SALing with Bep.....

After having to miss a month since Bep was on vacation, it was finally the long awaited date for our monthly SAL play date. I was up early as our house is being painted outside so had plenty of time to set the table before she arrived. Since we were starting a new project, I used this as a theme for the table.

I gave Bep a frame which is actually three frames hinged together as a gift during our last SAL day. I bought one for myself also as I thought it would be fun to create our own samplers in each of the three sections. We decided on a gardening theme for these and got started...

Part one is finished. I choose a row of carrots with a bunny sitting among them and Bep choose a birdhouse to sit in the field of carrots. We will each pick something to add to the first sampler until we feel it is full and the balance is right before we move on to the second sampler for the next section. Bet this is clear as mud? I will remember to take a photo of the frame next month.

Again going with the gardening theme, I had little wasp catchers (bottle with the cork top) as the table gift. Bep gave me the pretty plant stakes. I already have them placed in various plants in the house.

Lunch theme was stuffed pancakes. Dutch pancakes are thin and normally large...not quite as thin as a crepe and the size of a dinner plate. These were not large as we decided on pre-made pancakes instead of making them taking time away from stitching. *grins* The left photo is Bep's pancake which had chopped lettuce, sliced tomato, a slice of Brie and bacon bits on it. Just delicious! Our second pancake that I made was warm from the oven.

Spinach, mushroom and ricotta cheese pancakes
In a pan, fry 2 to 3 chopped green onions and about 7 sliced mushrooms. Add fresh spinach (125g or 1/4 lb) by the handful allowing it to wilt. Dice 2 slices of lunch ham and add to the spinach. Salt, pepper and ground nutmeg to taste. Spread ricotta cheese in the middle of a pancake. Place half the spinach mixture on the cheese and fold to close. Lay the pancake in a baking dish with the fold down. Grate Parmesan cheese over the pancake and place in a 180C/350F oven for about 15 minutes. Serve warm from the oven. Recipe makes two stuffed pancakes.

We loved both recipes and decided they would be great as a quick and easy summer meals for our husbands. I made my version for Jos already and he loved it. Same for Bep with hers and her husband.

This is Tamara...Bep's niece. She just got married and I loved this photo so much that I just had to share it with Bep's permission. Bep had been working for months on a wedding quilt with great personal meanings to Tamara and her future husband. I was really happy to help out a little by writing the label in calligraphy for Bep. She wrote a poem to use as the label. Isn't this so sweet that Tamara walked around with the quilt wrapped around her shoulders at the reception? I wish Tamara and Sebastian a long and happy life together!