Orange Vinaigrette on Tuna Salad

May I suggest a classy place, local, not a chain? 

Exceptional food? 

If this is what your heart desires and you are in Arlington, then you must make your way to Olenjack's!
And bring your good friends along to enjoy with you!

 Jalepeno soup. Oh this melts in your mouth. And it is NOT spicy, flavored perfectly.

Fried oysters. Perfection in a small bite. 

One of their signature dishes - Shrimp and grits. The green stuff in the middle is mustard greens. 

And I had.. Tuna salad. Not like you expected is it?

Tuna grilled medium rare

Diced red onions

Diced jicama

Diced tomatoes

Diced avocados

Orange Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar OR
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon orange zest 
• 2 small or one large orange, juiced
• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

• 1. Whisk together first 6 ingredients in a small bowl; add oil in a slow steady stream, whisking until blended

Your mouth will think it went to heaven. I am linking up with Designs By Gollum for Foodie Friday.. drop in if your palate needs refreshing new ideas!

Happy Fourth Tablescape

We are setting heat records here. 

Will we be outside this fourth? 

Unless an arctic cold front moves through - NO!

I don't even think there will be a grill going. 

Fireworks have been cancelled,

due to the lack of rain, high winds and extreme fire danger.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, 

 and to the republic for which it stands, 

one nation under God,

 indivisible, 

 with liberty and justice for all.

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855–1931).

The original "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in the September 8 issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas.

 The original pledge: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

In 1923, the National Flag Conference called for the words "my Flag" to be changed to "the Flag of the United States", so that new immigrants would not confuse loyalties between their birth countries and the United States. The words "of America" were added a year later. The United States Congress officially recognized the Pledge as the official national pledge on June 22, 1942.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Louis A. Bowman (1872–1959) was the first to initiate the addition of "under God" to the Pledge. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution gave him an Award of Merit as the originator of this idea.

 The phrase "under God" was incorporated into the Pledge of Allegiance June 14, 1954, by a Joint Resolution of Congress amending §7 of the Flag Code enacted in 1942.

On November 12, 2010, in a unanimous decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston affirmed a ruling by a New Hampshire lower federal court which found that the pledge's reference to God doesn't violate students' rights. A United States Supreme Court appeal of this decision was denied on June 13, 2011.

Cast:

Tablecloth - so old it's vintage

Handtowel napkins - TJMaxx years ago

White dinner plates - Wedgwood Windsor

Blue floral plates - Blaue Blueten; Schumann Arzberg

Red bowls - Waechtersbach

Flatware - Horchow's

Glassware - Dollar Tree

Pitcher - Wedgwood

Blue vase - Made in Spain, from Home Goods

USA Banner - Made by moi, designed by Stacy McGinnis

I'll be joining:

Tablescape Thursday (Wednesday evening) at Between Naps on the Porch 

and 

Seasonal Sundays at the Tablescapers.. 

do drop in for a visit. You'll be so richly rewarded when you do!

Monday Photo of the Week - Friendships

Friends.

Connie and Patty

Seeing them once a year is really a treat.

I miss seeing them more often, but that is how it's working out right now. 

Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we will come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will every change so much to the point where we're not all still friends.

 

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.  It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.  We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.  ~Albert Schweitzer

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.  ~Douglas Pagels

Carol Ahles

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.  ~Elisabeth Foley

 

The friend within the man is that part of him which belongs to you and opens to you a door which never, perhaps, is opened to another.  Such a friend is true, and all he says is true; and he loves you even if he hates you in other mansions of his heart.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French by Stuart Gilbert

Southern Pecan Chicken Salad

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:

8 cups chopped cooked chicken (2 rotisserie chickens from the grocery store)

2 cups halved red seedless grapes

1 1/4 cups toasted chopped pecans

1/2 cup chopped green onion

10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

To toast pecans: place them in a cast iron skillet on the stove and watch them carefully, as you don't want them to burn.

Combine chicken, grapes, pecans, green onion, and bacon in a large bowl. Mix mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, thyme, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Combine mayonnaise mixture with chicken mixture. Cover and refrigerate until ready serve. Also great served on croissants!

 I am going to be joining Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.. do drop in!

Ode to Number 52 - a tablescape in white

Fifty Two. 52. Zwei und fuenfzig. Ciquante deux. That's right. This is the 52nd tablescape... a year of tables. Oh my. So to challenge myself I did monochromatic. I kept wanting to add a punch of color, a bit of the unexpected, but resisted. 

A lace tablecloth on the glass table. A scrappy wooden charger. White dishes. Silver. And roses. That's about it.

A white plate rimmed in scrolls and a seashell.

Topped with a less ornate salad plate. Still white.

Mix and match silver. The one on the left is my favorite.

Silver banded in gold napkin ring.

Silver goblets and silver topped salt and peppers. 

 A perfect white rose.

Gorham silver candlesticks.

Now, if you live in West Texas, there ain't no way you could use a candle outside - evah! So off to buy shorter candles, 'cause the elegant hurricanes will be on the candles!

Cast:

Tablecloth - from my husband's grandmother via my mother in law

Napkins - Belgium Linen

Napkin rings - Stein Mart

Chargers - Pier One

Plates - TJ Maxx a long time ago

Salad Plates - Wedgwood Windsor

Silver flatware - estate sales (the one I like is Signature by Old Company Plate)

Silver goblets - Spain

Candlesticks - Gorham Chantilly

There's a giveaway going on till midnight Wednesday night (June22, 2011).. run on over to Sandy Coughlin's cool blog, Reluctant Entertainer to enter for a chance to win some goodies that include a Cuisinart juicer!

Thank you so much for joining me in celebrating this milestone. I am linking up to a great party over at Susan's Between Naps on the Porch. Do come join us!