Love Letters

Back to Sunday's brunch.  The food was delicious, half of it was cooked by our friends and neighbors.  Who brings a fruit salad and a big bowl of garlicky hash browns and a platter of crispy bacon to some one else's party?  Who brings a plate of cheeses and 5 different kinds of bread, a tomato and mozzarella salad and does clean up?  Who bakes her famous birthday cake and does clean up?  Who brings 1/2 of our dirty dishes across the street to her house so we don't have to run the dishwasher twice?

 Apparently our friends do. No wonder we can't keep the numbers down, we know too many fabulous people.

But we did cook too.  And for you who asked, here's the granola link.  And the spinach and cheese strata though I changed the cheese to a mixture of gouda and feta, plus the parmesan.  I winged the sausage and onion strata by using the same amount of milk and eggs as in the spinach, but added a pound of mild Italian sausage, switched the cheese out to a jalapeno jack and added 2 bunches of thinly sliced scallions.

And I might have gone over the top with the oven baked french toast, but we ate it all didn't we.  I used vanilla as a seasoning instead of the booze.  I don't drink and I don't think you all missed those 2 tablespoons of alcohol.  I think you were happy with your mimosas and bloody marys. And adding those blueberries to the maple syrup as I was warming it up?  A moment of genius. I probably saw on somebody's blog.  But it was genius, I admit.

So thank you all for coming and cooking and cleaning and making us laugh.  It was a big old love fest.  And I love you all for making it happen.

And I love all of you who participated in Flowers In The House.  It's always such a treat to go to your homes and see what you do to make them beautiful.

xo Jane