It Takes a Village

You've heard the expression, "It takes a village to raise a child." Well, apparently, it takes a village for me to have people over. August was my month to host my book club and as I was preparing for the meeting, I realized that I was using a village to pull it off.

First I made some chocolate chip cookies because I just happened to have the ingredients for them. See the mixer? That was my mother's. I got it recently when we cleaned out her house. Before that, I had been using a hand mixer that I got when I went to college. It's much easier to use the stand mixer, let me tell you. Also, the canisters in the background were a gift from a high school friend.

After the cookies came out of the oven, I cooled them on this heavy duty cooling rack that was also my mother's. The metal is about twice as thick as the one beside it.

I served the cookies on this pottery dish from my sister in Maine made by a local potter there.

Next I prepared a vegetable plate with dip. The divided vegetable tray came from my mother's house and the dip bowl was my grandmother's. The cucumbers for the dip and tray came from Uncle Billy.

Then I fixed a fruit tray with yellow watermelon from Uncle Billy and the tray was new to me from my mother's things.

To add some salty to the mix of food, I had crackers and hummus served in a plate made in Kentucky given to me by a friend.

The drinks were served in glasses that were a gift from Ward's grandmother.

The napkins were from a friend at work who was giving them away.

And tablecloth (not pictured) was a gift from Ward's aunt in Guatemala. I didn't get a picture of the tablecloth so I'm using the cookies again. They turned out delicious.

So with my village of things, we had a successful meeting with good refreshments. 

But Wait, There's More for Inquiring minds:

Why did you spend over 30 years using a hand mixer when you wanted a stand mixer?
I ask myself the same thing. Have I ever mentioned that I have a hard time spending money?

What did you use for these plates and trays before you got them from your mother? 
I made do with whatever I could cobble together. I'm into practical solutions which sometimes comes at the expense of pretty.

Do you entertain very much?
No, and it's usually outside where we supply the meat and others bring the sides. Then we use our picnic plates which are melamine ones we got from MacDonald's years ago that feature the movie Aladdin.

What recipe did you use for the cookies?
The standard one on the bag of chips. I added a little less butter because I like chewy better than crunchy cookies.