A Cousin's Anniversary

Posh Dinner for Four

I held our dinner for four in our sun room's round dining area using my best, Herend, china and beautiful antique blue "Versailles" crystal for our menu of fresh garden corn and zucchini chowder with Ciabatta croutons, standing rib roast, baked potatoes, gold zucchini stewed with red onions and tomatoes from the garden, croissants, and for dessert, cheesecake with glazed fresh fruit on top.

The first layer on the table was a round, pin-tucked green cloth to the floor.

The next layer was a square white organdy cloth with white embroidery imported from Switzerland by a wonderful china & linens shop in Austin.  

A close-up of the embroidery.

Our centerpiece was six big balls of blue hydrangea in a new mercury glass bucket-shaped vase.

The dinner plate is the "Princess" pattern from the Queen Victoria line of Herend china.  This pattern is a relatively new addition to the line that was added when people began wanting a plainer pattern to show off the food more.

The soup bowl is the more classic Queen Victoria botanical pattern with flowers and butterflies.  Each piece is different.

Because I don't have the small bread plates, I used the larger dessert plates for bread.  These too have different flowers and butterflies.

Unless you are a minimalist, in which case you would not be reading my blog anyway, building up layers adds interest, dimension, and richness to the table the same way it would if you were decorating your mantel for Christmas.  This is true whether you are using paper goods for a picnic in the park or your best china and silver in the dining room.

The silverware for this dinner was Grande Baroque by Wallace.  In the 1960's a china shop in Oklahoma City had a bridal plan whereby the newly wed could pay out the purchase but got to take the goods home in the mean time.  (Can you imagine any store being that trusting today?)  That is how I got my sterling.  I would buy two place settings at a time and pay on them for six months and then buy two more.   For this menu I used the dinner fork and knife for the main course, the soup spoon for the first course, and the salad fork for dessert.

I also used the butter spreader on the bread plate.  In the 50 years I've been buying it, the shape of the butter spreader changed once so I have butter knives with the same handle, but different shaped blades.  This is the newer of the two.

Mixed in with new linens and china are my antique mercury glass salt cellars.  I have them in several shapes but for this dinner, I used four that match.  Along side are the little Grande Baroque salt spoons.

The white napkins are solid, lightweight cotton that went well with the organdy cloth.  The ring is new but looks vintage with it's gold and silver beads and freshwater pearls.

The blue etched crystal is vintage Fostoria in their "Versailles" pattern.  I've gotten most of it from a glass dealer in Coles antiques mall at Warrenton.  The taller is for water and I used the balloon-shaped for our red Italian Barolo wine.

Never limit yourself to what a piece is supposed to be used for!  I think technically this is a martini pitcher, but I used it for water.  It, and the balloon wines, would also be great for lemonade at a lady's tea.

This cute wine pourer is made to look like a butler in uniform.  We collect all things wine related for our round wine room that is off the dining room.  During our England trips, my husband looks for antique cork screws, some more than 200 years old, champagne corkers, wine bottle coasters, etc.

The architect who designed our round wine room was Paige Wilburn, our daughter-in-law, who's married to our oldest, Sam.  (She designed the whole house.)

The table, as set for four.

Summertime Visitors

Brunch for Six

Brunch is a favorite of mine because it gives you some time to get your meal prepped, as opposed to early breakfast, and it often has menu items that can be made, or at least started, ahead.  Also, because everyone loves it.  Food that would otherwise be a no-no, such as fatty meats and carbs, are indulged in for brunch.  You have the rest of the day to wear off all those calories!  For this brunch our menu was a first course of prosciutto-wrapped cantaloupe wedges from our garden, a main course of grillades and grits and square biscuits with homemade fig preserves and peach jam.  And for dessert, a blueberry bread pudding with tart lemon sauce.

The first layer on the round table was a lipstick red cloth to the floor that was topped by a vintage cloth with chickens.  I collect 40's square cotton cloths with chickens to use just for breakfast and brunch.

I chose Harker "cameoware" dishes called Engraved Rooster or Cock of the Walk in yellow, which the company named "Golden Spice."  Harker, the oldest pottery company in the US, started in 1840, and began making cameoware in 1935.  It's a process by which the white design is lower than the rest of the surface of the piece making it look engraved.

Because of the "dish washer proof" label on the back of this piece, I think it was probably produced in the 1960's.  Earlier labels said "detergent resistant." 

Our first course cantaloupe and prosciutto was served on the 7" dessert or salad plate which is engraved with the same rooster as the dinner plate.

This menu gave me the chance to use several pieces of flatware - the dinner fork for the main course, the salad fork for dessert, the dinner knife for the main course, the tea spoon for coffee, and the butter knife for the biscuits and jam.  I particularly love the dinner knife which is a rather odd shape with a shorter than usual metal part that is lightly serrated.  It was probably meant to be used as a steak knife.

Although I have sets of Bakelite that match, I like to mix and match different patterns.  For this table I used four different tea spoon patterns, each a little different in color and handle shape.

I used two different butter knife patterns in the same color but different shapes.

I don't have 6" bread plates in the rooster pattern so I mixed in LuRay with it.  The two sets are almost a color perfect match.

LuRay, made by Taylor, Smith, and Taylor, has the date made on the back of each piece.  It's fun to know how old each piece is.  It's great pastel colors, blue, green, pink, and yellow, are fun by themselves and since there is no pattern, great to mix and match with other sets.

I used vintage yellow cotton damask napkins with a white leaf pattern and Bakelite napkin rings in shades of orange.

The complete place setting for the first course, and, with the 7" plate removed, for the main course also.

The glasses, with "ombre" dots, are so in style right now but are actually vintage.  I have some in this color combination and some with only yellow dots.  I also have one or two shorter, juice glasses, with the multi-color dots, but need more to use when we have guests.

I had not originally planned to use a red base cloth but one has to "go with the flow," so when the grocery store didn't have any bouquets of all orange roses, but did have multi-color bouquets, I added red into the color scheme.  The vase is a LuRay epergne (pronounced "ah-purn").  In addition to holding flowers in the top and in holes in the sides, you can also float flowers in the base.  I added branches of rosemary from my garden.  I think it is always appropriate to add herbs to any centerpiece that is for a meal.  You do need to be careful that the flowers you use don't smell so strong that they overwhelm the food though.

The salt and pepper is part of the Harker rooster set.  The oatmeal bowls, which were used for the two homemade jams, are part of the LuRay set.

The table set for dessert.  The Harker cereal bowls, for the bread pudding, are solid yellow on the inside and solid white on the outside.  (The light makes the cloth look orange, which it was not.)

 Keep an open mind.  I think ending up having to add red, because of the color of roses that was available, made for a bright, cheerful 

morning table and was not something I would have thought of otherwise as going well with yellow.

    The cup and saucer, sugar and creamer are part of the Harker set.  Quite a modern shape for their day!

I used a wicker table for a "buffet" for food service.  The cloth has oranges and orange blossoms, which fit in with both the fact it was brunch and with my color scheme.

Most of the serving pieces - pitcher for juice, bowls for grillades and grits, and gravy boat for the bread pudding's lemon sauce, are LuRay.  I used a white wicker basket with two of the yellow napkins for the biscuits and a new white casserole dish for the bread pudding.

For serving the bread pudding, I used a pie server with an painted flower embellished Bakelite handle.

For the grillades and grits I used Bakelite serving pieces in different, but similar, patterns and colors.

Love having guests who are always graciously giving me compliments on my table settings and food which of course makes all the planning and work worthwhile.  (Don't tell them I had fun doing it!)

Square biscuits for Six

My father-in-law taught me to make square biscuits at his deer hunting camp.  They are faster to cut and require no rerolling.  Use your favorite biscuit recipe or double the recipe on the Bisquick box.  Roll or pat out into a 6" X 8" rectangle, straightening and smoothing edges.  Using a sharp knife dipped in flour, cut into 12 - 2" squares.  No recutting needed.  Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray about an inch apart.  Brush tops with melted butter or cream.  Due to being a little thicker than usual, these may take a bit longer in the oven than recipe directions say.  Bake until golden and test with a pick.

Dishes and Glasses and Linens, Oh My!

Where Oh Where To Put It All

When you love all things table as much as I do, you end up with lots of things that need storage space.  In planning our new home, we took all of our collections into consideration for built-in spaces as well as for deciding on antique furnishings.  Today's blog will be about the built-in areas I use for dish storage.

On the "cover" of my blog you see this cabinet.  It was from a convent in Dallas but we bought it in an antiques shop in Athens, Texas.  It's claim to fame was that it was in the opening sequence of the movie, Spy Kids II.  We had it in storage for many years until we built our current home.  Our daughter-in-law was the architect so she worked with us on building in several of our antique pieces.  This is off the kitchen, in what we call the "Butler's Pantry."  Ten sections are exclusively devoted to my collection of LuRay dishes from the the 1940's.  The top of the cabinet has sets of things like soup bowls, platters, and glasses that I use for large group dinners.  The bottom shelf has small appliances that I don't use on a daily basis.  Outlets were built into the floor of the shelf so the appliances can be used right there.  At the far end are three rods for my vintage 1930's - 1950's tablecloths which I change seasonally.  The drawers hold all kinds of things from all our appliance warranty books to one devoted to the daily making of iced tea.  The cabinets below the drawers have glassware, baby dishes, casserole dishes, etc.  I'm not generally in favor of altering an antique but in this case I knew it was here forever so I had our cabinetmaker redo the drawers so they would slide in and out smoothly and put roll-out shelves inside the lower cabinets.  

The major dish area is on the second floor and looks down into the kitchen.  Each of the two sides has 25 cubbies.  Some sets take up two cubbies and some cubbies have more than one small set.  Originally, this area was to be accessed from the kitchen by a rolling library ladder but when the framing was complete and I saw how high above the kitchen floor it was, I knew it would not be safe to climb up and down the ladder carrying dishes.  So, I asked her to rethink how to access it and she came up with the "mezzanine" idea.  Now, you ask, isn't it a pain in the petuty to get the dishes from the second floor to the kitchen and dining room, which is also on the first floor?  Well, yes, but not too bad because we have an elevator.  I have a tea cart parked at the end of the convent cabinet that I use to go up to the mezzanine and bring down dishes.

 It took me three weeks of solid work to transport and put away my dishes when we moved in.  (Thank goodness the two houses are only 7 miles apart!)  I tried to arrange the cubbies attractively, not just stack things by size.  In some cases I added glassware and/or salt & peppers, or mix and match soup bowls and salad plates, or English tea knife sets to compliment certain sets.  I asked the architect to make the inside of each cubby dark wood, rather than white paint, because I thought the wood would show off dishes, that are mostly light in color, better.

Another built in is the back of the banquette where my husband and I eat our meals.  I refer to it as a dish "credenza."  It holds six sets, which I change out fairly often, that I'm using on a daily basis at that time.   I generally do not move the whole set from its cubby, but rather the pieces I know I use all the time; for example, 2 dinner plates plus an extra to use as a small platter, 2 soup/cereal bowls, 2 salad/dessert plates, veggie bowls, and a gravy boat.

The first drawer in the credenza holds various salt & pepper sets, the second silverware, and the third, napkins.

The upper kitchen cabinets all have glass doors.  I knew with a separate pantry for storage, I could use the kitchen cabinets for pretty dish display space.  This one, to the left of the sink, has an antique set of white Johnson Bros with  gold rims, a new set from Pottery Barn, the beginnings of a set of mix and match Mexican motif, mostly Homer Laughlin, and the lower right is for wine glasses I'm using with the credenza dishes.

My 1930's - 40's Jadite takes up two cabinets.  I use the smallish oval platters often as a dinner plates.  I also have Jadite refrigerator storage containers that I actually use, like a water dispenser and a large, shallow, ribbed box that I use for citrus fruits.  My fridge also has glass so the Jadite tray full of citrus colors looks pretty through the door.

This cabinet, to the right of the sink, has my collection of glassware with colored rings and my Taylor, Smith, and Taylor "Vistosa."  It was made for only 4 years, 1939-1942, as a competitor for Homer Laughlin's Fiestaware.  Although they look quite a bit alike and are basically the same colors, Vistosa is easily recognized by its piecrust edges.  I also have several sets in this cabinet of English tea knife sets in their holders.  My favorite is the parrot in the upper left photo below.

      The cabinet to the left of my stove holds various serving pieces from extra glass veggie bowls, to artichoke plates, to toast racks and extra Jadite mugs as well as a new set of green & white transferware called "Timberlake Camp."

      These are all the built in dish storage areas in our home.  Another time I'll show you my furniture dish storage pieces and also where I store glassware, silverware, and linens.  Hope you're having fun with your dishes and making attractive tables for your family.  I still have as much fun playing house as I did when I was 9 and my Grandparents made an old chicken coop into my area.