[sweet or savory?] dinner party

It was recently my husbands birthday and we decided to have a few friends over for dinner to celebrate. I asked my husband what he wanted for this dinner and he said he'd like dairy. Breakfast foods for dinner - excellent! It made a nice change from the usual chicken or beef. Great company, good food - we had a really enjoyable evening. Pictured are some of the dishes, snapped with my iPhone and Instagram.

Top & bottom image: Half of dessert. Strawberry, grape and basil salad with a dressing of lime juice, a little sugar, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Refreshing! The other half of dessert? One of our guests brought a homemade key lime pie, delicious!

Top left: Cheese & zucchini slice - a family recipe! You'll have to ask really nicely if you want it.

(Potholders from Anthropologie.)

Top right: Baked Red Snapper with herbs (chopped parsley, spring onions & dill mixed with a little light mayonnaise). (Platter from Crate & Barrel.)

Bottom left: New fun wine cups (stackable) and colander from Crate & Barrel. The table looked great with white tablecloth, our white and green dishes and green drink ware.

Bottom right: Crustless quiche - mushroom, spinach & tomato.

We also had onion tart made by another guest and a spinach, blood orange & feta salad plus dips and homemade challah!

// Upcoming on Sarah's View: Some pictures from a short trip up to the Central Coast! //

snapshots

A couple of snaps from the last week or two that I liked (from my iPhone) - thought the colours I was wearing one day (note: not green!) went well with my couch cushions and of course a green cupcake I bought myself for my birthday. Although not everything in my place is green, we hosted an engagement party last night with an elegant colour scheme of deep red, black and white. Beautiful roses, red tablecloth set off with black and white damask patterned paper goods. Plus lots of delectable treats!

green thumb (hopefully)

After months and months of hoping to do this, I finally went and got me some greenery for our balcony! A few herbs for a tiny kitchen garden and a baby Jade plant. The bigger, more established succulents that I liked were a little beyond my budget for this project so the very helpful saleslady (here) suggested a small one which I can nurture and watch grow. It's pretty cute! Barely ten centimetres tall.

I chose this plant because it's hardy, making it easy to care for and also because my mother always had a Jade plant in our garden. There is a belief that the Jade plant attracts wealth, so that the owner will always have enough money, or good luck in business or something along those lines and I think she liked this idea. (If anyone knows the origin of this, please share!) When we moved and had no space for our large Jade plant, a friend took it for their garden due to this belief. I'm not superstitious but I like the idea of continuing with the plant my mum had for many years, even if it's a new one in a different country!

On a completely separate note, I just made some delicious round Challah for the upcoming High Holidays.

[sweet or savory?] farmer's market fare

This past Sunday I woke up to a lovely, sunny day so an outdoor activity was required. I headed out to the Beverly Hills Farmer's Market to pick up some veggies for this week. I always enjoy the bustling market atmosphere, the vibrant colours of the produce and flowers and the scents of fresh herbs and the selection of fresh items to choose from. I planned my menu around what I picked up as usual, more than I had intended! (Clearly I really like green things.)

Fresh basil (for pasta sauce and a salad), giant leeks (for chilled zucchini, leek and mint soup),

regular and round zucchini (for pasta sauce, antipasto and if there's any left, the chilled soup),

cauliflower (will roast with garlic), garlic (with everything), green beans (steamed)

and (not pictured) some bok choy and cucumber (asian style salad) and some tomatoes (for sauce and salad)

more green [in my house]

Our bedroom is large and very white. Even though we've been here a while, there is still little decor as I concentrated on getting the main living area done because that's what people see. However I did have some party favors from our wedding, I hung those on either side of the windows for a little pop of green and silver, to break up the whiteness just a little.

lace detail [in my house]

A bit of detailed lace, an offcut from when my wedding dress was being made. I framed our invitation and other wedding paraphernalia and embellished it with the lace. As green is my favorite color, our wedding invitations had a green design which I then used on other items.