My local DAR chapter awarded Sheila with the DAR Woman in the Arts award in Literature in January and yesterday we had a celebration for that award and for her newest book Ghosts of Tupelo Landing. She graciously gave us a reading and signed books for all the attendees.
My friend Ashley of Little Sister Cakes provided the delicious "map cake". Some of the attendees had two slices it was so delicious!
In the first book, Three Times Lucky, Mo and her friend Dale come to her family's cafe and find that both of her adoptive parents are not there. One of the very wise rules is to not operate the oven so the daily special is Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches and organic vegetable soup (this can be microwaved). We took this scene in the book as inspiration for our menu and decor. The arrangements were a vegetable bowl and a vase of sunflowers and peacock feathers.
The vegetables were in a bowl that was made from a magnolia tree that was struck by lightning. The tree stood in the chapter house front yard for generations before it met it's demise. The ladies wanted to maintain some of the memory and found a talented artist who honed the wood and hollowed it out. I wish I had a better picture of the bowl. It is beautiful. The vegetables I used were bell peppers, potatoes, mushrooms, brussel sprouts, squash, zucchini, corn, eggplant, artichoke, string beans, and carrots.
The menu included peanuts, fudge, chex mix, ritz crackers with peanut butter and jelly, and...
...delicious peanut butter and jelly bars. The bars on the right were made with grape jelly and the bars on the left were made with strawberry jelly.
Beans and rice were in mason jars as were tea lights. I love mason jars and have a collection of sizes and colors that we use for everything from food, to markers/pens, to flowers and candles. They are so versatile!
With a projected attendance number of anywhere from 30 to 100 (we had 91!) I felt it was important to have separate beverage and food stations to prevent bottlenecks. The beverages were lemon/lime infused water and Mountain Dew punch. Mountain Dew was also on the menu at Miss Lana's cafe. We were fortunate to have old coca-cola crates, soda bottles and a coca-cola cooler from the 1930's. All of these were used for decor. Visit my cooking blog to get some recipes from the event. Also go out and buy both of these delightful books!
