Romantic Buffet

Sorry once again for not posting much. Been trying hard to catch up on everything else.

I can't believe this blog's been around since 2008, 4 whole years! I'll hold a giveaway sometime this year, for sure, for sure!

But as promised, here is my latest table for Valentine's Day:

THEME:

"Love will always be Pure"

INSPIRATION:

Winter

We decided to host a romantic Valentine dinner for 8 people-3 couples and 2 of our church missionaries. I opted for the feel of "Just having fallen in love, becoming engaged and at a wedding reception", when love is at its purest and most exciting. But the menu was bold, flavorful and colorful-just the necessary components to keep the love alive, even in the dead of winter...

Enjoy!

This is definitely a Tablescape Thursday worthy post for Susan and a very Thrifty Thursday worthy for Leigh! Not to mention it is quite pink enough for Beverly's Pink Saturday! Oh, I almost forgot Michael Lee's Foodie Friday!

We had a total of 4 couples, here are the names of one of them. We had a great generation of couples plus our two church missionaries.

Nikki and Camden just got married last year, and this was their 1st Valentine's Day together.

Susan and Kevin-have been married over 15 years,

Eric and Kathleen have been married for over 3 years and

Mr. Man and I have been married for almost 15 years.

Elder Sproul just arrived yesterday morning and this was his 1st "dinner" of  his mission and 1st time to eat lobster!

Elder Touma, this was his 1st meal with us!

What a momentous night!

I used a lot of ribbons, so that meant crafting!  I covered my crackle tea light holders with two different kinds of ribbons to spread the color scheme around.

DINNERWARE: Noritake "Halls of Ivy" (wedding gift, 1996); Saint Nicholas "Season's Greetings" fine china-$1.68 a piece, I got the last 9! (Kohl's, 2009)

STEMWARE: Circleware "Fabulous" (Kroger, 2012)- I never owned any big set of champagne flutes before and they had a great price, 1.67 each!

LOW BALLS: Anchor Hocking (Target, 2008)- 50 cents each

SILVERWARE: (Originally-Oneida (Sears, 2010)), Shown-Oneida, "Katrina"

This placecard was a part of a game, "Q or A". On the back, each one had a number. Going in sequence, the person's turn will either ask or answer a question. And the last person gets to ask or answer the first person. It was a great ice-breaker game!

 I tied-in our lamps as well...

 Love, love, love Kroger for having this "Just Kissed" pink tulips! Perfect shade for my theme and a definite centerpiece!

 Another A/C Clearance find- LED branch lights. I just used my blossom light topper and "voila!" instant focal point!

Confetti hearts from the place card holes and I just made more from the scraps!

We dined mainly on candlelights and small table lamps, but I had to do something with my chandelier to tie it in. Isn't "Carolyn" lovely? What, that's my chandy's name! Carolyn!

 My After-Christmas Clearance ribbon finds. They helped solidify my theme... 75% off!

Our table is exactly set up for 8 seats comfortably, but we wanted these guests to be all together on this Valentine's Day and we successfully did it! Everyone had a great time, eating and sharing stories!

 This was to be the Dessert/Drink table, but the drink (story below)... And the dessert barely got touched. I had to remind everyone to have some since the ladies brought them. Everyone loved the food, even the kids-over pizzas!

 I just ribbons, curtains and layered them all to create a luscious effect. Our guests arrived, and were ready to eat, so I had no time to take the original table's picture and setting. And as you can tell, most of the place cards are missing! The guests took them home as a memento-they actually passed up chocolate! How awesome was that?

 Here we are after "re-constructing" the table again. Tired but all smiles from the great memories!

We made a Paella Bar- (Spanish rice, Shrimp & Lobster, Skirt Steak, Chicken & Chorizo Sauce base)

I cooked all the layers of ingredient separately and had guests construct what they wanted on their paella. No allergy problems, no problems! And each guest had a great time discovering the small lobster pieces in with the shrimp!

For Appetizer, I just put a cube of avocado on a Tostitos scoop chip and topped it with fresh salsa! Ole! Our drink was a Virgin version of Giada DeLaurentiis' Blissini (Pomegranate & Orange Juice, Berry Flavored water and a touch of Honey)- No picture because I couldn't keep up with the demand! Even the kids wanted some! So cool!

We had a blast hosting and between the laughter, getting to know each other and feeling the real love that emanated from that dining room, I would host again and again...What a great night we all had!

See you at your blog! Thanks for stopping by...

TABLESCAPING IDEAS: (Brain is on fire with ideas!) Don't let a small budget stop you from inviting friends over. Take a few days to find out inexpensive meals and just work with what you have. The best tablescapes are those touches that reflected the host- who they are because they own each item outright and didn't have to borrow or "last minute" add to make things sing to your style. If you had to add anything, add what you needed rather than what you really want, because often, it is not needed to make the table any better.