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Libby Langdon’s website, www.LibbyLangdon.com, offers more fun food ideas and party-planning secrets.

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  • Labor Day Living with Libby Langdon

    Libby Langdon, interior design expert on HGTV's 'Small Space Big Style' and makeover guru on 'The Rachael Ray Show,' offers tips for entertaining this Labor Day weekend.

    by Libby Langdon

    Labor Day is the holiday that declares the unofficial end of the summer season, and it’s also when we are supposed to take a break from all the hard work we put in day after day. Ironically, this is the time of the year when we are pulled in a million directions: The kids are back to school, and with summer over, adults have to jump back into work with both feet. Why not slow down for one last weekend, savor the flavors of a farmers’ market, enjoy the most beautiful weather of the year and curl up with friends and family by a bonfire … winter will be here before we know it!

    Here are some of my favorite innovative and inexpensive entertaining ideas for how to spend special time with friends and family this Labor Day and not break the bank while doing it! 
     
     

    Screen a Movie Outdoors
    Create your own drive-in movie on the side of your house; it can be anything from Aladdin for kids, to Animal House for adults.  You can rent a TV projection machine inexpensively from RentQuick.com (or maybe borrow one from a school) and hook it up to a VCR or DVD player. Then use a sheet on the side of the house as a movie screen or project the image directly on your house.

    Create a “candy” buffet filled with Milk Duds, Mike and Ikes and licorice. Make a bunch of popcorn and big pitchers of lemonade (or margaritas for adults!). Set out Tiki torches and luminaries so folks can find their way in the dark. Ask everyone to bring quilts, blankets or beach chairs to sit on and start the movie when it gets dark! If you want to make an entire evening out of it, put together a potluck dinner beforehand so everyone has a chance to chat before the movie.
     
     

    Cuban “So-long-to-Summer” Soiree:
    This is for those people who have to be pulled away from summer kicking and screaming … I say, why take it lying down? Get in there and whoop it up in a big way one last time! 

    Create Havana in your own backyard and stage a living room/lounge outdoors:

    • Bring indoor chairs and tables outside
    • String white lights in your trees
    • Use brightly colored or checked oilcloth tablecloths
    • Use lots of colorful dahlias and sunflowers in vegetable cans (leave the labels on!)

    To bring the party to life:

    • Use various colors of napkins and make napkin rings out of brown paper to look like cigar bands. 
    • Set out domino sets, lots of votive candles and small bottles of hot sauce on the tables.
    • Offer cigars for after dinner and play lots of great Latin music: Tito Puente, Cesaria Evora and Buena Vista Social Club. 

    When it comes to food, serve a buffet of black bean and corn salsa with chips, grilled pork tenderloin tacos with fresh tomato and cilantro, grilled fish tacos with tomatillos, grilled corn on the cob dipped in cayenne butter and grated manchego cheese, spicy coleslaw, and popsicles for dessert. Add a little heat in the cocktail department with mojitos, caiprinhias, fresh limeade fizzes, peach margaritas and ice-cold beer.
     
     

    Recipe-Swap Dinner
    Invite a bunch of friends who love to cook over for a potluck dinner, and then ask them to make their favorite dishes using ingredients from the farmers’ market. Ask them to bring along copies of their recipe printed out to give to the other guests. You’ll enjoy a wonderful evening with other “foodies,” and you won’t have to do all the cooking yourself. Guests will go home with as many new recipes as there are guests and you can guarantee there will never be a lull in the conversation!
     
     

    Dessert and Stargazing
    Spend an evening watching the stars with someone special. Fun with friends and family can come in quiet forms, like stargazing. This is a great way to enjoy the end of summer—especially as the weather starts to cool off a little in the evenings. 

    These days, you can find a fire pit (a large copper bowl that holds logs for a homemade bonfire) pretty inexpensively, particularly at the end of the summer. Be sure to set it up in a safe, secure spot in your backyard, surround the fire pit with chairs, put blankets/quilts on the chairs and turn out the outdoor lights around your house. Invite friends over for a rich dessert and red wine or champagne, or just make s’mores and serve beer. Stay up late enjoying the fire and the stars, telling stories and reliving the glory days of summer.

     

    Farmers’ Market Dinner
    There is no better pleasure for a cook than to prepare a meal using produce at its peak of flavor, and Labor Day is the prime occasion. Create a menu using only fresh local produce—you’ll be supporting local farmers and enjoying all the best flavors of summer. My favorite farmers’ market recipes are for lobster/basil/corn risotto, heirloom tomato quesadillas with corn and cilantro, eggplant bruschetta, linguini with “late tomato” sauce and peach crostata.

     

    Put up” Vegetables for February
    My sister in North Carolina does this, and she gets to enjoy the sweetest, most delicious summer corn on the coldest January day. It’s simple to do, and nothing brightens up a meal more than fresh summer produce. There are a number of methods that don’t take up loads of time or require all sorts of special equipment. I also have great cold-weather recipes for tomato soup, spicy pepper sauce/nachos and pasta with zucchini sauce—that will inspire you to prepare now and enjoy later!