Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/773046
20 a p c s hor e l i n e s.c om | 2016 Vol :4 Idie, surrounded by dogs Hans, Coco Chanel, Butter and Nigel, is involved in the planning of it all back in Birmingham. "We talk about the menu in advance, staying with the season," she says. "And I love decorating the table, choosing the plates and linens, and often going outside to pick natural things to add." One go-to tradition alternates between Hastings' family history and Idie's Italian heritage. "We implement a soup to start if it's cool enough outside – growing up we always had a great wedding soup with homemade chicken broth with spinach, very small veal and pork meatballs and a little bit of egg," she says. "Or Chris makes his mother's soup, which is a consommé." One thing is a constant, especially in the bracing months of fall and winter – and that's Lake Martin itself. "The lake was a love-at-first-sight kind of deal for us," says Hastings, who consulted with Russell Lands and the Spring House restaurant in earlier days. "We'd always been beachgoers, not lakegoers, but now we look for any window of our time to go to the lake. Right now it's super- quiet, super-peaceful, and not about the water. We'll even find a little time to do some quail hunting in the area – and they end up, of course, on the dinner table at some point." Wondering who tidies up after the big holiday feasts? "Chris does the food," says Idie, "So the boys and I all pitch in for the cleanup. He sits and chats with us while we're busy doing it. "So it's still a family moment at the lake." – CAROL ANNE ROBERTS Above left: Photo by Jason wa llis – Idie and the boys fish and relax while Chris prepares the meals. Above right: Photo by c a ry norton – Idie and one of her four-legged family members.