A few weeks ago, I was talking with my friend Riley and he mentioned how he sees gorgeous fruit tarts in grocery stores and bakeries but when you purchase one it just never tastes as good as it looks. On Saturday night, David and Riley had a small dinner party at their house and Riley decided to try his hand at making a fruit tart. This is the result. Isn't it beautiful? And, believe me, it was delicious and nothing like the ones you buy at a store.
Here's Teddy giving me a small smile.
Here is Kasper intently watching the preparations going on in the kitchen.
And finally Alexis, who rules the roost so to speak. She might be the smallest but she is surely the Alpha dog.
They are so much fun to be around.
I have a few more photos from the party I wrote about yesterday. Here we have guests beginning to arrive and gathering around the food table in their spring floral finest.
More guests gathering in the living room to prepare for some entertainment.
I was at my friend Glenda's house Thursday evening and we were sitting in her back garden enjoying the warmth after a very hot day. We topped out at 106 degrees according to the radio. Simply crazy weather. When her garden lights came on, I couldn't resist a photo of that lovely setting.
Here is most of our Art Challenge Group enjoying some time spent around the fire pit at Julie and Dave's house. Two other members hadn't yet arrived.
I snapped this shot after the sun went down and before we set about the art challenge business. It was a nice evening for sitting by the fire.
I thought I'd show you a couple of other completed bodies photographed before we mixed them up. This one was created by Larry Nisula. He's the artist who was in the Biltmore Fashion Park art walk show that I posted on the 14th.
This one is by Marcia, the wife of our club member Jim Lowman. Marcia doesn't usually participate in the challenges but I'm so glad she did on this occasion. I like her creation.
I had dinner at my friend's David and Riley's new house last Saturday and I made another discovery with my new iPhone. That new "portrait" mode allows you to take a photo from a much further distance than you would for normal shot. That makes getting photos of the world's most reluctant subjects much easier.
Dogs are notoriously camera shy so if you can get the shot from further away before they realize they are the subject, magic happens.
This is Alexis. She's the alpha dog of this little trio. She's the smallest but there is no denying, she's the boss.
This is Teddy. He's such a happy dog. He's a bit of a slow learner but with that cute face, who cares.
This is Casper. He's the biggest dog in the group but he's perfectly happy to let Alexis rule the roost. He's such a sweet boy!
All of these dogs were rescue dogs. They each have different stories and backgrounds but they all are happy pups who have adapted quickly to each other and their new home. They are both loving and loved!
On Christmas Day I had dinner with my friends Julie and Dave at their house where this miniature Santa Clause greeted me.
We had drinks by the fire pit and then a lovely dinner and after dinner we played a few rounds of Trivial Pursuit. It was a super fun day.
I love seeing all the holiday decorations this time of year. This was the table decoration on Thanksgiving at the friend's house where I enjoyed a wonderful meal and lots of laughter.
Last night I was at my friend Glenda's house for a light dinner and great conversation. She had this pretty decoration on her table. Things are looking seasonally festive wherever I go.
I enjoyed a fantastic dinner with my great friends David and Riley on my birthday last Saturday. We went to one of my favorite restaurants called Renata's Hearth at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. As you can see, they serve meals "family style". We had the smoked brisket with some roasted fingerling potatoes and fava beans with a mushroom sauce. We managed to clean every one of those serving plates.
My birthday dessert was a coconut cheesecake topped with a strawberry jelly and a honeycomb cracker. The star here was the scoop of jalapeño ice cream. Sounds crazy, right? It was delicious. So delicious that David and Riley are thinking about trying to make it at home. They are both great cooks so I'm confident they will accomplish that goal.
Do you remember last September when I posted about a group of friends who got together to taste different versions of mole (the Mexican sauce made with chilies and chocolate)? Well, that same group got together again last Saturday for a Mediterranean dinner this time. I made a Greek Salad above. I've made Greek salads before but I've always crumbled the feta cheese into the salad. I read a recipe that said the Greek way of doing it was to top the salad with the block of feta and then when serving it break off pieces for the salad. So that's what I did! It was yummy along with the kabobs and rice and hummus and veggies. Someone even made delicious spanakopita triangles.
My close friends David and Riley have two beautiful dogs who are so much fun to be around. But like most dogs, they are a bit camera shy. They recently sent me this picture that they snapped one afternoon before Alexis (the little one) and Casper figured out they were holding a camera.
I decided that it was a good enough photo to do some artistic editing. My first option was this sketch-like version.
This version gave them a new background and an abstract look.
My favorite of all the edits was this one that gives Alexis and Casper a Kahinde Wiley type of background. It looks like they've been painted by a famous artist.
My Art Challenge group finally met again last Saturday night. We've been working on the "Transparency" challenge since April but our meetings kept getting postpone due to COVID and clashing schedules. My entry was the photo above. I took this photo several years ago at the Tate Modern in London. I had just had a glass of wine with a friend in the museum's bar and while leaving I noticed the opaque glass and how you could only see shapes and forms through it. I had this photo printed on glass which seemed appropriate for this photo. I love the way it turned out.
Here is Dave presenting one of his pieces, a collage of photos he's taken through glasses. He had another collage of photos taken through windows with familiar views from around the world.
I presented a second photo also and it was one you have seen before. In fact, I made this one my photo of the year three years ago. I love it and I now have a print version I can frame and hang somewhere.
About 3 weeks ago, it was decided to reveal several other challenge subjects so we could hopefully catch up with our art projects when we meet again in October. Tomorrow I'll show what I created for another challenge.
I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today. Photos from the historic Mission Inn.
Last Saturday, my friend Julie treated a group of us to a cooking class with a chef that Julie knows. The chef's name is Maggie Norris and she owns the business called Whisked Away Cooking School. She teaches in her own home where she has a kitchen large enough to host about 8 people at a time. She spent the first 30 minutes of the class showing us techniques we would be using and then working in pairs, we were assigned specific parts of the meal. My friend Glenda and I worked on the Caesar salad. I had never made a Caesar dressing from scratch before and wow, what a difference that made.
Julie and another friend, Danny worked on the Three Cheese Mac and Cheese. It was so delicious with cheddar, parmesan and fontina cheese in it.
My friends David and Riley were seriously concentrating on the Bernaise sauce for the grilled steaks. I don't think I'd ever had a bernaise sauce with steak before and that was another delicious revelation.
Julie's husband Dave and another friend made the chocolate mousse for dessert.
After preparations were done, we all sat down at the table in the top photo and ate our creations. Apparently I was so involved in eating, I didn't take any photos of the finished food.
It was great fun. I'll never make a Caesar salad with bottled dressing ever again.
I celebrated the New Year with my friends Julie & Dave last Saturday and Julie put together quite a New Year's treat.
We started with caviar and champagne. Dave got out the good champagne glasses for the occasion.
Julie decorated the living room with festive party hats but I don't think any of us actually put them on.
After the champagne and caviar, Julie served lobster pot pies that she ordered from a specialty food store. They had big chunks of lobster meat inside that puff pasty crust and they were delicious.
Thanks Julie & Dave for delicious start to the new year.
I had Christmas dinner at my friend David's house and he had these very pretty roses as the centerpiece for the table. I snapped the photo above and sent it to him the next day and then he sent me the photo he took to the left. I love it with all those shadows around it like exclamation marks.
The beautiful roses came from David's garden. His bushes are still blooming away.
If you are wondering what was casting those symmetrical shadows, here it is. The pretty crystal chandelier that hangs above the table.
Someone mentioned to me that today is National Dog Day. It's a day to celebrate our beloved, four-legged friends. I thought I'd do just that by featuring two dogs I know and love.
First up is my sister's dog Pepper. You might remember me telling the story of me adopting him from the Humane Society and driving to meet my sister to pass him along to her. You will be happy to know that he has settled in comfortably and is now the center of attention at my sister's house.
To the right is my friend David and his partner Riley's new dog Alexis. She is the cutest little bundle of energy I've seen in a long time. She makes me think of "Tigger" from Winnie the Pooh. She bounces up and down like she has springs for legs.
Two very cute and well loved dogs to celebrate today!
My good friends Julie and Dave had friends over Friday evening for a wine tasting event. We all gathered in their breakfast room with the men sitting at the breakfast bar and the ladies on the sofa. I was listening intently to the tasting notes when I looked up and saw this fabulous view out that window. I decided to capture it with my iPhone.
A few minutes later, we were waiting to see what kind of sunset we would get. It was an overcast day so we weren't sure how it would turn out. However, at one point the sun peeked through those clouds and provided some interesting light.
