Birdsong FIVE weekend- vendor night

 If you are interested, Birdsong kits are available here.

Seriously? It has been a month since Birdsong? Well, I think I, personally, have recovered from the bash and from my whirlwind of a vacation right after, but my studio and garage sure haven't.  If you walked into my garage, you'd think that it was a store, not a place to keep a car.  I don't know why it takes so much longer to put things back to normal than it does to set it all up.

Well, maybe I do.  Getting ready for a big party is exciting. There is the giddy anticipation plus deadlines to meet.  But after it is all over? It's just a job, packing up, cleaning up, putting up.  I'm fed up with it!!

This is how the garage looked, pre-birdsong as I was getting ready.  The room was emptied out, and I rolled out strips of vintage wallpaper and tacked them up to brighten the dingy place, then filled that wall with an assortment of frames painted white.

Here it is after I got them all together.   And while quite a few of the frames are gone now, I'm afraid that the wall still looks pretty much the same. You know, it isn't a bad look for a garage, is it? Maybe I can just leave the wallpaper up there...

 It was a little hectic on vendor night. Luckily, I have a helpful crew who run the show, I am in the kitchen getting our dinner ready, and swaps are going on at the same time. I was in three of the swaps, but I wasn't able to fully participate, I had to do a run by swapping, I practically tossed my swap to my partner as I speeded by on my way to the kitchen. 

And I completely LOST one of my swaps.  It wasn't a partnered one, or I'd have kept searching til it was found. It was an exchange where numbers were drawn to chose partners, so I didn't leave anyone in the lurch by not joining in at the last minute.  

But I was disappointed to not be a part of it, and irritated with myself for being careless.  But if you saw my office and studio during Birdsong, I think you'd understand how anything could be misplaced.  There was (and still is) stuff everywhere.  

Slowly, but surely, I'm working my way through piles and getting it rearranged and back to normal.

Vendor night is fun, though, even with all the running around I have to do. 

My helpers make it all go smoothly, and I hope that the rest of the Peeps enjoy it all too.

While I have to hurry through swaps, I do love peeking out to see all the happy exclamations over the generosity and talent that went into the pieces being traded.  And I'm also pretty happy about all of the treats around that night. This year, I made some apple rosette tarts, and they were pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

What I like about them is how deceptively simple they are.  Apples, sugar, cinnamon, pastry, and that is it.  The trick is to use a very flavorful apple and let that taste shine through. 

I also tried to whip up some macarons.  Not quite as successful as the tarts, but they tasted better than they looked. And you really can't go wrong with anything filled up with white chocolate ganache, can you?

Karen sweetly brought this box of hand made, bird shaped, chocolates for us.

Terry was a constant help in the kitchen, while Randy ran errands, took out trash, did all the heavy lifting, 'guy' type jobs, and was just plain old, great to have around.  As were all the kindly family members who chipped in to make this thing work.

 What would I do without my family?

Shelli helped me use cookie cutters to add chicks to the watermelon salad.

Since making it that way, Sugarwings and I have done that same trick every time we cut open a melon. why eat a plain old slice, when you can have a butterfly or a star????

The salad was made like this:

• I ran a fork along the sides of a cuke to make pretty ridges, then sliced it up thinly.
• We sliced two small melons, into a thickness that coordinated with the cookie cutters and then cut shapes on a cutting board.
• A lot of watermelon goes to waste when using cookie cutters, it can't be re-rolled out like sugar cookie dough to use the remnants. So, we had a separate bowl for the ugly pieces. That is why it took two melons to make enough for one big salad.
• We mixed the melon and cucumber, drizzled it with lime juice and topped it with fresh mint. (you could also use balsamic dressing instead if you'd rather, I serve it that way sometimes too)
• The feta cheese was served on the side, so it didn't get soggy.

I'll leave you with some photos of my house before it all began. 

And this is the puff pastry crust I made for the pot pies.  And yes, I see now that the R is backwards! ha! 

Maybe I should stick to birds? I'm slightly fond of birdies!

PS- I've been adding the to Boutique, if you couldn't make it to Birdsong to shop, you can shop here.

 

 

Comments

[Linda P.]

Thank you for more looks at Birdsong, Karla! I am on the verge of uttering many wistful sighs. Beautiful surroundings, creating, and culinary pampering speak to my heart! How happy I was to be a part of it once again.

[Karla Nathan]

Thanks, linda, always a pleasure to have you here. I have a few more posts coming up too.

[Gigi Harlan]

Everything looks so good and so pretty and organized. I am sure everyone had a blast!

[Karla Nathan]

I know that I did, Gigi!

[Sandy thomson]

It was a great time!

[Karla Nathan]

Wasnt it, Sandy? Im just now returning my studio to normal and got to park in the garage for the first time in two months. But Id rather have it filled up with friends!

[jeanie]

Looks fabulous, Karla! All so pretty and yummy!

[Cathy Kizerian]

It sounds like you had a great time with family and friends. And your home is always so lovely. I loved seeing that you have a WHITE refrigerator (not stainless steel) like we do. But ours is 17 years old and showing signs of problems. How do you find white these days - did you have to special order? As always, I love all your posts.

[Karla Nathan]

I do have to special order white, Cathy, but you know what? They might not be in stock at the store, but they are cheaper and just take a couple days to get