Oh my gosh Kathleen, if those just aren't the most lovely looking party tables and menus you put together!
I'm more than impressed and your friends are very lucky to have you in their lives :)

Thank you, Deborah...and Happy Belated birthday...I haven't been on line a lot, and I missed it! :)

Oh Kathleen, I want to be your neighbor or close (nearby)friend! You certainly put on beautiful (and delicious) events!

Me. ME! ME ME ME !!!!! I wanna be in your retired teachers group! I'm gonna retire in June '09. ME! Pick MEEEEEEE to invite too!!!! (beg beg)

Oh Kathleen, what gorgeous photos of delicious food! How perfectly lovely everything is! Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us--everything is stunning and picture-perfect!

As an aside, I belong to a Book Club made up of mostly retired teachers and staff (the exceptions are me and one other person who are not retired yet) from my school. We take turns for food by which half of the alphabet we're "in" and bring food items every other month according to our last names.

For the 3 years I've been attending, people bring store-bought stuff like chips and salsa, an assortment of canned or jarred olives, crackers and cheese, shrimp cocktail in cocktail sauce over cream cheese, chicken from the Colonel, dip from the refrigerator section of the store etc.

I guess a lot of folks either don't cook, don't enjoy cooking, or don't want to cook. I usually bring something like tiny profiteroles, pesto torta, raspberry cheesecake with Lorna Doone crust, homemade empanadas, etc. I've tried to inspire by example, but it's not working. LOL

I think if I put on a spread like your lovely Apple-themed luncheons, the Book Club members would think they died and went to heaven, and they'd never leave!

Thank you again for sharing your beautiful photos! As usual, I am drooling at the keyboard!
Smiles,
Sooz
(pick me????) ;O)

OH MYYYY GOSH!!!

I want the recipe for that dessert that looks like appley thingies, covered with a custardy thingy with blueberry-kinda-thingies stuck in it.

Joe

Wow! You do up special occasions like I wish I could do! Lovely, Kathleen! And I know you do it with a good heart to show people you care for them and because you enjoy fixing delicious food and setting a lovely table.

Teresa

WOW...that all looks and sounds amazing Kathleen!

Sooz, you are picked!! And yes, so many don't like to cook, or fuss...but I do, so I will do it as long as I can. When we had little luncheons in school, I used to drag in the dishes and cloth napkins..crazy, I know!!

Teresa, I do like doing it, and they are very appreciative. I always make too much, and they tell me that too..hard to break old habits!
Thank you, Terri and Ellen...;)

And Joe, I am happy to share the recipe if you really want it! :)

kathleen:

Of course, I REALLY want it. Post away.

Thanks,
Joe

Woo hoo!!!!! Oh happy day!!! I'm picked!!!! Kathleen picked ME ! MEEEEEEE!

Thank you!!! Ohboyohboyohboy!!!!!

Doing the happy dance!!!!!
Sooz
(begging worked!)

Sooz, it's a long way to NY from Ca. Don't know that my luncheon would be worth the trouble...but I'd love to have you! ;)

Joe, this can be filled with blueberries or apples etc. or a mix...

Apple Kuchen type cake...
1/2 lb butter softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 C flour
1 teasp baking powder
1/2 teas salt
Mix butter and sugar
Add eggs
Add the flour with the baking powder and salt mixed in...mix till it forms a dough

Grease a spring form pan

Press dough in pan and up the sides.
Fill with berries or apples or a mix.
Topping
8 0z sour cream
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
Mix above together and pour over fruit.
Preheat oven to 350.
Bake about an hour..check sooner to be sure it isn't getting too brown..
I sometimes add some cinnamon to the dough, and you can adjust the topping to your taste..sweeter, etc..

This was passed down to me by a lovely German neighbor, who has been gone quite a long time. We used to go pick blueberries and come home and make this cake.
I hope you enjoy it...

OOPS, the apples should be sliced and tossed with cinnamon and sugar to taste, and if you use blueberries, sugar and cinnamon added...
But, Joe, I knew YOU knew that.
And the apples I used were Mutzu's I picked and almost a lb each..so depends on size...so just keep peeling till you fill it up, LOL...

Your luncheons were absolutely lovely Kathleen! The food looks wonderful and the table settings are lovely. I should start clipping photos of all the wonderful table settings in this forum. I'm not what you would call an artistic person, so the inspiration I get from your pictures is essential (I won't call it outright plagiarism in the company of so many teachers!).

Bri

Early morning, I thought I would browse. What a table you have set. Everything looks so lovely..and delicious.
Those shortbread cookies look wonderful. Where did you find those nut molds? Adorable! What did you fill yours with?
And the soup. Please tell the recipes. I am vegetarian, and butternut pear and leek and potato sound delicious.
I no longer feel like a bowl of cereal!
Barb

Kathleen everything looks so good, I'd be in heaven at one of your parties. I'm drooling.

Nancy

Absolutely beautiful Kathleen.

Ann

Thank you, Bri, and you are right, we all get ideas from each other!

Nancy, I'd love to have you as a guest, and thanks, Ann!

Barb, the nut molds are from King Arthur flour, and I believe I first saw them in a post here on CF, maybe Monique?? I did not care for the recipe that came with them, so I just used a shortbread recipe and put a handful of ground walnuts in the batter. I filled some with chocolate, and the others with some delicious apricot jam Marigene had sent me...

As for the soups, I don't have a recipe, roasted the butternut, scooped it out, sauteed some onions, added the squash, chicken broth, and chunked pears or apples, and puree with a blender stick. Simmer on low, then stir in some half and half and heat...
Serve with creme fraiche and freshly ground nutmeg...
Very easy!
The Potato Leek, I had bought a 50 lb bag at the farm, so I needed to use some of them...we will be having lots of dishes with potatoes for a while...:)

Thanks Kathleen, it all looks so delicious.
Barb

Kathleen, you sure know how to put on a feast! Wish I were your neighbor. I have had the nut molds for a few years but have never used them. Maybe seeing yours will give me a little incentive to get them out. Love your apple dishes.

You are welcome, Barb..
Marigene, make the durn cookies, you have great jam to put in them! They freeze well too! Just don't use the recipe that came with them, and I like the addition of the walnuts in the batter...don't tell the King I didn't like his recipe...off with my head! :)

You always do a stupendous party! Great food, great tables, and I'd love to be in your company, well, I'm sure I'd be having a blast! Really nice, Kathleen!

quite impressive and welcoming, you do have a flair.

Thank you Carol, and you are close enought ocome out here!
Thanks Mitch...

OK, I just had lunch (leftover butternut squash and leftover green beans), but I really want that beef. No, I want the chocolate cake, LOL.

I love the way you presented that soup, Kathleen, and your table settings are always lovely but I really like that elegant black and white stuff. Just beautiful.

Annie

Thanks, Annie.
I found butternut squash soup a boon when I was suffering with my gallbladder...used fat free half and half, and it still tasted sinful!

The food looks luscious and the table settings so inviting!

Very nicely done Kathleen. I'm sure your guests enjoyed themselves.

SharonCb

Kathleen! Just beautiful table settings AND food. I wish I was a guest at your house!

Kathleen - how absolutely beautiful everything is - your friends are so very lucky to have you in their lives to make a special occasion even more special. Its hard to put into words - but you really do it from your heart and it shows.

*thud*

You are such a fine hostess..
Everything looks so special.
Your neighbours and friends are lucky to have someone like you.They feel special.

So many of us dodn't make the effort or take the time.You do.

Monique and Woodie, how kind..I do enjoy doing it!

Thanks, Jessy and Sharon, and Shaun, I wish you were a guest here too, I think we would have a lot of laughs...