Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my blog! My hope is to pass along ideas you will enjoy using in your homes and in your lives. No, I am not Oprah, giving you life advice or Nate Berkus redoing your pantry. My point of view is more practical if not occasionally foo-foo. Decorating should be fun and you should change your decor often. My ideas and vintage finds will help you do just that. Oh, and you may get some fun personal and family stories. We are a small family but we do a lot!



Since I started my blog a couple of years ago, I find I am writing more about "ideas" for your life. Or at least, things that happen in my life! Hopefully I put a smile on your face and help you set your dinner table.




Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Place Setting

     Although much of our entertaining today is casual and our busy lives do not allow us to spend a lot of time planning for dinner parties, there are still a few occasions in life that we like to be fancy. If we are going to make this effort, let's do it properly!.

     I spend a lot of time shopping in home decor stores and it is obvious that we like to set our tables to suit the event. Few people own just one set of china today. We rush out and buy table linens, glassware, candles and whatever else we can find to make our tables beautiful. The term "tablescape" certainly describes our efforts.

     People love to collect unusual pieces of flatware and I suspect many actually use these pieces. If you look at my previous posts on silver you will see many of these pieces that you may want to include in your collection.



     Let's start with a formal look for your next dinner party. No matter what the occasion, your intent is to make your guests comfortable and this fact dictates the placement of china, silver and crystal. The picture above shows more pieces than you would ever use for one meal. You should use just the pieces you need for your menu and no more.

     Here is an idea of the menu for the pieces shown in the picture.

                              A shellfish appetizer
                              Soup or fruit and cheese
                             A fish course
                             The main course of meat or chicken
                             A salad
                             Various wines, water and coffee
                             A dessert

     The dinner plate is in place for food to be served at the table. Atop the dinner plate is the salad plate and a berry bowl. If the salad were already on the table when  your guests are seated this would be the placement. After the salad is eaten you would remove the salad plate. If the salad is served after the main course, it would be placed in front of the guest after the dinner plate is removed.

     On top of the salad plate is a berry bowl. The berry bowl is one of those pieces you probably are not familiar with. It is an old piece used just as it says for berries...raspberries, strawberries, blue berries, whatever berry you wish! Most likely these would be served at the end of the meal as a dessert. If so the bowl would be placed on a saucer and set directly in front of the guest.

     To the left of the place setting is the bread plate. It is smaller that a salad plate and is used to hold your bread and a small amount of butter. The individual butter knife is placed across the top of the plate. Recently I have noticed some restaurants are improperly placing the butter knife. My family was eating at a popular and rather "foo-foo" place in New  York. This faux pas was the first thing that caught my eye. Oh, those Yankees! (I will interject a note here on restaurant service. It seems to me these wonderful establishments have their own set of rules for  service and placement of dishes and silver. I suspect their ideas are for the convenience of the servers and not for lovers of traditions and proper etiquette. My point is do not use a restaurant as your guide.)

     The flatware is used from the outside in. This is universal and guides your guests through the meal without a hitch. Starting on the right side of the plate is a cocktail fork for the shellfish appetizer. Next is the soup spoon. You may serve a fruit and cheese course next so there is a fruit knife on the right. The next knife is a fish knife and to the left of the dinner plate the first fork is a fish fork. Next to this fork is the salad fork. Finally, the dinner knife is the closest to the dinner plate on the right and the dinner fork closest of the left. Above the place setting is the dessert fork and spoon for coffee.

     All of those glasses, where do we start? I have heard that you can put up to five glasses at a place setting but I feel that is WAY too many! If  you want white wine with the fish course and red wine with the meat course, bring that glass to the table with the food. You would not be drinking both red and white at the same time. My personal rule is a water glass and a glass for whatever beverage is being served with that course.

     For most any meal you will want a water glass. That is the stemmed round bowl glass with the gold rim. To the right of the water glass is a red wine glass. To the right of this glass is the white wine glass and the champagne flute is to it's left. The small glass to the upper right of the coffee cup is a sherry or dessert wine glass. Personally, I like to serve this drink away from the table when we have all retired to the parlor!

     The coffee cup and saucer should be placed on the table along with the dessert. Of course, this is another drink your guests may enjoy while sitting in a over-stuffed chair by the fireplace after they leave the table.

     The napkin has been placed in a napkin ring, which was once a bit casual. Today using napkin rings is most acceptable. For a formal dinner the guests sould leave the soiled napkin unfolded on the table at the end of the meal.  For family meals and for house guests who will be eating more than one meal, the napkin is replaced in the napkin ring and left at their place at the table. Depending on your menu and the neatness of your family you should probably launder the napkins every other day.

     One more note on napkins. When you use folded napkins the fold should allow you to place the raw edges toward the plate. This is so the guest may pick up the napkin and it will unfold easily for placement in the lap. One popular web site says the opposite of this but I was taught as I have described and I stand by it. It makes sense and remember your intent is to make this easy on your guest.

    
     Here is a place setting more appropriate for week day dinners for the family. Let's ignore all those pieces to the right and we will call this our basic place setting. I don't know about you but my week night meals do not have five courses unless they are the Hungry Man TV Dinner!

     A place mat and napkin are for every meal and the formality is decided by your fabrics, style and color choice. Here we have a red straw place mat and a cotton napkin with a hand painted rooster. Tablecloths are not used much today for a couple of reasons. Many of our tabletops  are quite beautiful. Place mats allow us to show off those tables. The other reason is who has time to launder and iron a tablecloth?

     I remember receiving several Damask clothes with matching napkins as wedding presents. Previously I have disclosed that I have been married more years than I am old so, yes, this was right after the War Between the States. Even then, they were a bit "old fashioned" for me but I remember reading about these beautiful cloths and I must share my knowledge with you.

    Damask tablecloths were intended to be  used only once and then discarded. I assume this was because even in the time of  household help, the chore of ironing these cloths is torture. Although I love the extravagance of this idea, I will tell you I used mine and I washed them and I ironed them. As a young bride of twenty-two, living in Boston, there was no household help! Oh, if I had only known!

     The china in the picture is simple and includes a variety of patterns. For most family meals a dinner plate and salad plate are your most used pieces. Once again I have the salad plate on top of the dinner plate although I  usually use it on the left above the fork. I show the bread plate in that position in this picture. The bowl is for soup or a fruit appetizer.

     The flatware is similar to the pieces used in the formal setting with the exception of an iced beverage spoon and a dessert spoon. Remember this is just for demonstration purposes and most likely you would not use many of these pieces.

     In closing, the idea here is to have fun with you meals. Our styles are as varied as our menus and there is room for whatever your taste might be. Just try to keep it proper and follow the time worn "rules" because they are there for comfort and ease which lead to an enjoyable meal.

Post Script
     I mentioned Damask napkins and living in Boston. Here I was a little Southern bell in the center of New England Yankee-land and to my horror at one of my first dinners, a woma, who I actually invited,  blew her nose at the table into one of my brand new linen napkins. Need I say more about Yankees?

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Were You Invited?

                                                                  

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Royal Wedding

     Strange that just a couple of days ago I was once again in Richmond for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. (No the wedding was not in Richmond. I was in Richmond!) Thirty years ago when Prince Charles married Diana I awoke at three in the morning to watch that wedding from Virginia. We lived in Fredericksburg then.

     I remember discussing the details of the wedding with my hair dresser who was from London. It was fun to hear his thoughts on the event since to me he was an "insider." The moral of this story is the years pass quickly so enjoy every minute to the hilt!
    Here is my tea party to celebrate our British cousin's big day. It's an almost proper, almost High Tea!

     Growing up in Nashville, teas were my favorite event. My mother gave many and attended even more. I loved the tiny sandwiches and the sweet Russian tea in beautiful china cups. Sometimes there were tiny biscuits the size of a quarter stuffed with ham and butter. Yes, these teas were the Southern version of High Tea but they did not take a back seat to whatever they  were doing in England.
For my Royal Wedding Tea I made Cranberry Scones, Chicken Salad finger Sandwiches, Cucumber Crescents, Tomato Sandwiches and Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes.

Friday, March 25, 2011

More Coffee Fun

      Here's another variation on the Coffee Tray. This one is for yummy French Press coffee, my daughter's method of choice. These little demitasse cups are part of my vast collection of white ware. You know how I love the white!
     The French Press coffee maker was invented in France in the late 19th century. Over the years it was refined and was finally patented by Felieno Bondanini, an Italitan, in 1958.
     You should use a coarse grind of coffee because finer grinds will seep through the filter. I find French Press coffee to be a bit oily. This is because these essential oils in coffee beans become trapped in paper filters. The French Press has a wire or nylon mesh filter, allowing more flavor and these oils to escape to your coffee cup.
     The press is smaller and easier to store than traditional coffee makers and you may adjust the strength of your coffee. They are great for making a small amount of really fresh coffee.
     You should not let French Press coffee stand because it will become bitter rather quickly. Actually this is a taste the French find apealing. You can make tea using loose tea with the French Press but it should be consummed quickly because of the same bitterness will likely occure.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Home Vignettes



The Coffee Bar
  How many times do you grab a latte or some other overpriced coffee drink when you are out shopping? For a while I got so in the habit, I purchased a Starbucks card just so I could get the coffee quicker! Well, I set up this little Coffee Bar for what a few of those cups of black gold cost and I can have my cappuccino or latte anytime I wish.Here's how I stocked The Coffee Bar. Should I bring my espresso machine out from California or buy a new one? It seemed easier to just buy a new one. I did not buy an expensive machine. Remember we are doing this rather than buying expensive coffee out.

This brings to mind a story I must share with you. A few years ago I decided to accept a job at a major fun venue in Southern California. Names will not be mentioned here but use your imagination. The salary might have been good for the company but not too good for my taste in clothes. Before my first day at work, my husband and I went out to buy a few suits I would be needing.

After selecting a few suits and trying them on, I decided on three suits. I showed my husband and asked what he thought. He replied in true form, "Yes, Lisa. I think spending four figures on clothes to wear on a job that pays two figures an hour makes perfect sense".  So you see, we cannot buy a four hundred dollar espresso machine because we are not buying a five dollar cup of coffee!

You will also need cups. I love those huge heavy cups for my latte and I found these black ones at Pier One. They hold the heat and give you plenty of room for making those heart shaped designs with the foam. Those two little espresso cups came from Ikea and only cost a few dollars.

In the tray I have a couple of canisters with screw lids. One holds the ground coffee and the other packets of artificial sweeteners. Once again, since we are keeping this reasonable, I opted for ground espresso. In the future I may bring my coffee bean grinder to Virginia but for now I am using pre-ground. We use it quickly so the taste is still good. There's a bottle of my favorite flavor syrup, hazelnut.


Coffee making supplies

Here are the tools you need for the perfect coffee drink. A measuring spoon. Most measures that come with coffee machines are a one tablespoon size. I have a silver one that is a two tablespoon size which is good if you are making a whole pot of coffee. Beside the measuring spoon is a tamper. This is used to compact the coffee grounds in the basket. Next I have a battery operated frother. Sometimes you need a little extra help with the steamed milk and this little gadget works really well. A note on these frothers. Since I was buying all this stuff in Richmond where I am still learning my way around, the only one I found was at a popular bath-kitchen store. The price was twenty dollars which seemed very expensive. I knew mind at home came from Ikea and cost much less. On my next trip to my favorite Scandinavian store, I got this one for two dollars. Worth the wait!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Salt Cellars

When I began posting all the pictures of flatware, I went to little cabinet that holds my collection of salt cellars to look at the tiny salt spoons. The salt cellar collection was given to me in total about fifteen years ago. The following Christmas my husband gave me a beautiful little mahogany and glass wall cabinet to house the collection. There it has hung in my dining room ever since. As I mentioned in the flatware posts, we do use the salts for holiday dinners but I just realized I have never really learned about the salts I own.

Last weekend at the Rose Bowl a customer was thrilled to tell me she had just learned of the use of salt cellars. It occurred to me, maybe you would all enjoy seeing my collection. As I mentioned, the collection was a gift but I was given the pleasure of selecting every piece.

The beautiful sterling salt pictured above is my favorite. It is a footed rectangular bowl with two tiny birds perched on either end. I have spent the day researching it and so far I have no information to share. I imagine it is quite old but I dare not date it. Perhaps it is a hundred years old or even older. It is shown here with one of my Chantilly salt spoons.

In my family, these tiny works of art have always been simply referred to as "salts". I have learned today that the terms "standing salt" and "open salt" are also used. They are used at each individual place at a dinner table and filled with table salt. Their use seems to date back almost to the beginning of time.

When salt was considered a coveted commodity it deserved a grand presentation. In the 1950's salts became a popular collectors item and somewhat fell out of practical use. Today they are having a bit of a comeback due to the use of coarse salt and specialty salts.

This group of clear glass salts shown on the right includes pressed glass, cut glass and crystal.  The larger bowl in the middle is a master salt and would be used for the entire table.

As with the clear glass group above, this colorful picture has pressed glass, hobnail, etched and a lovely cobalt blue lined sterling salt. The etched pale yellow salt is a pedestal and quite delicate. The amber colored double bowl salt is used for salt and pepper.
 Here is a close-up of the cobalt blue liner which fits inside the sterling basket. This style seems to be very popular and dates throughout the era of salts. I have a set of four pepper shakers in cobalt and sterling that coordinate quite well with this piece. I love the tiny salt spoon shown with this salt cellar. It is one of the smallest in my collection and the bowl of the spoon is in the shape of a scallop shell.
 Hand painting is rather common in the decorating of salt cellars. This beautiful group dates from the 1800's forward. The pink flower salt on the lower left dates from the 1920's - 1930's. It is English and so pretty. The pink rose painted on the bowl in the middle is quite detailed. This is a Dresden piece from Germany. the oblong dish at the bottom of the picture is marked "Nippon."
 This interesting salt may not be my favorite based on appearance but it is one of the more fascinating in the collection and perhaps the oldest. It is two shades of brown In the Harvestware pattern. There is a sterling silver rim which shows a hallmark. It is marked Doulton Lambeth, England and probably dates to the 1890's.

Here on the right, is a selection of luster ware salts. Once again there is a master salt in the middle. Sometimes people call these larger salts nut bowls but they are intended for serving salt. The blue bowl on the left and the lavender bowl on the right are both three footed salts. The blue one is German and the lavender is from Japan. The square dish at the bottom is Noritake and hand painted. It shows the M on the bottom for Morimura Brothers.  The oval salt at the top is also a hand painted Noritake of the same era. This mark goes back to 1918 although these two pieces may not be that old.

 Here is another master salt from Japan. The blue and yellow rimmed salt on the left is one I have added to the collection. It belonged to my favorite aunt and she displayed it on a tiny wooden pedestal. It is marked "Made in Japan". The small gold rimmed white salt is another that is old. It is a three footed bowl that is Imperial Nippon and also hand painted.
 This is part of a large set I purchased at an estate sale here in Orange County several years ago. I held onto this set of six gold salt cellars. They are small, a little over an inch across and quite lovely.


To the left are three Belleek salts and one mother-of-pearl bowl. The mother-of-pearl at the top of the picture is very small and beautifully carved. The handle of the matching spoon had been broken over the years but little girls think it is just their size!

The Belleek shell on the left is perhaps the most beautiful in the collection. The underside of the shell is quite detailed and the salt cellar is sitting on three tiny china shells. The inside of the bowl is yellow.

Belleek Pottery dates back to 1857 in County Fermanagh, Ireland. The company has gone through many changes and Belleek is still made today. My pieces are not terribly old but they are very pretty. Being Irish myself, I have a special place in my heart for these salts and love using them.


The chicken has to be the most whimsical in the collection. This design is extremely popular not only for salt cellars but many other pieces of tableware. My chicken is Jadeite and still has her painted eyes and most of the red comb on her head. She is sitting in a Jadeite basket was one of my daughter's favorites. The small Jadeite salt at the bottom has a star design in the bottom.
These clear glass salts complete my collection. There are several cut glass salts here and on the middle right is a delicate salt cellar on a little pedestal. There is a grape leaf at the upper left and a beautiful cut glass bowl in the middle.

Collecting salt cellars is a fun and rather inexpensive hobby. True the sterling silver salts can run over one hundred dollars there are plenty of salts available for under ten dollars. They can be beautiful in their simplicity or very elaborately painted. They do not take up a lot of room so it is the perfect collection for an apartment dweller and you can actually use  your collection. Your dinner guests will be delighted!           

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day to All

Happy love day! It's the day we celebrate our love for those who we cherish. It seems this year there is a lot of talk of "I don't do Valentine's Day". Well, I do. Since we have a special day for every other reason under the shinning sun, why not LOVE?
Because of our crazy life right now, my love, my husband is working from home today so we get to spend heart day together. Of course, if I go into his office and interrupt him one more time, that love may diminish temporarily!
Enjoy your day of love and remember those who make your life better.  If you forgot to send a card then give them a call. They will feel loved and you will blessed with a peaceful day! Oh, and my love to all of you.


Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Home Vignettes

 The Bar Tray
 I found this rolling tray and stand at my favorite junque store in Richmond and it was just what we needed in our apartment there. My goal is to find a wonderful large silver tray to hold everything. Until then I am using this footed silver tray which is lovely. It just needs to be a bit larger.

We are not really very big drinkers but I love this look. And the fun of the apartment is, I can do anything with it. There are rules to follow in decorating your home  but this little place is a bonus residence and what fun it is!

OK, The Bar Tray is a  cute and handy way to keep your party supplies out and and ad some simple sophistication to a room. I have stocked ours with a carafe of wine, some good Tennessee whiskey, vodka for an occasional Cosmo and Sapphire gin because it is pretty. There is also some good Virginia bottled water just in case someone really wants a drink!

There is a small size cocktail shaker for that occasional Cosmo. The drink stirrers, aka swizzle sticks, I brought from home and are part of my collection. These are mostly roosters to go with the French Country motif I have loosely used in the kitchen.

I could not find a pretty small ice bucket. Bar ware is pretty popular now but all I found was an ice bucket trimmed in leather. For now, this is a candle holder. I stuck some  1930 vintage tongs in it and I'm calling it an ice bucket. The pretty little cordial glasses I found at an estate sale. They don't serve much purpose for serious drinking but they look pretty. Monogrammed cocktail napkins complete the tray.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Bergdorfs

After a stop at The Plaza, my husband and our daughter walked next door to see the Christmas windows at Bergdorf Goodman. Usually referred to as just, Bergdorf's, this landmark luxury store has been in it's present location since 1928. The store itself is a  piece of art but the displays in the windows at Christmas time are stunning. This years theme is "Wish You Were Here."
The doorway is amazing. The white tree seem to sprout from the light above the magnificent doors.
You may think at first glance that you are having a flashback from something you did in the 60's but the detail of these windows is amazing. There is so much to take in I had to divide each scene in to sections and ponder what my eyes were transmitting to my brain. There are so many elements of each "chapter" you need pictures to further enjoy each window after you return home.
A shopper gazes in on Stellatum Antiquum.




Could these two be an under sea Tweedledee and Tweedledum? Who knows? They have no breathing apparatus but do they need such?
The Cheshire Cat?
The grand "frame" around this window made me look around to see if I had missed something. The beauty of this window is breathtaking.