Saturday, August 31, 2013

More Kittens!

Ben and I went to visit the kittens out at Valerie and Riley's this afternoon. This might be my last chance to visit them, since they're almost big enough to go to their new homes! They're weaned and using the litter boxes on their own. Aw! We took them outside to play in the grass.



Willow.



Pawpaw.



Exploring!






They never ventured too far from the wood shed door. As you can see, Mama Maple kept a vigilant watch on them.



Willow sitting on Ben.



Handsome Ash!



It is a true challenge to get all of them in one photo.



Romping!



Pawpaw!



So fluffy!









Elm.






Crying.



I wouldn't venture too far from the woodshed myself, if my mother looked at me like that.






Look at Pawpaw's little MARSHMALLOWS.



Osage.






Elm running away from Liza.



Ben with a couple of orange buddies!



Willow and Valerie!






Ash.



Pawpaw.



Faceoff.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Miniature Cooking Club

Tonight was cooking club at Summer's house, and she chose to do a miniature theme! Everything had to be mini! This was absolutely guaranteed to be the cutest cooking club ever. I apologize in advance if I use an excess of exclamation points here.

Summer had the table set beautifully, and everyone got their own mini bottle of Chardonnay! 



And we had little tiny forks and spoons!



Summer made cream of tomato soup shooters, as well as marinated cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes were soaked in vodka and spices, so each one was like drinking a Bloody Mary in just one bite!



Nancy made the cutest little tomato tarts. Those might look like little plums, but they are purple tomatoes!



Nancy's sister Valaree was in town, so she was our special guest! We always love it when Valaree can join us for cooking club, because she's lovely to hang out with and also it means more dishes to get to enjoy. Win win! Valaree made these little tiny Hasselback potatoes. They look just like their full-sized counterparts!



Summer and Emily working hard on their dishes.



Look at that little straw in that mini bottle of wine!!! Does it GET any cuter?!



Oh, there's Yumi! She's pretty dang cute herself!



Nancy and Valaree worked together to make these little chopped salads nestled in parmesan bowls. YUM.



Emily made little tiny antipasto salads! Would you just LOOK at those little tiny meats and cheeses?!!?! And tiny lettuces and the tiniest mushrooms ever?! And even little tiny breadsticks!!? There is a quarter for reference so you can see just how tiny the scale of this plate actually is.



Summer made little stacks of savory pancakes! Smoked salmon and mango-jalapeƱo cream on cornmeal blinis.



Look at that cute little stack!



Hello!



Plateful of tiny deliciousness.



It really looks like a normal-sized potato and bowl of soup! I felt like a giant!



Even the cooking club ladies look tiny if you look down from above!



Look at these little tiny tomatoes that Emily found a the Farmer's Market!



And LOOOOOOOK at one of the mushrooms from the antipasto salad. Remember that is a MINI FORK.



Yumi made individual-sized scallop gratins. Featuring little bay scallops! She served this buttery lemony delight with some fresh baguette for dunking, which thankfully was NOT mini because who wants mini bread???



I made petite butternut squash lasagnas!



Though you would think mini lasagnas might be heavy, these are actually quite delicate. I loved this recipe! I adapted a recipe from Can You Stay For Dinner?



I had the perfect necklace to wear to this dinner. My friend Amy had given me this necklace with a tiny little cupcake tin and measuring spoons on it. So tiny! Ignore the fact that this is essentially a photo of my chest. Which is not tiny. Use it for scale reference!



So tiny and cute!!! And there are those lil' tomatoes again!



Summer made us Pimm's Cups for game time! Cheers!



We played Cards Against Humanity. It was hilarious.



Summer made us little sorbets! One was plum with black currant Lambic, and the other was peach with peach Lambic.



YUM!



And last but not least, Valerie made tiny apple turnovers!


It was wonderful being surrounded by so much cuteness all night, and even better that everything was scrumptious! YAY! Good work, team!