The Launching of the Invisible Gazebo

Beba SchlottmannBebalicious, Other Writings 2 Comments

 

Several months ago, I had invited some friends and family for a special Passover dinner party. After all the guests had left, my sister Yamila and I got to work on the clean up.  She began to brag about how good everything was and how much she enjoyed the gathering and the meal.  She especially found my dessert delicious.  Hum…”wanna know a secret? I told her mischievously, “I didn’t really have a dessert for tonight” (the passover meal doesn’t really call for a dessert).  While we were eating lamb and bitter herbs, I kept hearing everyone talk about how good everything tasted and how they couldn’t wait to see what was for dessert…I told her how I almost panicked but that instead, I excused my self from the table and quickly made my way to the kitchen, where I looked around to see what I could serve for dessert.  

I had bananas, Kedem tea biscuits and cream cheese.  I quickly whipped the cream cheese, and then I brought it to a low heat in a sauce pan, adding vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon and the bananas I had pureed.  When it had the consistency of a dip, I added chopped almonds to the mix and sprinkled some on top.  I set the warm dip in a pretty glass bowl and placed the tea biscuits around it.  It was an instant success and I breathed and relaxed for the rest of the evening. 

That was a close call, for sure! My sister couldn’t believe it; she thought I had used a recipe.  That’s when she first suggested I should start my own blog to share all my ideas about everything from cooking, to my writings and daily life stuff.  At first I thought , “nah, that’s not for me”.  But then I got to thinking, and noted that I was already writing a lot, just not making it available to anyone else.  I spoke with my husband and asked him if he thought it would be a good idea for me to try blogging.  He agreed and thus The Invisible Gazebo was born! -Well, actually it was a lot more involved that just deciding, but you can check out the whole atory at the “About the Blog” page and read all about it. 

 

  

The decorations were simple and keeping with the garden theme 

  

 

  

 

I subscribe to a wonderful blog called, Food Loves Writing (which by the way, I absolutely love!) and there I got the idea of doing a launch party for my blog.  I recruited my good friend Lindsey to set up my evite and to keep up with my guest list.  Then I worked on my budget and my menu for the event (I had a caterer friend of mine approve  it, of course).  I had settled on a garden theme for the party which I definitely wanted to be outdoors. Yeah, about having an outdoors party… 

I was able to get the most wonderful location at a friends property which included a lovely gazebo and a huge tree that provided shade to my guests.  Oh, it was lovely alright!  and very hot!  The temperature that day was 100 degrees (yuck!).  Then, the forecast for the day called for scattered thunderstorms…I wanted to cancel that morning but it was too late to do that.   I prayed God would smile upon my efforts and give us a good evening together.  I have to say, I honestly think He likes me!  We had the most wonderful, cool and special evening, right after the 5 minute storm that crashed the party had passed.    

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

I could have been so frustrated with the way things were going , with napkins flying all over the yard and each of us holding the centerpieces for dear life. However, my wonderful friends just laughed it off and thought it was awesome that we have a cool story to tell.  Indeed we do!  It was so much fun!  The storm quickly passed leaving things in good shape (with the exception of frezzy hair, run downmake-up, and lots of unwanted perspiration) and so we moved on to the next situation; flies!  Can I just say how much I despise  flies?  No offense to PETA, but I hate them with a passion! Even with the citronella candles I had purchased, the nasty bugs were all over the place, trying so hard to mess up the spread. Arrrg! 

Finally, I asked myself; “Whose idea was it to have an outdoors’ garden party, anyways?” 

Hum…Moving on.  There wasn’t much of a program really, just good food, great company and a little time to share about the blog.  My favorite part of the event was when I moved over to the food area to get a cool glass of ginger, cherry-limeade (which, by the way was divine!).  While standing there, I could hear the group chatting, laughing and having such a great time.  I paused for a few seconds drinking in the happy moment and the delicious limeade…I thought to my self; “tables, chairs, tableclothes and eating utensils-borrowed…food, decorations and goodies to give away-about $200.00…My girlfriends and I spending time together-absolutely priceless! ”

 

 

Menu: 

  • Turkey Thai Mini-Burgers on wheat & white rolls and peanut sauce – Recipe from delish.com
  • No-Stir Fry Vegetables with pineapple skewers -The Raw Revolution
  • Orange sesame dressing for the veggetables (sorry, this was store bought)
  • Curried Crab Spread on French bread baguettes– My Recipes.com
  • Beba’s version of Boozy Peaches and Cream (I added a pound cake to the original recipe and used wine instead of bourbon) -Food network Magazine
  • Ginger, cherry-limeade

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Party Favors: 

  • Chocolate/Coconut covered Pretzels
  • No-bake peanut butter/pecan chocolate cookies
  • Scented candle in a mini terra cotta flower pot with A couple of Paula Dean recipes & business cards
  • letter of introduction and a thank you note

 

  

Thank you all for coming and making the launching of my blog such a memorable day! 

 


Comments 2

  1. Beba, I just want you to know that you always make me laugh with the things you say and do. I enjoyed reading you blog today. Makes me think of things I want to do but am afraid of all the things that you mentioned in your blog that happened. Atleast you had the courage and your plans turned out to be great.

    1. Post
      Author

      Well, your greatest enemy will always be fear. I believe we are all gifted, and what we choose to do with our gifts will determine the quality of life we’ll live. So go for it and do, make, act on, and exercise your God given gifts! If God is for you, who can be against you? right?

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