2012 Bucket List: Oysters and Bubbly

Bucket List: Try Oysters

 The evening started with a homemade Tom Collins and appetizers.

However, the center of the night was a variety of fresh oysters that were grilled and served along side crisp salads made with fresh sugar snap peas, watermelon and basil from our garden.

Skylar selected three different types of oysters that were recommended by the staff at Reel Foods Fish Market.  While we know that oysters are best served raw we decided to try them grilled.

Once the oysters opened slightly Josh pried them open, sliced the muscle, and served them on the shell over salt.

The oysters were accompanied by a dry French Champagne.

Goldie's New Party Dress

Everyone dressed up and drank champagne and ate until the late evening. We couldn't have asked for a better night to spend our anniversary.

Happy Three Year Anniversary!

What's Fresh

There is nothing better than serving dishes that are made with food right from your own garden or at least locally grown. While, from here on out, it will become harder to find fresh local fruits and vegetables there is still a short window to enjoy local products. At our houses we try to support local farmers as much as we can by purchasing directly from the farms, visiting our farmer's market, or shopping at retailers that sell locally produced items.

For this meal, we wanted to use as many items as we could from our garden or local farms. Pesto made with basil that you pick right out of the garden or tomatoes ripe off the vine… now nothing is better than that.  Most of the food and drinks were prepared using local ingredients or vegetables from the garden.  Eating local just tastes better.  There is no doubt about it. When preparing your next dish be creative and try to find your inner locavore!

Black Pepper-Basil Farmer's Cheese Bruschetta made with local cheese,  basil and cherry tomatoes straight from the garden. It is perfect for an appetizer.

After you try homemade pesto, nothing out of a jar will ever compare.

Idaho peaches are delicious plain, but they also make a fabulous cocktail. This was one part vodka, one part simple syrup (depending on how sweet your peaches are), and peaches. We just sliced the peaches and muddled them with the simple syrup. Next, add ice and frozen peach slice and don't forget Idaho vodka. You could even add a splash of sparkling water to give it a little fizz. Simple and refreshing.

Alfresco Dining

There is nothing better than sitting outside enjoying a lovely evening.  It is more important than ever to enjoy these last few moments of nice weather with fall rapidly approaching.

Simple, yet important, decorations should not be overlooked when hosting an outdoor party. A table should be nicely decorated whether you are sitting indoors or out. Paper lanterns hanging in the trees add color and when it starts to get dark outside candles add the perfect amount of light.

Cupcake Red Velvet wine is always a delicious choice for after dinner.  

So take your dinner outside while you still have the chance to take pleasure in these fleeting moments of enjoyable weather. The fresh air, the changing seasons, and the fall colors will make any meal or glass of wine taste a little bit better.

I Do Declare...

that everyone needs to celebrate in true Southern style. Being from the West what could we possibly know about the South? Well luckily for us I married a real Southern gentleman all the way from Louisiana. However, you do not need to go out and get married to have a great themed party. For Abbie and I, part of the fun of throwing a themed party is doing a little research. Of course we do not live in an antebellum mansion with large white columns and we did not hire a Dixie land band...but that did not stop us from having one hell of a good time. Play a little Preservation Hall Jazz, find some dapper looking gentlemen, prepare some traditional Southern Fare; including BBQ ribs, roasted corn, and delicious mint juleps and Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez.

We used fresh mint from our garden and made this great mint julep recipe. While there are a lot of great bourbons out there we went with Maker's Mark.

While it might be fun to try and make your own BBQ sauce we used Stubbs and LOVED it!

One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila... Fiesta

Saving something you purchased on vacation is a great way to celebrate and reminisce on past travels. We have been fortunate enough to travel to the Riviera Maya in Mexico. This is where we bought this tasty tequila that we have been saving for the past year. When there are no trips planned on the near horizon it is always fun to bring out something that reminds you of previous vacations. We focused our entire Friday Night Girls or FNGs party around this great tequila. While a trip to Mexico may not be in our near future we can still enjoy this great souvenir, stories, and each other's company. Salud, Dinero, y Amor....