June - A Good Month for a Wedding

(When I first posted this article I had a pretty picture of the Hydrangea bushes at LeVon and Don's house, but the picture has vanished, so there's no pretty picture here now. Envision, imagine, and visualize purple hydrangeas.)
Hydrangeas are blooming in abundance now. I see them in the morning in beautiful clusters in white, pink, rosey red, blue and purple when I'm jogging through my neighborhood. They are lush and lovely and they remind me of weddings.
And speaking of weddings, next week I am so excited and delighted to be traveling up to the Bay Area to attend and cater the food for my niece’s wedding. I’m looking forward to it very much, not only because my only niece is getting married but also because I get to do the food for the reception and we all know how much I love to cook. There will be 40 guests and since it is a middle-of-the-afternoon affair, we decided to serve a variety of hearty hors d’ oeuvres. I will be staying at my niece’s house so I’ll have plenty of time to prepare the platters the day before the wedding and the morning of. I love the challenge of preparing food on someone else’s turf….it’s actually a somewhat courageous act because not being in my own kitchen, I never know what might come up. A big part of the job is being organized and prepared. I love the challenge. But the real reward of this event is seeing my niece so happy, grounded and partnering with a wonderful young man.

As much as I love Santa Monica, I also adore the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly Sonoma County. I’m fortunate to have friends who live there who I will also be visiting next week. My wonderful friends LeVon and Don live in Healdsburg and I just love hanging out with them, cooking great meals and enjoying some fine wines.



With Summer upon us, enjoy, eat well, get exercise and be grateful for all the gifts big and small.