Graduation Day!

Seeing your oldest grandchild find joy in a such a milestone is rewarding. My tall, handsome and talented, accomplished grandson, Max Taylor Olivier graduated from high school today. The service was motivational and impressive. Max was in the upper tenth percentile in his class of 320 and certainly one of the most poised and confident. The world awaits and he is anxious to go forth.

Michelle and I spent yesterday baking and preparing for a dessert bar to honor him, having inviting his classmates, neighbors and family. If it is chocolate or peanut butter in flavor, it will pass the bar for all of the Oliviers! So, after careful thought and review of the Petersen family favorites as well from the annals of my darling moher's recipes, we came up with this menu:

Double Chocolate Fudge Pound Cake
Chocolate Eclairs
Ooey Gooey Butter Cake
Charlotte's brownies
Peanut Butter Pound Cake
Charlotte's Old Kentucky Nut Cake
Peanut butter trifle with whipped cream and chocolate ganache
Salted Caramel Cheesecake

That's a lot of baking in one day! 7 pounds of butter and 3 dozen eggs later, not to mention a quart and a half of heavy cream and several jars of peanut butter later, this is the end result.




Max is a fine and accomplished musician, a cellist and pianist. I brought with me a vintage book of sheet music from 1946 ( which he promptly recognized and told us about the composer)! Lettuce, kale , and an oversized succulent seemed perfectly natural to fill this large trophy vase. I added two rolls of the vintage music pages into the mix for added Interest. Max's graduation announcement ( designed by my daughter, Michelle) was mounted on pages from the music as well and framed...I added a graduation card " Congratulations" along with two vintage music flash cards into the mix for perfection.




Chocolate Eclairs, Trifle and Salted Caramel Cheesecake...




Old Kentucky Nut Cake , Peanut Butter Pound Cake, Double Chocolate Fudge Pound Cake, and brownies in the background...You might recognize the Kraft paper table runner from my store, so cute!



I tried to get a more complete shot of the spread!




A shot from the rear or the centerpiece. Note a favorite sycamore log that made it into my luggage !





Congratulations dear Max-man. I loved being with him for this milestone. He's got the world by a string.

A Black-eyed Susan Celebration

The Black-eyed Susan staff celebrated tonight together in the spirit of Christmas! What a delight, indeed.
We gathered in the festive surroundings of the thoroughly decked out retail store and shared a feast that was prepared by each one. Salads, desserts, appetizers and small bites. Yum!

My cute friend and business associate, Linda, came into town to observe the retail progress and the inventory levels. Good thing she shares my love of baking, because we spent the morning preparing our contributions to the feast.

We both had been wanting to try our hand at Pot de Creme chocolate pots, and so....we did! I happened to have a small set of vintage Pot de Creme pots (the ones shown with lids), and we also took inventory of the 11 demi-tasse cups from my favorite china collection. Definitely perfect for this delight! I know I owe you all a few recipes of late, and I will post this one for you soon. It's definitely worth the effort and easy!

This is our confection going into the oven...

I'm a bit peeved (as my mother would say!) that we got through the main courses before I thought to start my photo documentation...so the dessert portion is what I can now show you. What was I thinking? The spread was impressive with so many fine selections it was difficult to choose. So, we all had a bit of each! That's the way to celebrate!

Center front; Cindy's perfect chocolate covered strawberries!  Juliana's strawberryry/raspberry and blackberry pie did not disappoint! The completed Pot de Cremes found a place at the table as well.

Linda's caramel pecan cheesecake could rival anything you could find at the finest pattisiere. Oh. My. Good thing we made it by mistake with low fat cream cheese. Really.

Yet another mouth drooling shot of some of our confections. 

 

 

 I'm also sad that I did not think to document the entire staff together for your viewing. My heart was full of gratitude and tenderness for this dedicated staff of friends and co-workers and the hours of talent, sacrifice and support these past few weeks have demanded. It's been a very busy season! 

I'm going to make it a point to share some group photos of everyone soon. These ladies are to be admired. 

I also have a tender and entertaining song to share with you that was written (and sung!) by Anne! Tune in tomorrow for the lyrics to what could be the beginning of a Black-eyed Susan reality show!! 

Merry  Christmas to all.

sa