A Weekend of Work & Play

I must admit, I revel in weekends where my schedule is my own and I can putz around my home.

This past weekend was just such an opportunity, and it found me doing a bit of playing, working and eating. Have a look . . .

With time to seek out the perfect plants for the pots on my porch, I stopped by My Grandmother’s Garden just outside of Walla Walla and discovered a treasure trove of flowers and plants. Of course, my boys had to say hello to the resident black lab. It was a friendly hello, and then we were off to the our next destination (more on the project involving paint below).

After hitting the local farmers’ market, I had to stop into my favorite patisserie – Colville St. Patisserie to pick up a hot chocolate to go. Their decadent desserts certainly caught my attention.

With chardonnay from Waterbrook, sautéed Mushroom Bruschetta was the simple appetizer I chose to finish the pairing (see recipe below)~

And for dinner, with fresh from the market asparagus, primavera risotto sounded like an irresistible choice. Click here for the recipe.

Whoever said you have to make the entire meal from scratch? The simply luxurious approach is to leave the baking up to the experts, and this Lemon Curd Coconut tart from the Walla Walla Bread Company was the perfect ending to a wonderful evening of dining.

And the project for the weekend was to paint my previously green wooden Adirondack chairs white. Upon attempting to begin the project on Saturday, I was thwarted by a brief rain smattering and blustery wind, but with Sunday’s ideal temperate weather, the job was finally completed.

With a small yard for the dogs to chase their ball, I love sitting in these chairs during the summer evenings and letting Oscar (above) and Norman play while simply relaxing . . . sometimes with a book, sometimes with a glass of wine and sometimes catching up with a good friend.

All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a more relaxing and productive weekend. I would love to hear how your weekend went. What simply luxurious activities do you delight in when you have the weekend to do as you please?

 

RECIPE

Sautéed Mushroom Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cups sliced mushrooms of choice
• julienned fresh basil
• fresh baguette
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to broil. Slice the baguette on the bias in 3/4 inch slices. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle each slice with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).
2. While waiting for the oven to preheat, using a saute pan, melt a 1/4 cup of butter and place the sliced mushrooms in the pan on medium heat. Saute mushrooms for approximately 5 minutes. Upon removing the pan from the heat, sprinkle basil on the mushrooms and toss.
3. Place bread in the oven for 2-4 minutes – watch closely as you are just wanting to lightly toast the bread.
4. Using a spoon or spatula, place 2-4 mushrooms on each slice of break. Sprinkle with parmesan if you’d like and enjoy!

Images: (1) source, all other images from Simply Luxurious’ Instagram