CINCO DE MAYO PICNIC

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

My favorite food group has a holiday! Jk, I know it’s about more important things but we Americans have made it into being all about tacos and tequila-I’ll admit it :P

I cannot express how excited I am to show last night’s hard work! Maggie (from my last post, the crazy talented artist) and I combined forces yesterday and styled a Cinco de Mayo themed picnic in my backyard! We used a blanket Dustin and I got on our honeymoon as the color inspiration, the new German beer garden table as a centerpiece, her hand-lettering skills, props from our personal collections and worked as a team creating the cutest outdoor party! Seriously so proud and happy with the turn out! It was planned for Sunday but thunderstorms got in the way so we both did anti-rain dances that it wouldn’t rain yesterday and low and behold we got a pretty night to shoot our visions!

Pumped to have used my DIY’d indigo napkins from this post and our new wedding porcelain dishware from Villeroy & Boch. As I knew she would, Maggie brought it strong with her prop additions, loved the gold flatware which was something we wanted for our wedding, got but then realized they weren’t dishwasher safe and that wouldn’t work for everyday use. These have re-inspired me to look into adding some to our collection!

The colors popped so much after we added the sheepskin “cushions.”

Maggie came up with two drinks (besides our crisp, cold, delicious Corona Lights- gotta have those!) that would definitely impress your attendees- a DIY cocktail bar and salted rim shooters!

Rosemary and Jalapeno Palomas—

I love herbs and spice in my warm weather drinks but I find it common at parties that some people lean toward spicy while others prefer fresh cooling flavors, so I love to set up a choose your own path cocktail bar!

Make ahead:
Grapefruit Juice- Juice from about 6 Large Sweet Grapefruits (on average you will get 1 cup of juice per fruit)
Infused Simple syrup- 1 cup of water to 1 cup of Sugar bring to a boil until sugar is dissolved, allow syrup to cool for 15 minutes and add the warm mixture to bottles containing fresh rosemary sprigs and jalapeno slices, refrigerate and use for up to 14 days.

Other ingredients:
Jarritos Grapefruit Soda/ or Seltzer Water
Gold Tequila

For each drink over ice, add 1/4 cup juice, 1/4 cup tequila, the juice of one lime wedge, a splash of the simple syrup(s) of your choice and top with Grapefruit soda or sparkling water, for a lower calorie version.

A traditional Paloma has a salted rim but I also like to give party goers the option to skip the salt by setting a salt shaker with flavored salts (rosemary salt is a great addition!) to the cocktail bar to add to drinks.

Tequila Shooters—

Chilled Gold Tequila
I cut a tiny slit in a lime slice and ran it around the rim of the mini coupe and then dipped the top of the glass into a saucer with homemade Sriracha salt. Spicy with a warm bite!

Sriracha Salt:
Mix one part Sriracha hot sauce with 5 parts salt, spread out on a baking sheet and allow it to dry for 48ish hours.

You probably thought we’d go with tacos for this picnic but since Dustin and I have made this chicken 3 times now after discovering it on Budget Bytes figured I’d give it the credit it’s due!  You should check out* her recipes, money-saving and tasting! We’ve tried lots and they are all pretty easy too.

*Since I followed her recipe exactly, please follow link if you wish to know how to make-it’s so easy!

My version of Mexican street corn—

Peel back husks and remove the silk strings, rub with butter and sprinkle on black pepper, re-put husks back over and bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Then coat with mayo, sprinkle crumbling cheese and top with avocado yogurt ‘dressing’ (Taken from this recipe.)

For the spicy slaw I cheated and got pre-cut raw organic veges, added Sriracha mayo, red onions, radishes and called it a day-very good! We were piling it on chips haha!

The beans were the canned organic spicy kind we buy all the time. Usually eat with yellow rice and green chilies. I prefer black beans over re-fried any day!

Maggie pulled colors from our blanket and NAILED IT! That peony opened up so much from the time she texted me a photo at 11:00am – it was wild!

The flowers were inspired by your blanket and Frida Kahlo. For the deep pink/red accents, I looked extensively for buganvilia sprigs but had to settle for clippings from my neighbor’s knockout rose bushes (with permission!).

Hope you enjoyed our collaboration! It was so fun brainstorming with her and then bringing it all to life! I give the table some credit because it was after I bought it at Scott’s I knew it would make for a great backdrop. That and the warming temperatures lit the fire under my rear to get together with Maggie, I can’t wait until we do another!

It’s officially after 5 o’clock here which means CINCO DE MAYO HAPPY HOUR! And since you’re just now seeing our awesome idea, feel free to do this for any Summer day, no holiday needed!

Enjoy the evening and be safe out there!