Arrange a splendid seafood table scape with these scrimshaw inspired accessories available from the Lisa Sherry Interieurs Online Boutique.  These darling tea towels make for quirky place mats or heat pads.  My favorite is that whale of a serving dish.  Perfect for the ceviche recipe below.

Summer is upon us and here are a few lovely notions for an impromptu cook out.

Start with simple table decorations.  These examples from Donna Hay are great.  Organic, Summer-y, and best of all not too fussy.

Make a bird’s nest votive holder using dodder vine and feathers.

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And of course you’ll need some easy recipes.  Start with a refreshing flavored water.  Add slices of green apple and mint leaves, raspberries, or lemongrass and pieces of ginger in the water an hour before meal time.

 Don’t forget the earth friendly compostable straws from the Lisa Sherry Online Boutique!

Next fire up the grill and try this bacon cheesburger recipe from Donna Hay.

    * 400g beef mince

    * 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

    * 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

    * sea salt and cracked black pepper

    * 4 rashers bacon, rind removed

    * 4 burger buns, halved

    * 1 red onion, sliced

    * olive oil, for brushing

    * 4 slices cheddar cheese

    * tomatoe slices, to serve

    * sliced dill pickles, to serve

    * tomato sauce (ketchup), to serve

Place the mince, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well to combine. Shape 1/3 cupfuls of the mixture into patties. Wrap a bacon rasher around each one. Heat a char-grill pan or barbecue over high heat. Char-grill or barbecue the burger buns for 1–2 minutes or until toasted. Set aside.

Brush the onion with oil and char-grill or barbecue for 5–6 minutes or until cooked through. Set aside. Brush the patties with oil and char-grill or barbecue for 4 minutes each side or until cooked through. To assemble, top the buns with cheese, onion, patties, tomato, pickles and sauce to serve. Serves 4. 

Serve with disposable wood cutlery from Lisa Sherry Online Boutique.

March is that frantic month with some days reaching highs just warm enough to tease and lows that dash our hopes for summer days.  Since we have a bit longer to go before bare feet on cool grass and sun dappled picnics under the shade of a favorite tree we’ll have to settle for the comforts of an indoor picnic.  Socked feet on cashmere throws reclining on fluffy pillows.  And even though it’s still cold outside warm your palette with Mediterranean inspired dishes like the Tagine recipe we’re featuring this month.

Read on to pull this picnic together with supplies and the perfect menu.

A wise person (yes, it may have been your mother) once said, “all things in moderation.”  We can only retort sometimes a little splurge a little excess is good thing. Cutting to the chase, this brings us to the topic of BUTTER. Much maligned by new wave chefs and just about every diet doctor, butter often makes stuff better. Do your best Julia Child this VD and think about baking a cake from scratch (it will require beaucoup b-u-t-t-e-r).  See below for the recipe fromMowielicious.

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers. They can be tough. We love these arrangements for inspiration. Closely cropped and a limited color palette consisting of greens and whites are always winners, they never look overdone and work perfectly for any occasion, no matter the season or level of festivity.

A great organic bowl or pot can help vamp up any arrangement.

TIP: for your next great outdoor dinner- place several little jars throughout the table at random and fill with clusters of herbs, greenery and white or cream flowers.

On a beautiful fall, crisp day the aroma of mouthwatering onion tarts filled the air and poured out onto the front porch… where a little celebration was about to take place.

A fun little birthday celebration! We bunched rice paper lanterns together and strung up cut-out paper circles that spelled out “happy birthday.”

Place settings were white river rocks (displaying each persons name) on top of an oak leaf. A simple, organic table setting isn’t complete without these clusters of garden grown herbs bunched in several little glasses, scattered throughout the table.

Throwing a quick meal together prior to company coming over is easier than you think. The best dinners that I remember attending were the ones that visually made an impact. Maybe I don’t remember the food so well, but I remember the ambiance for sure. A quick and easy way to do this as home is to throw down an organic table cloth (linen for example). Place the food graphically on the plate or neatly in little bowls. The key is to have an overall uniformed look, staying within one color pallet is the easiest way to achieve this. I recommend white/taupe.. all food looks beautiful on white dishes.