Welcome to dinner! Glad you could drop by this evening. So sorry this is a re-run. However, it's what I want to be doing Sunday evening. Smelling the charcoal, hearing the steaks sear, enjoying the spring weather. But first ------------ we could have snow Wednesday morning. With below freezing temperatures. All the plants are brought in, the newly planted lilac covered. Bring 'er on!And with the dust preceeding the cold front today.. there was NO WAY I could set the planned table outside.
2010:
I
started with this wonderful striped table cloth purchased at Pier One
about 2 weeks ago. I love the texture of the raised stitches. The colors
are wonderful for a somewhat more rustic meal.
I used a real English ivy to add a bit of life to the table. Isn't the dappled sunlight great?
I was even able to add my new William Bounds Pep Art pepper mill to the table.
I've wanted this pepper mill for a long time. And thanks to Tuesday Morning, it now lives at our home.
I
tend to leave smaller plants in their generic planters so that I can
use them as I want by changing the outer decorative planter so it fits
into the desired location.
Add a bit of moss or other filler to the top of the pot to fill the area between generic pot and decorative planter.
The
brassware belonged to my mother in law. I believe her sister sent it to
her from overseas when her husband was stationed in the orient.
It has these beautiful figural motifs on each piece. Labeled Siam, they are from the country now known as Thailand. From what we could tell, these pieces were probably made between 1945-1949.
Oh how I love napkins. Two Saturday's ago, I actually 'cataloged'
our napkins. Husband was a bit dumbfounded to walk out of the shower
and see the king sized bed full of neat little piles of nothing but
napkins! I collect them here and there. The side benefit to all this
organization is that they are now put up quite neatly in cabinets, only
fingertips away from a table!These napkins started out as hemstitched pieces of cotton. I decided that they needed a bit more texture. I chose to whip stitch the hemstitched area with some twisted floss.
The
hurricane candle holder has a story to tell. We lost the original
insert that belongs between the base and the lid at some point in our
last move. The move gremlins must have snatched it up and made it their
own! So in need of something that would work, I grabbed a vase and it
fits perfectly.
Back out came the favorite hand-blown French glasses.
Do
you love kosher or sea salt? Finding it hard to put it in a salt shaker
with an opening large enough? Rescue a little jar destined for the
trash.
My
mother in law was going to throw this out. But that was not meant to
be. I took this beauty and knew it would be perfect to house salt. The
wooden spoon came with it!
At some point, I believe it held mustard. French of course!
The
wooden plates are also part of the wonderful things I have from my
mother in law. Triangular in shape, they hold a metal plate in the lower
portion and have an indention at the top for a salad.
The
metal plate is placed in the oven before dinner to warm up. Perfect for
steaks or anytime you want to make a special special presentation and
have the food do an extra sizzle when placed on the hot plates!
Not
quite sure what the story is on why there are two different metal
plates and they are not interchangeable. Each teak underplate is made
for a specific metal plate. I do use a wood preservative meant for
cutting boards (so food safe) to maintain the beauty of the wooden
plates.
Love
the look of the Mexican star in the background. Too bad it gets dark
so late that unless we want to eat at 10pm in the summer, it's hard to
get the total affect of the candles and lights.
Mmmm, dinner is served.. baked potato with butter, chives and sour cream. Steak au poivre medium rare. Baby portabella mushrooms deglazed with red wine.
And a green salad with French vinaigrette. There has to be something healthy on the plate?
Thanks for dropping by, I hope you had a nice visit. Do come again, I love company.
Luckily dinner was served soon as Regan was very interested in the table cloth! Note how tiny - and pure white - Regan was in 2010!
Thanks for dropping by, I love your comments. I am linking this to Cuisine Kathleen's Wednesday evening's Let's Dish and to Susan's Tablescape Thursday. See all y'all there!
