During the summer you want to be outside and enjoy it! How much nicer it is when the weather is warm and you can celebrate with lemons. Yellow has always been a color I liked so I'm adopting it to the table too. I wish myself, my guests and readers Happy Summer, full of beautiful experiences!
For the summer party, lemons will be everywhere... I even wear them.
After deciding on the theme I start planning and collecting the decorations, I always find something that I already have (like elements for centerpieces), either things I bought myself or got as gifts. Then I go shopping to buy the remaining parts of my vision...often struggling to get the very thing I want so my advice to myself: start the planning in advance to avoid stress later. Nevertheless, this should be enough for the lemon party:
We have lemons:
Fabrics: tablecloth and kitchen cloths with big bright fruits, green leaves and a little bit of flowers
Tableware: it's so rich with the design that the food almost won't look good on it!
Centerpieces: I just used real lemons with some old greenery, not even sure where is it coming from.
Napkins: it always takes me a long time to find the most beautiful ones.
Food... I like to mix traditional dishes with some new and updated ideas. I serve variety so my guests have choices. Funny enough I actually didn't use much lemons to cook!
Appetizers
Small bites of different foods that blend together in your mouth. They look pretty, are easy to make and are crowd pleasers.
For the traditional Italian version: mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, basil (from my herb cart already). Traditional Polish: Gouda cheese, sausage and pickled red peppers. Something new: blackberries, white cheddar and cucumber.
Mains
With the hot weather I feel the lack of appetite for big meals so I just go with simple sliders.
We have traditional hamburgers, the key is good meat, we get it from a local butcher - the one in the middle. I like salmon - on the left, so we (I say we because my husband is the one who makes and barbeques the meat!) tried to make salmon into burgers too, by mixing it with barley oats, chia seeds and plenty of fresh dill. I'm getting more and more curious about vegetarian and vegan diets so I'm also experimenting with veggie burgers - on the right. I tried many different combinations and I think I like sweet potatoes best. Here I also added black beans and green parsley.
Salads
As these are my favorites I always try hard for some interesting combinations... they have to look inviting yet not too scary to try! I don't mix ingredients so the guests can omit what they don't like.
First one is with lettuce, corn, fennel, strawberries, baked chickpeas and parmesan. Second one is with arugula, purple cabbage, mango, pecans, red bell peppers and feta.
There's lemon juice in the dressing.
Dessert
The cookies are made by Lesya, who decorated these different shaped gingerbreads to match my lemon theme. They are really for eating but they serve as decorations as well since they are so beautiful! Food is not just a food anymore. She prepared few designs for my party:
As for new things in the kitchen people now write on food as you see on the cookies to wish you something in addition to delicious taste. We almost don't want to eat them!
I know planning, preparing and cleaning up after the party is a lot of work. I have done it many times. I really like it anyway. There's nothing better for a sunny day then beautiful food in the company of beautiful people... and lemon. Whatever you like!
Lesya
a beautiful cookie maker, talented yet humble with outstanding results of her work.
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