Designing a Gift Basket

When I think of June I think of weddings (and my Grandma Delcie June's birthday). When I think of weddings I think of gift baskets. This is probably because when Larry and I were married someone gave us a picnic basket full of gourmet treats. We took it along on our honeymoon in San Francisco and Napa. It was wonderful having an impromptu picnic with us. So, June is here and I thought I would pass along some tips on putting together a pretty gift basket.

The first thing I do when putting together a gift basket is think of the recipient. What do they love? What kind of person are they. I don’t plan everything before I go shopping. I usually go to a store where I can get a basket and a few things to get me started and start looking and thinking. Be prepared to invest some thought in your gift. Begin by looking for the spark, something to light your imagination and get you going. Once you find it (for the Zen basket below it was the teak tray). Build on the theme and color scheme. This is really important to keep you focused and to keep your basket design special. Sticking with a theme and one or two prominent colors will ensure that your gift is beautiful and memorable. You may be surprised how much looking for items in this way helps your shopping too.

As you build your basket keep in mind the scale of the objects you are collecting. If you have selected a really large container (basket, canister, jar, tray) you should look for items that will fill it well. A lovely generously sized basket will look skimpy if the items inside are comparatively tiny, no matter what they cost. The Zen Basket below was the result of what was available on my shopping day. You may not be able to find the same exact items and you wouldn’t necessarily want to. Spend the time and effort to create a gift that is based on who the recipient is and they will know your gift is from the heart. Use these ideas to spark your imagination.
A few years ago, my daughter‘s teacher had told the kids she liked “Zen” things. So together my daughter and I went to the imports store and put together a Zen Tray:

ZEN TRAY

• Teak Tray - this was the foundation of our gift – I thought about using a silk sampan hat.
• Incense in a teak box with a glass top – from here we started building on the relaxation and Zen them and using the violet color of the incense boxes enclosed
• Calming tea – with an simple oriental style box and a violet
• Candle – scented, violet, simple clean “zen” style. Try to include some form of scent in your gift packages. Treat all of the senses of the lucky person who gets your gifts. This can be a sachet of potpourri, a tiny block of cedar, jasmine tea, or fresh flowers.
• Spray of dried lavender from the yard – flowers from your garden are one of the most personal, inexpensive and beautiful additions to a basket that you can make.
• Silk chrysanthemum pin – we used this instead of a bow. Try thinking of other things that you can decorate your package with that can be part of your gift. I could have used a paper fan with cherry blossoms on it, paper umbrellas or a pair of teak chopsticks.
• Bright yellow-orange paper goldfish topped toothpick – Along the lines of the chrysanthemum pin. This was just another extra decoration. I know this on sounds a bit “out there,” but the package needed a bright spot. The toothpick was meant for hors d‘ oeuvres or drinks, but I tucked it in among the goodies. The touch of yellow-orange looked great with the violet and the oriental style goldfish was in keeping with our theme.
  

All of this was wrapped up in clear cellophane (you can use tulle for a wedding gift) and topped with some purple curly ribbon. We added a home made card that looked like the picture above!

Compose a Salad

Rather than tossing your salad ingredients in a bowl try making a Composed Salad. Most of us think of composing as something you do to create music or design artwork. Composing a salad is similar. Arrange your salad ingredients in a decorative way on a platter. You can drizzle some herbs, a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top or serve dressing on the side.

I keep a copy of Food and Wine magazine that is older than my teenage daughter because it has Julia Child's recipe for Salade Nicoise. Named after Nice in southern France, it is the perfect meal for a summer day.

Lately we have been having Caprese Salad which is named after the island of Capri in Italy. Another wonderful summertime meal, Caprese Salad generally has fresh Mozarella, basil and Roma tomatoes. We have been using yellow cherry tomatoes from the garden and my father-in-law just gave us some gorgeous avocados that I have been adding. Perfect!

Plant a Garden

We have a lovely garden in one corner of our backyard where we have planted vegetables, herbs and flowers for cutting. There’s nothing much better than spending time in the garden with my daughter picking vegetables for that night’s dinner. She even has a special basket that she uses to collect the cut veggies. At 14 she knows that adding something as simple as a pretty basket can add to the experience.

I am not a patient gardener and I don’t have lots of spare time. So our garden is planted with things that do well in our climate and aren’t overly demanding. Here is a list of vegetables and herbs that fairly easy to grow:

Green Beans: Kentucky Wonder or Blue Lake
Radishes: White Icicle or Scarlet Globe
Tomatoes: Brandywine, Cherry or Beefsteak.

Squash: Zucchini, Summer Peas:

Sugar Snap or Laxton

Cucumbers: Lemon Cucumbers

Swiss Chard: Rainbow

Basil - Dill - Mint - Oregano - Sage - Tarragon - Thyme

Shoestring Tip: For our green beans, tomatoes and peas we didn’t buy cages or a trellis. We built a tepee sort of stand. We had some old split rails leftover from when we built our fence (I tend to save things). You can use any straight rails or branches that you may have. To create rungs for the vines to grow on we drilled a tiny whole at evenly space intervals. At the top of the posts we ran the wire through and bundled the rails tightly. Then we set the posts up like a tepee and on each of the legs, threaded heavy wire through. It added some interest and height to the garden.

Summer Afternoon

Brunch in the Backyard

Summer is here and it's time to get outside and enjoy it! I'm thinking about having a few friends over for brunch in backyard for a Breakfast Parfait Bar. A parfait is a layered dessert often made with ice cream or custard and layered with sliced fruits, whipped cream and syrups. You just layer your choice of ingredients in a tall glass. In this case, since its breakfast, I'm going to use yogurt. There's actually a glass made specifically for parfaits, in sort of an hourglass shape, but you can use any clear glass. Choose your glasses and start layering. Here are some ideas for ingredients to use. You can do this as a potluck and ask friends to bring one of these.
Yogurt – Lemon, Plain, and Vanilla
Blueberries, Sliced Strawberries
Honey, orange marmalade, raspberry jam, lemon curd,
Walnuts, toasted almonds,
Lemon zest, toasted coconut
Breakfast Cereal, Pecan cookie crumbles or Almond cookie crumbles
For drinks I would make Mimosas (Champagne and Orange Juice, maybe with a Strawberry in the glass), lots of strong Coffee and cream and sugar and maybe some Irish Breakfast Tea with a little lemon slice.

Welcome to Chrysanthemum Cake

For a while now I have been thinking about posting ideas on how to create a beautiful home without spending a lot of money; so welcome to Chrysanthemum Cake: an almanac of home and design. An almanac is a pretty old fashioned concept, but I think it is perfect for the times. An almanac, for those of you new to the idea, is a source of information for farmers and homemakers based on the calendar and seasons with a few witticisms tossed in for fun. Chrysanthemum Cake will be this and more. Look for creative tips that will stretch your dollar and surround you and your family with beauty.