Thursday, May 24th, was Connor’s 27th birthday. He requested a Cajun dinner with a banana cream pie for dessert.

He specifically wanted shrimp and sausage, so Shrimp Creole fit the bill perfectly.

I especially love the vibrant colors of Shrimp Creole. It just screams, “celebration” and makes any occasion a party!

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Recipe #6 from the 2016 Holiday Appetizer Pot-Luck is rich and creamy and what I’d call decadent. In other words, stick to the crudités if you’re watching your fat intake! Then again, this was served during the holidays, certainly, a taste can’t hurt.

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This is the second of the two main courses from the 4th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party.

Have you heard of Frogmore Stew? How about Lowcountry Boil? The Boil, I knew about, the Stew I didn’t. Or at least I thought I didn’t. Turns out they are the same thing.

Here is the history of this dish, according to Coastal Living Magazine, “Once called Frogmore Stew, this one-pot wonder was created by a National Guardsman when he needed to cook a meal for 100 soldiers. Richard Gay, who learned the recipe from his family, had everyone remembering his stew. The dish was named Frogmore, where Richard was from, by the guards who teased him about home. The United States Postal Service eliminated the name Frogmore, which changed this popular dish to Lowcountry Boil.”

You can use whatever type of cooked sausage you would like. I prefer Aidells Pineapple & Bacon Smoked Chicken Sausage, which I find at Costco. I also get the shrimp at Costco. It is already deveined and ready to drop in the pot.

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This is a photo of my lovely neighbors, Dana and Dale, enjoying dinner at the swim-up bar.

While I would love to post dozens of photos from our 4th of July Pot-Luck Pool Party, I am beyond exhausted, so much so that I’m barely able to type. Seriously! It’s taken me forever to get my fingers to type these letters correctly. It’s like I have no control over my motor skills… it’s only 7:25 PM on a Tuesday night and I’m ready to hit the hay, but before I do, I want to post at least one recipe. With all that in mind – please excuse any and all typos, grammar mistakes, and basic rattling on…

My beautiful neighbor, Dana, adapted a recipe from Simply Recipes and it was the hit of the party and my personal favorite! Not only did I love it but I love that Dana is all about the presentation. She not only brought it ready to serve in a cute Red, White & Blue Flag Bowl, but she also had that bowl sitting in a clear bowl filled with ice to keep her dish cold. She also brought her own serving spoon and blue tortilla chips in a red bowl … AND she brought the perfect plastic martini/margarita glasses to serve it in! Like I said – I loved it and I love her! Pure Perfection.

OK, here’s the recipe – I need to go to sleep before I pass out.

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I faced my usual challenge while trying to balance having fun with my guests and taking photos to use for this site during my Friday the 13th Dinner Party.

So in place of the usual photos of the cooking process, how about photos of the guests?

Above you see everyone hanging out in-between dinner and dessert, enjoying each other and the beautiful evening in Linda Land, as Tram and Steve so sweetly have dubbed my backyard.

Here are The Blondes, Amy and Anne vs. The Brunettes, Peggy and Tram, posing in front of the red wine selections.

Eventually, they were able to pull me out of the kitchen for a quick snapshot.

Adorable Scott and Amy. Scott with his lucky grapes and Amy holding the fun Texas Boot Scraper they brought me as a hostess gift. They found it at Sweet Salvage and thought I’d love it because of my Texas connection. They were right, of course! OK, on today’s recipe.

This dish was chosen because of the superstition that it is unlucky to cut a noodle before eating and the unlucky connection between hot peppers and friendship.

Cutting Noodles: While noodles are thought to bring good fortune and long life in Chinese culture, cutting those same noodles brings about a different fortune. Cutting noodles (especially those served on the New Year and at parties) causes bad luck and a shortened lifespan.

Hot Peppers and Friendship: Many people believe that hot peppers can bring discontent among friends. One version of the superstition says that spilling pepper can cause disagreements between friends. And when working in the kitchen, handing a hot chili pepper directly to a friend will cause disagreements in your relationship. However, bad luck can be avoided by putting the hot pepper down on a surface and allowing a said friend to pick it up as a separate action.

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The second entrée salad of our Spring Reunion Dinner contained farro.  Farro is a type of wheat grain. Regular farro needs to be soaked overnight, but quick-cook and ready-to-use farro is ready in only 10 minutes and can be easily found in most grocery stores, including Trader Joe’s. Be sure to find a quick-cook package.

A grill basket is also a must for this recipe. Grill baskets are the only way to go when grilling small items, such as shrimp and cut vegetables.

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My dear friends, Barb and Kim, made the most delicious food for Marissa’s bridal shower. Kim made four different bruschetta and Barb made a beautiful salad and savory tarts.

I didn’t get any photos of the individual dishes, so I’ll do the best I can cropping from the few buffet photos I do have, my apologies ahead of time because the photos won’t do the recipes justice.

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For Sunday appetizers, Dave wanted to serve shrimp cocktails. He had the shrimp and assumed that I’d have cocktail sauce among the dozens upon dozens of bottles and jars of condiments, olives, pickles, sauces, and relishes I have in that fridge!

He was wrong. I told him he could easily make his own cocktail sauce, just go online and find a recipe.

He did, and then he zipped it up and called it his own!

The secret ingredient? Heinz chili sauce. Instead of all ketchup, like you’ll find in most cocktail sauce recipes, it was an equal combination of each.

Attaboy! I’ve trained my family well.

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Marissa’s childhood friend, Lindsey, is getting married in March.

Marissa and Lindsey’s other bridesmaids and maid of honor threw Lindsey’s bridal shower here at our house on Saturday.

The girls (Abigail, Kaley, Alyse, and Marissa) did a fabulous job! The shower was a huge hit!

Lindsey and all her guests were rightly impressed.

We set up the “savory” station consisting of cheeses …

… Italian meats…

… breads, crackers, and salads.

Then there were the wonderful Essence Bakery desserts! Oh my!

We set up the bar down in the pool kitchen.

We used my vintage milk bottles – along with the necessary signs to keep guests from being scared off by the beat-up bottles.

Yesterday, I made dinner for the first time in more than a week, to the delight of my family. It had been an unusual, difficult, and busy week. The recipe follows.

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