Well, it's been quite a week: THE brunch last Sunday, and then long hours each day this week working in my church's annual rummage sale. But now I can catch my breath and post my long over-due report on THE brunch.

First, thank you -- each and every one of you -- for your responses, encouragement and ideas for my brunch. Your support was super, and is one of the wonderful hallmarks of this forum!

In a word, the brunch was a HUGE success. Yes, it could be tweaked to be even better, but it was just lovely. It started at 9:30 and the guests didn't leave until 5 p.m. We sat on the deck, visited, listened to great music, sipped our super wines...and I served dessert cheeses about 3 p.m., along with a killer Virginia dessert wine. We were all shocked to see the time...but it was a lovely, relaxed Sunday. I was truly amazed at how long everyone was here, because it did not feel that way at all.

#1 observation: It's a lot easier (and less expensive!) to entertain with a brunch than with a dinner!!! I could not get over how much less time it took, how much easier it was, etc. I will definitely incorporate more brunch entertaining into my future plans.

#2 observation: White wine (or a dry rose) is just made for brunch meals. The white table wine I served with the quiche lorriane crepes just knocked my socks off. I could have licked the bottle clean, had I been able to! :)

On to the report:

As the guests arrived, they were given a glass of Italian Prosecco sparkling wine, well chilled. Very festive, light and a great way to start the morning at 9:30. I had dishes of 2 kinds of fabulous olives I get from my local Italian delicatessen: Casse de baux from Provence, with a hint of fennel in them (reflecting the fennel planted around the olive orchards), and Italian Castleventrano. The guests marveled at how exceptional the olives were, and how well they paired with the Prosecco. I had enough olives that they remained out through the brunch -- they served as a great palate cleanser. I highly recommend these olives if you can get them.

The first course was the quiche Lorraine crepes. Making the crepes was very easy...but I'm glad I did it the day before. The crepes were filled with a quiche Lorraine mixture, with chopped bacon in it...and the bacon melded the crepes with the white table wine that was so fabulous. Everyone loved this combination. I placed the crepes in muffin tins, and fluted the edges, so they looked very pretty. And...this is a perfect use for the small crepes you get at the end of your crepe making, as they are perfectly sized for use as a muffin liner. You could use them as appetizers, a luncheon entree, dessert entree, whatever. So, for me, this was a great discovery that I will repeat often. I highly recommend turning quiche Lorraine into something a bit different through the use of crepes.

I also served at this course the sour cream glazed lemon cake -- a huge hit. And this is such a dependable recipe. And you can make it 3 days ahead, and it just gets better & better. And, I served fresh fruit...apricots from my tree, blackberries, blueberries, banana, and fresh wild strawberries from my yard.

The next course was the Goat cheese salad, which was very good, and went with the white wine very well. The guests really liked the salad. This salad was served on a plate for each guest. Each plate had 4 leaves of Boston (or Bibb) lettuce, topped with goat cheese, dried cranberries, and toasted pecans. The proportions for 4 are: 2 Tbs crumbled goat cheese, 2 Tbs toasted pecans, 2 Tbs dried cranberries. The dressing (for 4) consists of 2 Tbs raspberry vinegar, 2 tsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper salt & pepper & 1 Tbs finely chopped red onion. I mixed the dressing a couple of hours ahead of time so flavors could blend. The salad was different, light, refreshing & did not fight with the wine...which salad dressing often does.

In all honesty, I must say that the Paula Deen crab cakes I served were a bit disappointing.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/crab-cakes-with-lemon-dill-sauce-recipe/index.html

The lemon-dill sauce that accompanied them was a killer. I thought that was just excellent. The crab cakes went together easily, I liked being able to make them in advance and store them in the fridge...but they just weren't as good as I had hoped. Now, in all honesty, that could well be my fault because I elected to bake them in the oven rather than sautee them on stove-top (the recipe gives you that option). I chose that to 1) eliminate any possibility of greasiness for a brunch meal -- it just didn't feel right; and 2) to minimize my absence from the guests...it was just easier for entertaining to bake them. However, I think they might have lived up to my expectations had I sauteed them, and I do intend to make this recipe again, and sautee them to give it another chance. BUT, the lemon-dill sauce (a cold sauce) is just super duper. So I highly recommend you try that! I served 2 kinds of wine (we were having a taste off between the wines) with the crab cakes. Each guest had a glass of Viognier and a glass of dry rose. What we all agreed upon is that you could not go wrong with either wine. But, if you were being exceptionally picky, the Viognier went best when you ate the crab cakes naked, and the rose went best when you ate the crab cakes with a bit of the lemon-dill sauce. So, there's your wine-pairing tip.

The accompaniment I served -- the sauteed butternut squash -- was just what I had hoped. Subtle, a good backdrop for the crab cakes.

The dessert was phenomenal! I had just learned to make this in the Italian cooking classes I've been taking, sponsored by a local Italian restaurant. The chef (Italian, still with an accent) is so accomodating...I got many of my ingredients from him. The dessert was fresh goat cheese (chevre -- with a creamy, almost cream cheese consistency), topped with dried figs poached in dry Marsala wine, then reduce the wine used in poaching down to a syrup consistency, and drizzle that over the goat cheese and plumped figs. Garnish with candied pecans and an Italian preserve -- Moustarde -- that has a hint of dijon in it, along with the almost orange marmalade-like fruits -- pears, cherries, etc. My goodness, that dessert was just awesome!! I served it with the oh-so fabulous Moscato d'Asti. We were all in heaven. The very best part of this dessert: It's super easy, can be prepared ahead, is light and so very satisfying.

In conclusion, it was fun, not much work, delicious and so very different. I've posted all the recipes in this or earlier postings (for the sour cream glazed lemon cake).

Thanks again for your support, encouragement and good ideas about how to use crepes more often. I'm definitely going to do that!