Bonnets and Lights

So last Saturday was a Matt Hatter Party. Friends of ours, the Matts, have a party where you must wear a hat to enter through their door. This is their 4th year throwing it.

Can I just say that the party was AWESOME? Everyone had a hat! There was a pink moustache hat, an Asterix hat, a pink satin santa hat, a bear hat, a kitten hat with attached paws as mittens, and plenty of ski hats in all sorts of colors.

Here's a pic of Dr. K and me at the party:

I love the lights on Dr. K's hat.

Dr. K's lights proved to be quite useful that night, as a bunch of the streetlights were out on our way over to the party and back.  He was the official flashlight for the public transportation group.

By the by, here is an easy party snack if you are ever in a crunch for time, but want something fun and cute. I call them, Tomato Bites, but I can't quite take the credit as I got the idea from a friend (Amy ).

Anyway, here you go:

The ingredients

 So, what you will need:

2 boxes of cherry tomatoes
1 large mozarella (fresh), cubed
2 tbsp Fresh Basil, chopped (here we can buy already chopped up, frozen leaf basil, so I used that)
2tbsp Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning (or another one that you prefer, just make sure it tastes good with the tomatoes)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

How you do it:
Cut out the cores and remove the seeds, making a hole in your tomatoes. Set aside on a serving platter.
In a bowl, put about two "Italian" tablespoons (i.e, heaping) of chopped basil leaves, sprinkle with salt. Add half of the mozarella cubes and mix to coat.
In another bowl, put two meager tablespoons of the Mrs. Dash. Add a pinch of salt. Add the mozarella cubes and coat evenly.
Taking a seasoned cube (either flavor), jam it into the cored cherry tomato. Repeat many times until you run out of tomatoes.
For the finish, lightly drizzle with the oil. Wrap up quickly and refrigerate until you leave. Serve.

Try not to eat them as you go...you end up with way less. These are the finished ones, though we may have had a couple casualties on the way to the party. Had to make sure I didn't use sugar instead of salt, you know.

Mmmmm....they were gone in no time.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes!

I was so excited to finally get to wear a Jane Austen-type Bonnet! And what a find! (Thank you Austentation!)

Here are a few more pics of the bonnet:

Front 3/4 view, ignore the model. Notice my nod to my husband's profession? I have stars on the inside of the bonnet!

Back view...as per Dr. K. Wrapping paper ribbon is just sparkly enough to add a pop of color on the brim!

Side view, though a little dark. I only put pretties on one side...I thought it looked classy that way.

*Sigh* I love bonnets.  Now if only they would come back into fashion, but I fear that will never happen. Oh well. I can dream!

Sunday we went to church up in Chevry (a 10 min bus ride from the valley up to the plateau) and we saw the lights in the square lit up!

Marche Gausson, with St. Pauls Church behind the lights, where we have service every Sunday night

After the Advent Carol Service, we came out to this:

So magical!

Seeing these lit up, I wanted to get home right away and see if our street had finally lit up the lights!   They had and I was thrilled. So I grabbed the camera and shot a few photos. Here are the best ones!

"On the street where [we] live"...and if you can see it, the back sign reads: Joyeuses Fetes!

 This one is my favorite, though:

I love how there is a star to the left of the beautiful lights. It will not be dimmed or shown up!

 Now go out and get busy checking out the Christmas lights in your neighborhood! Until next time!