week 15: hot date
this week on the little dream farm
Last night I went on a hot date…but not with Chris!
Remember my neighbor-friend I told you about in last week’s note? Well, a couple weeks back I asked if she’d like to accompany me on a hot date to a Spring Dinner at my friend’s cafe down in our village.
Back during the holidays she opened up her cafe at night, put up a movie projector and played a movie next to the beautifully lit Christmas tree, made up a bunch of appetizers and pizzas, and had a few ladies over to have some drinks, wrap presents for their families together and spend some quality time. It was such a joy to meet a bunch of other lovely women, and it’s how I found out about and got involved with our village’s book club this year, too!
That evening, she was telling me about how she had this little dream to open up the cafe at night (it’s a coffee shop and cafe open a few days a week during the day), the same way she did that evening, with dim lighting and family-style seating, to make and host a group of people for a seasonally-inspired dinner made by her and sourced from as many local farms and markets as possible.
It sounded like such an amazing idea, I could totally picture it in the cafe just the way she was describing it, and I told her she was giving me total Erin French vibes like The Lost Kitchen.
So I was overjoyed when she brought these evenings to life back in the winter, and when I saw the menu and signup for the Spring Dinner, I really wanted my friend and I to go together because it sounded like it was going to be the most lovely evening and that the two of us would really enjoy it together.
I picked her up, we stopped into our village bookstore just before dinner, and then strolled over to the cafe. It was just as I’d envisioned it—perfect mood lighting, candles, music, a beautifully set family-style table, and the best ambiance that you know takes a ton of effort to look and feel so effortless.
We mingled around for cocktails and crudité, which included smoked ricotta, quail eggs (my first time having them and they were lovely!), warmed olives, homemade rosemary and sea salt crackers, and all kinds of lovely veggies with garden allium dip. It was such a gorgeous—and delicious—spread!
We took our seats between some of the most lovely couples—to my right were the owners of a farm in the next town over that Chris and I love to stop at a few times a season for all kinds of goodies. This year we’ll take part in their blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry picking, and it’s one of my favorite places to go during the holidays because of the way they decorate their farm and farm store. Funny enough—that couple also lived and worked in Philly for a number of years like Chris and I did—so we have that in common. Next to them was a couple that lives nearby who my friend rides horses with regularly. She said to me, “You have such a lovely farm and I just love your donkeys!” We’d never actually met, but she’d been to our farm on her horse! We told my neighbor when she got her horses that she can ride anywhere on our farm any time she’d like with whomever she’d like, and I love that she takes us up on it!
To my left was a couple that mostly lives down in Florida but has family and a house up here and comes up here for part of the year as well. I had a great chat with them about snowbird life. And across from them was a couple that also lives nearby and the woman is a spiritual healer, whom I’ve heard really good things about actually more than once this week, funny enough.
The company was absolutely lovely and one of the things I love so much about living here is that everyone loves so much that they live here. You have so many people who’ve grown up and lived in this area but our little neck of the woods also seems to draw such interesting people with such diverse backgrounds and experience. It makes for such an amazing community…and such highly interesting dinner conversation, too!
So, onto the menu! I apologized to the guests around me at the table about having my phone, because of course nobody did (my friend completely left hers at home—isn’t that so freeing?!) and my friend laughed to them all and said, “Sarah is an influencer!”
While I certainly don’t think of myself that way at all, I, of course, wanted to snap some photos of dinner and capture the experience to be able to share it with you.
Without further ado…let’s get you a visual adventure of this incredible Spring Dinner!
My friend and I both just happened to dress in jeans, turtlenecks, and had our hair up in top knots. Midway through dinner we were hot so we hopped up and took a lap outside around the block to cool ourselves down. We laughed that it really was a hot date! Haha!
Last night was a 3.5-hour dinner adventure out on the town in our tiny village with the most wonderful company, some incredible food, an evening of community, and a night and an experience to remember.
I came home so far past my bedtime, washed my face with a cheesy smile, literally rubbed my full belly, and flopped down into bed, remembering that back when we lived in Philly and were anticipating moving to this farm, I had all these little images in my head of what our life would be like once we lived here.
I’ve got to tell you…for someone with a very active and vivid imagination, even my wildest little dreams weren’t quite as good as this.
I hope you enjoyed coming along on this little visual dinner adventure. I’m off to have a day-date adventure with Mr. Chris! Catch you back here next Sunday, friend!
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When you said “hot date” I sure didn’t imagine this! Ha! What a beautiful experience! I loved the dishes. Now the food was out of my comfort zone… I know, I should try new things. The dessert looked delicious! Enjoy your day with Chris! 🫶🏼
That looks amazing! I love to do this kind of thing. The cafe looks like an old fashioned apothecary shop. ❤️