Weekend Recap (a bit late...)

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Officially half way through the work week :)

Our dinner party turned out to be a big success, but I will get to that soon!

Friday afternoon was spent going from grocery store to grocery store collecting all of the ingredients for Saturday night. There were four stores in total, luckily Friday nights aren't exactly a happening time to be food shopping! The one item which was the hardest to find was Okra, I almost gave up and went with another green, and then Whole Foods came to the rescue!

After we shopped, we came home to clean the house. It was one of those move all the furniture to vacuum, dust the ceilings cleans, which are basically the bain of Oliver's existence but he happily (I knew he was faking) played along.

We woke up Saturday morning to a limping puppy, it seemed he had broken his nail, so off to the vet we went. They pulled it and gave us some antibiotics, he immediately stopped limping which made me feel better. However I spent the rest of day giving him extra treats to make up for it!

Then the cooking began, I have to say it went incredibly smoothly. I had time to nap, curl my hair and get my eyebrows done which is unheard of in our house on party days! Oliver always teases me that I worry too much about things being perfect, my response: "I get it from my Mom!" I don't think there is one party she has thrown that wasn't perfection!

When our guests arrived I was so happy to see everyone! The food turned out amazing (thanks to Oliver) and the company was the best! We have had a lot going on lately, so it was amazing to have a night to forget about all of that and be with people who make us laugh!

 Here are a few (I need to be better about pictures!) from our Southern Inspired BBQ! Hope you enjoy :)

I re purposed the burlap from Thanksgiving and used my favorite Anthropologie napkins. These fresh blooms were a great addition thanks to Trader Joe's!

 I was the bartender a lot of the night, my signature drink was Old Fashions. I used my favorite Kate Spade His & Hers glasses, good whiskey drinking glasses! also made Southern Spiked Sweet Tea & Vodka Lemonade. I will admit I cheated on the lemonade and used already made lemonade (I felt guilty but there just isn't enough time in the day!)

 

A Southern Inspired Dinner Party

You all know I love a good themed Dinner Party! We are having a few of our couple friends over this weekend and I am SO excited to plan our little get together!

I had a few ideas for themes which as per usual started around the cocktail. The boys are into Whiskey so I immediately thought BBQ. What goes better with Whiskey than an array of smoked and rubbed meat? I can't think of much. So I am going to do Whiskey on the rocks, but I also wanted a fun cocktail. So I decided to use my favorite Southern Sweet Tea recipe and kick it up a bit by adding some rum! I am throwing around the idea of doing a Spiked Lemonade as well, but it will all come down to timing!

I have a lot of the sides nailed down, Oliver will take care of the meat which he is on Cloud Nine about, and for dessert... Maple Bacon Donuts. Easily one of my most favorite things Oliver makes! He candies the bacon to top the Cinnamon donut and makes a maple glaze. No one said it was healthy but I promise it is 100% worth the calories!

Here is my recipe for Spiked Sweet Tea- I have found that I sometimes add a bit more Rum that this calls for, but I start with this and add if needed as I am pouring out the drinks!

7 Cups of Water
6 Orange pekoe tea bags
1 1/2 Cups of Sugar (the recipe calls for regular sugar I prefer coconut palm sugar- better flavor!)
1 1/3 Cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Cup Bacardi or any dark rum
Fresh mint & lemon wedge to garnish

Directions: Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan, adding the tea bags in ( I usually tie their strings together to make getting them out easier). Removing the pan from heat, cover and let the tea steep for 5-7 minutes. Remove the tea bags. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add in the last 3 cups of water, continue to stir. Let it cool, adding in the lemon juice and rum before serving.

Make sure to check back, I will have all the details up on the blog this weekend!