Cafe Blue Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

My adorable stepfather is Jamaican.  My parents visit the island as often as they can and check on family members and neighbors and make sure that some of the less fortunate have clothes and food.  They're such amazing people.  They also stock up on some of their cooking staples that cost an arm and a leg here!

This trip, she brought me some Cafe Blue Coffee!  After seeing the price online, I about died!  She got a very good deal on it for what she paid but WOW!  For coffee!?  It's now my special occasion coffee :-)

I've served this with desserts and gave some to my mom to try in her one-cup brewer.  She had to call me, she couldn't believe the flavor!

For future dinner parties ... I'm brewing this amazingness and trust me, you will wow anyone if you put this in front of them!  Worth the price?  We'll see how long it lasts and I'll get back to you on that!

I just adore my teal plates and bowls!  It's taken me forever, but I finally found their red counter-part online!!!!!  We are officially ready to have dinner parties!

Red and teal are a strange combination, I know.  But I found some amazing art online that I just couldn't get out of my head.  Artist Megan Aroon-Duncanson is now one of my favorites and I planned my dinner table around her painting, "Twisting Love" But I couldn't stop there!  There were too many I loved!  So .... I made the investment and chose 4 of her pieces that I couldn't live without and that tied in the colors I wanted.  SO happy!  Bring on the dinner guests!!!!

Cheese Board

My dad made these cutting/bread boards when I was a kid.  He did a lot of woodworking and we had booths at Saturday Markets and craft fairs .... it was a blast!  I still remember bringing in the final cuts after the glue dried and sanding and sanding and sanding these until they were smooth.  I have two of them and can't bring myself to cut on them!  :-)  So we use them as cheese boards.

Tonight, cooking just didn't feel like an option, so I stopped at Trader Joe's and picked up what you see here.  TJ's has the best prices on cheeses and meats and wines ... not over-priced and just plain delicious.  In-home movie date night for us!  

Cauliflower Cakes

Sometimes, I'm craving specific things; other times, we're sticking to our budget and just have to use the ingredients we have at home.  Of course, there are other times when I just can't eat any more meat and Brownie works his magic with vegetables.

Today .... we had some cauliflower that needed to be used and Cheesy Cauliflower Cakes and asparagus was born!  These were delicious!  I wasn't in the kitchen with Brownie, this was a surprise invention but .... I highly suggest experimenting with this idea!  I would have sworn there were potatoes in this, but there aren't!