Dear Mom,
Rosi was one of the first two ladies to take a knitting class from me at the Village Yarn Shop. When the class ended we continued to knit fairly regularly and eventually she became the crochet teacher for the shop. In a few weeks Rosi is moving back to Minnesota. I couldn't let her leave without acknowledging it somehow, and decided a simple lunch in her honor would be nice.
Hosting events like this
a.) gets the house real clean, and,
b.) justifies many of the frivolous purchases I've made over the years.
Setting up for this was fun, even though there were times during the prep when family life and Ladies Who Lunch life made me wonder what I was thinking when I thought of hosting a Farewell Lunch. But it was worth it. And that pain that was radiating from my clenched jaw into my right ear has mostly stopped now.
I served quiche and fresh fruit on Grandma's milk glass place settings.
We had cinnamon spiced tea and lemonade.
As napkins, I used some pretty hankies.
My most kind, sweet, gentle (I am so blessed!) cousin baked her delicious, pretty cookies for our dessert. I used them as our centerpiece.
I prepared all the ingredients for the quiche yesterday and then assembled and started baking them about an hour before I expected we would sit down to eat. This made things much easier (and me a whole lot calmer) today.
The easiest of the two quiche recipes was, in my opinion, the tastiest. I found the recipe in the "Summer in the Country" Gooseberry Patch cookbook. I didn't do exactly what the recipe says to do, though. Here is what I did:
Farmhouse Quiche
serves 6
1 frozen 9-inch pie crust (I made mine the day before and popped in the freezer overnight)
2 T olive oil
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used the kind you find in the jar in the produce department)
1/4 c. zucchini, diced
2 T fresh basil, chopped
4 eggs, beaten
1 c. half-and-half
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
8 oz shredded Colby Jack cheese*
1/3 c shredded Parmesan cheese
3 Plum tomatoes, sliced
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the peppers, garlic, zucchini and basil until tender.
Whisk together eggs, half-and-half, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Stir in veggies and cheeses. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Pour into frozen pie crust and top with sliced tomatoes. (confession: I forgot the top with sliced tomatoes part. The quiche was still good.)
Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.
*The recipe calls for 8 oz of shredded Pepper Jack cheese, but I am a total hot pepper wimp, so I substituted the Colby Jack.
I think the luncheon was a success. After everyone left (with their Forget-Me-Not packets and an extra cookie- which they claim was for sharing when they got home but I am suspicious) I ate 2 more cookies and took a nap. The house is clean. Laundry is a little backed up but what the heck. I'll tackle that tomorrow.
Love,
Kim
