And They’re Off…

That was the cry late Saturday afternoon, sending off the Preakness horses, which was the pivotal event in the weekend for Baltimore. But let’s back up a bit.

My amazing friend, Flippa, is moving back to South Africa with her husband and daughter in a few weeks. {stops, wipes tears, continues} Friends of ours had a huge going-away party (GAP) for her in their amazing 1800’s town house, and by that, I mean the original sense of the word, not a town-house development. I have been promised a full tour of the house at a later date, when there aren’t 70+ people and plates and plates of food scattered around, but I will give you a few teaser shots. Like the amazing basement kitchen.

And its incredible floor, imported specially from Hungary.

Part of the fun at the GAP was the incredible food, from dozens of tiny cupcakes with pictures of Flip and her family, and American and South African flags.  You can tell the scale, because the flags and pictures are on toothpicks!

We served summer favourite Southsides, or as we’ve renamed them Eastsides.  Oh, I could have sworn this shot was in focus!

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Saturday dawned bright and clear and all day, I could hear the helicopters and airplanes buzzing around as they circled Pimlico Racecourse, a few miles away. As I sat outside brushing Connor, I saw a few planes overhead spelling out words. But the fur flying on the ground was much more of a distraction. We use a Furminator, and it really gets the job done.

Everyone gets into the Preakness spirit, including the gals at the local grocery store, where I headed to pick up some Mouth Party Caramels as a gift for our hosts later in the evening. 

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A few weeks ago, as I was driving around taking pictures of houses, I pulled up in front of one of the most beautiful houses in Baltimore and was hanging out of the car window pointing my camera at it. There was a car parked there, but I didn’t pay any attention to it until a man popped out and asked (nicely) what I was doing. I babbled on about how I loved the house, and I wrote a blog, blah blah blah. We started chatting and ended up exchanging business cards. Needless to say, I never got the picture of the house.

Fast forward a few weeks and a lovely dinner invitation arrived from the charming man I’d met. I was so excited to see the house up close, and it was not a disappointment. One of the owners is an interior design professional at a very prestigious architectural firm and at one point, both of the owners sold antiques.

We were met on the terrace with the most beautiful cocktails… champagne, St. Germaine and a lavender liqueur in a gorgeous William Yeoward glass.

A tour of the house followed, and in each and every room, we gasped at the beauty of the one-of-a-kind pieces, the finishes and the artwork. I had looked at some of the “before” images from this house, and it’s like night and day what these friends have done with it. The architecture helps a lot, like this wonderful space at the landing between the first and second floors, but if you don’t have the vision and the right pieces, it falls flat, like in the before images.

There are all sorts of little nooks and spaces in this house that make it so special.

And then there was the dinner! OMG. We started with a silky Thai soup with gorgeous chicken, coconut milk, and just a hint of heat.

The main course was beautiful house-made pasta, with pancetta, fresh baby peas, cream and parmesan, along with the most delicious tenderloin, cooked on the grille.

Dessert was simply stunning. White chocolate bowls, brushed with milk chocolate, filled with a crème custard.

And the table had the most magnificent peonies from the garden. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such massive peonies.

Every aspect of the evening was such fun, from the company to the setting, to the food and the weather.

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Naturally, that all came crashing down around my ears when I returned home to find blood on the windowsills at the house. Connor must have been freaked out by something.

I was just sick about it, but I can’t find any rhyme or reason to when he panics.

My friend Andrea, who owns the great company, Bosom Buddy Bags that I wrote about a few weeks ago, sent me this picture. I’ve been helping Andrea set up a blog over the past week or so, and I’d love it if you wandered over there and gave her a little encouragement. She’s so creative and she has a bag for every occasion, including the Preakness!

Andrea and I were doing a swap of services, my blog expertise for one of her bags, but when a friend arrived before the race needing a bag to go with her outfit, Andrea gave her the one I’d picked out. But she made me another one! How lucky am I? So go check out the Bosom Buddies Bags Blog, okay?