Lifestyle: Gig Harbor Family Dinner
Today’s post is rather special. It reminds us of how our family loves to spend time together – cooking, laughing, sipping, and laughing some more. It captures what family time and summer are all about. Sent to us by Catherine at Calima Portraits, there’s just so much that we love: the candid family time, the gorgeous images, the delicious food, and the coastal Washington setting we hail from. {If you look closely on this map you can see Aleah’s parents’ tiny island!}.
So here’s to family, summer, excellent food and splendid company. You’ll find some scrumptious recipes at the end of the post, too! Enjoy!
We just adore this family – don’t they seem like they’d be a joy to spend time with? Not to mention, their outfits are perfect for summer fun! 
Darling! Just darling. What a sweet way to welcome guests to the dinner table.
Follow the link for the recipe to this scrumptious Meyer Lemon Cake
Images Shared by Calima Portraits
Talk about perfectly lovely, right? Even better, matriarch Joan was kind enough to share some of her recipes with us!
Cucumbers with Pickled Ginger and Crab
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Pickled ginger imparts a crisp zing to this light and refreshing appetizer. The cucumber slice is a beautiful base for the crab topping, but you can also put the cucumber on a cracker or baguette slice and then top with the crab.
Ingredients:
6 cucumbers
2 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced shallot
2 teaspoon Thai chili paste
1 teaspoon minced fresh chives
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh-cooked lump crabmeat, picked over for
cartilage and shell fragments, chilled
1 cup drained sliced pickled ginger
Small fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs for garnish (optional)
Directions:
1. Carefully cut the cucumbers into slices 1/4 inch thick. You should have about 48 slices.
2. In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, olive oil, lemon juice, shallot, chili paste, chives and salt and mix well. Add the crabmeat and turn gently with a fork to mix well, being careful not to break up the crab meat too much. Put a generous teaspoonful of the crab mixture on each cucumber round, top with a little of the pickled ginger and garnish with a parsley sprig.
3. Arrange on a platter, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours before serving. Serves 10 to 12.
4. Serving Tip: To make an easy-to-handle party appetizer, thread a bamboo skewer or cocktail pick through the cucumber and crabmeat.
Cioppino Teed Style
Ingredients:
1. Put the clams and mussels in salted water with a few tablespoons of cornmeal for a few hours. Rinse throughly.
2. Shell and devein the shrimp
5. Stir in the garlic, parsley, red pepper, and mashed anchovies. Saute about 5 minutes.
6. Raise the heat to medium and add the wine and cook until reduced slightly.
7. Add the tip of the crab legs.
8. Add the clam juice and tomato sauce
9. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Add salt and pepper. Let simmer for about 20 minutes.
10. Taste and adjust seasoning (at this point, this can be made ahead of time and is actually better to allow the flavor to “marry”
11. Add the the fish and the thyme cook for a few minutes, and then add all of the shell fish, cover and cook until the clams and mussels have opened. About 6 minutes.
Serve Immediately into large shallow bowls
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PDFFun Finds: Cheese Paper
We’ve actually wanted to post this find since we stumbled upon this paper in December. Sure, it’s a little silly to be this smitten with paper, but if you share a love of cheese like we do you’ll appreciate this just as much! Aleah found this with her mom over the holidays in Palm Springs at the grocery store – it’s a package of lined waxy paper that you wrap your cheese in once you’ve nibbled. Cheese needs to breathe and this is the perfect remedy for keeping it fresh. Plus the paper is charming and they provide stickers so you can pen which cheese is which.
As huge cheese lovers we’re so surprised we’d never seen anything like this! So we tested it out and the verdict is: we love it. Our cheese has lasted longer than usual as the paper mimics the cheese cave environment its accustomed to.
Look! The Seastack is the creamy round we enjoyed on the left below – it’s Aleah’s absolute favorite cheese. Ever. We love how the paper shouts out to a number of local creameries around the country.
Here are two of our favorite picks of all-time {and we’re very picky with our cheeses}: the Seastack from Mt. Townsend Creamery {a creamy cow’s milk cheese with a light layer of vegetable ash and the firmer and earthy Red Alder, an Alpine-style cheese}. Yum!
This cheese paper comes in packets of twenty and makes for a sweet hostess gift when paired with a wedge of good cheese and sunflowers for summer. If you can’t find this at your local grocery store you can purchase from Formaticum online here for $9.
Photos by Valley & Co.
Are you as big of a cheese fan as we are? What’s your go-to hostess gift for summer?
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Make It: Vintage-Esque Map Frames
Man, this week is just whirling by in a cloud of goodness and kinda-craziness. We’re prepping for an evening of sharing our entertaining and design tips for summer at West Elm tonight and ramping up for an exciting direction at Valley & Co. this summer. Of course, we’re also getting ready to really enjoy the season as well and have the perfect plan in place to do so. Coastal Living put out a 99 Days of Summer article with daily activities, so we’re taking that as a challenge and we’ll be putting our own creative spin on the fun.
Mr. Valley had the great idea of putting out our own summer challenges for you – our awesome readers – where we hope you share summertime BBQ, camping and fun pictures and ideas! Today we’re starting off our challenge by sharing our Vintage-Esque Map project using a battered old frame that jumps to life with a map print of Italy. Anyone can create this inexpensively and it instantly transforms a space, either indoors or out. You could even use patterned paper!
You’ll need: a paper map | an old frame | tacks
This project really only requires one step! Take your map and align it centered in the middle of your frame. Turn it over and firmly tack the paper in place around the perimeter of your frame. Ta dah! It’s the perfect way to use old paper, cool maps and prints and old frames without glass. The investment is next to nothing and you can easily swap out prints and maps.
Photos + how-to by Valley & Co.
Pretty fun, right? So…how will you be spending your 99 Days of Summer? Will you bring our Vintage-Esque Map project to life?
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Make It: Milk Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries
Remember that decadent {but oh-so easy} truffle recipe we shared last week? You can take that simple approach and whip up strawberries dipped in milk chocolate and serve at your next summertime bash. With schedules and calendars being crazy making each moment and celebration, no matter how large or small, extra special is so important to us. Hand making decadent bites and mixing and matching store-bought with homemade speaks volumes to your guests. After all, you want them to feel welcomed and special – send home dinner party guests with a box of these tasty bites and they’ll love you!
You’ll need: whipping cream | 7 oz. milk chocolate | strawberries
Step 1: chop up the chocolate loosely and place in a double boiler {or a glass heat-proof bowl} over a pot filled with water
Step 2: pour the cream into a sauce pot and gently bring to a boil – at the same time turn the water on the second chocolate pot
Step 3: once the cream starts to boil slowly add to the chocolate, whisking as you pour
Step 4: whisk until the chocolate is combined and nice and smooth and pour into a glass bowl. Dip your stawberries and lay out on a heavy-duty tray to harden. Place in the fridge until the chocolate creates a shell.
Delightful, aren’t they? So tasty and the perfect summertime treat.
Photos + how-to by Valley & Co.
Will you be whipping up some of these chocolate-covered delights this summer? What are you most looking forward to this summer?
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To Market, To Market
To market, to market….ah, the market. Is there a better way to spend Saturday morning than taking in the smells, sights and sounds of local artisans and farmers? The Port Townsend Saturday Market in Uptown is such a delight, complete with gorgeous edible flower farmers, wood carvers, candle makers, cheese mongers and everything in between. It’s the perfect way to sample the best of the Pacific Northwest.
Mt. Townsend Creamery is Aleah’s absolute favorite cheese maker and their Seastack is decadent and soft, coated in a light and airy layer of vegetable ash. Alder is a firmer, earthier cheese perfect to nibble on by itself. We will be planning a dinner party solely around these magnificent cheeses this summer!
Pick up local favorites and stage a bites and sips party with wine, smoked salmon, goat cheese, cow’s milk cheeses, crudites and baguettes. Going totally local and planning an evening around the freshest ingredients is not only fun but it can be oh-so delicious. There’s no need to plot out an extensive menu or stress. Simply pick up what’s fresh and at-the-ready.
Who doesn’t love chocolate at a dinner party? Pick up small packages of chocolate nibs and send guests home with them at the end of your party.
Another fun idea is to gift guests with summertime seeds, like these charming little packets from organic farmers Oatsplanter Farm.
This dog was adorable and kept eyeing the camera!
Photos by Valley & Co.
Perfection. How do you peruse your local market? Are you ready for on-a-whim entertaining this summer?
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