Summer Fun: Serve It Up, Creative Style

Summer get-togethers usually come with a familiar crowd: sun, grilling, shorts, flip flops, and so forth.  If there’s a backyard bash theme to be had, we’ve probably done it before.  If you’d like to add some fresh perspective to your hostess repertoire, here are some newer twists on serving up those summery classics.

Tossed and layered salads make the rounds this time of year, right along with the massive bowl of potato salad.  With a little more pre-prep, you can serve single side salads in your buffet line, no serving tongs required.  Use 8 ounce canning jars for individual layered salads.  Stack your greens, chopped veggies, and drizzle of dressing in these short, see-through cylinders and group them on a serving tray the way you would drink glasses.  To use the lid or not use the lid – that’s up to you.  They can be made ahead of time, stacked and stored in the fridge, and brought out when your main course is piping hot and ready.  Need more serving table space?  Do use the lids, and nest them over ice down in a large tub or ice chest on the ground level of your serving line.  The same concept would work for a grocery list of cold side dish alternatives like that potato salad, or a number of other salad varieties like macaroni, tuna, chicken, bean, fruit, or coleslaw. 

You have a great drink station set up, but those pesky flies are not what you want landing on your icy concoctions.  Whether you’re using mason jars, stemless wine glasses, or high ball glasses to give your lemonade, tea, or punch variety a classy look on that serving tray, top them off with colorful printed paper cupcake liners turned upside down.  With those resting on your filled glasses, push a pretty paper straw through a small “x” shape you cut in the center of the cupcake liner, just like to-go cup lids, which will also help keep your topper in place.  Now your guests can sip in style with this twist on a drink umbrella, and no bugs will be found floating on ice.    

We know the fashionable trick of freezing small fruit pieces or mint leaves in ice cubes to jazz up your juice glasses.  But you can also look online for ice cube trays that come in a variety of fun shapes for an extra spin on fancy ice.  For larger punch bowls or drink dispensers, make your own ice mold by freezing bowls (cereal bowl size) of water.  Make sure the bowl is freezer safe and the finished size will fit through the top opening in your drink dispenser.  To make it pop, freeze those fruit pieces or mint inside, giving your ice block a Jell-o mold look.  To keep from watering down your thirst quencher, freeze a mold of the drink you will be serving to use as its own ice.

For the simplest dessert and “goodnight” to a party, pour ice cold milk into mini vintage milk bottles, rest two shortbread cookies with holes in their centers on top, and stick a striped paper straw in the middle.  Pass these on a tray, or set out on a bed of ice.  It will be a sweet finish to the evening.

Have fun, get crafty, and take a few tips from others’ examples of how to rev up your party planning and serve up a creative summer spread.        

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star June 29th.

Summer Fun: S'mores Bar

If you’re looking for a project to dig up some summer fun, try your hand at serving up a s’mores bar.  Whether you’re entertaining weekend guests or simply livening up a family weeknight dessert, a s’mores bar can kick things up an ooey gooey notch.

Decide on your heating method.  There’s always a fire pit if you’ll be roasting outdoors.  I’ve seen the use of Sterno cans, the little portable flames usually found beneath hot catering dishes.  There seems to be a split decision online on whether its flame is food safe, but you can find many examples of them being used for this very purpose. Your call.  Then you also have the option of candles, whether both tall and short white pillars clustered together on a serving platter like your own modern twist on a fire, or individual votives on a heat safe tray or squares of tin foil for a one-on-one flicker of marshmallow roasting magic.  Regardless, it’s important to use good judgment and safety precautions to prevent burns or mishaps.

Next, round up your supplies.  Choose stainless skewers like those you would use over the grill for kebobs or wooden skewers with enough length to keep fingers away from the flame.  Buy the big marshmallows.  Offer some variety for your chocolate selection, buying bars to break apart or individually wrapped squares.  Milk, dark, or flavored chocolate would each be welcome additions.  Some s’mores fans even opt for a chocolate or peanut butter spread for more options.  And you can’t forget about the graham crackers, which you can also pair with other cookie or cracker options if you want to add to the custom built element.  A serving method for your goodies, paper dessert plates, cocktail napkins, and either matches or a lighter are needed as well. 

Now present your stretchy-sticky findings to be devoured.  With all of your layers spread out on summery melamine serving trays or stacked cake stands, get your fire(s) going and invite guests or just the kids to grab their chosen cookie or cracker layer, piece of chocolate, and skewered marshmallow they can patiently hold over the heat and spin to toasted perfection.  Squeeze each layer together, top it off, and enjoy.  And then repeat. Again. 

Whether gathered around in the backyard, on the patio, or even around the dining table, a s’mores bar can be a simple summer project that creates a lot of sweet memories this summer and beyond.   

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star June 22nd.

     

Cotton is Still King

As the Algodon Club of Harlingen celebrates King Cotton this weekend, it’s an applicable time to reflect on how cotton and the agricultural industry as a whole have been a part of shaping this home we call the Rio Grande Valley.  As we honor our dads today, I have to give a nod as well to the men of this generation and generations past who have plowed the fields, planted the seeds, prayed for rain, harvested the crop, run the gins, and passed on their unwavering work ethic to their sons and daughters who followed after them. 

“King Cotton,” a term coined in the mid-1800s as a show of support in the belief that the booming cotton industry was capable of financially carrying the South, has a history with roots that run deep right here in the Valley.  My granddaddy, Joyce Smith, owned the largest gin in the world in early 1948, the Los Coyotes Gin, the only double battery gin at the time, which means it had two gins under one roof.  That was right here in our own backyard of Willacy County.  And more would come.  Because cotton, both then and now, was proving itself to truly be “the fabric of our lives.”

 I write about design and the home, with a lot of my life mixed in.  As I look around my own home, I see evidence everywhere that cotton really does reign, even from a design perspective.  Considered to be one of the most widely used natural fiber cloths in clothing today, cotton, in its various forms that include denim, corduroy, seersucker, and cotton twill, hangs on hanger after hanger in whole or in part, ready to wear out in our sultry summer heat.  It’s a soft, breathable textile, perfect for my drapery panels, more throw pillows than I care to own up to, placemats and napkins, area rugs, and cozy bed sheets alike.  Cotton terrycloth is perfectly suited for those highly absorbent bath towels that stack up in the cabinets and hang from my numbered bathroom hooks.  It’s neat to think we can watch something grow right here out in the fields alongside our FM roads that will be turned into what we wear and what we fill our homes with that reflect our own unique styles. 

Cotton fibers are woven not just in my décor, but in my memories of summers spent across the field over at Granddaddy and Mimi’s listening to the hum of the gin across the street, watching the module trucks run up and down the road with little white puffs drifting out of the back.  I’m thankful I was raised right here where family values are still being raised out in those fields right along with the crops, and where Cotton is still King.       

Happy Father’s Day, and congratulations to the 2014 Algodon Royal Court and the Don and Dona named last night!

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star June 15th.

Granddaddy and Me

Joyce Smith and Krystal Krenek Stenseng

Mimi in the Los Coyotes Gin

Lillian Smith 

Mimi and Granddaddy, in their front yard with cotton trailers in the background

Lillian and Joyce Smith 

Algodon Club

Show 'Em the Curve

I love clean lines.  But I don’t want to be boxed in by thinking that sleek and modern only equals square and rectangle.  Put some smooth curves in the mix to visually shake things up with some feminine style.

Instead of a straight-up-and-down lamp base, opt for one that looks like a series of shapely candlesticks stacked together.  The unique shapes, with layers of hourglass and bulbous outlines, take a lamp from light to bright.  Add a large drum shade on top, and you’re really glowing.

Most wall art is typically found in versions of squares and rectangles.  You can layer in some more variety by getting outside the box.  Choose a large mirror with a curvy border that alternates concave, convex, and pointed sections.  Instead of a row of framed art, hang a row of 3 or 4 wall clocks all set to different time zones with custom wall decal lettering below spelling out your worldwide cities of choice.  Use plate hanging hardware to hang a grouping of plates or platters in a pattern on the dining room wall.  Hang a round chalkboard message board in the kitchen or home office for messages and notes.                   

To bring in a more shapely seating arrangement to your family room, consider a round end table to nestle between the couch and loveseat or between two occasional chairs.  Curvy backed side chairs can also offer that settle-in-and-snuggle-up feel perhaps better than their more formal squared-off counterparts. For smaller scale pieces, opt for round ottomans and decorative urns.  For a kitchen bar, think about lining up a row of round bar chairs or stools.  Put down a round rug as an anchor under the breakfast dining area.   

Trays make great holders for mail and magazines, but you can also use a large serving bowl on a foyer table or a wide mouth clear cylinder vase in the living room.  Chargers can replace placemats on the dining table for a more compact place setting base.  To house multiple casual pairs this season, use a round basket by the back door for pairs of shoes instead of a boot tray.  Pull together a collection of round hurricane lanterns or cake stands to use in centerpieces, using pillar and votive candles as added layers.

Round up those curvaceous pieces large and small for more varied tiers to your own unique style for any room in the house.  They just might make you want to ring in the summer with your frosty lemonade glass raised high.

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star June 8th.      

Summer Switch-ups

The rest of the year, items take their place around the home serving their original purpose.  But who says you can’t have a little more fun in the summertime?   Here are some everyday items that can be purchased for just a little, and then you can do a lot more with them. 

Take the classic wooden TV stand.  It’s a simple throwback piece that was found in many a family room before and now may be found in a few garage sales amid all the flat screens and entertainment centers that replaced it.  Take that style of small furniture piece, paint it a sharp color, add some rolling wheels and some decorative hardware, and you have a bar cart perfect for entertaining indoors and out.  It would make a great companion in a breakfast nook or at the end of the kitchen cabinets to house serveware, glasses, and snacks.

If you have old patio furniture that’s seen its better day, opt for a makeover before you jump to a replacement.  Thoroughly clean those plastic or metal chairs, then give them a couple of coats of spray paint in a vibrant color.  Add in some bright printed outdoor pillows and potted plants at their feet for a welcoming spot to sit out in.

That large woven basket with handles usually holds shoes, toys, or magazines.   For the summer months, upgrade it to seasonal assistant by filling it with rolled beach towels, flip flops, or sand toys.  Once you bring out those must-haves, you must have a place to stow them in style.

For a crafty spin on a birdbath, combine an old lamp base and a flea-market-find platter or bowl.  Remove the lamp’s bulb, chord, and harp, and use the appropriate glue to affix the platter or bowl to the ring usually reserved for the bulb.  It would make a nice addition to your garden area or front walk. 

A wheelbarrow can double as an outdoor bin to ice down drinks for a party.  Glass votives can be mini pots for individual succulents to create a tiny garden.  Gather maps of any travel spots you hit over the next couple of months to use later as frame matting for vacation photos or in decoupage craft projects.  Use glass canisters usually reserved for the kitchen counter to house sidewalk chalk, little bottles of bubbles, and other supplies ready for afternoon artwork.  As you finish up those glass bottles of soda at steamy evening cookouts, save them to spray paint for a growing collection of custom bud vases. 

Now what can you take and offer a summer switch-up in order to really make a splash?

DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star June 1st.