We spent last Saturday in Midlothian, VA with my mother and sister and her family celebrating Mother's Day 2016. We had a wonderful visit. It is always nice to spend time with my mother. I see her so rarely. The distance between us has only increased over the years, so it takes even longer to get to her than it did in my younger years. This being the case, we enjoy every minute we have together. I prepared a luncheon this year and we packed up the entire thing, serving pieces and all, and took it with us on the road trip. Everything was perfect. Here are a few pictures of our buffet.
I tried to get one long shot of everything, but there was too much on the buffet to show in one picture. So I went along and took pictures of the different dishes.
Our bread tray. A sourdough boule and another sourdough with rosemary. Of course, we offered just a plain white bread also. You should always plan ahead for circumstances where you may have a guest who does not like anything out of the norm.
Gherkins, a Mediterranean salad and olives stuffed with jalapenos. Let me tell you about these olives. They were positively delicious. You might think the jalapenos would be too hot. Not at all. They were delightful.
A platter of jumbo shrimp (21-25), which I boiled the night before and put in the refrigerator to cool. For the trip down, we put them in a cooler on ice. They were the perfect temperature for lunch. To the left of the shrimp were two dipping sauces. In the center was the standard cocktail sauce which I gave the recipe for last week. The other two were tropical dipping sauces made with pina colada mix. Scrumptious! I will post that recipe later this week. You will want that recipe.
Back to our bread tray. We had a delicious assortment of meats and cheeses. Sliced herbed turkey and roast beef alongside sliced cheddar and provolone cheeses.
Oh! And don't forget the tomato tray. It's that time of year when we all enjoy a fresh slice of tomato on our sandwich. Or, in my case, just a slice of tomato. On white bread. That is delicious.
Sliced baguette for our onion dip. For reasons unknown to me, I did not get a picture of the onion dip. It was spectacular. I will be making it again very soon and I will share pictures and the recipe.
Our shrimp platter decorated with lemon. The shrimp were so easy to do. I bought jumbo uncooked shrimp. All you do it remove the shells, but leave on the tails. Rinse them. Put a large pot of amply salted water on the flame and bring to a rolling boil. Add the shrimp and stir to separate. Cover and cook for three minutes. Drain and run cold water over the shrimp to stop them cooking. And you have wonderful shrimp for shrimp cocktail.
On the far end of the buffet, beside our dipping sauces, we have (at top) poached chicken salad with golden raisins and egg salad.
Beside the shrimp platter, we displayed bleu cheese stuffed green olives.
My sister is quite a cook also. She added this delicious potato salad with mustard and bacon. This is incredibly delicious.
This salad of green beans, cherry tomatoes, chopped Swiss cheese and green onions is always a favorite.
And this spinach and strawberry salad with feta is superb. I brought some of this home. I had it for lunch today with Thousand Island dressing. I sent her an email after lunch and told her just how outstanding this is.
Finally, I made a chocolate mousse cake and cookie balls. This turned out just beautifully and was incredible as well.
Of course we brought flowers. This beautiful arrangement with hydrangea and roses was stunning.
And these beautiful peonies were magical.
Another wonderful Mother's Day. It is especially important to me, now, to spend as much time with my mother as possible. I see her on all holidays and her birthday every year. More visits need to be planned in-between holidays and birthdays and I should start on that right away. The years go by so fast. I am lucky to still have my mother. Most of my aunts and uncles are gone now. I yearn for those days, so many years ago, when I still had them all with me. Be sure to spend as much time with your mother, and indeed your entire family, as you can.
I tried to get one long shot of everything, but there was too much on the buffet to show in one picture. So I went along and took pictures of the different dishes.
Our bread tray. A sourdough boule and another sourdough with rosemary. Of course, we offered just a plain white bread also. You should always plan ahead for circumstances where you may have a guest who does not like anything out of the norm.
Gherkins, a Mediterranean salad and olives stuffed with jalapenos. Let me tell you about these olives. They were positively delicious. You might think the jalapenos would be too hot. Not at all. They were delightful.
A platter of jumbo shrimp (21-25), which I boiled the night before and put in the refrigerator to cool. For the trip down, we put them in a cooler on ice. They were the perfect temperature for lunch. To the left of the shrimp were two dipping sauces. In the center was the standard cocktail sauce which I gave the recipe for last week. The other two were tropical dipping sauces made with pina colada mix. Scrumptious! I will post that recipe later this week. You will want that recipe.
Back to our bread tray. We had a delicious assortment of meats and cheeses. Sliced herbed turkey and roast beef alongside sliced cheddar and provolone cheeses.
Oh! And don't forget the tomato tray. It's that time of year when we all enjoy a fresh slice of tomato on our sandwich. Or, in my case, just a slice of tomato. On white bread. That is delicious.
Sliced baguette for our onion dip. For reasons unknown to me, I did not get a picture of the onion dip. It was spectacular. I will be making it again very soon and I will share pictures and the recipe.
Our shrimp platter decorated with lemon. The shrimp were so easy to do. I bought jumbo uncooked shrimp. All you do it remove the shells, but leave on the tails. Rinse them. Put a large pot of amply salted water on the flame and bring to a rolling boil. Add the shrimp and stir to separate. Cover and cook for three minutes. Drain and run cold water over the shrimp to stop them cooking. And you have wonderful shrimp for shrimp cocktail.
On the far end of the buffet, beside our dipping sauces, we have (at top) poached chicken salad with golden raisins and egg salad.
Beside the shrimp platter, we displayed bleu cheese stuffed green olives.
My sister is quite a cook also. She added this delicious potato salad with mustard and bacon. This is incredibly delicious.
This salad of green beans, cherry tomatoes, chopped Swiss cheese and green onions is always a favorite.
And this spinach and strawberry salad with feta is superb. I brought some of this home. I had it for lunch today with Thousand Island dressing. I sent her an email after lunch and told her just how outstanding this is.
Finally, I made a chocolate mousse cake and cookie balls. This turned out just beautifully and was incredible as well.
Of course we brought flowers. This beautiful arrangement with hydrangea and roses was stunning.
And these beautiful peonies were magical.
Another wonderful Mother's Day. It is especially important to me, now, to spend as much time with my mother as possible. I see her on all holidays and her birthday every year. More visits need to be planned in-between holidays and birthdays and I should start on that right away. The years go by so fast. I am lucky to still have my mother. Most of my aunts and uncles are gone now. I yearn for those days, so many years ago, when I still had them all with me. Be sure to spend as much time with your mother, and indeed your entire family, as you can.
