Several years ago, I hosted a fun brunch with new friends I had met on Instagram. Yes, I invited total strangers to sit at my table to exchange ideas, learn about their passions, and connect with these beautiful influencers. It’s like meeting a Pen Pal! My poinsettia girls – Amy from A Brown House Designs, Ann from Hill Country House Girl, Jacque from Fort Worth the Wait, Julia from Julia Reddout, and Catherine McIntosh from Catherine White Art are a collective of creativity, passion, and authenticity. It warmed my heart and gave me such glee when I heard, “Oh, my goodness, you are Fort Worth the Wait? I follow you!” We are so much better at collaboration than in competition.
My inspiration was the bright red poinsettias from Trader Joe’s. You can’t beat their prices of nice-sized pots for just $6.99. I placed one poinsettia inside a white ceramic bamboo planter from Amazon for the center of the table. I added green moss to hide the edges of the black plastic pot. Then, I deconstructed the other poinsettia by snipping the stems into individual flowers for small clear vases from Amazon. I set the table with my Christopher Radko Christmas dishes I purchased many years ago with Christmas money from my mother, vintage napkins, red faux leather placemats, ruby red glassware, and my mother’s vintage wedding crystal. I used clear lucite place cards from Amazon to personalize the table setting. It’s super easy to take a washable paint pen to personalize each place card. Wash and store away for another day.
Mother’s Hot Curried Fruit
I served my favorite brunch recipes – Sausage, Biscuits, and Gravy casserole here from a previous blog post, and Cranberry Christmas Cake – a must for guests or to make and share as gifts. It is so delicious and easy, and my mother’s Hot Curried Fruit is a nice twist on the traditional fruit salad.
Mother's Hot Curried Fruit
Ingredients
- 1 can Peaches
- 1 can Pears
- 1 can Apricots
- 1 can Black Cherries (if you can't find black cherries, red cherries works, just plain cherries, not pie filling
- 1 can Pineapple
- 1 sm jar Marischino Cherries
- 2 Ripe Bananas
- 1/3 cup Melted Butter
- 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 TBL Curry Powder
Instructions
- Drain all the fruit well, set aside about six maraschino cherries
- Butter a casserole dish
- Place fruit in casserole dish
- Mix butter, brown sugar and curry, then pour over fruit
- Taking the maraschino cheeries you set aside, place them inside the hollows of the pears.
- Bake for an hour at 350.
Hospitality is in my DNA. I founded Home with a Twist, a daughter’s twist on her mother’s traditions, in memory of my mother to celebrate her life and the gifts she shared with me. Mother loved to celebrate life’s occasions – big and small.
