A Celebration of One Year, Forever

June 20, 2014 marked the one-year anniversary of our cherished "bully baby" Arabella Page's induction into the Cafe Drake HRV Pack. We can hardly wait for more annual celebrations. Welcome Home, FOREVER, Arabella!!

If you have the space in your home and heart, please visit sites such as Animal Farm Foundation or NYC Second Chance Rescue to inquire about adopting a new best friend. 

And on with the celebration dinner! Arabella was feted in appropriately grand style by her brother Lloyd and dear friends Dolce and Kristin Ploucquet. Treats for all included beef and chicken yard-long jerky, bully sticks and catnip soap bubbles. (The humans grazed with an equal air of festivity.)

Flowers from the gardens, so carefully tended by Arabella, adorned the table. Thanks for the help in, um, digging these up, A!

Kristin P. contributed a typically charming Ploucquet Bouquet!

Lloyd knows better than to hop on the kitchen island but excitement ran high on his sister's One Year Forever Gotcha Day.

The Forever Girl patiently waits for the festivities to begin.

The celebration dinner was loosely themed around both the arrival of Summer and the ebullience of southern French al fresco dining. Our entree, a Comte Cheese Tart, rests above prior to slicing. Note the "rough styling" of the pastry crust. It may not have looked as pretty as it should have but Arabella didn't seem to mind.

Haricots Blanc, or tiny white beans, simmered for several hours before being cooked further with shallots, tomatoes, garlic and fresh herbs from the garden - tarragon, thyme and savory.

Smoked ham, olives and cornichons were enjoyed by all. The humans particularly savored the cocktail bites with gin and prickly pear lemonade.

We don't forget to stop and pick the flowers when gathering salad ingredients from the Cafe Drake HRV lettuce patch; above, borage, nasturtiums and radish flowers add bite and pizazz to our tossed greens.

Tuscan and Red Russian kale, plucked an hour before eating, complimented the cheese tart in a Mediterranean preparation featuring butter-fried pine nuts and a splash of orange flower water.

Simple and Sweet. Iced strawberry "tulip" cakes and fresh Bing and sour cherries.