Spreads: jams and honey add a touch of sweetness. They’re perfect with cheese!
Nuts: walnuts, macadamias, marcona almonds, pecans, pistachios, all the nuts!
Seeds: this sounds funny, but seeds go exceptionally well sprinkled onto cheese, especially soft ones like goat cheese. Have little dishes of poppy seeds, toasted sesame seeds, toasted sunflower seeds, pepitas
Olives: Pick your favorite olives! We like picholine (small green French olives), Nicoise (small black French olives), and Manzanilla (firm smoky green Spanish olives).
Fruit: Any seasonal fruit will do, in the summer berries and stone fruits are nice and in the fall and winter things like pears and apples.
Mustards: whole grain, dijon, spicy brown, honey mustard, English; mustards add heat and acidity.
Pickles: cornichon (those cute little French pickles), picked onions or shallots, pickled vegetable such as beets, peppers, radishes, beans, etc.
Bread and crackers
We like having a variety of breads and crunchy things too.

I’m really into these rye crisps
and these crispy crackers
Mike loves toasted baguettes that we get sliced at our local bakery, then put on a baking sheet at home and toast all at once at 350ºF for 15 minutes.
Of course if you want to go all out, homemade sourdough crackers are the way to go!

Having Fun With Garnishes
We’re game for experimenting with cocktails of all sorts, just look in our garden and you’ll see the proof. Our 13 citrus trees are not just for straight eating, friends. Nor are the citrus for visual garden pleasure. There’s a plan and purpose for each citrus tree and the most important use for all the citrus trees are for cocktails!

Cocktail garnishes are something we’re really fascinated by because having a great garnish can really make folks swoon over a cocktail. So although most of the garden is still in it’s Winter hibernation, we were able to find some great little specimens still growing from Summer!
Above: (L) a thin wedge of lime ribboned with a celery leaf. (R) thin, tender stalks of celery with the leaves attached Below: (L) baby carrots for the perfect shot of Bloody Mary! (R) some skewered cherry tomatoes (do you believe we still have tomatoes growing in December??! Although it’s too cold for them to ripen, they’re still exploding)

Spreads: jams and honey add a touch of sweetness. They’re perfect with cheese!
Nuts: walnuts, macadamias, marcona almonds, pecans, pistachios, all the nuts!
Seeds: this sounds funny, but seeds go exceptionally well sprinkled onto cheese, especially soft ones like goat cheese. Have little dishes of poppy seeds, toasted sesame seeds, toasted sunflower seeds, pepitas
Olives: Pick your favorite olives! We like picholine (small green French olives), Nicoise (small black French olives), and Manzanilla (firm smoky green Spanish olives).
Fruit: Any seasonal fruit will do, in the summer berries and stone fruits are nice and in the fall and winter things like pears and apples.
Mustards: whole grain, dijon, spicy brown, honey mustard, English; mustards add heat and acidity.
Pickles: cornichon (those cute little French pickles), picked onions or shallots, pickled vegetable such as beets, peppers, radishes, beans, etc.
Bread and crackers
We like having a variety of breads and crunchy things too.

I’m really into these rye crisps
and these crispy crackers
Mike loves toasted baguettes that we get sliced at our local bakery, then put on a baking sheet at home and toast all at once at 350ºF for 15 minutes.
Of course if you want to go all out, homemade sourdough crackers are the way to go!