Culinary H.S.A. Luncheon - Food to Table Sweet Potatoes

Today the NC Unit -H.S.A. had their culinary luncheon which is always a gourmet experience.   The theme today was sweet potatoes and the herb for discussion was Oregano.  I made Trisha Yearwood's Sweet Potato Salad.   It was really simple and delicious.  The worst part was cutting the sweet potatoes in cubes.  My dish sample is between the 5 & 6 time slot.  I don't remember all the names for the food.   The red flower in the center is a nastursium.  It is edible and has a peppery bite to it. There is another plate that had 3 desserts.  It can be difficult to take a photo with a clear glass plate.  There are some reflections around the rim   Because of the low angle to see the foods the design of the carpet is skewed.  

Herb doll

I am behind in posting but not in taking photos. Went to a herb study meeting on Thurs.  The Renegade Craft Group of  H.S.A. had made some herb dolls to sell for $9.00.  I had other commitments when they actually made them with fresh herbs.  The doll head is a poppy seed head.  Decided to use this for a still life image.   I used a red knit top for the background and you are going to see some faint wrinkles related to the close up.  It definitely needed a contrasting color and I could have used turquoise or a dark green. I buy remants of fabric for these kind of projects. See if you can recognize some of the herbs they used.  Hint: Bay leaves for wings.  Hot glue was used to assemble the dolls.  The image was cropped, shadows adjusted, sharpened and vignette applied in PSE 11.