Tulips & Tapas
Isn’t Spring glorious? In the Napa Valley, it is marked by bud break. This is when the grapevines wake up and the first leaves emerge from the dormant buds. It is the beginning of the growing season.
You can hear “Have you had bud break yet?” all over the valley. It is exciting for anyone who visits or lives in the Napa Valley as you can see vineyards turn from a dark grey to a speckled and evolving green. It is picturesque!
I decided to gather some friends to welcome Spring. I wanted to create a casual setting, incorporating several reminders of the season.
Since I like to use receptacles that are not necessarily intended as vases, I chose one of my three-tiered trays as a ‘vessel’. I filled glass votive holders with water and arranged little nosegays of spring-colored roses and Hydrangeas. I peppered in some pastel colored papier mache eggs to fill in the gaps on each level.
Since our gathering would extend into the evening, I chose to tuck a Pier One Glimmer String into the bottom of each of the tray tiers. This gave the flowers a glow when the lights went down. This really added to the ambiance. My guests loved it.
This group of friends likes to hang out in the kitchen, so I put everything on the island and offered foods in small portions that were easy to eat…tapas.
In keeping with the spring theme, I chose to offer crudite in narrow rectangular bamboo boxes. You know, the ones you use in drawers to organize utensils, pens, etc.? My intent was to make them look like little raised garden beds. I found mini gardening tools in the dollar bin at Target. I laid them on the vegetables as serving utensils. This was a hit!
I served roast beef with horseradish sauce in lettuce cups, citrus shrimp in endive leaves, charcuterie and all of the trimmings on a very large plank, beef & cheddar cheese sliders, fresh berries, mini cupcakes and some of my homemade chocolates.
For music, I created a playlist of songs about Spring on Amazon Music. Selections included: “Spring is Here”, “Here Comes The Sun”, “Tiptoe Through The Tulips With Me”, “Springtime in Paris”, “Spring Break-Up”, “Umbrella” and “I Can See Clearly Now”. We went down memory lane with each song change. The music added to the spring theme.
Each guest went home with a small box of my chocolates.
Tulips & Tapas
Isn’t Spring glorious? In the Napa Valley, it is marked by bud break. This is when the grapevines wake up and the first leaves emerge from the dormant buds. It is the beginning of the growing season.
You can hear “Have you had bud break yet?” all over the valley. It is exciting for anyone who visits or lives in the Napa Valley as you can see vineyards turn from a dark grey to a speckled and evolving green. It is picturesque!
Since I like to use receptacles that are not necessarily intended as vases, I chose one of my three-tiered trays as a ‘vessel’. I filled glass votive holders with water and arranged little nosegays of spring-colored roses and Hydrangeas. I peppered in some pastel colored papier mache eggs to fill in the gaps on each level.
Since our gathering would extend into the evening, I chose to tuck a Pier One Glimmer String into the bottom of each of the tray tiers. This gave the flowers a glow when the lights went down. This really added to the ambiance. My guests loved it.
This group of friends likes to hang out in the kitchen, so I put everything on the island and offered foods in small portions that were easy to eat…tapas.
In keeping with the spring theme, I chose to offer crudite in narrow rectangular bamboo boxes. You know, the ones you use in drawers to organize utensils, pens, etc.? My intent was to make them look like little raised garden beds. I found mini gardening tools in the dollar bin at Target. I laid them on the vegetables as serving utensils. This was a hit!
I served roast beef with horseradish sauce in lettuce cups, citrus shrimp in endive leaves, charcuterie and all of the trimmings on a very large plank, beef & cheddar cheese sliders, fresh berries, mini cupcakes and some of my homemade chocolates.
For music, I created a playlist of songs about Spring on Amazon Music. Selections included: “Spring is Here”, “Here Comes The Sun”, “Tiptoe Through The Tulips With Me”, “Springtime in Paris”, “Spring Break-Up”, “Umbrella” and “I Can See Clearly Now”. We went down memory lane with each song change. The music added to the spring theme.
Each guest went home with a small box of my chocolates.
