Late to the Gate, with Three Or More and Tasty Tuesday!

It's late Tuesday afternoon, and I'm just now getting to the computer to put together a post!


I'm jumping into Three Or More Tuesday (click here!), hosted by Tam at The Gypsy's Corner, and also hopping into Tasty Tuesday (click here!), hosted by Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Thanks to both these ladies for the fuss and bother of hosting; we do appreciate it!

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Anne and I wandered into Dollar Tree this afternoon;
it is dangerously close to That Old House, and thank goodness it isn't "Hundred Dollar Tree."

We wandered out laden with bags. We dumped everything on the
big round oak table in the sunroom when we got home:

We definitely had more than three!


I've had my eye on these blue and aqua dishes for a few weeks. They look like they belong in a beach house.
Matte finish, nice and heavy -- they have an almost handmade feel about them.

I got a few of these, too:

There is nothing remotely artisan-looking about these. They are cheesetastic -- they're flocked, for goodness' sake, and silvered inside -- but they make me smile, and on Thursday, in a tablescape with the blue and aqua dishes . . . they will do just fine!

I got a half-dozen of these white plates, with their basketweave border:

Wedgwood, Tiffany, and Aynsley all have white plates with basketweave borders.

So, as we say in New York, "What's not to like?"

I'll see how well they wear before getting more. I have my Mom's old ironstone restaurant dishes that I am returning to the beach house, so I need some plain white everyday dinnerware here at That Old House. This may be just the ticket.

Or maybe I should bring the blue and aqua dishes out to the beach house? Hmmm. . .

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Now. . . it's also Tasty Tuesday,
featuring the food that we like to serve on the 4th of July.

My favorite things to have on the 4th are the first tomatoes from the garden.

They are fabulous just sliced and served warm and nekkid, but there's also tomato pie;

it makes a great nibble while the grill gets going.

This past Saturday, a week before the 4th, I wanted to make a tomato pie to bring to a cook-out at a friend's house, but when I began to assemble the darned thing, I realized I was missing a key ingredient: mayonnaise.

What to do? I could make my own mayo from scratch, but seriously, folks. . . .

I decided to do a tomato pie, That Old House style: no muss, no fuss, and hold the mayo.

I pre-baked a store-bought crust (yes, proudly cheating!), and then put in a thin layer of leftover shredded cheese, then piled in sliced seeded ripe tomatoes, fresh basil leaves from the garden, and some cut up sundried tomatoes in olive oil. On top, thick slices of aged sharp New York State cheddar cheese.

Into a 350 degree oven, till the cheese melted and the tomatoes got soft.

As simple as simple can be. And pretty darned tasty, too.

I'm dreaming up other combinations -- thin sliced zucchini and goat cheese, spinach with feta or swiss, cut up Reese's peanut butter cups with hot fudge -- oh wait, that's a different fantasy.

But I do like this method of making a pie. Pie for Dummies, that's my speed.
Thanks for visiting! -- Cass