A Wedding Shower

You may have noticed that my postings have been very sparse lately, and I apologize. And if you haven't noticed, then you must not be reading my blog and shame on you. Just kidding, sort of. Anyway, I can't seem to catch up with myself lately, there is just too much going on around here. Fun stuff, but a lot of stuff.  I am writing this from my hotel room in Ankara, Turkey, dealing with jet lag and coming off of a 7 hour presentation so please bare with me.


John and I had the fortunate experience of hosting a wedding shower for our very close friends last weekend, Wake and Irene. Wake is a longtime friend of John's from SMU, and when he brought Irene to the U.S. for the first time (she is spanish), we became instant friends. Lucky for me (and Wake I suppose), he proposed to her last year and she moved to Dallas for good. They are a wonderfully fun couple and we wanted to host a party for them to celebrate their pre-wedding selves.


John and I both love to host parties. I like to cook and coordinate menu items, and John likes to make sure the house and yard look perfect.  A few pics pre-party:

We catered the main menu items from Peggy Sue's BBQ , one of our all time favorite Dallas restaurants. We served pulled pork and brisket sliders, along with the BBQ quesadillas. Always a hit with our Texan friends. 


As for the homemade food, we picked a good variety of southern-style items. I will post all the recipes shortly, but simply can't right now. First, as any Southern girl knows (or southern by way of Wisconsin), a good drink goes a long way at a party. They can look pretty, they can taste good, and they can ensure a good time had by all. Our choice was punchbowl mojitos, served punch bowl style.  I guess I have come a long way. If  I were hosting this in Wisconsin, you would see a picture of a keg here.

Amazing punch bowl right?  I think it's 100 years old or something. It will probably live to be 104 now that I have my hands on it.


For the food we served:

Watermelon Avocado Salad with Mint and Basil. So sweet, flavorful, and pretty.

Sharp Cheddar and Red Pepper Jelly Spread. So simple, and was probably the hit of the night.

Pancetta and cream cheese stuffed mushrooms. Because who doesn't love stuffed mushrooms?


And....da da na naaaaaa....for dessert:

A fantaaaaaastic Toffee Vanilla Bundt Cake. With caramel and chocolate frosting. I made two, and kept one for myself. No joke.


And it all came together to form a scrumptious-looking dining table:

It was such a fun night, you can never go wrong with good food+good drinks+good friends. Congrats Wake and Irene!