And when these great little muffins are combined with a “bowl” of summer fruit, a few spears of fresh asparagus, a couple of skewers of mini pancakes and a  lovely mimosa …  you have a perfect, quick, and easy breakfast for guests.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large sauté pan, cook the sausage until browned.  Drain and pat dry with paper towels to remove excess grease.  Stir into the sausage the  broccoli , red peppers, and cheddar cheese.  Whisk together eggs, milk,  baking powder, and salt and pepper to taste.  Lightly spray a 12 cup muffin pan with oil.  Spoon out the sausage mixture evenly into the 12 cups.  Ladle the egg mixture over the sausage mixture.  Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

I love the sophisticated feel of this lovely collection of clear glass and French blue opaline boxes.   This is elegance at its finest!

The variety of shapes and cuts in the clear, as well as the beautiful range of the blue opaline boxes would provide any surface with a very interesting collection.  I think the different shapes are just wonderful and the scale of the pieces work so well together.

The intricate gilt hinges and mounts on all of these boxes give them a very “aristocratic” feel. Yet I think they are perfectly suitable for many design styles.  So many lid shapes and so many interesting mounts!

Enjoy!

Be inspired!

On my recent speaking engagement at Christ Church Antiques Show in Grosse Pointe , Michigan, one of the tablescapes I designed was with an orange and aqua color pallet.  I thought you might enjoy the Key Ingredients of that tablescape!

I started this design concept with the table cloth.  The fabric is a beautiful fabric from Thibaut called Jakarta-F98612. The colors were yummy and from there, I found another great fabric that was a traditional flamestich with an updated color pallet.  I loved the bit of lime green in this fabric from Stout. (Ciaro-color Bahama).

The next ingredient for this tablescape was a lovely antique French brass planter that one of the dealer at the show loaned me for this tablescape.  This lovely piece came from Dede and Jim Taylor Antiques from Birmingham, Michigan.  I filled this antique with lots of Marlyse and Mikaela roses and then added some fun bottles in orange and aqua around the planter to freshen things up and give the table a slightly less formal feel. The fun bottle vases, which come in several colors are from Ganz.  I just loved the shapes, both in round in square.

My main china Key Ingredient was Herend Fortuna-Queen Victoria in Coral.  From there I added four chargers in a variety of colors found in the napkin fabric, including the lime green! The chargers were truly a “collection” ,the green and gold on white and the copper and gold on white were from Picard, parlon gold from Haviland, and green lace from Mottahedeh.

With this, I mixed another Key Ingredient, four different patterns of Waterford Crystal: Lucerne, Irish Lace, Lismore Diamond and Lismore Nouveau.  Then I couldn’t resist a perfectly beautiful white salad with a gold rim , which was Herend’s Gwendolyn.. The Key Ingredient for flatware was an old sterling pattern was Tuttle Trianon, so classic, so lovely!

And to top everything off and really give the tablescape a fun element, I selected Two’s Company (which is a favorite company of mine!) Coral Zinnia.

As you can see, I had a great time in Grosse Pointe!  One couple, John and Peggy Woodhouse took me under their wing and gave me such a lovely time in Grosse Pointe!

As I have said repeatedly, I LOVE champagne.   For me it is the ultimate Simple Pleasure/Little Luxury!

I love this idea of Tangerine Sorbet Champagne Floats.

And with all of summer’s lovely flowers in bloom, why not take the time to do the flower petals in ice cubes for chilling a great bottle of champagne!

 Savor the moment and enjoy!

Enjoy!

With lots of hot, lazy summer days ahead, I thought you might enjoy an old recipe from Chestnut Cottage…”Party Tea”

While on my visit to the Orlando Antiques Show, I had the pleasure of meeting  Renee Garrison.  Yesterday, Renee sent me an article she had recently written for the Tampa Tribune and I thought you might enjoy the article and these lovely collection, especially the papier-mache. I am honored that my ideas on collecting help inspire this article!

To view the article, click here!

Here is a little ‘sneak peek’ of the article…!

Enjoy the article!

Oh how I adore spring and spring has arrived in all of its glory at Chestnut Cottage.  Gardening is the best medicine for anyone with a stressful, hectic lifestyle! Last week I took off on Wednesday and had a glorious time doing all of my window boxes and containers.  Who could not be overflowing with joy, surrounded by peonies, lilacs, lupines, rhododendron  and all of the other glorious perennials!

I have a few new additions to the Chestnut Cottage garden, like this incredible Allium Schubertii!

Gardening brings me so much joy…not to mention all the fabulous cut flowers for “collected tabletops” and all over Chestnut Cottage!  Definitely worth the investment of time.

Today I am in Grosse Pointe, Michigan at the Christ Church Grosee Pointe Antiques Show. I am so excited to be presenting two of my ‘collected tabletops’ as well as my presentation on my philosophy of ‘Collected, Not Decorated’. I hope you can join me! I will be ‘meeting and greeting’ tonight from 6:30 to 7:00 pm at the antique show’s Preview Party. And tomorrow I will be giving my presentation and signing books starting at ten in the morning.

Also, I want to say a special thank you to Pat Brinker of “The League Shop” in Grosse Pointe, for letting me borrow some fabulous tabletop accessories for this event! To visit their website, click here.

 I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!