Thrifty Find ~ Essentially Lilly (Pulitzer)

Essentially Lilly: A Guide to Colorful Entertaining, published in 2004.  In addition to the fashion empire she created, Lilly Pulitzer was also a renown hostess and the book offers numerous anecdotes and photos of the parties, food and fashion that made up her life in Palm Beach, Florida. Lily exemplified an attitude of casual elegance (easy to do when your mother was an heiress to the Standard Oil fortune!) and her style has been dubbed affluence at ease. There is a short bio with regards to her clothing line before the recipes begin and there are loads of gorgeous photos filling the book - many with guests dressed in their "Lillys".

There are a total of three chapters with several menus for various occasions and celebrations.

To start us off is Yellow Mellow Mornings and dishes perfect for a Sunrise Sail ~ lemon blueberry muffins and jalapeno bloody Marys, followed by a Sunny Yellow Breakfast in bed which features baked banana French toast with ginger maple syrup and tropical fruit Bellinis. The last menu focuses on a G&T (golf & tennis - not gin and tonic!) Brunch which serves up a potato & onion frittata with avocado and salsa, roasted asparagus with lemon & toasted nuts and dulce de leche crepes.

Think Pink Afternoons offers a Blushing Bridesmaid Luncheon with a cucumber avocado soup, new potatoes & green bean salad with mustard-chive dressing, poached salmon with lemon dill mayonnaise and a berry & cream trifle. The Pink and Green Thumb Birthday Party introduces key lime mojitos, grilled shrimp & pineapple skewers and beer-lime marinated flank steak, while the Hazy Crazy Pool Party dishes out mango coconut coladas, papaya-banana-orange smoothies and crab & hearts of palm salad in avocado halves.  The chapters ends with Tea & Empathy which rolls out cream cheese & dill toasts with smoked salmon, curried chicken salad on endive, goat cheese toasts with fresh figs & honey and cucumber-radish tea sandwiches.

The last chapter, The Blue Evenings, has dishes for a Kentucky Derby Do ~ mint juleps, sweet spiced pecans, baked brie with mango chutney and a macadamia coconut derby tart. There are menu suggestions for Movies Under the Stars which include classic martinis, caramel amaretto popcorn or butter Parmesan popcorn, before we end with a Blue Moon Beach Supper  ~ chilled hearts of palm soup with pomegranate seeds, watercress & jicama salad with citrus dill vinaigrette, fettuccine with saffron cream sauce and a key lime roll.