel Turkey Pepperoni, cut into quarters
- 1 can 3.5 oz black olives, sliced

Prep and cook time together was only about 20 minutes. I let it chill in the fridge for a couple of hours and then voila!, an easy, refreshing summertime pasta for a Sunday summer evening.

The Fourth

My 4th of July pool party decor looked like this:

and like this {I got my jar and it was perfect for margaritas!}:

I was really hoping to pull off this and this:

but finishing the pool and deck up until the last minute prevented it from happening.

Next time!

Spring Risotto

Two nights ago I made this Spring Risotto from Martha and it was soooo yummy. I served it with baked lemon pepper chicken and white wine. It takes some tending to but was pretty simple {don't forget the Parmesan cheese - they left it off the ingredient list}.