The Golden Days of Summer: A CSA Inspired Farm to Table Dinner Party

Sep 5
A CSA Inspired Farm to Table Dinner Party from entertaining blog @cydconverse | Click through for party recipes, entertaining tips, party ideas and more!

Late summer is one of my very favorite times of year. The sun hangs low and golden, the produce is at its best and the evenings get just a teensy bit cooler, promising of fall. Now that the kids are back at school and everyone is working back into old routines, casual dinner parties at home replace big barbecues as my party of choice. Today I’m teaming up with my friends at Prairie Organic Spirits and sharing my take on a farm to table dinner party, inspired by your weekly CSA share or a trip to the farmer’s market. This is summer at its very finest!

One of My Favorite Camping Recipes! Raspberry Nutella Mountain Pies

Aug 20
Best Camping Recipes! Raspberry Nutella mountain pies from entertaining blog @cydconverse

We are leaving out on our epic annual camping trip later this week so I’m currently up to my eyeballs in shopping, packing and prep lists. This is our seventh year in a row spending five days on an island with a huge group of friends, family and our boating family so I’ve got it down to a bit of a science when it comes to packing and prepping. Before we run away and play Gilligan for the week though, I wanted to share one of my favorite camping recipes with you – raspberry Nutella mountain pies!

Rum Away with Me! Tiki Bar Inspired Mermaid Water Fish Bowl Drinks

Aug 17
Mermaid Water Fish Bowl Drinks | Summer cocktail recipes, summer party ideas, recipes and more from entertaining blog @cydconverse

There used to be a bar tucked into the hill on the walk up to the Carrier Dome where they served the most over the top fish bowl drinks. They were loaded with booze, topped with twisty neon straws and feature Swedish fish floating in brightly colored liquid. And they made the rest of the cold walk up the hill to watch Syracuse basketball a whole lot more entertaining. That bar has since closed their doors and I’ve since grown a bit older, but those cocktails still remain imprinted in my memory as legendary. Usually tiki bar inspired and tropical flavored, there’s nothing quite like a good fish bowl cocktail. Until today, because I’ve gone and made them even better. These mermaid water fish bowl cocktails are the slightly classier, fairly grown adult version. Fair warning – they’re still loaded with booze. Oops!

When You Love Someone and that Someone Has Leukemia

Aug 15
Surviving acute myeloid leukemia | Support for families of acute myeloid leukemia

Many years ago, I met a girl. She had this long brown hair and the cutest button nose and a fire in her soul that could light up the world. If you’ve spent any time with my family in the last couple of decades then you know her and how deeply important she is to me. She started as my sister’s best friend and quickly became my other little sister. Freakishly, when you look at photos of the three of us, most people actually assumes she’s our “real” sister. She is Aunt to my children, she is Sissy to me. She is my sister’s person and because of that I’ve been blessed to love her for all of these years. I couldn’t even say how many years it has been. There is no beginning nor end to our life with her fully entwined amongst the roots of our family tree. It simply feels like she has always been, like she was always meant to be.