Now, I do not subscribe to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop newsletter. Let’s just make that clear straight away. I loved Gwyneth in Shakespeare in Love and Sliding Doors, but I do not need to know her opinions on what $1800 Christmas gifts I should buy my friends, what Balenciaga coin purse I should buy, or how we should all really sleep more than eight hours. My friend subscribes, though, and she forwards it to me when she thinks it particularly interesting or entertaining – which is how I got this particular tip about a place which, yes, as much as I hate to admit it, is kind of awesome.
rivercottage.net
River Cottage is a sustainable farm in England that offers courses in such classic skills as breadmaking, beekeeping, mushroom foraging and butchering and cooking various animals “in a day”. They also have evening dinners made with food grown and cooked on the farm that I definitely want to go to the next time I’m across the pond. How wonderful to have a meal in which you grew the food and know exactly where it came from and what you’re putting in your body – something that is difficult to do in NYC. I love that the White House has a garden now and is raising awareness about knowing where your food comes from. Anyway…I digress…the point of this is that River Cottage has a yummy butternut squash and blue cheese recipe on its website and I got excited about making a simple vegetarian and gluten-free fall menu around it! This would be lovely for just yourself or for a casual dinner party – it would have been great at my Sweet Home Dinner last week! I’ll have to remember it for next time.
krissa.org
The flowers were simple, but added a punch of color. I bought four bunches of carnations in yellow and three shades of pink, and kept each color in its own vase rather than mixing them. It made the flowers look cohesive and at the same time, with the colored pencils, made the table as a whole very colorful.
We made gorgeous doodles.
And the food…Anna brought her gorgeous macaroons made with organic sweetened condensed milk, but I was so consumed with eating them that I completely forgot to take a photograph. Just imagine perfectly browned, chewy golden macaroons, and you’ll have a good sense of how lovely they were. Please continue for the post-mortem on my dishes.
As for libations, a non-drinking friend is bringing something tasty and non-alcoholic. For the drinkers, I think the wine will have to marry well with the gorgonzola but otherwise could probably be whatever you like. I’ll probably just ask at the wine shop what they would recommend, as I’m no wine expert. I even went to a lovely wine tasting the other night that was meant to be focused on how to order wine from a mysterious wine list – we all know how foreign those look, right?! This was information I needed! – and I kid you not, the advice they gave over and over was “Ask the sommelier.” So basically there is no way to figure it out yourself. Oh well, I still had a great time at the tasting and got to see friends from college, so it was overall a win.
