Today I have the links for the Spring Reunion Dinner in one place for easy access and ideas for repurposing shutters, including the super simple Spring Shutter sign I made.

Spring Reunion Menu

• Fresh Fruit  – Smoked Salmon Spread
• Pumped Up Hummus
• Lori’s Honey Paloma Cocktail
• Jonathan’s Bourbon Lemonade
• Layered Fruit and Mozzarella Salad
• Grilled Chicken and Asparagus with Creamy Goat Cheese
• Grilled Shrimp, Vegetable, and Farro Salad

There are so many fabulous projects and crafts that can be done with old discarded shutters. I’ve pinned dozens of ideas on Pinterest. Here is a direct LINK to my “Shutters” board.

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Last night’s birthday party dinner for Terrie was a blast. Anytime the Murriettas gets together, nothing less is expected. Please indulge me and I shall share my history with this fantastic family.

Terrie and I have known each other since our grade school days at Navajo Elementary, right here in Scottsdale. We are both native Arizonans. We lived on the border between two high schools, Scottsdale High and Saguaro High. Terrie and her younger sister, Peggy, went to Scottsdale High. Terrie’s three older brothers, Vince, Mark, and John, went to Saguaro, as did I. After Navajo, Terrie and I lost touch and I only knew of her brothers as the “big men – the jocks” on campus.

Fast forward 12 years to 1991. Dave and I are in our second house and have just had our second child, Connor. We live in a cul-de-sac and our backyard fence curves around and backs up to 5 different neighbors. One day, I meet one of those neighbors, Peggy DeBolske. She also has two little ones of her own at the time, Joey and Samantha (Natalie and Steven come along 2 and 4 years later). We become fast friends and soon learn that we are both Arizona natives. Then we discover that we both went to Navajo. I ask her maiden name… Murrietta. “Oh my gosh, is Terrie your sister? And are Mark and John your brothers?” (Her oldest brother, Vince, was long gone from Saguaro by the time I arrived.) Yes! Small World! We, of course, have been best friends ever since and it gave me the opportunity to re-connect with Terrie.

Peggy and Terrie attended my Blog 2nd Anniversary Party earlier this month and Terrie told me that all of the recipes for her birthday party were coming from this site and that Peggy was hosting the dinner party. I glared poor Peggy down and gave her hell for not asking me to help her. I had heard of quite a few places in town that also helped with various catering services so I could have definitely recommended those to Peggy. Anyway, one of my friends also suggested that it may be a good idea to hire an oyster catering service like Oysters xo so that all of the guests will have an oyster shucking experience that they may never forget. Having said that, this is the menu we had for the birthday bash.

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There were about 25 lovely ladies at my BFCP last night, none of whom actually went shopping earlier in the day. A few did admit to cyber-shopping, but no one went near the malls… smart friends, have I!  

Below is the light menu I served and while typing it up I realized that it is basically a vegetarian menu, even though none of the attendees are vegetarians. You can get away with this when it’s an all-girls group, but don’t try it when men are involved!

I say “basically vegetarian” because my shooters used chicken stock, but one can easily substitute vegetable broth. And luckily, everyone loves cheese, because just about every recipe has it!

The first three dishes have already been posted here and you can access them by just clicking on the desired recipe name. The final two are from a wonderful cookbook called The Big Book of Appetizers by  Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder. Meredith taught classes last week at Les Gourmettes Cooking School and these were two of the delicious recipes she demonstrated. Not only was the food great, but Meredith was a wonderful and entertaining teacher. I highly recommend the book, check it out on Amazon by clicking on the title above. With Meredith’s permission, I am posting the recipe for the tart today and the dip will be up tomorrow. Bonus: There is a special “Black” playlist to go along with the menu at the bottom of this post.

Black Friday Cocktail Party Menu

FOOD
Hot Feta and Tomato Spread with Pita Chips
Edamame Hummus with Crudités
Potato, Parsnip, Pear, and Parmesan Shooters
Blue Cheese Marinated Mushrooms
Rustic Goat Cheese Tart with Caramelized Balsamic Onions
Feta Cheese, Roasted Red Pepper, and Pine Nut Dip

BEVERAGES
Splits of Freixenet
Red and White Wine
Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider

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A new page has been added on the top left side of this blog… it’s called Menu Ideas. Reader, Emily, suggested a menu page. Actually, what she was looking for was for me to “… create a menu for a month using the recipes you have posted so far.” Now, that is going to take me a while. Since I’m generally just posting one recipe a day, there isn’t really enough up here thus far for a complete meal each day for a month. Not everything really goes together with that tightly, although I do understand what Emily is looking for.  As she said in her email to me, “… for people like me, any assistance with meal planning is enormous! I’m the type who needs to follow a recipe. I can’t just look in the fridge and come up with a meal. In other words, I need all the help I can get!”

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