How May I Serve You?

Good serving pieces do double duty at parties: they work to keep you organized as you pass appetizers or set up a buffet spread and they can look stylish, too. Here are some great pieces that can act as serving trays at your next gathering. (By the way, now is a really good time to stock up on entertaining stuff---all the retailers are having competitive sales and clearances. You don't have to pay full price!)

These two trays/platters can be found at Ballard Designs. The first is a fun take on a French bistro and the second photo shows some fun-colored platters that would definitely add a little something to your table:


The three examples of serving trays below can be found at West Elm and several of them are on sale right now! The top photo shows a selection of woven trays, the middle photo shows a selection of wooden trays, and the bottom photo shows a selection of trays with metallic accents:



The following serving trays came from CB2, Crate and Barrel's fabulous company with reasonable price points and great pieces for entertaining. The top example are marble boards that would be great for serving cheese off of. The next two trays are lacquered and come in fun colors, and the bottom tray is a clear lucite tray that would give a modern edge to your party. All of them are priced right and would even make fun hostess gifts!

January Picnics

(In the top photo, from the left: Our fabulous sister-in-law Meagan, Jill, Jill's hubby Adam, our brother Matt, Kari, and Kari's hubby Robert).

Okay, we admit it...living in California has perks. The weather allows us to do fun things outside all year. Here's a couple photos from a winter picnic we went on. With Dad and Mom in Liberia this year, we needed to break tradition and do something new for our holiday celebration. So, the six of us packed into a rented minivan (none of us owns a car big enough for six people!) and headed to the Paso Robles wine region here in California, on the Central Coast. We had a fabulous day winetasting and enjoying crisp, clear winter weather. Perhaps our favorite part, though, was our impromptu lunch picnic at one of our favorite wineries, Halter Ranch. The kind ladies in the tasting room encouraged us to use the spacious porch of the beautiful Victorian farmhouse that graces the property. So we sat, spread out all of our goodies, and enjoyed a perfect lunch together.

You can see from our spread that we had more than enough. And it was all easy stuff: A variety of hard and soft cheeses, some sliced salami, proscuitto, crackers, fresh bread, hummus, mediterranean olives, pepper jelly, cut raw veggies, and a bottle of local wine. All of this was thrown into an icechest for the day, and when we were ready for lunch, it was ready in about five minutes. Easy---and delicious!

You may not live near a fantastic wine region like we do (yes, we are spoiled by wine country, fantastic mountains, the ocean---anything we want is within an hour or two. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled!) and you may not have very nice weather right now---going outside might not be an option! But, if you are intimidated by the idea of hosting people because you're not a gourmet cook, consider bringing our wine country picnic inside your home! You need only browse a Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, or your local supermarket to find sliced meats and cheeses, gourmet crackers, fresh-baked breads, exotic spreads, and yummy wine. Take it all home, throw it on some cutting boards or platters, and let your guests help themselves. It's the easiest thing ever!

If you are in an area where you can enjoy the scenery this January, consider packing a picnic and getting out of the house! Our family is very adept at the picnic thing----we love it! We've sat on tailgates in the snow and shared hot chocolate and Mom's famous ham buns. We've sat on tree stumps in Dad's almond orchard and have wolfed down peanut butter and jelly. We've sat on blankets on the beach and enjoyed local deli sandwiches. Picnics are fun because they offer a change of scenery. Even, sometimes, in January!