Happy Monday, everyone! My weekend really could not have been better!! On Friday night I attended a dinner party with co-workers, which was so much fun. I was up and at 'em early on Saturday morning as I had a lot to do before my parents arrived! Before I knew it, it was noon and my parents were pulling up. I was so excited to show them my condo, my piano, and neighborhood! We had a light lunch of snacks, did some exploring in the neighborhood, and then my mom and I started to get to work.
I will let photos tell the story for the rest of this post!
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| This beautiful fruit (as well as haralson apples from my parents' tree) were made into a delicious pear & apple crisp! |
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| My mom peeled & cored 16 apples and 4 pears! She was a peeling machine! |
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| Of course I had to wear a striped shirt with a French phase while we were preparing for Julia Child night! We are starting to assemble the crisps in this photo! |
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| Before we knew it, it was time to get ready to go. Here I am all, wearing stripes (of course)! |
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| My aunt Barb and I got a photo together in our Anthro aprons before we got busy serving the amazing meal! |
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| Our guests feasted upon olives, olive tapenade, gluten free crackers, and an assortment of French cheeses! We drank French 75's, which is a cocktails made from gin, champagne, lemon juice and simple syrup. They are divine!! |
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| The tables were all beautifully dressed! |
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| Course number one was Julia Child's Beef Consomme, served with a gluten free bread stick. I think this soup took over 12 hours for my aunt to prepare. It was a true labor of love! |
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| The salad course featured a Honey-Roasted Pear Salad with Thyme Verjus Dressing! It was DELICIOUS!! |
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| My aunt really knows how to cook for a crowd! Here is the massive amount of Cassoulet that she prepared for our event! |
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| The main course was delicious! Our guested enjoyed the cassoulet, picked cabbage, and gluten free rolls! |
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| While the crisps baked in the oven, we took a break between the main course and dessert to snap a photo of us ladies in our lovely aprons!! |
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| Last, but not least, was the dessert course. We served pear & apple crisp accompanied by a homemade ice cream made by my sister-in-law, Julie! The crisp was warm and delicious - the perfect end to a perfect meal! |
So there you have it! Another successful event for the record books. In addition to the food, there was much wine and much laughter. The evening concluded with a rowdy game of Balderdash. Everyone left with a full belly, but also with a full heart. I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. It is a joy to come together each year and celebrate my love of all things French - and to share that love with family and friends.
I am especially thankful for my aunt & uncle who hosted the event and prepared the majority of the food. I jokingly said that I feel like I sort of put on stripes and show up at this event! Next year I want to take some of the workload off my aunt's shoulders, so I will hopefully tackle the main course (with some guidance from my aunt, most likely!). I am already thinking about next year's menu!
If you could throw an annual event similar to our Julia Child night, what would be the theme of your event?
27 comments:
This is so awesome! I love cooking for people and hosting dinner parties. But my dream is to host a high tea of sorts, now that I finally got my china and tea set back!
This looks amazing! You guys are so awesome!
Wow!! What a fabulous feast. Sounds incredible!! As I read the different names of the dishes - I could actually hear Julia announcing them ;)
Your dress is so adorable! You could definitely pass off as a nice French girl.
You are so blessed with family & friends Lisa!
So fun! I really love this idea! Also your stripes?!? Fantastic!
This is such a fun tradition! You look gorgeous in your dress. :) You really are blessed to have such good people in your life.
SO FUN! All that food looks to die for good, omg! I just love that you guys have turned this into an annual (awesome) event!
And you looked gorgeous!
Sounds like such a fun night! And not to mention that the food looks fabulous as well. So glad that you were able to spend the time with your family too :)
The pictures of the food look wonderful but it tasted even better than it looks! It was such a great evening - as usual! I especially enjoy the socializing with young and "old" - such a joy! I'm so glad this event has evolved! Thanks, Barb, Paul & Lisa!
Great post! I think I'll just place a link on my blog!!!! I haven't even looked at our pictures. It was a fun evening, wasn't it? I can hardly wait for next year. We both already have ideas! I think everyone needs to wear berets. :)
Everything looks amazing! Love your outfits and aprons and how much fun it looks like was had. and your SIL made homemade ice cream? What a fun and culinary family you have. I'm totally adding attending this to my list of things to do/attend before I'm 30 :)
Julia child night is definitely one of my favorite nights of the year. It's so fun to have a non thanksgiving reason to come together and feast! Great pics, can't wait for next year!
I love your Julia Child night! I used to regular dinner parties where I'd pick a different ethnic food to cook. I stopped doing about a year ago but I'm thinking about starting them up again. I never did get around to doing French... :)
That should read 'I used to host':)
Wow, it looks like everything went well! I am so glad! The food looks amazing and your outfit is stellar. Thank you for following through with the stripes!
It makes me want to be in a place for more than a couple of months so I can plan things like this...
What a fabulous meal - sounds like an amazing night! If I were to do an annual event, I think it'd be a gourmet potluck. It'd include (mostly) the same people each year. They'd get to choose their dish and contribute, but it'd have to be homemade and interesting or challenging to make. That way, each person is only responsible for one item that might be time-consuming to make ... but, you get this awesome, huge meal as a result!
This really is such a cool event!! I have recently been trying to figure out how to have a wine tasting party, but my biggest problem is just narrowing down the guest list to make it manageable! Eric alone has WAY too many friends haha. Maybe I'll do a just family one, or just my friends haha. Thanks for sharing all your pictures with us. I wish you could send that apple and pear crisp through the computer!
I love the Julia Child event! What a great idea. My friend Alaina would love this, so I have to tell her about it.
What a great tradition! You all look so pretty in your aprons and the food looks amazing! I'm so glad you had a great weekend with family!
That sounds so, so amazing. You all rock and the food looks delicious. I love this tradition.
I seriously love this tradition!! The picture of you all in your aprons is adorable.
All this food looks so delicious!! I have never tried pear and apple crisp before, but now I really want to.
Such a great idea (the dinner party as a whole, including the crisp.)
yum!
These pictures are awesome!!! I looked forward to this post :) So glad that y'all had another wonderfully successful evening!!!
I love all the photos you took. Is that a Shabby Apple dress? So cute. If I were hosting an annual dinner it might be mexican themed - I love guac, salsa and chips and margaritas of course! Ooh and a pinata!
Oh my gosh, SO much fun! That food looks amazing - and I love your outfits!
All the food looks so delicious! But if I could only eat only thing it would have to be the salad course. That honey roasted pear just looks so delicious!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this event! First of all, it's French, it's Julia, it's cooking. Three things I adore. Plus, it's family. Make that four!
Honestly, Lisa, you are inspiring me way too much today! Im ust be getting my groove back because I just want to go do all the things your past posts have inspired!
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