Elmo Cake

This one was super easy. I used a box mix! Yeah, I know.  I have been trying to find good recipes that work well without drying out at 7600 ft.  So far haven't found it yet.  Besides I had to get this done so I opted for quick method.

I used the Butter Cream Frosting and found a picture of Elmo on the internet.  This is how it turned out.  Made it for a little boy turning three.  He loves it!

Civilized Breakfasts

Civilized Breakfasts started when my husband and I wanted to have meals out on our deck.  We have a lovely back yard and huge deck that we wanted to utilize.  So I took my linens and china out to the deck table and dressed it up one Sunday morning. I made an extra special menu to enjoy.  By paying attention to details that we wouldn't otherwise do for our meal we really enjoyed this experience.  Instead of keeping this to ourselves we began inviting or friends and neighbors over to enjoy the meal with us.  It ended up that we spent much time visiting and really getting to know these people a lot better.  

Beachel and Patricia Perry.



We were in the process of remodeling our kitchen after we completed our addition (a cute apartment we call the "Guest House"). We built it in case one of our parents might need it someday.  Our old kitchen cabinets were moved into there and we put new ones in the new kitchen.  Both projects turned out beautiful. 

  

Now that our kitchen is done we had our "Maiden Breakfast" so to speak.  We sent out invitations and I also called to make sure our guests could do it.  My sister-in-law, Denice, and I worked together to get a color scheme going and then had a ball putting it all together.  She came up with a menu and I made up fancy menu cards to slide into the napkin ring holders.  We also wanted to use fresh flowers and found some in the right colors at the local grocery store.   

 

After checking the weather forcast for our first CB we realized we would have to move it inside as it was supposed to snow all day.  Our new kitchen easily accomodated the deck tables and chairs.  We set up the tablescapes the night before so we could spend the morning preparing the food.  Our spouses, Don and Greg, helped us get this whole thing put together and were our waiters.  I bought them black aprons to wear.  They looked very cool. We all dressed in the colors of the tablescapes. 

 

Casey and Anna enjoying the day.



The menu was Blueberry Almond Coffee Cake (recipe found in my blog recipe list), Fresh Fruit Compote, Colorado Egg Bake, Herb Roasted Potatoes, Sausage Patties, Orange Juice, Tea, or Coffee. We served the coffee cake and fruit first and then served the brunch plate.   



We tried to pay attention to plating.  We made some mistakes but they were minor and no one noticed.  They enjoyed the food and hung around for an hour or so after the meal to chat. Our guests felt pampered which is what we wanted.  We told them they could take the menu card home if they wanted.  At the top of the menu card was a short verse, "Good food, good friends, good conversation.  We feel blessed by you.  Enjoy." We also had them sign our CB guestbook.  We want to invite different people each time so we can get to know as many as possible. 

I think we will do this twice a month.  Once we have a tablescape put together we will put it in a box and label it.  This one is "Classic Contemporary".  We will use it again and often.  We can add to it and make changes as we go.  But the basics are there now.  We are planning on doing three or four different tablescapes for now and reusing them.  We can make them different by adding something new or mixing them up if the colors go well from one tablescape to the other.