First back yard BBQ of the year

Hello hello!
It's a sunny beautiful morning here in Southern California. A day like this makes me happy :D


After preparing for the BBQ, our guests arrived with beautiful dishes besides the veggies and the hod dogs I asked them to bring over.
Aren't they beautiful? Seared Tuna salad, Shrimp ball, etc.

The dishes brightened the color on the patio table. Thank you!!!


Veggies were cut beautifully, even the corns arrived already wrapped in foil. This saves so much time when entertaining. I was very grateful:)

Since I was too busy hosting, couldn't take many photos of the dishes or the grilling, but let me at least explain what we had. Grilled beef, Chicken legs, Salmon, different veggies, artichoke, etc. 

Our cute little guest with her favorite hat seemed to enjoy herself, too, so I was very happy. Holding here in my arms made me so happy! Little ones always make people happy happy.


As we were eating and drinking, it became dark and a little chilly outside, so we decided to have the dessert inside the house. Everyone was very full, but enjoyed my strawberry mousse tart and finished it. 

Our first BBQ of the year ended very yummy and happy, thanks to our friends. Thank you!!!


However, late at night, my husband started feeling sick with bad headache and dullness, and it was probably from inhaling the charcoal grilling smoke and not drinking enough water while drinking alcohol. It is always important to not forget taking water during summer. After sleeping for the night, my husband recovered and happily went to play golf the next day, so I was relieved. Please don't forget to drink water or sports drink everyone, and let's enjoy the summer season!!!


Have a nice day :D

Preparing our first backyard BBQ of the year

Hello everyone. It's a nice Saturday afternoon. I just took care of our roses in our front yard. Now they look prettier and clean, and making me happy looking at them :D Good way to spend a weekend, right?


Last Memorial weekend, we ended up not going for a trip, but got to invite a couple of friend families and had our first back yard BBQ of the year. Our guests asked me what we wanted them to bring over, so I asked one of them to bring some veggies, and the other some hotdog buns and hotdogs. When I first started entertaining people at home, I felt like I should be doing everything as a host, but now asking people to bring something easy so they will feel comfortable, and all of us can have more fun together.


For this BBQ, my husband and I got some meat, Salmon, made corn soup, and a dessert. 


An hour before the BBQ started, pulled out the meat from the refrigerator so they will come to a room temperature. Meat tastes better that way.

Salmon preparation is very easy, too. Julienne some onions (cut in thin strips), and slice brown mushrooms, place them on the bottom of the square pan, then lay the salted and peppered salmon over them. Put some fresh herbs on top of the salmon, cover with some foil, and after the guests arrive, start grilling them. Simple, but a very tasty dish. This time I used Sage, Thyme, Lemon Thyme, and Parsley picked from our garden.

For the dessert, made a strawberry mousse tart with fresh strawberries from the weekend farmer's market. Before the guests arrived, finished decorating the tart with Chantilly cream and placed it in the fridge, covered. Added some fresh color with putting a sprig of mint on the side of the strawberries.


The corn soup was already made the day before, so we were ready to welcome our guests with smile. No stress :) Well, this became long enough for today, so will write about the time with our guests in my next post.  


Have a great weekend, and thank you for visiting this blog everyone :D 

Luncheon with guests on a cloudy day

This past weekend had been a little hectic for me, but how was yours, everyone? Everything ended fine so far, so I am now starting my new week with a smile :)

Today, I would like to write about the luncheon I hosted on a cloudy day a little while ago. We were hoping that the weather would be nice so we could enjoy our lunch time in the back yard, but unfortunately, it didn't happen, so I ended up setting up the table at the dining area. To make my guests happy, I picked up some pink Gerbera to brighten up the table and the window area. It worked, right?

 The outside temperature had been pretty low for a while, and since I was busy the day before, I've decided to cook Coq au Van, a Frensh style poultry dish that is able to be prepared in advance as a main dish. The photo on the left is before I started braising it. Reduced red wine, fresh rosemary and thyme from the garden adds extra flavor to the dish.

 Served it with quinoa with colorful vegetables on the side. The chicken was so tender that we didn't need to use knives at all. A fresh sprig of lemon thyme used as a garnish made my guests smile. Very nice aroma!


The guests brought some salad, cheese, and olives, and they made the table very colorful and happy.


Freshly baked baguette and the organic salted butter from the farmer's market was a perfect combination, too. Yumm!

For dessert, I had a roll of green tea cake filled with golden sweet potato cream ready to be cut. The cream is the same one from the Koguma cake I introduced the other day. The combination wasn't bad, but maybe the sweet potato cream will stand out more with regular sponge cake. Will try it out again next time.

This turned into a farewell luncheon since one of the guests has to move to abroad in a month, and because we had been talking about getting together at my place for a while, I was very glad that at least it happened before she left. Last minute!


Although the weather wasn't perfect, we had a great time talking, eating, and laughing together, and I always appreciate the precious time like this. It is like refilling some gas to enable myself to go on.


Dear guests, thank you for driving a long distance to visit me, and sharing a good time together. Thank you for the lovely gifts as well. My husband and I enjoyed them together. Hope to see you soon again :D

Morning favorites

                                                     

 On a sunny weekend morning, it is always nice to enjoy the outside dining in the backyard. A little while ago, we had a special friend couple visited us from Canada. Since it was still cold out there, they enjoyed the warm and peaceful time sitting at our outside table.


I always feel amazed how a simple menu turns into a special brunch menu when you eat outside.  It seems to brightens the color on the plates as well :D

Of course on a busy usual morning, I cannot spare time on even cooking some eggs, then the muffins or breads baked and stored in advance comes handy.

This one morning, I warmed up a piece of vegan mini muffin I baked with dried grape and sunflower seeds. The squares on behind is a cheddar cheese with cocoa. Interesting and tasty.

Then my recent favorite is to brew espresso and make a cup of latte. I just use a simple espresso maker that you brew on top of your stove, and make the steamed frothy milk with my new tool.

For only $1.50, this was such a good buy! Perfect way to enjoy your morning and the teatime.

There are more favorite items in my list, and I will share them with you in another time.




Have a nice weekend everyone :D