Collecting Sets

I am a collector. I love "sets"! Although an olio of one offs can be a sublime decor, I prefer displays of sets. I think maybe it is because you can spend some time and be thoughtful with each group, rather than just be over run by object after object after object. Does that make sense? In a way, it is making your space like an onion. If someone wants they can look at it as a bulb, but if they prefer they can peel away the layers to reveal more. Whereas if nothing goes with anything else they are just simply looking at a pile of minced.

Anyway, I also love nostalgia so I was so happy when my mother discovered these wonderful old spices in my grandmothers kitchen. FYI, if this is what your spice cabinet looks like naturally, you need to throw out and start over because you are seasoning your food with old bits of plant dust at this point. Actually, don't throw them out, but repurpose them into a fun nostalgic vignette in your kitchen. That's what I did with my grandmothers, and I think the addition of the Commemorative Andy Warhol soup cans really turns it into quite the little display asking the question "Art/Food, Food/Art?"

So the next time you are out at the goodwill store or down the street at a garage sale, consider buying all of the egg plates or ceramic vegetables or salt and pepper shakers rather than just one. They will be so much more dynamic as a team on display than as a lonely single.

Planning For Last Minute Guests

I love to entertain. It is definitely in the top three of things I like doing, just after reading and pet keeping. I will more often than not beg off on an invitation to go out to the latest hotspot nightclub, or even to the movies, but ask to come over and I will pull together something to eat and give the house a quick "sprucing" and be happy as a clam all the while. I never say no to someone coming over. What could be greater than getting to enjoy the pleasure of the company of a friend without ever having to leave your house.

Anyway, Jackie and her husband Henry came over for dinner the other day. It was fairly last minute, so I did not have days to plan a menu or theme for the evening. I work at Target, so when presented with needing to feed people at the last minute, it takes some creativity to come up with a cohesive menu based on the few raw ingredients I sell at the store and what I know I have in my fridge and pantry.

Thankfully, I have two guinea pigs who eat nothing but fresh veggies so I knew I had a whole head of romaine in the fridge. Also, I had just read the latest issue of Everyday Food from Martha Stewart so I knew I could cobble together a Penne Bolognese substituting ground beef for ground turkey. The menu in the magazine included a recipe for a feta cheese salad dressing, and I had feta left over from my last dinner party. I grabbed a package of Alexia frozen dinner rolls (there was a time and day when I used to bake my own breads, but unless I have serious time on my hands these days I "get real" with myself and go for high quality store bought breads), and created a garlic butter spread which Jackie flipped for.

Garlic Butter Spread

4 to 5 cloves pressed garlic

1 tbsp dried parsely (or fresh, but remember, we are cooking on the fly here)
1 stick real butter (use the real thing and live every once in a while damn it!)

Before you prepare the rest of your meal, put the stick of butter, parsely, and garlic in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set on the stove top near where you are cooking so the butter can soften. Towards the end of your prep, mash the softened butter with the garlic and parsely, transfer to a pretty bowl or ramekin and pop into the fridge until you are ready to serve the meal. The butter will have set back up just enough to give you a wonderfully flavorful spread for your hot bread and your friend, who normally doesn't eat that much, will have finished four rolls before she even knows what happened.

As for the table, I first picked out my placemats, because if you are like me they are not all immediately accessible. So I grabbed some fun, light and springy yellow and green Vera placemats and then began to set the table. Now I have an eclectic collection of Fiestaware so as I started to set the table, I realized I could do something resembling a theme using just my yellow and green pieces and my large yellow Pyrex mixing bowl to serve the salad. It was an easy table to set, but by putting just a little thought into it it looked like I had spent quite a while fussing over it.

So that is my process for throwing a last minute dinner party. I hope my thought patterns can help you plan your menu and your limited time the next time you have friends agree to drop by without multiple days warning.

Plugging Away - Purex Complete 3-in-1

So the Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that they would begin fining bloggers who do not disclose if they are being paid for products or services they are endorsing "in a conspicuous manner within the frame of the blog". The new rules roll out December 1st and could result in fines of up to $11,000 per incident.

Anyway, I can assure you that I am not being paid to endorse this product. I am simply an average joe customer who has fallen in love with the ease and effectiveness of Purex 3-in-1 sheets. If you haven't seen them yet, they are a sheet that contains your laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheet all in one. You simply throw the sheet in with your wash and transfer it to your dryer. They are amazing, reasonably priced, come in two varieties, Regular and Allergen Free, and after you try them you will never, ever lug around a hulking bottle of laundry detergent ever again.

Oh, and by the way, why do they still make powdered laundry detergent? It is less effective and builds up in your washer. The only thing it is good for is scrubbing oil spots off of driveways (like how I tossed that little nugget of helpfulness in there?). Are there really that many people who need to fly with laundry detergent that we still need to sell it in powdered form? If you are out there and still using a powder, Stop! Save the lugging, spills, and general nuisance for something else. Go buy Purex 3-in-1 sheets.