Summer Entertaining & Culinary Tips with Melissa Norton

Sunset BBQs on the beach, Ferragosto in Calabria, Italy, and backyard dinner parties in my family’s backyard in Laguna Beach, CA

Wake up and make a moka pot coffee, go for a walk by the water with a friend, pilates with my sister, eat croissants with my nephews, and cook a fun dinner for my family!

Right now I’m really into my dining room. I love playing with my bar cart and dressing it up with flowers, mini vases,  and playing with the artwork hanging above it. There’s something really intimate and celebratory about a dining room. I love playing with my collected silver and setting the table based on each season.

Don’t be afraid to mess up and make mistakes. That’s how we learn! Instead of getting discouraged, take notes on what you think went wrong and turn the mistake into curiosity and try again!

I love spice! Has Me Sweatin’ is my favorite! Here’s one of my favorite recipes with it:

Spot Prawns with Has Me Sweatin Sauce

You can get spot prawns in the summertime at your local fisherman’s shop or at the seafood booth at your farmers market!

Ingredients

• 1 lb spot prawns, shelled, cleaned and deveined
• ½ cup butter room temp
• 2 tbsp Casa Picosa Has Me Sweatin hot sauce
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• Flake salt and lemon juice to taste

Directions

1. Preheat your grill to medium high
2. In a bowl whisk the butter, hot sauce, garlic, and flake salt and lemon juice to taste
3. Add your prawns to the grill and cook on one side for 1 min basting the whole time
4. Flip and baste for another minute
5. Remove from grill when cooked and tent with foil
6. Serve with side of butter sauce and parsley

First is the Sabri Sabri Bea Placemat, featuring scalloped edges that transform your table into a dreamy scene. The Il Buco Vita Cutting Board would make food prep both pleasurable and chic. I also love the Ferm Living Quartz Petra Mortar. It’s a must for true flavor enthusiasts, perfect for grinding herbs and spices. The Il Buco Vita Winged Goddess Decanter doubles as a statement piece and functional item, ideal for wine or fresh flowers. Finally, the Sophie Lou Jacobsen Piano Cocktail Glasses bring a playful yet sophisticated touch to your gatherings with their mismatched but complementary design.

I feel very inspired lately by Japan and Japanese cuisine! I have the book “Japan: The Cookbook” and have been flipping through that for inspiration! Also as soon as summer rolls around tomatoes always inspire me. I get so excited to make Panzanella in the summertime!

I love simple recipes for summertime. Ingredients are so fresh in the summer, it’s easy to do very little to impress. Lately I’ve been taking whole peaches, pitting them, peeling them and poaching them in sweet wine and bay leaves. I’ll let them dry and then fill them like little cups with cream. I’ve been calling it “peaches and cream”, they’re divine, even with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on the side, a sprinkle of flake salt, and a drizzle of honey!

I love the movie Summertime with Katherine Hepburn.

For summer, dahlias, cosmos, hydrangeas, peonies, greenery/vines, snapdragons, foxgloves, and flowering herbs!