I wanted to share a recent event I hosted for relatives who are expecting a boy.   Elsa was craving genuine fried chicken and cupcakes so I gave her an affair to remember.  Being East coast and southern rooted, it was a bit of an indulgence for myself as well.  Let me recount the cupcakes: chocolate, coconut, red velvet, and lemon cream.

I wasn’t sure how to display the cupcakes so I began building a tower out of various cookie tins and pans that I then covered in blue paper and further embellished using strips cut with decorative cutting shears I had found at an estate sale.  The colors turned out to be green and white  polka dots, blue and lavender checks and lots and lots of hydrangea from my in-laws’ garden, all of which was pretty on the veranda. Did I mention the mint juleps and pitchers of iced tea and lemonade? The food was prepared by another relative Patrinka who is an extraordinary, adventurous cook.  She brought the fryer to place on our driveway for the buttermilk herb soaked chicken on the day of our event. Need I say more? The blue cheese iceberg chunk salad, the corn, the buttermilk biscuits.  OMG.  It was indulgent and it so worth it.  That was the end of the Summer creative blow out.  Just  fun.