A Rose is a Rose, unless it’s Salmon

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The last two weeks have been a whirlwind but a time of extreme happiness for all of us here. Last weekend we had Mimi's graduation party. Yes, we were having her party a week before graduation but that was part of a grand strategy. You see the first time all of us mommies graduated our first born babies, we learned that if we have our parties on graduation day, we can't go to each other's parties.

Many weeks ago at Tuesday Morning Coffee , we pulled out our calendars and started our strategic planning. Gay and I would have our parties the weekend before graduation. Some other friends will have brunches on the last day of school, and others will have staggered parties on graduation day. Ah, now there's some "Mommy Network" goodness.

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When planning a hallmark party such as this, we could only do one thing and that was to put out a menu filled with family favorites, but especially Mimi's favorites. When it comes to food, my children have gone completely Lebanese on me. Though they like many sorts of foods, when you say "favorites" these time consuming dishes come flowing out of their mouths, like:

Grape Leaves,

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Spinach Pies

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Tabbouleh, vegetable salad, and homemade pickles and …..

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Hashweh,homemade yogurt, hummus and homemade cheese.
  
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There was one Swedish dish and that would be the salmon fillets. Our friend John made the most incredible smoked salmon roses to place on the platter. He taught us how:

Take one slice of smoked salmon and start rolling from one end to the other.

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Place these little rolls on a tray so that you can wrap more salmon around this.

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Once your salmon are rose sized, fold down the ends to make it look like a blooming rose.

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Now here comes the magic. Once the roses were all complete, John took some other edible foliage and made a salmon platter to die for. Isn't this amazing?

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Tomorrow is another Fox Diary Post. Have a great day and we'll see you then.
 


Comments

18 responses to “A Rose is a Rose, unless it’s Salmon”

  1. wow- what a lovely spread- It looks like you put so much time and love into making it.
    I do a weekly parenting class with our Rabbi and yesterdays lesson was how as the kids grow you are constantly reinventing ways to show them how much you love them. Food is always a big one- making ‘favorites’.
    Mimi must feel very loved!

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  2. My goodness Valarie!
    That table is fit for a Wedding~ Graduating is such an achievment . I too would spoil my child with something as grand as this. I am eyeing out each dish to see what I can use on my table tonight.. I so love to see good food prepared with such love.
    A happy day to you dear friend. Congratulations to your Mimi for graduating.
    Warm regards
    XX
    Suzanne

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  3. what a delightful feast! happy celebration to you all. ๐Ÿ™‚

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  4. Can I come over for lunch? Oh my this looks great. Happy graduation!

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  5. This looks beautiful and delicious, what a festive buffet! I hope everyone had fun!

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  6. yum! what a feast! my best friend had somewhat similar graduation party fare – grape leaves, spinach pies – also their family tradition. we all party-hopped all weekend though, having not the foresight to plan!

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  7. IMPRESSIVE! And congrats to the graduate!
    Nicola

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  8. I am almost fainting seeing all this wonderful food displayed in this beautiful way. My gosh, Valarie, how amazing…. I can’t find the words …. /Jennifer

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  9. WOW. I hope that you had a serious amount of kitchen help. I hope that everything was wonderful for the graduate, and special for mom and dad as well.

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  10. Hi Ren,
    Food is a great way to let them know how much you love them. We love to cook around here and so it has a lot of memories for us as well.

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  11. Thanks Suzanne. We are definately is celebrating mode. Take care.

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  12. Thank you Shannon.

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  13. Absolutely you can come over for lunch. I’m waiting for you.

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  14. Hi Kate,
    We had a great time.

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  15. We’ve been party hopping for two weeks straight now. I’m ready for a rest. ๐Ÿ˜‰

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  16. Thanks Nicola!

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  17. Hi Jen,
    Well when you come up next week I’ll serve you some of this and then you’ll really faint because it tastes so good.

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  18. Half the fun of doing this is having kitchen help. It’s a group effort. Thanks for your good wishes.

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