ANOTHER YEAR OLDER
Greetings. Yes, it’s my birthday today. One of the things that makes turning another year older more palatable is celebrating these occasions with good friends. This year my dear friend Brenda hosted a birthday celebration for me and another one of our besties, Maureen, in her lovely Lake Arrowhead home. Maureen and I have birthdays just a couple of weeks apart.
Brenda set a lovely and intimate table in her kitchen. Since she was preparing wood-fired pizza in her kitchen pizza oven, dining nearby allowed us all to be a part of the action.
The evening began with tasty appetisers accompanied by delicious wine. Brenda served my favorite Grilled Mini Peppers Filled With Herbed Cheese. Get the delicious recipe by clicking here.
We also enjoyed delectable & refreshing Burrata and Fava Bean Crostini.
The beans, fresh from Brenda’s CSA delivery, were tossed in olive oil, lemon zest and chopped mint. They were so good I could have eaten far more than my share and called that dinner!
Everywhere you look in Brenda’s French Country style kitchen there is a pretty vignette.
Brenda is a very talented fine artist and her latest passion is to challenge herself to do several small painting a week. Here are 3 of the 1-hour, plein air landscapes she painted just this week from a visit to our local Deep Creek here in Lake Arrowhead.
This was the setting from which she painted her current masterpieces. So pretty isn’t it?
Back in her kitchen there were flowers freshly cut from her garden, candles lit, and the pizza oven glowed in the background. Such a lovely ambiance.
Fresh herbs and fresh mozzarella stood at the ready for her next pizza masterpiece.
This pizza was made with fresh sliced pears and sage. Delicious!
After dinner we all enjoyed an espresso.
A yummy 3-Berry English Trifle Birthday Dessert was piled into beautiful cut-glass champagne glasses.
We spent the rest of the evening playing a fun board game called Therapy that kept us laughing and celebrating until 1 am. As I said, great friends and good food & wine sure makes turning another year older a whole lot of fun. Thank you Brenda for a wonderful evening. Want to see more of Brenda’s Art Studio? Click here.
So there you have it: ANOTHER YEAR OLDER
Thanks so much for dropping in!
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All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are the original property of Celia Becker @ www.AfterOrangeCounty.com and may not be reproduced without specific permission. This post contains Affiliate Links which help to make this blog possible.
