Sisters come to visit... and there was much cooking.

Notice anything different about this picture? 

No? Look a little harder, under the plate. 

See the gorgeous stained wood this plate is sitting on? That's my beautiful new table! A real table! No more plastic! No more folding Ikea table! 

Oh, you want to talk about what is sitting on the plate? I guess, if you really think that is more exciting than my new table...

You see, a few weeks ago--the same week we got our new table, btw--The Sisters came to visit. So of course, we had to christen the new table. So we ate a. lot. of. food.

Highlighted foods were strawberries & mangos, New England seafood, and gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free experiments. (The fruit and seafood were a success... the jury is still out the gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free part. Perhaps Wendy can post more on that later this summer.) Saturday night's dinner featured Tapas-style mussels, shrimp and haddock, a garden salad with cilantro green goddess dressing, lemony quinoa, and strawberry mango shortcake.

You think that was enough cooking for one weekend? Never! We saved the best for last:

Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

modified from The Pioneer Woman

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 loaf of french bread, preferably from the day-old rack at the bakery

1 pint of strawberries, sliced and sugared to taste.

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup strawberry jam

4 eggs (I actually can't remember how many we used -- it may have been more. You can always make more egg mixture if you run out!)

1/4 cup water or milk

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

powdered sugar, extra strawberries, and maple syrup, for serving.

Directions

1. Preheat a greased griddle to 375 degrees/high heat.
2. Slice bread into 2-inch slices.  Make a cut in the center of each slice, half an inch from each side, to form a pocket. You could do this through the crust, if you are using a baguette or long loaf. We used a round loaf, so we cut the slices in half, and made our pockets along the cut side.
3. Mix together cream cheese and jam. Carefully spread mixture on either side of your pocket. The bread tears easily, but you can cover up most tears when you fry the bread.
4. Suff pockets with sliced strawberries.
5. In a shallow dish, such as a pie plate, whisk together eggs, milk/water, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Gently place toast in the dish, and flip over to coat both sides. You may want to leave it in the egg was for a few seconds so the bread can soak up enough egg.
6. Cook toast on griddle for 4-5 minutes each side, until golden brown.

To make an elegant place setting, top each toast with a fanned strawberry and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with bacon, mimosas, and coffee for a spectacular Sunday morning brunch: