Sunday, January 19, 2014

A Winter Supper with an Old Friend

A weekend guest means a Saturday night dinner.  Our dear friend, Mike, is visiting and it was an excellent excuse to pull together an informal table and use my new set of dishes for our guest.

 

The cute Pfaltzgraff "Winterwood" dishes seems so apropos for the snowy winter night.

The tablecloth was a find at a Goodwill, and I just knew it would bring out the colors in the dishes.

The tone was to be 'for the boys', or at least as masculine as chickadee dinnerware could be, so I threw on the jute runner and the rope-y placemats.

Green straw placemats, topped with braided rope placemats, topped with my architectural chargers that pick up the sage green in the plates.

The grapevine napkin rings were a gift from Kimberly, and the green and burlap napkins were found at Goodwill.  It makes the table feel more rustic.



A bird's eye view.  I hope I never have to post photos of me in a cast after falling off the chair trying to take 'aerial photos'.



This is a shot of how the placemats were layered....

.....then the chargers......

.....the dinner plates.....

...and finally, the salad plate.



Again, am mixing the colors in the water and wine glasses for some visual interest.  Often, I love a monochromatic theme, but not always.

These napkin rings remind me of a bird's nest.

Another shot of how the napkins and the runner compliment one another.

I added my little cast iron birds to keep the chickadees company.



These candles look like sticks, and were a gift long ago from my sister-in-law, Martine.  I can't bear to light them.  And, while they mysteriously look crooked in the photo, I swear they are not!

See?  And, do you also see Santo in the background snooping around for his dinner?  Please ignore the countertop, you'll see what I was up to shortly in this post.

Dinner salad of butter lettuce, pears, blue cheese, and candied pecans.  One of my favorites.


Boursin potatoes are so delicious and easy!  Mix the boursin cheese with some milk (or heavy cream if you are being decadent), add some chopped garlic, finely minced shallot, and chopped chives.  Peel and slice the raw potatoes thinly and evenly, and add them to your cheese mixture, stirring to cover the potatoes completely.  Just prior to cooking, add a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour.

Freshly ground black pepper and a dash of sea salt before they go into the oven.  By the way, did you know that you can cut your chives all summer, put them in a zippie bag in the freezer, and pull out what you need all winter long?





The grilled rib eye steaks.


Bon Apetit!

In case you'd like to know:
Tablecloth - Goodwill find
Burlap and cloth napkins - unknown
Jute Runner - Pottery Barn
Green straw placemats - HomeGoods
Ropey placemats - Consignment shop find
Architectural Chargers - Pottery Barn
Dinner and salad plates - Pfaltzgraff "Winterwood"
Green silverware - Cambridge 
Green wine goblet - Artland Iris
Gold water/milk glasses (ha ha) - Artland Iris
Individual Ramekins - Palm Restaurant at HomeGoods



 The Dedicated House











We're joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday, the Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays, Make it Pretty Monday, and Kim at Savvy Southern Style for  Wow Us Wednesday. 

Click the links below for more tablescape inspiration!

 Savvy Southern Style
Wow Us Wednesdays

 Between Naps On the Porch
http://betweennapsontheporch.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Tablescape-Thursday.jpg

 http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

 

http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com


7 comments:

  1. This meal has me drooling, it looks so good. So glad you dropped by so I got to visit your blog. Your table is perfect for the meal and I love how you layered the placemats. Dianne

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    1. Love what you're doing, too! What fun it is to check in with people of like interests! Kathy

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  2. So fun to entertain our friends. Those chargers are simply amazing.

    - Alma, The Tablescaper

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Alma! I knew I had to have them the moment I saw them. Am a big fan of most things Pottery Barn :-)

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  3. Who doesn't love birds---so pretty!! That salad is one of my favorites! For years they were saying us gluten free people could not have blue cheese then they said we could! Those men look like happy campers, as they say.....I am surprised they agreed to pose!

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    1. Thanks for your sweet comments, and yes, the boys were happy and both got a gold star for clean plate club! As for agreeing to pose, well, it wasn't exactly an option not to :-)

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  4. I'm a fan of texture details on a table, and this one has loads of wonderful texture.

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