Friday evening friends flocked to Mendenhall to celebrate the first anniversary of Mod Meals on Mendenhall. After a year of cooking, I thought the only appropriate way to celebrate would be to – cook more! With an ever-growing guest list, I decided to do a French country summer buffet full of seasonal vegetables, simple roasted chickens, French bread, cheeses and some MMoM favorites like tapenade and garlic confit. Everything on the menu was intended to be served at room temperature and I imagined folks diving in like it was meant to be a family style dinner at home. Instead of traditional flower arrangements, I assembled hydroponic lettuces in ceramic pots. The idea came from a showroom my mother visited at the Chelsea Flower Show this spring. It set a casual yet sophisticated feel to the table setting.

Many MMoM All Stars were in attendance – Tyler / Batchelor Cooking Class Week, Jeb / Manly Enough for Turkey Burgers, Masha /Caremelized UpsideDown Pear Tart – to name a few.  And, it wouldn’t have been an official blogiversary without a representative from WordPress! My friend John happens to work for WordPress and served in the official capacity for the evening. I’m pretty sure John was the only person at the party who had been to a blogiversary party before. Blogiversary virgins or not, I couldn’t have been happier to celebrate this silly milestone with great friends. When someone said last week that they were very “proud” of what I’ve done with this blog I said, “Not much to be proud of but there is always room for celebration.” To another year.