Summer Solstice- Inspired

To celebrate the beginning of our favorite season and the longest day of the year, we held a friendly Summer Solstice party. Inspired by our parents’ trip to Sweden to celebrate Midsummer, we encouraged friends to weave floral wreaths and dress in fun and whimsical clothing. We decorated our back porch and vast lawn with various Scandinavian relics from our parents’ trip, sunflowers, natural wildlife, tons of candles, Tivoli lights and a makeshift ribbon-adorned Maypole. The menu featured a few of our summer go-to entertaining dishes, and was enjoyed well past the late sunset

To build the Maypole, we wandered into our backyard and found appropriately sized branches. We crossed the branches with colored ribbons, a leafy reef, and propped the pole in front for our friends to see upon arriving.

We arranged bouquets of daisies, buttercups and baby’s breath for our friends to create their personalized floral wreaths. What creative beauties!

As guests arrived, we setup various tapas-inspired nibbles and a signature white Sangria cocktail served in Mason Jars.

As the light grew dim, it was time to serve dinner. We kept the family-style buffet simple, using two of our favorite culinary sources for recipes. We adapted the Silver Palate’s famed Chicken Marbella by replacing the prunes and bone-in chicken with figs and large chunks of boneless chicken. 

 

To complement the sweet and salty chicken, we adapted Smitten Kitchen’s rich and lemony Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta by substituting Gemelli pasta and adding Kalamata olives. For a light salad, we tossed peppery arugula with freshly picked bright red strawberries, nutty sunflower seeds, and our favorite Dijon Vinaigrette.

Photo courtesy of Taryn Talmadge

To end on a sweet note, we channeled a Swedish Flag with layers of Lemon and Blackberry in a tiered trifle.