Today on Weekend Meanderings, a swoon-worthy dinner in the Hamptons, an exciting new lifestyle collaboration and a strawberry puree recipe to drizzle over summertime desserts.
Happy weekend, friends!
It’s Saturday and I’m joining Kim and Elizabeth for Weekend Meanderings.
Our weekly roundup of inspiration and goings on.
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It’s the first week of August.
Can you believe it?
Kids are returning to school.
And my plan to enjoy a slower, lazier summer is on track.
How about you?
TARTINE TUESDAY
On Tuesday I joined Annie of the Most Lovely Things blog for her fun summer series Tartine Tuesday’s. Quite honestly when she asked me I wasn’t entirely sure what a tartine was … now I know it’s simply a French term for an open face sandwich. So I reimagined a family favorite sandwich as a tartine. You can find the recipe for my Prosciutto & Brie Tartine with Arugula and Strawberry Puree here. Annie’s tartine is made up of three of my favorite things … bread, salted butter and shaved chocolate. What could be simpler or more delicious?! You can find her Salted Butter & Chocolate Tartine recipe here.
Strawberries are abundant at the grocery store and farmer’s markets right now. A couple of weeks ago I shared this yummy Strawberry Muffin recipe. When revamping my favorite sandwich as a tartine, I decided to replace the strawberry jam with strawberry puree so I could spread it on the toast and drizzle over the top.
Here’s the recipe ~
Strawberry Puree
Ingredients
- 4 cups Strawberry's, hulled and halved
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Lemon juice, fresh squeezed
Instructions
- Place strawberries, sugar and lemon juice into blender or food processor and blend for about a minute.
- Using a funnel, pour into a squeeze bottle for easy drizzling.
It’s so simple to make and can be used for so many other things. Pouring it into a squeeze bottle makes it easy to drizzle over cheesecake or ice cream like we did this week. The possibilities are endless.
JULIA BEROLZHEIMER X POTTERY BARN … ROUND 2
Yesterday blogger/influencer and now lifestyle entrepreneur Julia Berolzheimer launched her second collaboration with Pottery Barn.
The inaugural collab last summer was fabulous and I use her wicker gathering basket from that collection everyday. Hello, Julia … please bring the basket back. The new collection is full of many beautiful things including outdoor entertaining tabletop pieces and an amazing porch planter collection … wood planters in sage and woven basket planters. There’s romantic bedding, bath accessories and even a Pottery Barn Kids collection.
A few more of my favorites from the collab are this rosette chain serving bowl and platter. The bowl is in my cart, I think it would make a nice a centerpiece bowl for my kitchen table. These scalloped lacquer trays are beautiful too.
Shop ~
You can view the entire collection here.
KITCHEN GARDEN UPDATE
Our raised bed kitchen garden is just over 3 weeks old and it’s really coming into its own.
In exciting news, Stefani and Christopher from Homestead Garden Collective came by to place the arched trellis’ connecting our raised beds and providing a structure for climbing plants. Stefani said we should start training the tomato plants onto the trellis’ using gardeners twine. We’ll get that done this weekend.
Stefanie also gave me some pointers for harvesting our lettuces. First off she says to only pick only in the mornings. And pick from the outside leaves. She suggested filling the bottom of a salad spinner with very cold water and place the just-picked greens directly into the water. Then add more cold water, spin and place leaves between paper towel … roll up and place in a ziplock bag and pop into your crisper drawer.
I picked another small bouquet of flowers. The ornamental basil blooms are my favorite.
I also picked mint for a cocktail I’m going to make tonight.
In less happy garden news, Mr. Vole (and family) continues to wreck havoc in our front and backyards … eating the roots of many of our foundation plants. This week we lost two rose trees, and several pittosporum. The Vole’s are skirting around the raised beds, but haven’t found a way in. Each bed is protected by a layer of chickenwire. Pippa and Maggie are obsessed with the tell-tale holes in the ground. But, Abby-cat is more interested in monitoring birds and chasing an occasional mouse up on the back hill.
COASTAL GRANDMA SUMMER OUTFIT OF THE WEEK
Last week I saw the cutest outfit on one of my favorite fashion influencers. It was right in my wheelhouse … Coastal Grandma-ish summer chic. My first thought was to click on the link of the pants she was showing. And then I thought to myself, hmmm … do I have something already in my closet that would create a similar look? Turns out I did. The pants she was showing were more trouser-like, and mine are basic flared denim, but the overall look is the same. And I didn’t have to spend a dime.
Black Tee | White Denim | Belt | Flip Flops | Basket Bag | Layered Necklace
I was so proud of myself … and I’m going to be better about shopping my own closet before buying something new. Kim talks about this quite a bit and she’s absolutely right. It finally got through to me. I know I won’t always be successful, but I’m struck by how often I buy pieces that are very similar to things I already own. Anyway, it got me motivated to clean out my closet and I spent three entire days this week doing just that. More on that another time … it’s still a major ongoing project. Next steps of closet clean out here and here.
NET A PORTER & MR PORTER X RALPH LAUREN PARTY
This week my Instagram feed was flooded with dreamy photos of the fabulous dinner party hosted by Ralph Lauren and Net-A-Porter / Mr. Porter at the historic Milford Farm in East Hampton. I know I’m not alone in my love and adoration of Ralph Lauren … so let’s swoon over some party photos.
Photo Credit: Ben Rosser/BFA.com via Vogue
You can read more about this elegant evening in a historic barn in Vogue. And take in more beautiful photos and videos on the Ralph Lauren Home Instagram.
I’m loving the long tables featuring wicker baskets full of green and white hydrangeas and Ralph Lauren’s Classic Large Hurricanes running down the center. Can I tell you a secret? These hurricanes have been on my wish list for years and years. I can’t bring myself to make the splurge. We don’t have a formal dining room so I’m not sure how I’d use them … maybe the library. Anyway, the dinner and salad plates, set on dark woven chargers (similar) on top of striped place mats, are from the Ralph Lauren Burleigh collection. The Faded Peony and Garden Vine patterns. It looks like white napkins are rolled into Ralph’s Wyatt napkin ring. The flatware is from Ralph’s Wentworth pattern (this is similar). Looks like they used unadorned water goblets and wine glasses. It’s a fun idea to place mix and match blue and white pillows in each guests chair. The menu featured classic dishes from the Polo Bar … like their famous burger and fries and ice cream sundaes. Yum.
In other news ~
Ever wonder what happened to American born Queen Noir of Jordan?
We just finished this Apple TV series starring Idris Elba … which is incredibly INTENSE and VERY good!
Current favorites ~
And that’s what I have for you this week.
Let’s see what’s inspiring Kim and Elizabeth …
If you missed my last post, you can catch up here.
You’ll find all my weekend roundup posts collected here.
You can also follow along on Instagram and Pinterest.
As always, I appreciate your visit and welcome your thoughts in the comments below.
Cheers from Snowberry!
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