Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

Caught the big one on The Mississippi Gulf Coast!

Several of my friends enjoy great passion for the "art of taking tea". Along with their deep appreciation for tea's ancient history they enjoy the beauty and ceremony of "all things tea". Being a passionate coffee drinker I appreciate their lively reviews, enjoy their collections and delight at the sight of a beautiful, fanciful tablescape filled with pretty porcelains and fine linens. This is one of my prettiest teapots-discovered in a Florida antique shop ten years after its' closing. Dusty and worn my beautiful majolica teapot shows wear but is a visual wonder with seashells and a serpent handle.

Long before I hosted Home At Last! I was an interior designer and caterer! These days, Casa Bella Bed and Breakfast , satisfies all that I loved about both those jobs. Pretty themed tablescapes create a festive mood and honor the occassions celebrated at the breakfast table of Casa Bella. This week our bride and groom were honored with these sparkly engagement ring napkin rings! 

I am often asked to exchange links and very seldom find reasons to respond. But yesterday I received a request to download a free trial of SnapIt and my curiosity got the better of me. I regularly use my PrintScreen function  but this software promised features that would save some tedious steps. . . if it work - as described.  So I gave it a shot! I am loving the ease of the tool-can only imagine how much fun I am going to have with it! My brain is racing imagining all the applications where this will be extremely time-saving and productive tool. My Coweta County Fair photo was snapped right from the county website. I didn't check but I am fairly certain it was a flash file.  I saved the screen shot as a jpeg file-inserted the jpeg in the timeline of my editor for our local county television show. (INFOCoweta).  I was pleased that I was able to accomplish both tasks quickly using the same fi...

Prickly Heat Pousse Cafe Grilled Black Forest Ham, Triple Cream Brie and Garden-fresh Tomatoes Admittedly, this lunch is a little out of the ordinary! It's time to "put up" seasonal fruits and veggies-not leaving much time for much else! So quick sandwiches and leftovers are on the daily menu at our house! I cooked peaches and prickly pears last night! The pickled peaches are canned-leaving another ten or so pounds for syrup and preserves. The Prickly Pears were reduced into a fabulous syrup that we use for drinks. I call my Pousse Cafe cocktail "Prickly Heat"! It's fabulously smooth and is an artful layering of tequila, prickly pear syrup and half and half! It was P-R-E-T-T-Y good lunch fare served with our grilled ham, French Triple Brie AND garden-fresh tomatoes. There are some serious health benefits associated to the cactus and the prickly pear!  Thankfully, it is more widely available at the markets and as a processed syrup but the best w...

This fun project has been a labor of love!  Pretty heirloom Georgia peaches that have provided a little mystery-a tree deposited on my front doorstep over thirteen years ago.  The man described them as King Peaches-small raspberry-scented peaches used by his grandmother for pickling. The mystery is that most experts can't identify the peach and are stumped by the name and variety.  I will continue to dig and hopefully share information about my mystery tree.  My next project is uncovering the best method to regrow the tree. My tree is thriving and providing me with hours of fun and study-even keeping me awake one night as I considered what I would do with this year's crop. In keeping with the origins of the tree's story and history I decided the first project of the season would be pickled peaches in honor of the gentleman's grandmother.  After all the conversation that led to this wonderful gift was shared stories about our grandmother's pickl...