Dinner for One

Home Alone

When my husband is out of town I still like to make myself a pretty place to eat.  This breakfast setting is on the balcony outside my craft room.  I started with a beige throw as the base and added a vintage 50's or 60's cotton placemat.  These are easy to find at antiques fairs and malls and sometimes have matching napkins.  There are generally four to a set, but I have occasionally found a set of six.  I used a new solid red cotton napkin with an antique celluloid ring.  The dishes are Royal Crownford "Calico" made in Staffordshire, England.  You can still find this pattern new and I have added some new pieces that were not always made, like over-sized cups and saucers.   A quick way to tell the difference is that the old pieces won't say "dishwasher safe."  The glass is vintage, with red, white, and blue stripes.

The salt and pepper is a wonderful one-piece set probably from the 50's with flip-top lids.  It went well with my red, blue, and beige color scheme.  I used a small grocery store bunch of Gerbera daisys in a fishbowl vase for my "centerpiece."

The flatware was mix and match red bakelite.  The knives are monogramed with an "R," which is my husband's first initial, but I would have bought it anyway.  Monograms just add to the romance of an old item, making me wonder who had it originally, where they got it, when they used it, what meals (food) it was used with, etc. 

This solo dinner setting is in my craft room on a small, drop-leaf table, probably originally made for sewing.  The dishes are the "Fairlane" pattern by Steubenville Pottery.  

I honestly didn't notice how well it went with my wallpaper until I was looking at the photo, but I admit it could have been on purpose.  My tables start with different things.  Sometimes a table will start with the menu - I'm serving soup so have to use a set that has soup bowls.  It could start with a holiday, like July 4th, and be red, white, and blue.  Maybe I have a new set of green glasses and work the whole setting around them.   Inspiration comes from lots of places.  

The flatware is mix and match silverplate on a new pale pink placemat with a vintage blue napkin.  The pretty bird salt and pepper set is a Jayne Abee, Warrenton antiques fair purchase.  The glass is probably 60's.  Makes me feel old to know that's "vintage" now!

Love Them Cowboys!

Dinner for 8 and Watch the Dallas Cowboys

I love a theme dinner.  Gives me a chance to actually use our collections!  In this case, when friends were invited over to watch a Dallas Cowboys' game, I used my cowboy dishes and my husbands' collection of all things Western.  Our menu was brisket, sliced homemade white bread in case there were sandwich makers, Tart & Tangy Slaw, potato salad, and apple pie accompanied by a small wedge of sharp cheddar.

My divided plates come in only two patterns, that I know of.  One with a chuck wagon and one with a longhorn.  Both have brands around the border.  I began collecting these at what I think was the height of their popularity so they were expensive in comparison to lots of other dishes.  The price has come down a little since.  I have about 40 so they are great when we have a barbecue for a crowd.

The centerpiece was a grouping of my husband's antique six-shooters, holsters, and handcuffs.

Eight different antique spurs acted as place card holders.

I scanned an antique Texas Marshal badge from my husband's collection and made the photo into place cards with each person's name.

Bandannas, $1 each at the craft store, were used for napkins.  Jute twine, wrapped around several times to resemble rope, was the napkin ring.

New gold glasses were used for red wine and vintage amber-footed tumblers were used for water.

I used three vintage sets of salt and pepper shakers, each working well with my Western theme.  I get lots of them from Jayne Abee, a dealer of the most wonderful "smalls," who sells in San Antonio and at the Blacksmith Shop in Warrenton.

The flatware is antique bone.  It's a bit newer than some of my "Western" flatware sets in which the forks only have three prongs.

Since the divided plate set has no other plates, that I know of, I used
antique brown transferware 8" plates of various patterns, for the apple pie dessert.   For coffee, I used the mugs that match the divided plates that also come in the two patterns.

Serving pieces included a large bowl that I used for the potato salad, an ice bucket that I used for the slaw, and a new platter that mixes well due to having the same theme of cattle brands.

Recipe for Tart and Tangy Slaw

1 head green cabbage, shredded

2 stalks celery, sliced thinly on the bias

3 green onions, sliced thinly on the bias, both white parts and 4" of green

1 large carrot, peeled and shredded

1/4 cup minced flat-leaf parsley

2 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Bottled vinaigrette dressing such as Brianna's Real French Vinaigrette

Toss all in large bowl with vinaigrette to taste.  Best if made several hours ahead and allowed to marinate in the fridge.  Toss again before serving.

Boys' Night In

Dinner for 8 in the Poker Room

Our adult sons and their friends like to come over every couple of months, eat dinner, play poker, and smoke cigars.  They provided their own food but allowed me to have fun setting the table for them.

In our basement we have a round room just for poker and cigars, with its own air filtration system, so smoke goes no where else in the house.  

The double-sided French Tabacs sign was a Warrenton antiques fair purchase and looks great mounted on the wall over the door into the poker room.

The first layer is a gold check cloth to the floor with a vintage 1960's 

black square one on top that has a liquor label motif.  I love to collect specialty cloths for this room and have other ones with playing cards and cigar labels.

This cloth is divided into nine squares & these two patterns alter-

nate in them.

The centerpiece is made up of some of our cigar collectibles including boxes, lighters, and the Majorette advertising Yankee Cigars for a nickel.  

These are the eight vintage tea towels I used for napkins.  I get them from Michelle Piccolo at the Red Barn part of the Round Top antiques show twice a year.  I have these drinking and gambling themed ones for our bar and pretty floral ones for the kitchen.

 The first dish layer was a gold plastic charger.  Craft stores often have them in lots of different colors quite inexpensively and they give you bang for your buck.  Do treat them gently though and only hand wash.  I have had problems with bits of the paint peeling.  The next layer is a Lenox china pattern called Urban Lights with black and gold rings.  The salad plate is the same name but has a small diamond pattern in the middle.  I thought the black and gold color pallet was masculine while also being elegant enough to send the message that I think even "just the guys" deserve a beautiful table and it's nice because they always let me know they appreciate my time and trouble.

For flatware I used one set of four very old bone & steel knives and forks (right) and one new set meant to look old (left).   They are fun and manly for a steak dinner but due to the lack of four prongs, not really usable for the salad and baked potato so I also used sterling salad and dinner forks at each place setting.

Place cards, pun intended, were playing cards with the guys' names, set at the top of the napkins.

For their Terreno 1996 Chianti Classico I used Waterford's Lismore red wine glasses.  I like cut glass, rather than crystal, for men as it has more heft and they don't worry so much about it being delicate.

A vintage black and gold tray is set up with an ivory embroidered tray cloth, cups, saucers, creamer and sugar that match the china dinner plates, with Lismore brandy snifters for the cognac, and cigars.

A Pretty Shower Table

Intimate Shower Lunch for 8

Showers are not always giant affairs.  Because the Mother-to-Be's family lives several states away, the ladies of the father's family held a small lunch for her.  I got to set the table while the other guests brought the food.  Although I love to cook, it was a fun break for me to eat someone else's food.  I knew the baby was a girl, but didn't want an all-pink table so I brightened it up with lime green.

The first layer was a pin-tuck lime green to-the-floor cloth with a vintage white square on top that has small pink and white flowers.  The first dish layer was a frosted pink glass charger.

Vintage white cotton damask napkins were held in a roll by antique rhinestone buckles tied with hand-dyed pink silk ribbon in the back.  Each buckle is different and I found most of them during our antiquing trips to England.

Place cards were in new holders shaped like chairs in four different designs.

The centerpiece was a vintage 50's paper and tulle umbrella with ivory ribbon and paper lily of the valley flowers.

Glassware was a frosted pink water glass with opalescent stem and foot and for our white wine, a pink glass with clear stem and foot.

For our Caesar salad, I used new pink glass 8" plates with antique hand-crocheted doilies between them and the charger and antique ivory handled English tea knife and fork sets.  I included a knife because the person making the salad left it all "chunky," with whole Romaine leaves and homemade garlic Ciabatta croutons.

 

I used "White Orchid" flatware made by Oneida starting in 1953.  There's a couple at The Depot in Round Top who I always shop with for silverplate flatware.  I keep index cards of my sets with a photo on the front and an inventory on the back so I'll know what pieces I need and which ones I already have.

Small, floral china butter pats were used to hold salt and pepper with sterling salt spoons in a Lily of the Valley pattern.  (I collect all things Lily of the Valley because I have a "Lily" Granddaughter.)

For the grilled salmon main course I used an Edwin M. Knowles pattern that I don't know the name of. Pedigree doesn't matter to me.  I buy things I love.  

With the yellow, peach, pink, blue and green in the transfer there are lots of great choices for linens and glassware.

White cake wedges with lemon curd, whipped vanilla buttercream frosting and fresh raspberries were served on little 5" cake plates, each with a different floral border.   Ice cold champagne was in new, but vintage looking, etched crystal glasses.

Since the "sun porch" we ate in is not near the kitchen, we chose to serve the food buffet style, instead of plated, on an oak and rattan table covered by a white base cloth and a vintage square one in pretty pinks and grays.

The whole-leaf Caesar salad was arranged on a new platter that looks like leaf lettuce and was served with a new salad set that has stainless handles that look like an asparagus spear.

Salmon, with a peppered lemon sauce, was served on a piece of my Majolica collection that includes a "creamer" that was perfect for the sauce.  Majolica can be an expensive collectible but I prefer to take my chances and use mine on special occasions.

Gotta love those Victorians - all of the items you could think of had special serving pieces.  I used my Majolica U-curved tray and tongs to serve our asparagus with smoked sea salt and shaved peccorino.

Instructions for a fancified White Cake 

One good quality white cake mix

1-8 ounce jar of lemon curd

2 cans of Betty Crocker whipped* vanilla buttercream frosting

3 half pints of fresh raspberries, color of your choice (For this occasion I chose "gold.")

Make the cake according to the package directions in 2 - 9" round cake pans.  Cool on a rack.  Put one layer on a footed cake stand, top side down.  Spread with a generous amount of lemon curd.  Cover curd with a layer of raspberries.  Cover raspberries with a layer of whipped frosting, gently pushing down and around the berries.  (*Frosting needs to be whipped so it will not be so firm that it mashes the berries.)  Set the second cake layer on top, top side down.  Fill in any gaps between the two layers with more frosting.  Apply a very thin layer of frosting all over the cake top and sides and let it dry for a few minutes to keep crumbs from coming off and getting into your final layer of frosting.  Use the rest of the frosting on the top and sides, smoothing it out or making it wavy, your choice.  Dot more raspberries around the top edge and the plate-level edge.

Serves 8 to 12