Celebrating: Tea for ...40!

It’s that time again! The Women of the Church Fall luncheon, that is.  Fall…it sure has gotten here fast!  We decided to do something a little different than the usual luncheon, so we decided on an afternoon Tea.

We had 5 people decorate their table for tea and we provided the Tea and Tea Treats.  I tried to channel my friend Martha and remember her tricks of the trade for setting a proper tea. 

We had a small intimate group of 40  ladies with some even decked out in hats!  The tables were just beautiful, as usual.  We have some very talented

“table artists” (as I call them) at our Church.

Our Menu

Cucumber Sandwiches

Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Banana Bread with Cream Cheese

Pumpkin Bread

Shortbread

Tea Cakes

Cream Puffs

Mini Eclairs

5 tea offerings

Desserts

Breads

We had 8 per table and an item for each, plus we had trays with extras that we could replenish.  It was a fun afternoon and I really think everyone enjoyed their afternoon in England!  

Tea Cakes

3 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Set aside.  Sift together flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt,  set aside. Combine sugar and butter.  Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.  add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Transfer to a plastic wrap.  Shape the dough in a dish.  Refrigerate and chill 30 minutes. divide dough into 4 pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll out dough  on a lightly floured board to 1/8 inch thickness.  keep remaining dough in fridge.  Cut with cookie cutter.  Place on a cookie sheet.  Bake 8 minutes.

Ya’ll come back!

Susan

May the Lord bless his people with peace and happiness and let the CELEBRATE! Psalm 64:10

 

Celebrating: Cousins and Cold Plates!

As

As I have said before, I had an ideal childhood. I grew up in a small, lazy, southern town surrounded by lots of cousins! I had 4 cousins belonging to my dad’s sister right around the corner that I spent lots of time with. I had 2 cousins from Memphis that I didn’t see as often, but when we did it was a special treat. Then I had 3 more cousins around the corner that I always (and still do) called cousins. They are my aunt’s husband’s brother’s kids (now that’s a mouthful) and even though they are not really related, we always claimed each other as cousins! And, because we lived so close, whenever there was a family gathering, it was usually a combined event. Over the years I don’t see them as often, but we‘ve been able to catch up on good ole’ Facebook!

So it was a rare treat when several of us were able to attend a luncheon for my Aunt’s birthday (who is aunt to both families). We had my Aunt Mona, her daughter Deb, cousin Heather, my “faux” family, Aunt Peggy, her daughters Elaine and Beth and Elaine’s adorable granddaughter Kiley, SIL Niki, niece Ava and Mom who hosted us all at her home. We missed my sister Charlene and cousin Maleia!

It was an impromptu gathering, but Mom was up for the challenge! She prepared a “cold plate” for us all that would rival the Ritz. In fact, in my opinion – much better! A “cold plate luncheon” is a very old southern tradition that I’m afraid has been forgotten over the past years. Many years ago there were several fine dining establishments or tea rooms that featured a cold plate during lunch time. I’m proud to say that Mom is famous for HER cold plate luncheons! We “Gray” girls love any opportunity to entertain and this was no exception!

One of mom’s latest additions to her cold plate is this wonderful salad.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels
1 ½ stick butter
2 TBS sugar
½ cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz cool whip
2 3 oz packs strawberry jello
2 cups hot water
2 10 oz frozen strawberries partially thawed

Melt butter. Add 2 TBS sugar and pretzels. Press into 9 x 13 pan and bake at 375 for 8 minutes. Cool. Mix ½ cup sugar, cream cheese, cool whip, Spread over pretzels, seal at edge. Let cool. Mix jello, water and strawberries and pour over cream layer. Refrigerate.

You HAVE to make this one day. I can just about promise that you will not be disappointed!

Ya’ll come back!

Susan

May the Lord bless his people with peace and happiness and let them CELEBRATE! Psalm 64:10

Celebrating: Lizzie!

As you all know, I celebrated  my 1st "blogoversary" and had a drawing for my followers. Thank you all for reading my little blog and I am in hopes of many more!

 The lucky winner - Lizzy!  Liz has her own blog "That Skinny Chick Can Bake," and it is terrific! 

Thank You All!

Susan

Celebrating - A little Hint of Fall!

There is a very brief hint that Fall is just around the corner!  It’s just the little things, a leave or two floating in the breeze, daylight is shorter, the morning is crisp and Pumpkin Spice coffee is back at Starbucks! I love Fall, it is my favorite time of year – that is until Spring arrives!  I seem to be very fickle when it comes to the seasons!

Since Fall and apple season is quickly approaching, Mom, Aunt Mona and I went to Jaemore Farms on Saturday .  We always love to go there and I am looking forward to spending the day with them.  I have company coming for dinner Sunday, so I’m sure several fun things will go into my buggy!

My dinner guests will be my neighbor, Linda and her houseguest from Germany, her good friend Inge.   Linda and I have been neighbors for 10 years now and honestly if she moved, so would I!  She has become a special friend and I truly appreciate her friendship over these years.  And, Linda is not only my neighbor, she also keeps me straight in the office, where she is the part time bookkeeper, computer whiz and “fixer” of many other things that I don’t like to deal with!  Inge is visiting from Germany for 2 weeks and from what I understand, she has been doing her best to help our struggling US economy!  They have had great fun hitting the shopping trail!

We began with an “appy” of Peach Sangria, Havarti Cheese, Grapes and Crackers

 

Dinner will start out with a Fall Favorite salad  that I got from the Contessa Board. (thanks Hilary!).

 

Followed by Squash casserole, mashed cauliflower, (I may never have mashed potatoes again), rolls and orange glazed BL/SL chicken thighs.   I also spied something interesting at Jaemore’s…a jar of Dilly Green Beans. I thought that sounded like an interesting addition to our plate! And, I was right, I put 2 beans on our plate for some color…it was just enough.  I prepared our plates, and I must say – they looked scrumptious.

 

Dessert  was Fresh Apple Cake, drizzled with caramel and topped with cinnamon whipped topping.

 

Fall Salad

Maple Dressing

¼ cup mayo

¼ cup maple syrup

3 TBS white wine vinegar

2 tsp sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

Combine 1^st 4 ingredients. then add vegetable oil, and whisk til gradually thickened.

This is a great versatile salad dressing.  I fixed individual salads of baby Greens, sliced pears, cranberries and toasted walnuts.  Hilary’s original recipe calls for Granny Smith apples and Dried Cherries, which I have also prepared and is equally as good.

Dinner was a success!  Good Drink, Good Food and GREAT company!

Ya’ll come back!

Susan

May the Lord bless his people with peace and happiness and let them Celebrate!

Celebrating: Sissy Celebrates!

Happy Birthday Sissy Celebrates!  I cannot believe that a year has passed since my first blog, August 20, 2011.  I also cannot believe that it took me so long to begin!  Starting this blog has been one of the best things I have ever done for myself. Never did I imagine what joy and completion it would bring me.  I have discovered that I “crave” writing sometimes.  And yes, there have been blogs written, but gone unpublished simply because it just felt good to express myself. Turns out, it is good for the soul, or mine at least!   When my “blogs” were deleted last month, it literally felt like I had lost a friend.  In fact, I felt a little like I had lost my “mojo.”  Niki, again, you don’t know how much I appreciated getting my words back!  It was kinda like a second chance!

Its funny, the intent of this blog was to be cooking and entertaining related, and by chance it has evolved into a glimpse of my life.  It’s not glamorous or action packed, but it’s my life and I have taken great pleasure in telling my stories!  I thank you all for indulging me!   I do want to incorporate more recipes, so it is my goal to leave you each time with some of my favorites!

To celebrate my 1 year anniversary, I’m having a Blog “Giveaway.”  Become a follower of Sissy Celebrates to be entered in the drawing.  I will pull a name in September  20, so stay tuned!  My “Giveaway” is a Cheese Knife set, perfect for entertaining!  I have one myself!

Thank you for reading my blog!

One of my favorite easy appy’s!  It takes a little time – but so worth it!

Cracker Bacon Wraps!

36 club crackers

12 slices bacon

½ cup parmesan cheese

Cut bacon slices in thirds.  Wrap cracker with bacon.  Place on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle cracker with cheese.  Bake 2 hours at 250.

Ya'll come back!

Susan

May the Lord bless his people with peace and happiness and let them CELEBRATE! Psalm 64:10

Celebrating: Girlfriend weekend!

One of my BFF's, Cindy contacted me last month to see if I was interested in joining her and two other friends for a Weekend Getaway. Since I've not had a vacation in a couple of years, I jumped at the chance!
So last weekend, Cindy, Sherry, Hallie and I loaded up the car (and I do mean loaded) and headed up to Pigeon Forge, TN.  Her fiance Greg graciously donated his Time Share, so we had a fabulous 3 room condo overlooking the little town of Pigeon Forge with a magnificent mountianview backdrop.

We had to laugh before we left, because we were e-mailing our drink/snack contributions and it appeared we would need the turtle shell for the top of the Suburban since we were each bringing so much stuff for cocktails!  Considering none of us are "lushes" this proved to be a standing joke throughout our trip.  Once unloaded, it did look a little like we were going to film an episode for "Girls Gone Wild."  We did have some good Ruby Relaxers and Mango Margarita's!

Saturday morning we enjoyed a leisurely start to our day, then headed to a place called Cade's Cove.  We stopped at Subway for a picnic to take and headed up the mountians.  Cade's Cove was a settlement dated back to the 1800's complete with houses dotted throughout the area with several Churches.  So hard to fathom the way people lived so long ago.  I can hardly imagine living without cable, much less electricity! It was so pleasant, eating our picnic subs and enjoying a spectaular view!

Saturday night we headed toward Gatlinburg!  My, has it changed in the 20 years since I had been there!  I recognized nothing!   We walked around the town and found a great place for a late night dinner - Smokey Mountian Brewery.  It proved to have good food and good entertainment, as well.

Sunday afternoon was spent laying around the picturesque pool deck.  It was a cloudy afternoon and just perfect for a good book and a Mike's Lemonade!  It felt good to be lazy!  We decided to take in a dinner show Sunday night and of course, we had a number of choices.  We settled on the Hatfield & McCoy show, which included a dinner of Possum soup, Fried Chicken, Pinto Beans, Mashed potatoes, Rolls, Cornbread and chocolate pudding parfaits.  The show was just corny enough to be entertaining!
After our show, we were not ready to go home, so we stopped at one of the many Putt-Put courses on the strip.  Dresses, high heels, and mini golf are a lethal combination!  We had quite a lot of laughs and mishaps throughout our course!

Monday morning was spent at the Christmas Village, where we meandered through room after room of every Christmas decoration imaginable!  My friend Cindy was in "Hog" or should. I say "Elf" Heaven!  Her house would rival the Biltmore House at Christmas time!   We ended our short trip at the Applebarn Restaurant, where we enjoyed yet another good meal of southern delights.  They had a great gift shop, candy store and winery to wonder through before we loaded back into the car and headed home.

It was such a fun weekend!  We did alot of giggling, alot of eating and even more talking!  There's just nothing like a  Girlfriend weekend  to rejuvenate the soul!  It just reminds me of how much I appreciate all my girfriends and the joy they bring to my life.   The best part of the trip - spending time with my BFF Cindy & adding 2 new girlfriends!   And, in case you were wondering, all the "libations" that were  hauled in, were hauled out..in anticpation for another trip!  Can't wait!

Ya'll come back!

Susan
May the lord bless his people with peace and happiness and let them Celebrate!  Psalm 64:10

Celebrating: My friend Judy!

I came here on Thursday to write this blog.  If you read my previous blog, you know that I had a MAJOR catastrophe.  I have to be honest with you, I was so devastated , I just didn't have it in me to write.  And that would be a tragedy in itself, because you would not hear about one of my favorite people.  My friend, Judy.  Many years ago, Judy came to us from Minnesota to become the new Youth Director at our Church.  This particular time period in my life was when I had strayed away from being a regular "Church goer" and more of an Easter/Mother's Day/Christmas goer.  Heck, I'll admit it, Saturday night usually turned into Sunday morning and brunch at Bennigans was far more appealing than Church.

My sister Charlene was a youth adviser at Church, so she and Judy became fast friends.  Charlene kept telling me how much fun Judy was and that I really needed to meet her.  My response..."I already had enough friends."  We still laugh about that statement, BTW.  Charlene finally wore me down with this concept..they were starting a singles group and would I be interested in coming to a meeting.  So the story goes...I met Judy... she and Charlene lured me back to Church and to top it all off she eventually asked me to become a Senior High Youth leader.  And the rest is history!  In fact Charlene. Judy and I were housemates for a couple of years until they both got married!

Judy

Judy has had to face many trials over the past years.  To make a very sad and long story short and to also try not to diminish the facts, here is a very brief synopsis. Three months into marriage in 1993 her husband Troy was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Unfortunetly, Troy lost so much that take we take for granted.  He lost his ability to speak, but he spoke in so many other ways.  He was confined to a wheelchair, but he "walked" taller and stronger than most men.  His comprehnsion was compromised, but he was sharp as a tack and kept the same ole Troy sense of humor. Many would say that Judy and Troy had been denied their future .  But Judy didn't let the naysayers take control.  She made a life for both of them.  Troy went everywhere with Judy! They went to the movies, sports events, concerts and even skiiing in Colorado.  Many surguries and close calls came and went throughout the years, but Judy remained the rock that Troy needed.  Sadly , we lost Troy 5 years ago after his long and difficult illness. 

And throughout the many years of Troy's illness, she maintained a full time job. After being our Youth director for many years, she started working with Canine Assistant.  She became familar with them after Troy was matched with his own service dog, Kay.  She worked with families similar to her own story, to help them find the exact partner (dog)!    

Judy and Troy had once dreamed of working together in the Mission field.  Now that dream has become a reality for Judy. She is headed to Guatemala in September. Even though she will be pursuing it without Troy by her side, I just know that he will be with her in spirit!  She has touched the lives of so many people here and will now continue to do that with our neighbors further south!  She will continue to enrich lives and spread her contagious enthusiam for life and all that it has to offer

Of course, we could not send Judy off without a proper goodbye!  We had a farwell party for her just to let her know how much she has meant to us and to give her our best wishes.

Judy's Favorite dessert

Peanut Butter pies

And to end on a bright note...Judy has found a new companion, Bob.  I had the pleasure of finally meeting Bob last week and I have to say, he is terrific!    I'm so happy that she is getting this opportunity to start anew, once again!

I love ya, Judy!

Ya'll come back!

Susan
May the Lord bless his people with peace and happiness and let them celebrate.  Psalm 64:10