Drag the table out on the porch and set big platters of cut melons, papayas and long-stemmed strawberries down the middle. Put out baskets of fresh bread and coffeecake. Have hot coffee in thermoses out where people can help themselves. If you get caught up in complicated preparation, she warns, you just might miss out on some merriment. When planning a menu, she always considers the fun quotient.
Food is about connecting people.
Ask a guest or two to join you in the kitchen to help prepare Tropical Smoothies, a frothy blend of mangoes, papayas, ripe bananas, orange juice, nonfat milk, nonfat yogurt, honey and ice. Have another guest pass them out. Meanwhile, another guest might stir the creamy, slow-cooked scrambled eggs. Ask someone to cut the Sour Cream Coffee Cake. Pass the Roasting Asparagus With Scrambled Eggs at the table once everyone is seated.