Ham, ham, thank you ma'am

I was so enthusiastic about gathering with new (and old) neighbors that I realized I'd never hosted a brunch before. After much dithering, I decided to favor selection over quantity. I assembled a plate of pancakes (Pamela's baking and pancake mix gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up, behaving well even without the egg), a plate of bacon, breakfast sausage and Canadian bacon, and another plate with some sliced ham with a pot of mustard. For some reason, I thought that might not be enough, so I tried my hand at a quiche without wheat, dairy or eggs. Then I put together a fruit salad (a rainbow of seasonal citrus, mango and kiwi with coconut milk) and sliced up a loaf of Essential raisin-pecan bread to round things out. A tray of jams and butter, syrup and whipped cream allowed folks to dress up pancakes and bread as they pleased. DH ran the boys up to the office for a thermos of freshly-brewed Starbuck's coffee, and I made another thermos of cocoa. However, the champagne (a nice one from Domaine Ste. Michelle), both with and without orange juice, was the beverage of choice.

Of course, by the time invitees brought coffee cake, a platter of cookies and a plate of brownies, we were on total carb overload. (Note to self: don't bother to bake for these neighbors!)
The quiche was surprisingly edible, if not entirely too crumbly and frankly superfluous; the pancakes and bacons and sausage were devoured, and there's not a huge amount of fruit salad left. But the honey ham was a mistake. We will be eating ham for many days to come.

Our gracious neighbors offered to take our offspring inner tubing up at the pass, so we took it easy this afternoon, but they will come by for soup tonight. A pot of French lentil and ham soup is simmering on the stove.

I wonder how ham on raisin-pecan bread will taste in tomorrow's lunch?