Yesterday, my sister graduated from college. The road to her graduation has been somewhat windy and long, but she made it and I am so happy for her. I know there are wonderful opportunities in store for her because she is extremely dedicated and hard-working.
After the ceremony, the school hosted a reception for the graduates and their families. We stayed just long enough to toast to her success….
A champagne toast!
We had about 25 friends and family that were there to celebrate with us for her special day. With my family, any celebration = lots of food, so let’s discuss yesterday’s spread…
Everything was served buffet style in our dining room. We had LOTS of appetizers – vegetable platters, hummus, pita chips, cheeses and an assortment of olives and artichoke hearts. The three cheeses were great; we had blueberry cinnamon goat cheese, Manchego (a wonderful Spanish cheese) and Brie. The appetizers are always my favorite part of a party meal because I love being able to try multiple things.
There were two types of salad. One contained dried cranberries, grapes, walnuts and Gorgonzola; the other salad was a classic Greek salad with cucumbers, olives, feta and banana peppers (a great touch to a classic!) We served both dressings and some chicken on the side so that people could finish off their salads to their liking. It’s great that my parents respect and understand my vegetarianism; it was their idea to serve the chicken the side!
We also had three types of sandwiches: egg salad, pimento cheese and chicken salad. The sandwiches were served in these cute pita pockets and it seemed like the pimento cheese was a crowd favorite. Accompanying the sandwiches were Cape Cod chips and fruit salad and watermelon. On a side note, did you know that Cape Cod is coming out with two new flavors of their Reduced Fat chips? Their newest flavors will be Sea Salt and Vinegar and Mesquite BBQ. Currently, their only reduced fat flavor is their original kettle chips, which, if you’ve never tried them – they are amazing and don’t taste reduced fat at all.
What celebration is done these days without cupcakes? We had 8 different flavors, 60 of them in total!
Now, we are off to take a family vacation…where to? I will update you soon!
Do you have any celebrations coming up? If so, what will you be serving at your party?
Eat More Meat Less 
it was an AMAZING day… SO glad you were there to celebrate with me. of course, the food was pretty wonderful as well.
the cupcakes were a perfect ending to the day! ps there were 11 or 12 flavors. such a huge hit! 🙂
I am putting in a personal request for one of Leah’s cupcakes to be overnighted to NJ. I wont be picky on flavors 🙂 Congrats on graduation!!
Congrats again Leah! Those cupcakes do look amazing, and maybe Cape Cod will read this and send you some samples of their New Reduced Fat chip flavors to give away on your blog? 🙂
I love that you ate the blueberry cheese !!! My mom got us hooked on that 🙂 Congrats to Leah !!!
So proud of you Leah. It was a great day and a special time to share with you and your family. Glad we could be a part of it. The food was DELICIOUS especially the coconut cupcakes!
Congrats Leah!
It sounds like a fantastic spread! I am not a huge cake fan but that icing does look incredible!
This new restaurant opened on Capitol Hill in DC and they have the most amazing pastries. I am thinking of getting their homemade pop tarts for my next big event. They also have an amazing pound cake that is flavored like 7up. I haven’t tried their homemade twinkies yet but I will let you know how they are.
Ummmm you didn’t tell me there was a vaca involved! Somehow forgot to mention that in our several hundred page bbms!?
Congrats, leeks! With your education you are now prepared to embark on a quest for the answer to an age-old question, what exactly IS a hilltopper? 😉
liz, i will NEVER know what a hilltopper is! something like a goat? on the top of a hill?
Congratulations to Leah! That spread does look amazing-I wish I was there!
It was so nice to be able to come up and celebrate with Leakies. We had such a wonderful time withe family as always! The cranberry salad was my favorite food of the luncheon! SOOOOO delish! We took 6 cupcakes home with us, 1 of which my dad ate, monica ate 2 and robby rob of course had 2 which makes him having eaten a total of 3 cupcakes! oinker!
I’m drooooling! So proud of Leah 🙂