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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Bridge Buddies Come for St. Patrick's Luncheon

I'm re-posting a luncheon that I served last March for my bridge buddies.  This is my contribution to Cuisine Kathleen's St. Patrick  Day's Party.  Isn't she sweet to do this? All of you ladies who take the time each week to host parties are heros in my book!

I rushed St. Patrick's Day a bit when I had my bridge group for lunch on Tuesday.  

I love a mix of high and low items with a bit of kitsch.

I started out with some felt placemats from Michael's.  There were three different patterns.

Then I used my plain gold banded Lenox for the underplate and this fern pattern china for the luncheon sized plate.  I found it at a tag sale and excitedly bought the service for twelve.  Then I proceeded to drop all twelve dinner plates and broke every one of them.  There wasn't even enough left to send to a restorer.  They were dust!

My favorite mis-matched silverplate and ivory handled knives were my choice for flatware.

The crystal was Waterford.  What else for St. Patrick's Day?  I placed the goblets on a sparkly foam cut-out from Michael's just to add some color and interest.

I wasn't serving bread today, so there was no call for butter, but I wanted to use these little butter pat dishes.   I settled on using them as individual salt and pepper dishes.

The centerpiece was very simple.  I used three blooming pots of shamrocks and stuck white carnations in them.

Don't you love the faux bois design on the porcelain basket?

I love to use a printed menu when we entertain.  I found a printed napkin ring that I downloaded from a site I found on Pinterest.  The white linen napkin from The Palm line of linens was folded into a pocket for the menu.

I used a silly little green dog as the image, also from Pinterest.  The quote at the bottom reads:
"May God give you....for every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise, and a blessing in each trial.  For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share,
 for every sigh a sweeet song and an answer for each prayer."  Unknown

A friend brought this to me at a St. Pat's dinner a couple of years ago.

More silliness:  the place cards were potatoes with a decorative ribbon and the names on flags.

The favors were dollar store garden gloves with tags that read, "I'm Lucky That We're Friends".  And I AM!!!

Appetizers were asparagus spears wrapped in puff pastry, herbed cheese, and prosciutto.  Just for today, I called them Leprechaun Wands.

These white ironstone footed bowls held the potato soup that I served with mini Reuben sandwiches.  (Corned beef, ya know?)

And dessert was super simple and pretty.  It was a pistachio parfait with crushed Lorna Doones in between layers.  Then I simply stuck a green plastic shamrock pick in the top.  These green depression glass plates and Juliska glasses made them look especially pretty.  I bought gold coins (from the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow) to scatter on the plates, but I couldn't find them for days.  Of course, I found them this morning.

I set up the coffee on a silver tray.  I used a lot of these elements for a St. Patrick's dinner party last year.  You can see that post here.

It is always so rewarding to entertain people who are appreciative, and these women are the best!  I would have them here every week.  We played a little bridge, but the eating and chatting were definitely the main event!

I'll share this post at the following parties:







11 comments:

  1. I LOVE your creativity!!! I left work early yesterday to attend a special tables teeing event and I would have been so much more inspired by reading your blog post!

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  2. What fun! Your party was lovely ,I so enjoyed-Denise

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  3. I am blown away by the attention to details you went to. I especially loved the garden gloves...love, love loved them!

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  4. Linda~ I want to be a committee member AND a bridge buddy~ never mind that I don't play bridge! I love your spuds place card holders, your menu card, your Pistachio Parfait and your beautiful fern plates. I'm only sorry the dinner size were broken~ what a sick feeling! Your aparagus spears/leprechaun wands are genius :)

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  5. That's a very pretty setting, love the place cards:@)

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  6. What a fun get together! Love your creativity!

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  7. Linda, what a beautiful table! The luncheon plates are such a pretty pattern. Thank goodness you have them. I know you must've been heartsick about the dinner plates, but no crying over broken plates!! Your centerpiece is so pretty and your menu divine! Love the place cards, too. Your friends are lucky to have you! Happy St. Paddy's Day.

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  8. I remember this post, specifically because I had the deepest, sickest feeling when I read about you dropping those plates!!! I can just imagine how awful you must have felt! Well, I hope the luck o' the Irish is with you a little better this year!!! :-) Have a wonderful weekend!!!

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  9. Such pretty details, but what a sad story about the dinner plates. Ouch!
    Thanks for sharing this pretty luncheon setting. The potato place card holders are clever. Happy St. Patrick's Day! ~ Sarah

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  10. I'm glad you still have the salad dishes and cups and saucers! They work well with your dinner plate! This must have been such a fun luncheon. The potatoes are hilarious as place card holders and the menu is such a good idea too. But the gloves are ingenious!!! What a great take home gift! I'm going to copy this idea for a lunch with my friends too. Thanks for sharing and enjoy St. Patty's Day! Linda

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  11. I love this table, and the whole theme was carried out beautifully! The garden gloves are perfect!
    Thanks for linking to the blog crawl, I appreciate it!

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