Lifestyle Archives • Page 11 of 99 • Every Day Dress by Rebecca Collins

Share the Kitchen Love

*let’s share a scratch welcome cocktail*

*Left the cities and haven’t been back*, *all travel by car*

Feels like it’s been ages since I’ve been here, we left Boston MA late May and now it’s late June. We basically stopped in Buffalo to change our clothes, empty out the car, and then we high-tailed it out to the country house where we’ve been living; certainly, absolutely privileged.

*prepping the welcome cocktail: pureed fresh watermelon with fresh lime juice, a splash of OJ, simple syrup*, *a cayenne and kosher salt rim, and a jalapeño garnish*

*I helped with all the food shopping, the pie, the Mac & Cheese, and I marinated the steaks*

*run around town look to pick up provisions: I’ve been living in these Moussy jeans, Vince cotton tank, husband’s belt*

Three Monday’s ago, two youngest daughters hosted a small country dinner party for ten. I helped them out with a little menu planning, a lot of shopping, and a healthy amount of kitchen prep.

*I make vegetable stock* *once a week and freeze it in 4 cup measures in ziplock bags to add quick flavor to soups, quinoa, really anything*

*I like to add vegetables everywhere, here I stuffed in spinach leaves* *to a simple grilled cheese sandwich*

*even breakfast gets turned into* *a party with a small glass of rose. we’re not going anywhere so I try and make things special at home*

*rose in a juice* *glass, sliced watermelon garnished with garden mint, hot pink garden flower with more mint, also in a small juice glass, use what you have*

*simple silk L’Agence dress (I’ve been known to wear it all day and then sleep in it at night, whatever) over bikini for dinner*

*one of the few nights we ate early, scratch bolognese sauce, Caesar salad,* *garden mint (it’s plentiful!) in a juice glass for the centerpiece*

Since and before then I’ve been in the kitchen pretty much non-stop: quarantine bubble of our big family is now in town. The last four nights I’ve done sit-down dinner for twelve, those are completely different stories, just thought I would break the blog fast with Lizzie and Mary’s young collegiate dinner party.

*Elizabeth all ready to serve her friends watermelon margaritas*

*we put the gear all on a cookie sheet to carry it out to the garden*

*white votives and a good play list are always a must*

*I prepped the Mac & Cheese for them before I left for the night*

*and I also baked the blueberry pie, love the moon cut-outs*

*hand-snapped homegrown asparagus ready to be simply grilled*

*they set the table* *poolside, this was three Monday’s ago and I hadn’t yet filled the pool pots*

*they served buffet style from a smaller rustic picnic table*

*as Mary would say, ‘vibe check’ campfire 🙂*

*put the black slip dress back on with a navy striped cashmere sweater over the shoulders* *golden goose sneakers to head out of town to Ellicottville*

*husband and I had our own little party for two while in Ellicottville*, *cut-out heart cookies I made in February, a sweet little treat from the freezer*

Love that they love to share the kitchen love too. They kicked things off with a signature cocktail and ended with campfire s’mores. I helped them during the day and then Bill and I took off for the night to Ellicottville so they could do their own thing. We had to cut the lawn there anyway, Bill let the lawn guys go so we were on landscape duty. It took two cuts to get things under control. While Bill mowed, I weeded non-stop crazy style, we filled the entire flatbed of the truck.