Is it Tuesday again already?

Hello! I love Tuesdays, don't y'all? Today, I am playing in 2 blog parties.... Tablescape Tuesday & Trash to Treasure. And I am also sharing 2 tables w/ y'all today, hope you don't mind.

This past weekend was a grand weekend. We kept the 4 older grands Saturday morning.... we all snuggled up & watched Firehouse Dog & Grouchy made us pancakes & sausage. We spent many a week-end morning that way when our kids were young. Good times! Then baby Noah spent the night Saturday night so his parents could have a night on the town (Clifton looked sooo good that it brought tears to my eyes!). We were determined to squeeze in a nice dinner but needed to keep it easy. We chose a couple of Ina Garten recipes & set a very simple table. Wish I would have used a battenburg square or runner under the centerpiece. It needs something!

You've seen me use the Lace chargers (from JCPenney.com) a hundred times. The dinner plates are from Tracy Porter's Octavia Hill line. They're from Target but I got them at a thrift store (of course I did!). The rose china bowls are Johan Havilland...another thrift store find. I think I got 8 of them for under $15.

Hubby bought me a bunch of alstroemeria...look how great they look in my thrift store vase (which is my trash to treasure post). The vase is Jay Willfred by Andrea by Sadek.

The soup bowls are lovely & the coloring matches the alstroemeria perfectly.

Sweet little rose creamer.

I got this set of crystal, individual salt & pepper shakers on eBay a few years ago....I have 4 sets of them.

Since we were keeping it easy, we used a pre-made soup from a carton for an appie. The soup was Smoky Corn Chowder, at least I think that was name of it. I know it was by V8. Don't buy it! Blechh!

With a little tweaking, Ina's recipes might be very good but they were only so-so as written. The salmon recipe is Eli's Asian Salmon ... I kinda expected the panko crumb coat on the salmon to be crispy but it was very soggy & quite salty. Hubby warned me that I should stick w/ a sweet glaze for the salmon & sadly, he was right! The Crunchy Noodle Salad was pretty good although next time I will cut back on the peanut butter some. Both recipes can be found at foodnetwork.com but I cannot recommend the salmon, even though it looks so tasty.

For dessert, we had Meringued Grapefruit. I saw it on Jain's blog & knew I had to make it. It did not disappoint! Isn't it beautiful? They were small grapefruits so I served them in my vintage Boopie sherbets. This will be a repeater! In fact, we got some HUGE grapefruits yesterday. I just think they're soo pretty!

Here's the recipe Jain shared w/ us....

pink grapefruits, membranes cut and separated

2 egg whites

1/4 brown sugar

whip eggs until soft peaks, add brown sugar and whip until stiff peaks. put rack on lower 3rd and turn on broiler. mound meringue into swirling peaks and broil for 1-2 until brown. serve immediately~

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And I know you're eager to go see all the other tables but I have one more to share today. Sunday, hubby & I picked out a cookbook from our collection (we went w/ A Cowboy in the Kitchen) & made a trip to Central Market. This meal will go down as one of our best. EVERYTHING was marvelous & no changes were made to the recipes. I'm OK with having to change up an allrecipes recipe to improve upon it but the pros shouldn't need to be tweaked, you know? And Grady Spears did not disappoint. I'll start w/ pictures of my table but you are going to wanna stick around for the food pics. ;o)

I printed a photo of ice dripping off a pine branch & used it on the salad plates. All dinnerware is from Target, the goblets are a thrift store find & the twig flatware is from Marshall's, TJMaxx or Ross. The twig placemats are from Garden Ridge.

For teh centerpiece, I used an old window & a knitted throw as a runner, added a couple of pine sprigs, mercury glass candleholders, a corbel & my collection of old glass stoppers.

First course was a stacked tomato & onion salad w/ a mango vinaigrette. I know mozzarella is typically used w/ tomatos but this meal was Texas'fied so I went w/ monterey jack. The avocado was a little unnecessary, it really didn't add anything to the dish .... hubby probably should have sliced them slimmer. The vinaigrette is going to be very versatile...glad we made extra!

Hubby pulled out his Texas brand & branded the Sweet Corn Pudding Pie. He thinks he is sooo tough! ;o)

The entree was Cornish Game Hens w/ a Molasses Rub (fantastic!) & the Sweet Corn Pudding Pie (another winner...it's really a cowboy quiche & would be great w/ a salad for dinner).

Dessert wasn't from Grady Spears cookbook....it's Alton Brown's Bruleed Bananas. We shmeared some caramel syrup on the plate, added the bruleed bananas (just sprinkle banana slices w/ sugar & torch like a creme brulee), a scoop of Coconut Sesame Seed ice cream (delicious! by Haggen Daaz) & topped it w/ a sugar doodad. It was soo simple, so beautiful & sooo delicious!

One of our very best dinners! Chris has earmarked several more of Grady Spears recipes to make this week so it looks like it's going to be a Tex-Mex feast all week. Fine w/ me! I'm not a big fan of typical Texas cuisine (I know, I know...blasphemy! ;o) ) but Grady Spear's kicks it up a notch & makes it elegant & tasty.

There's lots more beautiful tables over @ Between Naps on the Porch ...come check them out w/ me. And while you're there, be sure & thank our hostess for her hospitality! It's awfully gracious of her to host this week after week, don't you think?

Also Diane @ A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words invited me to link this post to her Trash to Treasure post today....stop by her blog after you leave Susan's to see how other bloggers have turned their trash into treasure.