The Tables of 2011

New Year's Eve is always a time of reflection and making plans.  I have to admit that I am particularly looking forward to leaving 2011 in the past and moving on to a new year and all that it has in store for us.  Let's take a look at what 2011 looked like at our table! 

January

My mom spent a couple of months with us last winter and she loves chickens.  We had a good time putting this together and it was such a bright and happy table on a dreary day.  We were ready for some color and this did the trick. You can see this post here.

February

Trying to have a special dinner in a restaurant can sort of be like trying to have a good time on New Year's
Eve in a restaurant.  Not!!!  It's often a night of forced "romance" while the staff is focused on turning the table for the next couple.  To counter this, Valentine's Day has become one of our favorite times to give a dinner party.  See our pary here.

March

Spring was soooo welcome here in Georgia.  I know that our winter was tropical compared to many places, but to us, it was much colder than usual.  This fabric with birds inspired me to do this table.  You can see it here.

April

Spring is so beautiful in Georgia and we are so blessed to have lots and lots of azeleas in our yard.  As a celebration of them, I put this pink and green table together.  You can see it here.

May

Peonies were the next flower that we celebrated.  I had a particularly good year for them, unlike some years in the past.  This table on the lower terrace was vibrant and fun.  See it here.

June

My bridge group came for lunch in June and I had so much fun planning this bright and fresh luncheon.  Take a look here.

July

Our two youngest grandsons came for a week in July and we had fun, fun, fun!!!!  Almost all of our meals were eaten pool-side, and were pretty darned casual, but they helped me set this charming table to match their swim trunks.  Inspiration can come from anywhere.  See what we did here.

August

I thought I'd show you an August table set up in the garden.  Our woods were full of lush ferns and I brought the theme onto the table.  It can be seen here.

August

When I found these unusual martini glasses, I began planning this tablescape.  I was thinking about heading into fall colors, but I loved this coastal look on this table.  Take a look here.

September

Labor Day was sort of unusual for us, but I did try to surprise Mr. Pressed Pants with this picnic.  Hurricane Lee had a different plan for us, but you can still see my ideas here.

October

This was a chance to have my bridge friends here again.  They are always so appreciative of a pretty table, so this is what I arranged for their fall lunch.  Join us here.

November

Thanksgiving was a delightful weekend with some very special friends.  We cooked, we ate, we laughed, we ate, we lounged, we ate, we shopped, and then we ate some more.  This was the night before Thanksgiving table. See what I am so thankful for here.

December

I thought I'd show you a non-red-and-green Christmas table.  This is seasonal, but not really Christmas.  I really, really love stags, so this came together easily.  Won't you join us here.

New Year's Eve

Here's what I'm planning for this year.  It is going to be the same as last year's table but with a different menu.  It will be a lovely way to end the year .  Here's the link.

Thank you all for your inspiration, your entertainment, and your support this year.  This blogging thing is enriching my life in a very surprising way.  I hope you've enjoyed the walk down memory lane with me.  I'm looking forward to a new year of tables and entertaining, but most of all, I'm looking forward to being with the people sitting around our table.  If "food is love", then tablescaping might be adoration!!! 

Chinese Lunar New Year

I want to start this post with a wish of Happy New Year to my special little Chinese girls (Anna, Mackenzie, and Grace Ingram), and a disclaimer: I don't know how to set a table for a Chinese dinner.  Where do these things all go?  I sort of went with the Western way of doing things here, but I'd love a critique!

This was so much fun.  All that I knew I wanted to do was use gold and black and red.  I had a consultant tell me that much.  Thank you Caroline!  And I had lots of these colors.

A simple white orchid moved to the center of the table.  Easy so far!

World Market's white paper lanterns are battery operated. The arms of the chandalier are perfect for them.  I'll switch them on for you later. 

Then I sprinkled these river rocks and coins on the black tablecloth.  At first, I thought the coins were all alike, but looking closer, I think they were from different dynasties. 

A simple gold charger was topped by this black and white dinner plate from Target.  It is from their basic Home line and is the Black Band pattern.

My trusty red salad plate from Ballard's was next.

These cute rice bowls from World Market have this pagoda design on the outside......

with the tip of the pagoda on the inside.

These tiny little sauce bowls are from World Market, too.  They are only about 2" across.

Porclein spoons can be found everywhere.  I like to use them for single tastes of appetizers and even desserts.

Simple white Palm Restaurant napkins wrapped with corsage bracelets from the floral wholesaler hold red chopsticks.  They show up well on the black tablecloth.

World Market again!  They come ten to a tube.

These old red glass stems are workhorses!  I'll probably be using them again this week for Valentine's Day.

Tradition has it that a red envelope.....

filled with coins bring you good luck.  Well, when isn't money in envelope good luck????

My favorite plates were these dessert plates that tied the whole color scheme together.  (If only I had remembered dessert!)

 We started with steamed pork dumplings and a tangy soy dipping sauce.

Next up was Mr. Pressed Pant's favorite, egg drop soup.

The main course was a double helping of chicken: mandarin orange chicken and ginger chicken in egg noodle nests.  Recipes for the meal will follow. 

How about this photo of the orchid at night?

It was fun and festive and Mr. Pressed Pants proclaimed it a "home run" meal.  Oh, yeah, I promised you the recipes.  Well........just go to Trader Joe's and you'll find everything but the egg nests.  That recipe came from "Tea Time" magazine in their January/February 2011 issue.  They give you a whole menu of tea food for this occassion. In very little time, I was serving!!!!!

This was stepping out of the box for me.  Not the food, (who doesn't order Chinese), but the table.  How'd I do?  

I'm linking up with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for her Thursday Tablescape party.  Be sure to visit this for great inspiration!

betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Silver New Year's Eve 2010

As I began to gather things for our New Year's Eve table for 2011, I realized that I wanted to re-create the table that I did last year.  Sooooo.......I'm reposting that blog rather than photographing everything again.  Our meal will be different this year, but I'm pretty sure that things will look the same.  Wishing you a wonderful 2012!!!!!!!!!

After doing most of the prep work for dinner, I decided to try photographing the dining room table in the strong late afternoon light.  I really didn't think I would like the shots, but some of them were very pretty.  This one gives you a view of the table and I particularly like the reflection of the nadina berries in the salad plate.  I put the place settings all at one end of the table, as there were only three of us and I wanted it to be intimate.  We are stay-at-homers on New Year's Eve.  All we need is a nice, quiet dinner and then we watch the neighbor's fireworks and call it a night!

I've used this cloth the last two years as my New Year's Eve choice.  It is an organza overlay with a white hotel linen cloth under it.  It's almost ethereal in it's silver and white lightness.

Here's a close-up of the detail that became the theme for the table.

Here's how I used Dollar Store glittered snowflakes to echo the detail.

I used the two different sizes for the Waterford water goblet and white wine.  I also found silver snowflake place card holders at Kohl's last year.  This place was for our honored guest, "The Queen", aka, my sweet mother.  She is spending a couple of months with us to escape the cold up north.  (Funny, on the day she arrived, we had snow!!!)  She is responsible for my obsession with love of dishes and I'll have a partner in crime for a couple of months!

Here is my choice of dishes for the evening.

The silver leaf charger is from Pier One, many years ago.  The dinner plate is made by Gibson.  I bought the 20-pc. set for about $30 or $40 several years ago.  It isn't fine china by a long shot, but it gives a good look for the price.  I never worry about breakage, because you never break the icky stuff, just the precious, irreplaceable items.  The silver salad plate came from Kroger this year.  Who knew?  Kroger!!!  The flatware is my favorite collection of mis-matched silverplate.  I just buy pieces I love and only try to have a common shape to the handles.  In this case, I look for a keystone shape and it is very easy to find.

Last year, I found these dessert plates at Target and they looked great again.

If you've ever been at Homegoods and seen this Palm Restaurant line of linens, BUY it!  It launders great!  Here, I tied it with wired silver organdy ribbon and slipped a silver noise maker into the band.

Each placesetting had a silver bud vase filled with a Casa Blanca lilly and red nandina berries.  The berries were the only color on the table and I loved it like that.  The faux mercury glass votives came from Michael's last year and I put one of these at each place as well.

I was ready to put the rest of my Christmas decor away last week, but I hadn't tired of this vignette yet.  It's a mixture of vintage and new items on a heavy silver tray.  (Since the tray is sort of tarnished, I'll pretend I was going with the Shabby Chic look.)  It made a great centerpiece, even though I turned it sideways to cozy up the end of the table.  This was the side we saw as we were seated.....

And this was the "back" side of it.

This guy was on my breakfast table, all in white, for the "Ski and Snowshoe" table I did last week.  You can see it here. It's just some greens and berries added to a white serving tray with mica snow.

Here's the rest of the bunch of lillies on a chest in the dining room.  I usually dislike strongly scented flowers in the dining room, or on the table during dinner, but I make an exception for lillies or peonies!

Then, as darkness fell......

We sat down and brought in the new year.

Here's a peek at our salad course.  It is a roasted pear salad with cranberries, almonds and Saga bleu cheese.  After this course, I forgot all about pictures, as we were enjoying ourselves so much.  Trust me, my mom and I outdid ourselves and the dinner was great!  The menu is at the end of the post.

My wish for all of you is to experience the good fortune I felt that night.  I was in a beautiful home with two of the most important people in my whole life, enjoying a good meal and their unending love.  May you share these blessings as well.  Happy New Year!

Menu:

Dr. Pete's Praline sauce

over block of Cream Cheese

Assorted Crackers

Roasted Pear Salad with

Saga Bleu Cheese

Jalepeno Cheese Grits

Grouper with Crab Stuffing

Dill Sauce

Pecan Pie

Note:  As I read this menu, it sure sounds heavy on the CHEESE!!!!  Didn't notice it at the time!

I am posting this at Between Naps on the Porch on Tablescape Thursday and the recipe for the salad on Gollum's Foodie Friday.  Both of these special blogs are a wealth of inspiration.

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

See Jenny Matlock's Alpha-Thursday

for New Year's Greetings
http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/search/label/Alphabe-Thursday