Nautical Nights & Lobster Bites!
Nautical Nights & Lobster Bites!
The summer is heating up to unreasonable temperatures down here in Florida, but the evenings are still bearable! This is probably one of the last al fresco dinners I’ll be able to host until fall. I have to do a seafood feast at least once during the summer, as seafood, especially crab, is my favorite. And cooked in Old Bay is the way to my Virginia-born heart. If you love all things lobster and red cabana stripe style, you will love this dinner party. Read on to get some of my favorite tips and tasty recipes!
Stationery & Personalization
I absolutely love creating all the details for dinner parties. I used to do it all in Photoshop, but I have found that Canva has become my go-to for this type of project! I highly suggest giving it a try if you’re interested in making your own paper party elements. I also have a dye-cutting machine to make things easier on myself, but sometimes I get lazy and just cut it all out with scissors. Why do machines that promise to make your life easier always end up somehow being more work?
For this set, I used watercolor clipart of my favorite seafood for glass hugger name tags, a menu, and a bib tag. I always like to add at least a name tag for that personal touch.
The Table
This large floral arrangement really fills the table and costs just $30 in fresh florals. I created it using simple grocery store flowers and cuttings from my bushes for structure and filler. I wanted to have a few larger blooms for dimension, which I couldn’t find, so I snuck three faux peonies in the mix. I keep a stash of faux flowers on hand for when I can’t source what I’m looking for (always comes in handy)! I also added some bunches of cherry tomatoes for a pop of interest.
I started with the linens provided by my friends at Solino Home! I have grown quite a collection of linens thanks to them, and I’m forever grateful! They are so easy to clean and always make my tables look elevated. This is the red cabana stripe set, which paired perfectly with the lobster theme. I found the wicker lobster napkin rings at Anthropologie, and the woven cups are from World Market. The red rimmed plates are from BSEID, and the extra utensils I found on Amazon.
One of my favorite ways to add personalization is with embroidery (I know I’m extra, but it’s my favorite hobby), so I made lobster embroidered bibs! I recently learned how to create my own machine embroidery files in Embrilliance before stitching them in my Brother Embroidery Machine, and this is how my first design came out. I get lots of questions about what machine I use on Instagram. Here is the link to my exact machine. I do love it, and it comes in handy for bigger projects, but I still prefer hand embroidery, not only because I don’t have to get out some huge machine but because the texture and artistic dimension are incomparable.
Appetizer Grazing
For starters, I wanted to try something different for an appetizer that went with the seafood boil theme. On a recent trip to Maine, I tried tinned sardines for the first time. I hated them haha! But it inspired me to try other tinned seafood that I had been too reticent to taste in my younger days. Pairing them with crackers and spreads tones down the flavors, and I made sure to include some classics like tuna and salmon for pickier palates. Taste testing and adventurous food choices have always been winning conversation starters for me.
Bloody Mary Recipe
makes 1 cocktail
- 4 oz tomato juice
- 2 oz vodka
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- dash of Worcestershire sauce
- dash of Tabasco sauce
- 1/2 tsp prepared horseradish
- 1 lemon wedge
- Old Bay seasoning
- optional garnish items: celery stalk, cherry tomatoes, olives, pickle
- Wet the rim of the glass with a lemon wedge and coat it with Old Bay seasoning. Fill the glass with ice cubes and set aside.
- To a cocktail shaker, add the tomato juice, vodka, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and horseradish. Fill with ice and shake well.
- Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with a stalk of celery, tomatoes, olives, a pickle, and/or any other extra favorites.
A Classic Summer Dinner
For dinner, I made a seafood boil feast with lobsters, snow crab legs, shrimp, corn, and potatoes, smothered in Old Bay seasoning. I found this giant crab serving platter with bug shield at a thrift store. I typically start there when sourcing material to find vintage and unique finds like this.
Dessert
I made two dessert options, starting with these adorable crab-shaped cookies! You can find the recipe for these cute crabs here. And for the chocolate lovers, I made a dark chocolate tart with fresh berries. I tried to make the strawberries look like a lobster claw. Can you see it? You can find that recipe here.
Happy summer styling!
