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:

Tablescape Thursday

Wow Us Wednesday

Home Sweet Home

Cuisine Kathleen

Seasonal Sundays

You may have noticed that there is a lot of "It" going on in blogland.  My sweet friend, Carolyn from Sweet Chaos Home has tagged me to play in the game. the premise is that if you are tagged, you are to answer that blogger's eleven questions, and then you tag eleven other blogs and pose eleven questions to them.  So here are my answers to Carolyn's questions:


1. If you could leave for vacation tomorrow, where would you go? Hands down!  La Lavandin, a fabulous guest house just outside of Isle sur la Sorgue in the Luberon Valley of Provence.  The owner, Georgia Perrin Ball is just the best hostess you can ever imagine and the area is beyond beautiful. 
2. Would you rather have a full-time chef or a full-time housekeeper? This is another easy one to answer.  HOUSEKEEPER!!!!!
3. What is the worst job you ever had?  It sounded great, but when I was in high school, I worked at a candy store over the Easter retail season.  Before long, I couldn’t stand the smell and grew nauseous at the thought of chocolate.  Too bad that passed!
4. What would your dream job be?  I’ve always wanted to be a forensic pathologist, but the wardrobe bothers me!
5. What is the best book you've read lately?  Sarah’s Key.
6.  City or country?  City, although I presently live on seven acres in the country.  I feel like the Pioneer Woman when she says she’s an accidental country girl.
7. Would you rather live in a brand new house or an old one?  Depends!  Is it a brand new house like Tina’s at The Enchanted Home?
8. How would you describe your design style? Modern, traditional, eclectic?  Probably eclectic.  Not modern.  Not totally traditional.  French but with color.  Rustic but with refinement. 
9. Early bird or night owl? I used to be very, very productive in the morning, but now I spend hours on my computer.  Is that progress or a bad habit?
10. Lake house, mountain cabin or beach cottage?  Beach cottage…..that’s an ocean front beach, of course!
11. What is your favorite pastime?  Antiquing on a beautiful day with my best friend, a bottomless wallet, a pick up truck standing by, and endless deals.  What?  You mean for real?  Well, I’ll take antiquing with a good friend. 


Here are my eleven questions that I am passing on:
1.   Who's your dream dinner guest?
2.   What was your biggest decorating mistake?
3.   What emerging decorating trend are you contemplating?
3.   What emerging decorating trend are you never going to embrace?
4.   Overhead fans......yes or no?
5.   If you were remodeling your kitchen, and cost were not a consideration, what material would you choose for your counters?
6.   Hunter boots or Manolo Blahnik's?
7.   What's the next stamp you want on your passport?
8.   How many boxes of Girl Scout cookies did you buy?
9.   Lilly Pulitzer or Oscar de la Renta?
10.  Floral, geometric, toile, paisley, or plaid?
11.  Mamma Mia or Mission Impossible?


I'll be tagging eleven bloggers, but you're all invited to answer these!  Respond via the comment section!


Linda         

You Just Never Know!!!!

You are probably wondering what THIS......

and THIS have in common.  Me too!  Well....here's what the world of blogging brought into my life last week.

The subject line in my email inbox read "Wall Street Journal: Request for an Interview".  THAT sounded fishy!  Or it had to be intended for Mr. Pressed Pants, since he is the finance guru.  Imagine my surprise when I opened it and read that a Wall Street Journal staff reporter wanted to interview me about IRONING!   I quickly forwarded it to my husband to see if he thought it was a hoax.  I also googled the reporter, and behold!  He was legit!

It was from Ray Smith, a staff reporter, and he had read this post about ironing while I was waiting for the appliance repairman.  Oh, I know!  What are the chances???????

Well, Ray (we're on a first name basis now) was writing an article about how companies are modifying their appointment policy because consumers are growing more and more intolerant of vague wait times and appointments. He saw my 50 napkins, 5 tablecloths, 4 tea towels and a hand towel and determined that I knew something about waiting!!!!!!!!

If you care to read the article, you can find it here. 

It was a surreal experience, I tell you.  Thank you, Ray!  You've given my family and friends quite a laugh!

I never saw this coming!!!!!!!!!!

"Wood" You Like To Come To Dinner?

This is a table I've been wanting to do for a long time, so I set the table today, since tomorrow, we're having another couple over for an early dinner before a meeting.  I wish the light were better when I photographed this, but you'll get the idea.  I wanted to use these white faux bois plates, and I paired them with lots of other faux bois items.

I limited the colors to taupe, white and dark brown and I used woods and wood grains whenever I could.

I starrted with this two-tone linen tablecloth that I brought back from France.  I love the embroidery and the faggoting.

This is a better photograph of the corner.  It shows the colors better.  Do you see the cicada?  That's a traditional image in all of Provence and you see it often in their pottery and linens.

I first saw these place mats at the Merchandise Mart at the fall show in the Caspari showroom.  I wanted the entire line, but that wasn't enough to put together a minimum order.  When I saw them at Boxwoods, I bought them immediately.

  I got the matching cocktail napkins and fingertip towels, too.

These bleached wooden chargers came from World Market.

I don't remember where I got these plates, but they carry them at Boxwoods.  I can't tell you how much I love them, even though the raised wood grain detail makes it a bit hard to eat off of them!

I decided to use the dark brown napkins between plates to make them show up a bit more.  

This flatware worked well.

These tortoiseshell water glasses are some of my hardest working glasses.  I've had them so long that I can't remember where they came from, but the little raffia covered glasses are from Tennille and Company.  I like to use them for wine.

I debated and debated about flowers.  I knew I wanted to use these birch bark covered pots.  Originally, I planned on white roses, or hydrangeas.  Then I contemplated white hyacinths, but I realized that I had white daffodils and Lenten roses already growing right in the garden.  I ran out in the rain in my pajamas and grabbed some.  Then I found some river birch twigs and added them.  Sheet moss covered the oasis and I added a few pieces of lichen for a little contrast.

Here's the way the three pots looked marching down the table, interspersed with birch bark covered votives.

I'm going use these little taupe dishes as bread plates.

I've had these tiny bark baskets for a long time.  I love to line them with parsley and then place a couple of butter balls in each one.  They look like little eggs.  I've sometimes rolled the balls in herbs or spices, but tomorrow, they'll be plain.

I had to use these faux bois salt and pepper shakers.

This good old wicker wine coaster looks good on this table.

This is another piece I brought back from France.  I bought it at a market in Aix.  I don't know what it was originally used for, but I like to use it for water.

Sometimes four is the perfect number of guests.  I love the conversation that flows.

I loved the way the flowers came out.  They were interesting, but very understated.

Here are the little dishes I used for the Pot de Creme.  They look just like tree stumps!

 

If anyone has the matching cream pitcher and would like to sell it, please contact me.  I've been looking and looking for it.  This is just too cute to use with a plain Jane white pitcher. Anyone???  Anyone???

And the place settings were casual, but creative.  I like the way the table gave a nod to Spring, but didn't go toward pastels.  But wouldn't this have looked wonderful in the garden?  Give me another fifteen degrees and we'll be dining out there regularly.  Can't wait!

MENU:

Avocado and Grapefruit Salad

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed

Chicken Breast

Spring Vegetable Medley

Oven Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Chocolate Pot de Creme

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

I'll be posting at the following blog parties:

Tabletop Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Wow Us Wednesday

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com

Feathered Nest Friday

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

Inspiration Friday

www.atthepicketfence.com

Fridays Unfold

www.stuff-and-nonsense.net

Spring Bag Lunch

I held a committee meeting here today to work on an up-coming event, followed by a board meeting.  In order to have a simple lunch that we could work all morning and meet while we ate lunch,  I decided that a bag lunch seemed like a good idea!

Most everything was purchased at the grocery store, but quickly transformed into something a little more festive.  I'm lucky to have Mom visiting, so we just cranked this out this morning before everyone got here.

Pimento cheese spread and thin-sliced Pepperridge Farm white bread made tulip shaped sandwiches.

And ham salad.....

with wheat bread made flower-shaped sandwiches.

Into cellophane corsage bags they went.

I had already topped wooden skewers with some free downloaded printables.

They made pretty fruit kabobs.

Then I slid them into this printed plastic bag from the Dollar Store.

This egg shaped pan from Martha Stewart made a pretty dessert.  Martha included a complicated recipe for cake, but I just use a white cake mix.  I  used a melon baller to scoop out a bit of cake and dusted the top with confectioner's sugar.  Then I filled the hole with prepared lemon curd for the "yolk". She suggests a colored glaze on the bottom, but I didn't to that. 

Wilton cupcake holders made colorful holders for the cakes, and these were placed in a corsage bag, too.

Deviled eggs cut to make a zig-zag hat are just a slight twist on a picnic favorite.  A carrot beak and olive eyes finish them off.  

So here's lunch before it is packed in white paper bags with colorful tissue and ribbons.

Since there were no serving pieces necessary, the table setting was very simple.

The event we were prepping for is an Easter dinner with a craft project for the women of our church, so I decided to rush the season a bit and do an Eastery look with bright pink and green.

I grabbed a bright pink quilted place mat, pink linen napkins, a wooden bunny napkin ring and some pink and green flatware.  These square plates are pink and white plastic toile from Target that I bought several years ago.  

I'm generally not fond of painted glassware, but I love these stems that are painted with Easter baskets.  You can see how I used them for Easter dinner here.

The tablecloth is from Target and is part of the "Swell" collection from Cynthia Rowley.  My mood is always improved by pink and green!

A small hot pink azalea in a Guy Wolfe pot is the centerpiece.  It was a bit small for the table, but I was going with what I had around the house.

Here's the bag on the table.  

All we had to do was unpack and enjoy dining together.  This is a remarkable group of women and they are sharing so much with me.  I was happy to share lunch with them!

I'm posting at:

Tabletop Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/