f like frank: dinner guests

With Robyn’s mum in town we had our first opportunity for entertaining. Exciting! We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and the gas grill that our building provides and barbecue some chicken.

I spent the morning preparing a scrumptious Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce (if I do say so myself). Starting it early in the day meant that the flavors had time to meld in my $4 garage sale crockpot for several hours. Alongside it we served asparagus and baked macaroni made with cauliflower and Annie’s White Cheddar Shells, one of Shawn’s childhood obsessions. The top was a crunchy Cheez-it crust :) Shawn also whipped up some homemade guacamole to snack on while the chicken was on the grill. Yum!

After we chatted around the table (that had been pulled up to the couch for additional seating.. we only have 2 chairs..) it was time for dessert. I put my Silver Slipper skills to work and made bananas foster to top caramel turtle brownies with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Luckily they were small servings. So rich but oh so good. I meant to take pictures, especially since dessert was so cute in my little white Fire King dishes, but alas, I forgot. I must say I was quite pleased that there were some leftovers. Definitely excited to eat that meal again :)

Earlier in the day, while I was getting the house together and stashing miscellaneous unpacked boxes and such into any and all closets, I decided that our poor plain table definitely needed a centerpiece. Making a little trio of vases, I took Shawn with me for some greenery clipping around the neighborhood. Perhaps I should have done this a little sooner than 5:00 when everyone was arriving home from work.. not the best planning. But with Shawn as my distractor I was able to get enough pieces to fill my vases.

Don’t worry, they were only clipped from large trees and shrubs. I would never steal someone’s flowers from their bed but I was amazed at how many people were growing muscari and tulips. All kinds of flowers that you certainly don’t see much of in Florida. I took a few pics during our stroll.