Bonjour, Bestie!

It's always a special time when my best friend, Lesesne, comes to visit!  But, even though I want to spoil her, we never take the time to entertain her very well.  We don't take time to cook or set pretty tables, since we just want to shop, shop, shop, and show her some of our favorite restaurants.

But, I did set a fun breakfast table one morning.  Since she and her sweet husband were our tour guides for our trip to France, (my most favorite trip ever), and we share our love for all things French, I decided to use these "Bonjour" plates by HomeEssentials.

I snapped these photos in the a.m. instead of waiting for the sun to provide me with good light.

These Eiffel Tower stems were perfect for juice, or, in her case, a Diet Coke!!

And the napkins were some we bought at a market day vendor in Provence.  Then I added this cobalt blue handled flatware.

I had this bouquet of sunflowers outside, so I just brought it inside.  Is there a flower more French than the lovely sunflower?

The milk for our cereal was poured from this fun little bottle that I got at World Market.

This creamer is a pewter cow from Pierre Deux.  I love how any drip falls into this little bowl.

And the salt and pepper came from another piece from Pierre Deux.  I really miss this store. 

It was a quick bite before hitting the antique shops and ADAC.

These blue lined plates and bowls are so versatile.  They can look All-American, French, or English. And they go with almost any color. 

We just have one thing to say........

"Come back SOON, Lesesne"

Joining:

Tablescapes Thursday

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Between Naps on the Porch

Feathered Nest Friday

at

French Country Cottage

Home Sweet Home

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The Charm of Home

The Scoop @ Cedar Hill Ranch

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life

Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

Centerpiece Wednesday @ The Style Sisters

Father's Day '14

Yesterday, I wanted to honor the most wonderful, devoted father, Mr. Pressed Pants.  There's not a man alive who loves his girls more, or is prouder of his children.  Since they are 750 miles away, it falls to me to make him feel special and pampered.  

After church and a round of golf, we grilled steaks and lobster tails and enjoyed a lovely evening on the back deck. 

I wanted to use something that looked masculine, so I chose these bird plates on a green and brown table.  Last year, I used the fish plates that this company makes, and the table was very similar.  You can see that table here.

I've probably had these plates 8-10 years, but they are probably still available.

Each plate and salad plate has a different bird on it, and I just love the acorn and oak leaf border.

I used a wicker charger, and this plaid dupioni runner over a brown cloth.  This flatware is used so often, it's a wonder it isn't worn out.  I got these soup bowls at Tuesday Morning several years ago, but I'm using them as salad bowls here.

These glasses are often used, too.  The green wines are from a wonderful gift shop in Atlanta called Swoosie's, and the brown etched glasses are from the Bobby Flay line at Kohl's.

The little tapas plates make good bread and butter plates.  

This salad bowl is one of several serving pieces I have for this pattern......

and this sugar and creamer are others.

I gave a quick look around the garden for some flowers, but there were none blooming yet in the right colors, so I started with some foliage from a Japanese maple and added several shades of hosta and some herbs.  I think the fennel foliage adds a lovely texture.  I slipped it all into a faux bois vase and grounded it all with a twig tray and a primative wooden decoy.

These wonderful old wooden candlesticks added a little drama and some much needed light after dusk.

This was a cozy little dinner with colors that looked more like fall than early summer, but it seemed appropriate for Father's Day.

We sit on 7 acres, so it was private and quiet.

There weren't even any geese on the lake.

But the frogs were going crazy!

This is the other end of the deck,

and this is the chimney between the French doors that lead into the living room.  The ferns are struggling after the cold winter we had, but they are slowly coming back.

You can see another table I set in the woods with these dishes here, but this one was just for my sweet, sweet guy.

Joining:

Centerpiece Wednesday @ The Style Sisters

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch

A Spring Coffee

I just love azalea season, so when I had the opportunity to have a great group of women to our home for coffee, I jumped at the chance to entertain them this month.  

It was just a simple coffee with juice, fruit, and coffeecake, but I really wanted it to celebrate spring.

After deciding on the azaleas as a centerpiece, I used this striped runner from Ikea.  I think it was about $6.00.  Gotta love Ikea!  Then I added these little velvet birds for a little more springness.  Is that a word?  Spell check says it's not.

My favorite china to use this time of year is this Lu-Ray china with its mix of pastels.  It's from the 40's and I've collected it for ages.  You can see the Easter table I set with it here.

The juice glasses are a mix of some wonderful old depression glass ones and some Ikea ones.  They are not carrying this particular color now, but do have this style in some other colors.

The luncheon plates are pretty small, so I put them out for our coffee and fruit.  I guess servings were a lot smaller 60 years ago, as lots of china seems dainty in comparison to today's plates.

I just love to use this mixture of silverplate.  You can see that the keystone shape is the same, but the patterns are different.  I think that makes an interesting table.

You can hardly tell in this photo, but these are light pink.  They iron very easily, so I never hesitate to use them.  Call me crazy, but I'd rather iron napkins than use paper, except for maybe cocktails.

The fruit is on a lettuce patterned platter from Pottery Barn.  I wish I had bought the plates that matched.

Coffee and tea set-up.  This makes it self-serve and keeps things hot for the duration.  Since it is a 2-hour drop-in window for the coffee, this works so much better than a silver service or urn.

Mixed berries.  Yum.

The star of the show was this unassuming blueberry coffeecake.  Seriously.  You have to try this.  No, really, you HAVE to try this.  I thought I had a great recipe for this and then my world was rocked when I ate the version they serve at a funky little restaurant here in Atlanta called The Flying Biscuit Cafe.  It serves  wonderful comfort food, mostly vegetarian, some vegan, and is run by a woman names April Moon.  Don't you love that name?  Well, when I learned that she had a cookbook, I was praying that this recipe was included......and it WAS!  I love many of the recipes, but I must admit that my copy opens automatically to "Cream Cheese Coffeecake".  Here's the recipe:

CREAM CHEESE COFFEECAKE FROM THE FLYING BISCUIT CAFE

Cake Batter:

2 sticks (1 c.) butter, at room temperature

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

Cake Filling:

2 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese at room temperature

1 egg yolk

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla

Cake Topping:

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. flour

4 T. butter, room temperature

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.  Set aside.

2.  Make the cake batter.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add eggs one a a time, scraping the bowl well after each addition.  Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and add to the butter mixture.  Beat until flour is incorporated and batter is thick, pale, and creamy.  Set aside.

3.  Make the cake filling.  Using an electric mixer, combine all ingredients.  Mix until sugar is dissolved and filling is smooth.

4.  Make the cake topping.  Combine sugar and flour in a small bowl.  Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, cut butter into sugar and flour until mixture is crumbly.  Set aside.

5.  Spread half of the cake batter over the bottom of the prepared baking pan.  Then spread the filling over the cake batter.  If you wish to add chocolate chips, peaches, or blueberries, sprinkle them over the filling now.  Using a large spoon, evenly distribute remaining cake batter over filling in small dollops.  Sprinkle entire cake surface with cake topping and bake for 45 minutes.

Serves and satisfies the masses.  You can make this several days ahead, but I recommend refrigerating it.

Wedding China Refreshed

I am joining Kathleen of Cuisine Kathleen for her wedding china link party.  Take a trip over to her blog and see what she has put together for this fun topic!

While there are times that I want to use my wedding china in all of its formality with fine crystal, sterling and damask, I use it much more frequently with a wink to informality.  

This was my grandmother's formal  china, and her name was Rose Ellie.  Mine being Linda, she always wanted me to have her china because of the name of the pattern, Rosalinde.  Get it?  So, when we were engaged and beginning to think about registering for gifts, she told me not to register for china, as I could have hers as her wedding gift to us.  I was overjoyed!  I have always, always loved this pattern, and thought that I might only get it when she passed away.

Can you imagine what a thrill it was to have her for our first "fancy" dinner in our crummy little apartment to dine on her cherished dishes?  She was so complimentary of the table and the meal, but she did point out to me that this largest sprig of roses should always go at the top of the place setting, a detail I had never thought to pay attention to.  Every single time I have used it since then, I think of her as I put the plates on the table, "big spring up"!

In place of a charger, I used this cabbage placemat to sort of bring it down a notch.  I got them years ago at the floral wholesaler and I have never seen them since. 

If you study the painting on the dishes, you see lavender and pink roses.  I usually choose pink roses to go with this, but my soft pink peonies were blooming and I wanted to cut some before the rain came this morning, so they seemed the perfect soft pink choice.  Then I added some veronica and blue pin cushion and put them in this cream colored pottery pitcher.  

Be still my heart!  This choice of  container kept things a little more formal, too.  Just envision how different these same flowers would look in a crystal vase.

Again, I left the sterling in the safe and used this flatware from World Market.  I started with pink handled flatware, but it wasn't a perfect match with the napkins, so I changed.  The pink linen napkins are gathered into an apple blossom ring from Pottery Barn.

This heavy green goblet was also our wedding "crystal".  It took me years to realize that it was glass and not terribly fine, because I have always thought it made a great combination with the Haviland china.  Now, I have Waterford that I use for formal dinners, but I still love this Imperial pattern.  I used it here with Juliska glasses for wine.

There are no marks on this little dish, but I just love it.  It might be Majolica, but I hesitate to say for sure.

This was a cozy lunch for three, but made a bit more special by the china selection.

Gramma wouldn't have ever used this like this, but that's what I love about today's "no rules" attitude toward entertaining.  Thank you, sweet Gramma.  I learned so much from you.

Also joining:

The French Country Cottage