Pink Saturday Thanksgiving

Here's one pink autumn post ... Miss Phoebe thought our Thanksgiving table should be PINK, and as many of you know ... the Johnson Brothers Majesty china pattern has plenty of pink/plum in the color palette.   I'm posting with Pink Saturday, so make sure you click through to see all the other posts!

We used quilted placemats, matching napkins and the table runner is gently pieced together.  The colors are soft pinks and beige tones and can be used with lots of dinnerware patterns!   The pink stained glass candle holders are perfect with this color scheme.    I don't do lots of fru fru on the Thanksgiving table because we enjoy having all the food on the table!

Here's a picture of the Persimmon Cornbread muffins that I made for my Pioneer Thanksgiving dinner.  If you missed that post, go to my home page and check it out.  These were also in one of my recent cooking columns.  I've posted the recipe below the picture!

Persimmon Corn Bread

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons orange infused olive oil

1 egg

1 ½ cups diced persimmons

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

In a large bowl, sift together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, and egg. Pour into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in persimmons and thyme. Let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes until it swells. Stir it again and pour it into well-greased muffin cups or a 9-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Muffins may take a little less time to bake. Cool 10 minutes on a baking rack, before inverting the muffins or cake.

Read more: http://thesouthern.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/recipes/article_9d834e60-1015-11e1-8182-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1ejxVTK7j

Pioneer Thanksgiving Dinner

I hosted a special meeting for our Women's Club ... a Pioneer Thanksgiving Dinner.  I set three tables ... all different settings ... and made a meal based on the foods that American settlers in the mid 1800s might have had.  We had a great time!


Here's the dining room!

I used my Johnson Brothers Majesty ... Turkey china!  Topped the dinner plates with a sunflower plate ... then placed the covered soup bowl on the very top!  The soup bowls came from Crate & Barrel many years ago ... and the glassware is Fostoria.

The dining room table set for 8 ... love the long, lined up look.

The centerpiece is made of silk sunflowers and I placed the mercury pumpkins on each end for a little sparkle.



Here is the sunroom.

I only have a dozen turkey soup bowls, so I also used my chicken pot pie casseroles as soup bowls ... and mixed some blue glassware with these settings.   Remember, this was a pioneer theme, so we didn't want too much fru fru on the tables!

This dinnerware is Bordallo Pinheiro.   Tuesday Morning had an abundance of it this fall.  The milk glass plates are a part of a big collection of mine and I added the stemmed glasses to brighten up the table.

I used this centerpiece through the fall.  My husband bought me the beautiful bowl several years ago.  The inside is painted with sunflowers and it came from Italy.   The flameless candles ... which are about all I use these days ... are the perfect color of pale orange and I surrounded them with pinecones and tiny faux pumpkins.

This is a spare table set up in the living room.

More of the green Majolica with salad plates from my Johnson Brothers ... with Fostoria cobalt blue wine glasses.   

I love the green ceramic pumpkins and the flameless lantern.   

The chicken pot pie casseroles are Temptations from QVC ... had them for years!  I just love the edge of the dinnerware.

Make sure you take a look at the dinner party booklet at the top of the post!   The theme is real described and the menu and recipes are included.   Happy Thanksgiving!  


Food photos and recipes follow in another post!   I'm posting with Tablescape Thursday and you can click through the icon on the right to see the other posts!

Food from the Pioneer Thanksgiving Dinner

Here are some of the menu items from the 

Pioneer Thanksgiving Dinner.  

The recipes are in the booklet 

posted in the above turning page document.

We started the evening with frosty apple cider and these sweet, cold Apple Jack cocktails!  Apple Jack is probably the oldest liquor made in the United States.  Read all about it in the cook booklet!

Appetizers, using foods from the era, included raw turnip sticks to dip in artisan's salt and venison sausage.

The is dressed Colby cheese, which is the closest thing to the hard cheese that pioneers might have made.   Dressing the cheese simply means topping or coating it with fresh herbs and storing it ... wrapped well, so it can absorb those flavors.

This is cream of chestnut soup ... used canned chestnut puree ... and persimmon corn bread baked in muffin tins shaped like maple leaves and another shaped like acorns.   The soup was served in covered bowls, but a pretty garnish would have been crisp bacon crumbles with a drizzle of a little bacon grease ... yes, bacon grease!

And here are a few loaves of rustic friendship bread, baked from a yeast starter.   You can bake it in regular bread pans, but I love the unusual shapes.

Recipes are all in the booklet!

Enjoy!

Make sure you check out my recently published magazine article ... see the favicon at the top of the side bar on the right  ... beautiful pictures, recipes, menus and a perfect 'how-to' host great parties.   Click the picture to link back to the Southern Illinoisan Newspaper's Life and Style magazine.

Tabletop Sugared Pumpkins!

I just wanted to share my cute pumpkins I've put on my coffee table.  I love them!   They are Valerie Parr Hill and have a little shimmering light inside each one.  they look like they've been dipped in sugar!

I'm participating in Tabletop Tuesday, so make sure you

 visit A Stroll Thru Life 

to see all the other posts!

Visit my home page, too and take a look at my Sunflower wedding shower post.  Happy October!

A Sunflower Bridal Shower!

I got the ducks and geese out for a recent bridal shower my daughter and I had for one of her former students!  Really, the bride was more than a student.  She was one of those young people that we adopted to be a special part of our family!   So, we crowded around one big table and enjoyed a luncheon ... then let her open her gifts ... then we gabbed for hours!

Pumpkin in Green!

Here's a cute tablescape I did for autumn ... actually, I set this table every fall!   These pictures are from a workshop I taught ... so yes, one in particular looks like a college classroom!  

I particularly love the color of the green pumpkin/squash.  It is considerably different than what we are used to seeing .. .although I usually buy a couple green  pumpkins ... that are technically squash ... I think!     I'm linking with Tablescape Thursday so make sure you click through to see the other tablescapes.

Pink is for Autumn

I'm posting this combination of pink china with autumn decor ... I used it some time ago as a teaching opportunity to demonstrate the use of atypical colors in autumn decor and tablescapes!  I'm linking to Pink Saturday, so make sure you click through to visit the other posts.  I want to be sure you visit my home page to see my September 11th post, too ... Have a safe weekend.

September 11th

I just posted this the other day, but given the importance of this day, I thought it appropriate to post it with Sunday Favorites and Seasonal Sundays.  This certainly is an important day.


Original Post:


I have spent a lifetime planning ways to share history and culture with people in ways that are easy to comprehend and understand ... from children to elderly adults.   We raised our daughter ... and now want to influence our grand daughter's interests ... by teaching those lessons around the dinner table ... often times in association with the theme or the menu of the meal.   What does all that mean?   Well, how do you teach the lesson of 9/11 in a way that little children might understand, without frightening them?


Did you know that September 11, 2001 was not the first time America was invaded on September 11th?  You might want to read my cooking column from today's Southern Illinoisan Newspaper to find the answer to that question.  Go to Made at Home to read more and find some great recipes.


I'll give you a hint ... the Battle of Brandywine fought during the American Revolution ... and this table is a celebration of the freedoms we need to be remembering on 9/11 as we teach the lessons of that tragedy ... and commemorate the loss we experienced that day.  It's a tablescape ... it's a special menu you'll find in the link above ... and it is a teaching opportunity that you might want to ponder.


This tablescape begins with replica Betsy Ross flags ... so use this as a time to talk about Betsy ... you'll find lots of information on this Betsy Ross site.

The china I've used is Noritake and the pattern is called Pioneer Bay ... and I can't think of anything better to use when celebrating the freedoms that our pioneer colonists fought for.

I love the rustic look of the placemat/chargers ... and the stars bandannas make perfect napkins.

The placemats came from Pier1, the red leaf dish is Depression Glass, the blue goblet is Indiana Glass and the red wine glass is Viking in the Georgian pattern.

Look more closely at the pattern on the china.  The primitive buildings are so neat!  I use this china often ... for any table that needs to be patriotic!  The color palette for accessorizing it goes from patriotic blue to ambers and browns.

Here's the centerpiece ... pretty simple, just a jar filled with grapevine balls and battery operated lights.   Check QVC, if you like the lights ... they are on a timer, so once you tuck them down inside something, you don't have to worry about digging them back out!

I'm participating in Tablescape Thursday so make sure you click through to visit the other posts!   Be sure to visit the link at the top of this post to see my column about September 11th ... and visit my home page if you haven't visited my site lately.  I have some neat posts!   Celebrate Freedom!

Wine on the Tabletop for Tuesday!

Oh, I have wine racks all over the house!  You've seen them in lots of posts.  We love wine and because we have been so involved in our local wine trail, we keep lots of local wine around.  We also enjoy wines from all around the world, so you can find just about anything on my racks.  I wanted to show you a couple things on this little rack ... because they are cute.  I'm posting with Tabletop Tuesday, so make sure you click through to visit the other posts!


I've had this little wine table for years, and I originally bought it because the tray top comes off.  I've moved in through several rooms and right now it is just tucked in the living room ... primarily to hold two things:  the cute wine bottle flameless candle (from QVC) and the hand print wine bottle on the right.  One of my friends gave me the bottle of wine with the imprint of the wine maker's hand on it ... for my 50th birthday!  I've never opened it.  The candle is fabulous ... I love real candles, but with two big dogs and a 4 year old ... flameless is a good thing!  I added the stained glass bauble.

Hope you enjoyed!  Make sure you visit my home page to see my other posts!  Happy September!

Pumpkin Party!

I'm posting with Sunday Favorites at Happy to Design, so make sure you click through to see the other posts!   I'm not necessarily ready for Halloween, but I sure am ready for cooler temperatures.  Summer 2011 in Southern Illinois has been pretty hot!   So, here's to cooler temperatures in September!
Be sure you visit my home page so you can see all my other posts!

Original Post from October, 2010:

Happy Halloween - Welcome to Dinner!

Welcome to my Halloween Girlfriends' Dinner Party!  The girls are coming for homemade lasagna ... witchy style.  The first thing they'll see when they arrive will be Miss Phoebe's decorating job on the front porch!

If they linger on the porch ... they'll meet even more pumpkins!

In the living room, they'll meet the Button Boys ...

In the bathroom, they'll meet my two witch sisters ... who needed a little boost in their self esteem!

Happy Pumpkin Party!   We're not done celebrating Halloween, so check back for Tablescape Thursday to see the last party in a month-long series!  Make sure you scroll down my page to see all my Halloween posts!  Special thanks to our party hostess ... you can click through her button on the left to see all the other posts.

Thrifty Tablescape in Blue

It may be hard to imagine, but I found a set of Mikasa Garden Club dinnerware ... service for 12 ... at one of my favorite resale shops!    I used it at a recent girlfriends' salad supper at my house, so I thought it would be perfect to show off with Thrifty Tablescapes, so make sure you click through to see all the other posts!  First, check out my home page and take a look at my other posts!  Have a great weekend!

I used reproduction Depression Glass Manhattan salad plates that I picked up at a flea market years ago;  Depression bubble bread and butter plates in blue that came from a yard sale ... and some of my collection of Cape Cod Depression Glassware.  I've been collecting the Cape Cod for years ... a few pieces at a time from antique stores or ebay ... but one day I walked into the Goodwill and saw a couple dozen pieces of it.  Of course, I bought it all!

I always print a menu, so my guests know what to expect ...  After I fell in love with the Mikasa, I looked for serving pieces on ebay and happily found the soup tureen and coffee pot with creamer and sugar ... and candle sticks.

Our appetizer was sweet potato hummus with pita bread, but I dressed up our opening cocktails with shrimp on skewers!  How cute is that?  It's like drinking a shrimp cocktail ... use Clamato juice in your Bloody Mary and add a little horseradish to the drink with your other spices.   The Cape Cod parfait glasses are the perfect size for a Bloody Mary!

Pink Saturday in my Autumn Decor

Hello Gang!   I've started doing a little Autumn decorating and since I have a new crimson sofa and chair, I decided that the typical orange and green color scheme in typical fall pieces wouldn't work.  I happily found this beautiful wreath and candle ring that had some deep Autumn pinks in it and it works perfectly!


I'm linking with Pink Saturdays, so make sure you click through to see all the other posts ... but first, go to my home page and look at the things I have posted.   Have a great weekend!