We celebrated Nonna’s 80th birthday as a family with a seafood boil featuring our New Bay seasoning, July-baby floral arrangements to decorate, and her two favorite cakes.
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I created a number of summertime arrangements to decorate our home with juicy color and texture with my mom in-mind. Floral Recipe:
- an assortment of my homegrown Dahlia in sunset-tones of pink, and coral
- Delphinium Belladonna – light blue
- Carnation – “Budapest Magenta”
- Cosmos – pink
- Scabiosa – lavender
- Roses – “Love Potion” bi-colored coral
- Aster – light purple
- Bepleurum – green with yellow
- Linnaea Grandiflora – burgundy and green stems and leaves
The largest piece used height and drama with all of the ingredients. I created it by using a kidney-bean shaped ceramic vessel that measures 3″ deep by about 12″ long. Inside was taped-down chicken wire to keep stems where I wanted them.
I filled other spaces with different styles of arrangements. My favorite was using the ceramic bud-vases created by my daughter. I love the display using individual stems.
Seafood Boil & “New Bay”
We enjoyed a seafood boil-feast for lunch. Together we prepared a spread with Dungeness crab, tail-on shrimp, corn on the cob, and new/small potatoes. This is a most-fun and delicious meal to eat (with your hands and with loved ones). We made an awesome memory with this one!
I’m sharing the recipe for our “New Bay” seasoning mix, and how we put this together.
New Bay Seasoning: “the same thing… but better” for seafood and veggies
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons ground paprika
- 1 tablespoon celery salt
- 1 tablespoon white pepper
- 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon Togarashi (Japanese red pepper mix)
Instructions
- We prepared a party-sized seafood boil with a full spread of individually prepared ingredients that came together at the table. We wanted everything cooked to perfection and timed just-right to sit down to a beautiful meal together. I'll explain how we did it.
Seasoning mix
- The day before we prepared our "New Bay" seasoning. We have used Old Bay in the past, but it doesn't thrill me. My daughter Sachi and I decided to make our own, with most of the ingredients of the original, but adding garlic, coriander and hot pepper seasoning, for full-flavor that is not spicy.
- We simply measured the seasoning to our taste, and repurposed a granulated garlic container so that it would be ready to go. Sachi decorated the outside so we know what it is in our spice cabinet.
Seafood Boil Prep
- Dungeness crab: were cleaned, separated and cooked. We blanched them for one minute in a large pot of boiling water with bay leaves, juiced 1/2 cut lemons, salted butter, salt, and our New Bay seasoning. Removed from the pot, pieces were topped with melted butter incorporated with our New Bay seasoning, sprinkled with fresh-cut Italian parsley. Some were put as a mixed-platter, and some crab was plated alone.Shrimp: cleaned with tails kept on. We boiled water in a pot with bay leaves, juiced 1/2 cut lemons, salted butter, salt, and our New Bay seasoning. Shrimps were fully cooked for two minutes until fully cooked. emoved from the pot, pieces were topped with melted butter incorporated with our New Bay seasoning, sprinkled with fresh-cut Italian parsley. Some were put as a mixed-platter, and some crab was plated alone.Corn on the cob: We grilled, buttered and salted cobs that were pre-cut in half for easy handling.Potatoes: We used small/new organic "creamers" with a variety of gold and red. We had a pot come to a boil, generously salted, with added New Bay seasoning. Potatoes were placed using a colander-strainer with a handle (so we didn't get splashed or burned). Once that all came back to a boil, the potatoes were cooked for 12 minutes, or until fork-tender. Once removed from the pot, we tossed in melted butter incorporated with our New Bay seasoning sprinkled with fresh-cut Italian parsley.
Video
Cake
I made Nonna’s birthday tradition: Pineapple Paradise cake. This time, it was a Bundt. I changed the cake slightly to be a light-pineapple instead of Vanilla Italia, soaked in pineapple sauce, topped with vanilla whipped cream, toasted coconut, and edible flowers.
And there was Chocolate Zucchini cake. Not everyone likes a pineapple-coconut combo, so I also made it as a small-sheet-style cake, covered in a thin layer of chocolate ganache, dusted with powdered sugar. Sachi made little hearts for me to decorate with. I feel bad because it would have been really cute with her design idea and I was lame and rushed to finish it without them.
This cake is a tradition that took us back! This was the one cake my mom made for us all the time when we were kids. Instead of Hershey chocolate powder and Nestle chocolate chips that my mom use to use, I’ve upgraded with a combination of Dutch cocoa powder, along with Dark, and Semi Sweet chocolate chips from Guittard and Callebaut.
I can’t put into words what a gift Nonna is to us. My mom is truly my first best friend. The two of us are our own little team. She is the most incredible woman: an example to the world, that created her family’s foundation and legacy. It is always such a joy to celebrate her. I will keep these precious moments in my heart.
