Under The Pergola IX from Wainscott - Before we head Back To School, a beach picnic and end-of-summer party recipe share

Labor Day Weekend 

is a time to savor the last bits of summer.

Today we share 2014's last Under The Pergola post of the season.

This summer we offered up 9 parties where we illustrated decorating & tabletop ideas, plus showed recipes and sources for easy summer entertaining. 

Take a look at our beach picnic as well as a

simple salad recipe share to help you plan one of summer's last weekends!

 Our Wednesday Parties of Summer are a 12 year tradition with friends, and they are coming to an end this summer with Back To School thoughts on everyone's agenda. For our summer gatherings, we sometimes share a meal on the beach at sunset as this day taken with friends in Wainscott, Long Island. We packed up our favorite dishes and roasted Smores over the bonfire keeping lanterns on hand.  This day Melissa created a cornucopia of sandwiches, crudites and delicious bites for our group, including fried chicken from Citarella, cheese and crudite from Cavianola, and homemade salads from Ina Garten's cookbooks. We've been coordinating beach picnics together since our teens were mere toddlers, so let's share sources to help you plan your next beach dinner.

Nest by Tamara's 
beach picnic must haves:

1). Crate & Barrel's Table In A Bag has been our favorite for years.  We love this table, and it fits neatly in a carry bag and the teak is durable, yet the assembly is effortless and takes one moment to put together.
3. LED lanterns  these lanterns make for quick lighting and at $10 a piece it's handy.
3). Smores kits have all you need to make 10 Smores, complete with sticks, marshmallows and chocolate.  We buy them at local grocery IGA but they are available online at Amazon.  

 

Other times, we host our parties indoors

 as this Wednesday below when Melissa again generously hosted a group of 

five families over in her beautiful home... 

   

This party became a bit of a homage to Ina Garten since we all agree that her recipes are tried and true and we consistently rely on them.  Maybe it's because we all remember Ina's fabulous shop here in East Hampton where we frequented to pick up delicious pre-made salads, prepared and baked goods.  We still pine away for the days when on the way to the beach we would pop into the Barefoot Contessa to pack up her famous Chicken Curry or Shrimp Salad and then share a delicious lunch at Main Beach.  Times have changed and Ina closed her shop, grew her brand and the Barefoot Contessa is now a household name with people around the world familiar with her recipes, and due in part to her successful collection of cookbooks.  Our group of friends have happily shared and tweaked her recipes over the years at our gatherings   The salads are perfect for our venues where we offer a sampling of different dishes to a large group of parents and their kids (who are often in and out of the house dipping in the pool).  Of course, each of us puts our own spin on these recipes, making it our own (as every good cook should do). So, today let's note some of our favorites that are tried and true and have made it to many of our Wednesday party tables. 

Nest by Tamara's

favorite Ina Garten summer salad recipes: 

 Roasted Shrimp Salad 

Panzanella Salad 

 Peach Salad 

Sauteed Corn (this is simple but gets the biggest compliments)

Pesto, Pasta Pea Salad

Ina's Roast Shrimp Salad (left); Panzanella Salad (right)

Melissa and Tana together created an array of summer salads for us this evening.

Please check out all the Under The Pergola posts from this summer for

tabletop, cooking and entertaining tips & sources.

~That's a Wrap for summer 2014~

Happy Labor Day Weekend

&

Happy Nesting 

XO Tamara