memorial day weekend! enjoy the outdoors

I have recently become a lifestyle contributor for Hayneedle.com, it's been a ton of fun writing for them about entertaining outdoors. All summer I will be posting great tips for living outside and loving it. Here's the first of many , have a great weekend be safe and enjoy the outdoors.

My family and friends spend a lot of time in my garden and on my patio, so I like those spaces to feel like an extension of my living and dining rooms. The way I achieve this is by arranging furniture in ways that encourage relaxation and/or conversation. I love a big dining table with a mix of chairs – if they’re under a grapevine-covered arbor, even better! I also have several cool Adirondack chairs surrounding a fire pit so people can kick back and linger any time of year. I especially like taking it outside to make s’mores after a very formal dinner … to shake things up a bit!

Fire and Ice S’mores

• Vanilla marshmallows from Cacao, http://cacaoatlanta.com
• Love Bar – deep, rich dark chocolate from Cacao, http://cacaoatlanta.com
• Healthy graham crackers – available at specialty markets like Whole Foods
• Vanilla ice cream
• Sea salt
• High-quality olive oil

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 vanilla beans – split lengthwise
• 2 large eggs

Directions:

Combine cream, milk, sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan. With the tip of a knife, scrape seeds from vanilla beans into cream mixture, then drop in pods. Heat cream mixture just to a boil. Whisk eggs in a large bowl, then add hot cream mixture in a slow stream, while whisking. Pour mixture into saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened and registers 170°F on thermometer (do not let boil). Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean metal bowl, then cool, stirring occasionally. Chill, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours. Freeze custard in an ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer.

To Prepare Servings:

Have guests assemble their S’mores outside by the fire. In the meantime prepare individual bowls or glasses with a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with a teaspoon on Olive Oil and sprinkled with sea salt, have guests grab a bowl and dip their S’more into the ice cream. *Cooks’ notes: ·To cool custard quickly after straining, set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stir until chilled. ·Custard can be chilled up to 24 hours.