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Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's at the Neals

One of my favorite 'creative' things to do is set the table.  Yup.  Sounds strange, but it's a bit of an obsession for me.  Napkins, glasses, baskets, runners, but especially plates.  I have to STOP, but Kohls keeps having these amazing deals, like 80% off with a 30% off coupon.  Seriously, how can I resist that?

So, Valentine's weekend (because, really didn't we all celebrate it on the weekend?  Monday is SO boring.) was a great opportunity to fuss-it-up.  I had an small dinner party on Saturday night and then my annual 'I love my kids' dinner on Sunday.  I forgot to take a picture of the kids tablescape.  In fact, I also forgot to take pictures of the food, because I just get carried away with the great company...as it should be.

So, my dear husband was kind of enough to re-create the dessert he made on Saturday so I could take a picture of it for you.  Beignets.  French for donuts.  Why is it that the french word always sounds so much better??   He used a Paula Dean recipe.

I've been a little tired lately, so he offered to be in charge of dessert (and actually the bread too).  He wanted to make Beignets and I suggested we have some dipping sauces to go with it.  We had something similar to this at a restaurant several years ago.  I had these cute little Miso Spoons which turned out to be the perfect amount of dipping sauce.

I did a dark chocolate cinnamon ganache (really, just cream, good chocolate and cinnamon), a berry coulis and my favorite butterscotch syrup.)  Make the dough a few hours ahead of time and when you're ready for dessert, pop them in the fryer for a minute for a light, fluffy, warm treat.

5 comments:

  1. Fabulous food...as always:) Love the tablescaping (you & Richard always do such an amazing job...I'm not talented in that area as I would rather just eat!) Thanks for sharing & Happy Heart Day:)

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  2. Thanks for the recipe! Looks so yummy. Happy Valentine's Day!

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  3. Hi Sue! I loved your man cards! I had such fun making some for today! Thanks so much for the downloads and how to's. I also had a good time looking at you blog posts. What FUN COOLIE ideas you have!!!!!
    Loved the music countdown to Christmas. Glad someone (idea room?) left us a link to your blog!
    Happy Valentines Day.

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  4. I learned to love beignets while on a trip to New Orleans. They were sooooo good. Your table looks fabulous. I bet the dinner with your kids was the best part of celebrating the holiday - being with family, eating great food and spending time with each other - that's what I call heavenly!

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  5. Oh my goodness--this looks so delicious. Thanks for becoming a follower on my blog! I'm hosting a great giveaway--all you have to do to enter is stop by & leave a comment on the giveaway post. My fingers are crossed for you.

    Warmly, Michelle

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Thanks for visiting my blog! Always LOVE to hear your comments, Sue