Hello and welcome to the Hearth and Soul Link Party. What are your favourite things about summer? This week I’m thinking about summer favourites – things we love about summer and things we love to do when summer arrives.
The Hearth and Soul Link Party welcomes family friendly blog posts about anything to feed the soul. Things that feed the soul may include (but are not limited to) recipes, decorating, crafts, family, home, DIY, organization, travel, book reviews, the arts and self improvement.
How are things in your corner of the world? Summer is taking its time to arrive here, with some very cool and rainy weather over the past couple of weeks. Although it is finally starting to warm up, it looks like the rain may be around for some time – a typical British summer! I’m grateful though as I know many places are struggling with extreme weather, including heat waves and drought. I hope you are comfortable and safe, enjoying your summer favourites, wherever you may be.
What’s New
My husband and I visited London for the first time since October last week. We stayed over at the Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane and had a lovely meal at Theo Randall at the Intercontinental. Although the original building was destroyed by a bomb during World War 2, the Intercontinental on Park Lane is built on the site of what was once the HM The Queen’s childhood home.
The hotel was very quiet on the whole, although the restaurant was busy. We still follow the social distancing recommendations of 2 meters (about 6 feet) here in the UK and it is the law to wear masks indoors in public spaces (except while eating or drinking) so we felt pretty safe on the whole.
We also enjoyed a brilliant personal shopping trip with our friend and stylist, the lovely Sarah of Absolutely Fabulous Image. Our wardrobes needed a bit of a post lockdown refresh and a good shopping trip in the capital is definitely one of my summer favourites. Here we are toasting a successful day at the Pierre Jouët Champagne Bar in the photo above – although my husband was only there for half of it as he was working the rest of the time!
Summer Favourites On The Blog
If you love crab you will love this easy pasta recipe.
Fresh crab and spring vegetables make this fast, easy Crab Linguine (or Spaghetti as above) recipe a delight. It’s perfect for date night and family dinners too. It’s a reader favourite and definitely one of my summer favourites too – although we do enjoy it all year round!
Looking for a delicious summer dessert that doesn’t heat up the kitchen?
A quick, elegant dessert that takes less than 30 minutes to put together, my Easy No Bake Lime Cheesecake is perfect, especially when it’s too hot to turn on the oven.
Summer Favourites – Featured Posts
Thank you for sharing your wonderful content with Hearth and Soul. This week’s summer favourites features include (from top left, clockwise):-
Miz Helen of Miz Helen’s Country Cottage shared her Peanut Butter Firecracker Treats, perfect for 4th of July, but adaptable to any celebration by selecting different coloured sprinkles. These treats bring back fond memories of cookies my late Mom and I used to make. Although the recipe itself was quite different, the resulting treats were similar – except we never thought to use sprinkles, which I think is a wonderful idea!
Most people’s summer favourites include great salad recipes and we all have our favourite coleslaw recipes. Angie of Big Bear’s Wife brought a Copycat KFC Coleslaw Recipe to the party which looks absolutely delicious.
It isn’t summer without popsicles! Ramona of Create with Joy has some refreshing Healthy Frozen Treats To Help You Beat The Heat, perfect if you are experiencing a heat wave right now.
If you crochet, Maya of Little Treasures has a free pattern for some very pretty Crochet Bangles, which would be perfect with a summer dress.
The Hearth and Soul Link Party
- Please share the permalink to your blog post, and not to the home page of your blog. Do not link to anything except blog posts.
- Linking your blog posts here means you consent to me sharing as many of them as I can on Pinterest, Twitter, and both my own Facebook page and The Hearth and Soul Facebook Page and featuring them on my blog with photographs from the post.
- By submitting a post to the link party here, you assert that you own the content and photographs and give me permission to share.
- It’s easier for me to publicise your posts if you have social media share buttons on your blog.
- There are buttons at the top and bottom of this post to help you bring Hearth and Soul to the attention of your friends and followers. I really appreciate it when you do!
Take care and have a lovely week! I look forward to reading your blog posts.
Comments & Reviews
Thanks so much for the feature April and for hosting your awesome party!
Have a wonderful week – love the photo of you and hubby !:-)
Thank you so much, Ramona! Hope you are having a wonderful week too.
That crab pasta looks so delicious! Thank you for hosting us too! I brought by some Chipotle Bacon Corn Salad – super easy for a summer side. 🙂
Thank you so much, CJ! Hope you are having a lovely week.
It feels absolutely glorious to be getting out once again, doesn’t it? I am truly so grateful to be vaccinated and spending more time with friends and family. Both your entree and your dessert look amazing. Ingredients and flavors that I love!
We all can use tips on staying cool during the summer although we’re experiencing a lovely not-too-hot, non-humid period right now. A true gift for the 4th!
I’ve linked up my giveaway of an exceptional gluten-free baking cookbook and a yummy frozen Watermelon Margarita. Although I’m not always a fan of frozen margaritas, frozen works well for watermelon. 🙂
Have a terrific week, April!
Shirley
It really does, Shirley! I am so grateful. Thank you for the compliment on my recipes.
We are having a lot of rain at the moment and it’s unseasonably cool, but it is a blessing that it isn’t as hot as some folks have it. I’m really glad you had lovely weather for the 4th.
I’ve shared your cookbook giveaway and I’m intrigued by the frozen Watermelon Margarita. I made watermelon margaritas once and got very tipsy – but it was lots of fun! I like the idea of the frozen version.
I hope you are having a wonderful week too, Shirley. Thank you for all your support.
Thanks for being here!
Thank you so much for your support, Michele!
Wow, how wonderful to be able to travel again! Thanks for hosting and enjoy your week!
Shelley
It really is, Shelley. I am so grateful! I hope you are having a lovely week too.
Thank you so much for featuring my KFC coleslaw!!
It’s a pleasure, Angie!
How nice to travel again. I like your food selection.
Thank you, Shiju. It really is lovely and I am so grateful. I hope your week is going well.
Great features! Hope you like this week’s round of recipes from Homemade on a weeknight.
Thank you so much, Estelle! I always enjoy your recipes 🙂
Thank you so much for the wonderful feature April! i appreciate it greatly!
Wishing you a lovely fresh week ahead!
Thank you, Maya! I hope you are having a lovely week too.
What fun! I had a dress I ordered just before the pandemic, but then everything closed down, and I didn’t have a chance to wear it. I got it out for our first time going to church in person after months of Zoom services. It almost felt like a wardrobe refresh!
Isn’t it amazing the lift a new dress or outfit can give us? I’m so glad you are able to attend face to face church services again, Barbara. That is starting to happen slowly here too.
Hi April,
Thanks so much for featuring my Peanut Butter Firecracker Treats, I really appreciate it! We had some of those treats at our 4th of July Celebration, it was so good to be able to have a celebration with friends and family again. I noticed that you had visited London recently, my Granddaughter has just moved back to London after being home for several months. She is happy to get back to her home and job there. I am sharing a delicious Blueberry and Banana Ice Box Pie this week and hope you enjoy it! Have a great week and thanks so much for the party!
Miz Helen
It’s a pleasure, Miz Helen! Isn’t it lovely to be able to see some of our family and friends again?! I’m so pleased you had some time with your Granddaughter before she moved back to this side of the pond. Your Pie sounds delicious – I always enjoy your recipes. I hope you are having a lovely week!
I love swimming in the summer, and ice cold beverages! No-bake desserts are also perfect in a Phoenix, AZ summer! Looks like your summer has started off perfectly!
Those all sound like wonderful favourites, Helen! Our summer is going really well, thank you, bar the weather which is rather dismal! I’m grateful everything is opening up and that we’ve been able to do more. I’m also grateful for the few glimmers of sunshine we are seeing and that we haven’t got too much heat – although a little bit of warmer weather would be lovely. Hope you are having a wonderful week.
Thanks so much for hosting, April. I’ve been sampling your recipes and some of the linked posts. Great party!
Thank you so much for your support, Donna! I so appreciate it! I hope you are having a lovely week.
Sounds like such a wonderful trip to London! I hope to visit there one day. I’ve never been to Europe at all.
It really was, Lisa. I was so happy to be back. London is one of my favourite cities. I hope you are able to visit one day. There certainly is a lot to see!
Thank you for hosting, and have a great week!
Thank you, Cherryl! I hope your week is going well too 🙂
Summer favorites, indeed!
Hope you are having a good week, Lauren!
So very cool. What a great picture there. Very nice. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
Thank you, Patrick! I hope you are having a wonderful week too!
Your visit to London sounds lovely! I appreciate the pictures you shared. The Lime cheesecake looks simply elegant. Have a wonderful day!
Thank you so much! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!