HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

These are place settings I did for my Mom's "Mardi Gras Dinner Night".  The only thing I regret is not having a runner or other fabric to cover the table at the time.  Her table is 54 x 54 square and square place mats don't really work that well for serving 8...but...they were just too perfect to pass up.  I'll be thinking of some other creative way to do this again so that it has a more festive flow with complementing textures.

"Who Dat" Saints Superbowl

This was alot of fun for me because I was born and raised in New Orleans. In fact, I used to work in the Superdome for the New Orleans Jazz NBA basketball team (now the Utah Jazz), and our office was right down the hall from the Saints office. I've been in Calif. for 18 years now...and one of the most exciting things for me as a "N'awlins" native, was to witness Superbowl history in that awesome game between the Saints and the Colts. We had a couple of friends over for some jambalaya, muffalettas, spicy wings, and "Hurricane martini's".

CHRISTMAS 2009

THANKSGIVING WITH THE U.S. MARINES

We have hosted U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton in our home for Thanksgiving on a couple of occasions, and surely, more to come. It is such an honor to have these young men over for the day to enjoy home cooking and share their boot camp stories with our family. Here's a few photos of one of those occasions and the Thanksgiving table that I set for the occasion.  It's pretty simple.  I dried the lemon slices in the oven the day before and used them to strew along the runner. I also used whole chestnuts in glass vases to surround votive candles.