A Company Luncheon

I had company for lunch today

The Lunch Bunch

As always, lunch in the dining room

The prettiest flowers at the market were red carnations

much better suited to Valentine's Day

but since I was using my Grandmother's Noritake,

the red works!

A Quaker Lace runner and placemats -- both dating from the 50s

All in perfect condition

A dinner plate to rest the soup bowl on,

a bread and butter plate with butter knife for the popover

And a gumbo spoon for the soup

It was a simple luncheon

Soup, bread and dessert!

The soup is a recipe from The Dairy Hollow House in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Sadly, it lives only in memories and in the pages of a cookbook

aptly titled The Dairy Hollow House Cookbook

It's chicken and rice and olives and vegetables and cream and wine

Can a soup get any better than that?

The soup only adds to the table setting

Popovers were the bread hot from the oven.

I adore popovers.   I have a popover pan.

They're called a "quick" bread

But I always forget that they take a long time to bake

(a half an hour or so -- so I don't consider them "quick"!)

Dessert was special

An orange cake

Made from the fruit of  my Calamondin orange tree.

The Calamondin orange tree I've had for 16 years.

(I've never harvested the fruit before!)

It was delicious.

The recipe will be in my column in The Fort Scott Tribune and The Nevada Daily Mail

this Saturday -- you'll just have to wait for that recipe!

We had a lovely afternoon.

The dishes are done and put away.

A cake made for a friend is baked, iced and ready for pick up.

Dinner tonight will be out!

At our local Kiwanis pancake fundraiser!

Oh, and here's the soup recipe -- I heartily recommend it!

DHH SUPREME OF VEGETABLE AND OLIVE SOUP EUREKA

4 T. butter

1/4 c. finely diced onion

1/4 c. finely diced carrot

1/4 c. finely diced celery

5 T. flour

4 c. chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

1 c. white wine

1 1/2 c. half and half

1/2 c. cooked white rice

1/4 c. black olives, sliced into circles

1/4 c. pimento stuffed olives, sliced into circles

1/4 c. peas, frozen

1 chicken breast, cubed

In a skillet, saute onion, carrot and celery until softened.     Sprinkle the vegetables with the flour.     Gradually whisk in the chicken stock.      Stir vigorously with the whisk as you raise the heat to medium, to prevent lumps from forming.      When stock is smooth and slightly thick, transfer it to a Pam sprayed heavy soup pot.

Add the white wine and simmer for 20 minutes.     Then stir in the half-and-half.      Lower heat; from this point, the soup must not be permitted to boil.

Add the rice, olives, peas and chicken.     Heat through.    Taste and correct the seasonings.     Add salt and pepper to taste.    

Serve very hot, with finely chopped parsley floating on top.