Tablescape Thursday - Strawberries On My Table

It's Tablescape Thursday and you know what that means....all across blogland ladies are setting their tables and playing with their dishes!

Here's my kitchen table this week - full of strawberries. Vintage strawberry dishes on a vintage strawberry tablecloth.
Now, I do like to let others have the opportunity to learn from MY mistakes. As you'll notice the flowers look rather orange in the picture - actually, in real life they are more peachy pink with a yellow center. When I bought them this weekend they were tight buds and looked like they would be pink and redish. So the lesson here is no matter what buds look like, when they open up you can still end up being surprised. I guess, you just can't go wrong with white flowers (sort of like white dishes). I was hoping that the yellow would pick up the color of the handles of the flatwear - but not really. Anyway, regardless of color, I am enjoying my bunch of peachy Alstroemerias.


Here's a close up of a place setting with my "Strawberry Fair" dishes that came from my mother in law. I do have quite a few of these dishes with 2 platters, a vegetable bowl, berry bowls, luncheon plates and a few soup/cereal bowls. These were the dishes she had at their river cottage. Luckily for me the other women in the family are not into "vintage" like I am. So they all came to me!


You can see the strawberries (and a few cherries too) inside the teacups. Oops! I didn't put the teaspoon on the saucer like Miss Janice taught us.


Take away the teacups and this is the dinner plate. I love the scalloped edges of these plates and all the detail of the transferware.


And here's the backside of the dinner plate. Even more strawberries back here!


My charger is my white JCPenny ironstone. Because these plates are so flat - they actually make better charger plates than dinner plates.


Here's a close look at the strawberry pattern of the tablecloth. The background colors are a very soft blue and green (I don't think the green really shows well in the photos). I love the soft material of these vintage tablecloths. They just don't make them like this anymore and this one is in excellent condition. You can also get a pretty good look at my new Cambridge bamboowear.


Here's a close up of the design in the middle of the tablecloth -- I think that you can just barely see a bit of the soft green here.


Here's my poor topless empty sugar bowl. It sort of looks like Bill and Beulah (my Target birdie S&P's)are looking for the top or at least the sugar! Oh, I almost forgot -- I also have a gravy boat and underplate in the Strawberry Fair pattern.


On the other side of the flowers we have my white butter dish and a small jam pot of strawberry preserves.


Ok - Ok -- If you really look closer you can see that those are red raspberries - but I've never seen a raspberry that red before - have you? Looks more like a strawberry color to me!


Another view of the full setting of the table.


A close look at my grandmothers antique white pitcher filled with my surprising bouquet.



A final birds eye view of vintage strawberries on my table. I hope you enjoyed your visit. For more tablescaping fun, be sure to check out Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan of Between Naps On The Porch -- you can get there from my sidebar. You'll find a table set just for you!

See ya!

This Weeks Treasures

This was a good week with treasure hunting. Some was done on eBay and some was Saturday shopping around "the village". I seem to always be on the look out for something or another for an upcoming event or two, but also keep an eye open for an unexpected treasure as well! I did find quite a few, some actually came home with me and most remained for someone else's treasure hunt.

I found this white soup tureen on eBay. Loved the grape and vine design. I needed to replace an old tureen that I recently broke but never really cared for the the design so I was really happy to find this one. And no, I didn't break the other one on purpose.

Here's a close up of the design.


I also found these on eBay. My daughter-in-law and son are expecting their 2nd daughter on June 19th. This is grandgirl #4 for us! I'll be sending a little "goodie package" that will include these along with a book for Stella ("I'm A Big Sister) and a picture frame that says "Sisters" on it (actually, I've still got to find the frame). Stella will also be getting a birthday package soon since she'll turn 3 on June 6rd. But as soon as I get the baby package together, I'll be sending that first, since little baby Molly has been trying her best to get here early. We'll be going down for a long weekend right after she arrives and depending on when that is, we may be taking rather than mailing Stella's birthday gifts.

This is the business card from the lady who did the embroidery. She was so nice and actually got these into the mail on the very same day I ordered them, even though she customizes the color of hair, eye color, style and color of the lettering. Not only was she fast, when I mentioned that this had been a difficult pregnancy and little Molly had been trying her best to get here too early she said,'I'll say a little prayer for your little one." Now, I don't know about you, but this is certainly the kind of person that I want to do business with. She had many other customized items and I do highly recommend her.

A trip to Marshall's uncovered this set of "silverwear". I've seen these in several of your tablescapes, so not only does it offer me a new option with some of my tablescaping, it's also a good memory for me as my Grandmother had a set of this flatwear as well - only her's was the "real deal". Actual bamboo. I wonder if they even make those anymore. I also wonder where her's went?

This was a set of those really thick cork backed placemats for only $3.00. I thought that was a steal.


Lastly, when my husband and I were at a local antique/thrift store, he found this -- I'm sure he was thinking of me (don't you think so?). Anyway as we were walking through he kept pointing out dishes and items for future tablescaping. I was quite impressed - I think the man is getting the hang of it!

I hope that your week is filled with little treasures!
See ya!

Foodie Friday Recipe Repeat

It's time to get hungry once again at the Foodie Friday post hosted by Gollum of "Designs by Gollum"

With the blessings of our dear Gollum, I've decided to do a weekly "tag" onto Foodie Friday. I will be taking a recipe from one of the previous posts and bringing it back to you for review. Last week there was a recipe that really caught my eye because it comes perfectly timed for fresh strawberries. This was a recipe submitted by Kathleen Ellis and she said, "You'll be sure to want to try this." And I can assure you, she was right! I prepared these and took them to share at my office and it got rave reviews from everyone. So, if you didn't get this last week, ladies, grab your pens and be sure to copy this one down!

Kathleen's Coconut Cream Filled Strawberries

1 (3.4) oz.) pkg. coconut cream instant pudding mix
3/4 Cup sour cream
1/4 Cup heavy whipping cream
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
3/4 Cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 quart large strawberries, washed and dried.

Combine pudding mix, sour cream & whipping cream. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Lower mixer speed to low and add cream cheese, confectioners sugar and coconut extract; beating until well combined. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

With stem side down, make 2 vertical cuts from tip to @ 1/2 inch from stem end. Spread apart to form petals. Spoon or pipe filling into each strawberry.

So simple, yet so good. I did not find the flavor of coconut to be overwhelming at all, however if you could probably get less coconut flavor by eliminating the extract. If you want more coconut flavor, add shredded coconut. If you don't like coconut at all, this would also be good with white chocolate pudding or vanilla. We found this to be a very refreshing treat.

Tip: If you are preparing these for a function that will be lasting for more than an hour or so, be sure to replinish the plate rather than putting the entire batch out. I found that after about an hour the filling began to soften a bit and melt out of the berries. It still tasted fine however.

I had a bit of filling left over and found it excellent spooned over a slice of pound cake. This would also make a good layer for a trifle.

Thanks Kathleen for sharing this most delightful straberry treat! I'll be bringing another Foodie Friday recipe back for a second time around next week. Now I'm off to see what the rest of you are cooking up this week for "Foodie Friday"

See ya!

Tablescape Thursday - Mother's Day

It's time again for playing with our dishes with our favorite dish diva Susan of "Between Naps On The Porch". This week, I'm sure that many of us will be showing Mother's Day tablescapes.

One of my fondest memories from my childhood was getting all dressed up and going to the "Mother/Daughter" tea or luncheon each year at church with my mother and two sisters. The tablescape today is based on my memories of those events. Sometimes the larger departments stores would also have a Mother/Daughter event with a luncheon and fashion show. I don't remember going to any of those. I believe that these sorts of things sort of went out of fashion in the late 60's or 70's. I guess perhaps they were considered "sexist" or maybe it was because so many families were so spread out by then. But I do remember dearly loving these as a young girl.

I remember that the flowers on each table were almost always a simple arrangement from someone's garden rather than any formal florist arrangement.

The food for these was generally a "dainty" menu. So I've set each place with a small set sometimes known as a "snack set", a "luncheon set", or a "tennis set" of dishes. With that I have two cloth napkins, one floral dinner sized covered by a white battenburg lace luncheon sized napkin. (This isn't part of my recollection, but I just thought it was pretty that way). Often the menu of these occasions consisted of small sandwiches made of white bread with the crusts cut off and cut into 1/4 triangles. They were usually chicken salad, egg salad or pimento cheese. Maybe cucumber too. Then there would be a dainty portion of potato salad or perhaps a congealed salad. And added to this would be 1/2 of a deviled egg. The girls would drink pink lemonade and the mothers would have either hot tea or iced tea. Then for dessert it would perhaps be an assortment of cookies and a sheet cake. For my "updated" pretend luncheon I'm saying that we're having strawberry spinach salad with poppyseed dressing and a petite roll with herbal tea. My mother was a lifelong tea drinker. For dessert, I'm thinking raspberry sorbet with a little sprig of mint as a pretty garnish. Can you "see it"?

I've removed the napkins to show you the pressed glass dishes and cups. They have a grape design on them. I also have a set that has a sort of vine & leaf design. I would mold some little butters in the shape of bees for the little butter pats. I've also set out the "good" silver - I figured that you're getting tired of my same old shell flatwear.

Here's another view of the table. I recall always having white cloth tablecloths at these functions. I was really happy to find this one at Target this weekend. Sometimes it's hard to find square tablecloths that are long enough to have a nice drape - so many of them just barely hang over the top of my table (and it's not a large one). This one also had a nice lace trim but I don't think I got a very good picture of that - maybe next time.


On the other side of my basket of flowers I have a pair of white gloves, a string of pearls and a contemplative angel.

Another close up of my crystal basket of flowers. These are the last of my azalea blooms. The verigated green leaf branches came from my neighbors yard and the white flowers came from the woods in front of my dad's house. I don't know what either of these are -- if you do, please tell me. The white ones smell so sweet!

An overview of the table with tea light glow.

When I was a little girl we would have all worn our white gloves and Mother would have worn her pearls and a small hat to an event such as this.

Another look at a placesetting by tealight glow - sort of like my dreamy hazy memory since these events were always held in the afternoons.

A final "goodnight" from my Mother/Daughter tablescape remembering my mother along with my two sisters who live out of town. Perhaps I will duplicate this table with my daughter and her girls when they get just a little older. That would be a fun memory maker.

Be sure to visit Susan and see all the other tablescapes this week - you can find "Between Naps On The Porch" on my sidebar. Click on it and you will magically be transferred to her blog and you'll get to visit lots of wonderful tablescapers across blogland. You'll find a place set just for you! Enjoy!

See ya!

Birdie Tales and some treasures

I know that you all remember the fun we had a few weeks ago when our Target birdies flew the coop and took a holiday? Well, I thought I would share a "behind the scenes" story about my birdie holiday.

After I had gotten my story line all straight in my head, I asked my boss if she could lend me a couple of flamingos for my photo shoot. She's got quite a collection. She was more than happy to lend me one of her several sets of salt & pepper shakers. During my photo shoot of the tipsy bird drinking the margarita scene, a horrible accident occurred and one of the flamingo's broke it's neck! And no, I wasn't drinking the margarita! I glued it back together for the shoot, but then I had a broken salt shaker that wasn't mine. So I went to eBay and found another set exactly like the broken one. The day after I had made my purchase through eBay, I got a notice that my entire payment was being refunded. I got an e-mail from the seller (who sells salt & pepper shakers) that when she went to get the flamingos, the whole shelf fell down and the flamingos and all the other sets on that shelf smashed to bits. I couldn't believe it! Luckily, I found another set on eBay and purchased it and held my breath until it arrived and I got it back safely in the hands of my boss. Then I "confessed" what had happened and we got a big laugh about the poor broken flamingos. So I kept the old ones for future tablescapes.

In the meantime, the eBay seller sent me these (at no cost) to replace the ones that got broken. I seem to be unintentionally "collecting" bird salt & peppers! At first I thought these looked like swans - but upon further inspection, I'm pretty sure that they're ducks with their tail feathers all a fluffed! What do you think? Guess I'll have to be on the lookout for some penguins or something.


Several of you asked about my daisy tablecloth. I honestly don't remember where I got it -- I'm thinking it was Garden Ridge. The label on it says "Fashion Industries; 940 Harlow Avenue; Griffin, Ga 30223" It also has a copyright of 1999 by Fashion Industries - so I guess that's about how old it is.

Also, a number of you commented on the coasters with the spoon rests. This picture is another set that I also purchased through eBay -- a little different style - these are not exactly like my grandmother's, but I'll be using them the same way. Also this was a set of 10. I would like to find at least another two like the ones in my post. I took them to a local thrift/antique store and they said that they had seen several sets like that. Although they didn't have any right now - so if you can download a copy of either set, maybe you can get someone at a local antique store near you to keep a lookout for you. Good luck in you search - I'd love to hear if you find any!

I have a collection of old skeleton keys hanging in my dining area and I found this wooden picture with a key in it while I was at the thrift shop.

This was a tray I found at Goodwill this weekend - It's not really anything special, but I liked the red geraniums on it.

And since I also have a thing for bees - can you see the two bees buzzing around the geraniums. Too cute to leave at Goodwill.

At Easter, I realized that I didn't have any official bread trays. I found this one at Goodwill. Now I bet that if you got married in the 70's, you got at least one bread tray like this one -- I did too -- but somewhere in a move or something, mine escaped. So it was fun to find another one.

This one is a little more formal - silver plated. Some of the plating has worn off and it looks like copper underneath, but with my little linen liner, it's not noticeable. This reminds me of one my mother had.

I saw these steak knives in Marshall's. I know that several of you have raved about them and Susan from Between Naps On the Porch did a post on them, so I got me a set - they only had two.


Lastly, at Goodwill I found a book about Jackie Kennedy written in 2004 that I'm reading. She certainly led a tragic life, but always displayed elegance and dignity -- I admired the way she raised her children.

I found a few other treasures that will be showing up in future tablescapes - hope that you had a treasure filled weekend as well.

See ya!

Foodie Friday - Marinated Tomatoes

Well this week on Foodie Friday the topic is cakes -- so quite naturally I decided to share Marinated Tomatoes! But then that's just like me. I don't bake many cakes and Gollum is gracious with allowing anything we want. Thanks Gollum.

My husband and I love tomatoes and where we live (Hanover County) is known locally for having excellent tomatoes. Hanover hosts a Tomato festival in July. So you can tell, we're quite "serious" about our tomatoes around here - but the growing season is pretty short and we're not at peak until July. I used to be such a tomato snob that I wouldn't even eat fresh ones until local Hanover's were in. That is, until I found this particular recipe for Marinated Tomatoes. I've gathered all the ingredients and supplies needed.

Dressing:
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt, such as Lawry's or Sauer's
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

4 to 6 large tomatoes (or 10-12 roma tomatoes) cut into wedges

Wisk all the dressing ingredients to combine. Place the tomatoes in a resealable plastic bag and pour in the dressing. Marinate overnight (or at least 4 hours) in refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving. Serve with a slotted spoon.

Paula Deen recipe from Paula Deen & Friends cookbook

Now I don't know about you - but I do wish we could buy a petite bunch of fresh parsley instead of the big old honking bunch they sell at the grocery stores around here. I mean you can only garnish so much - I always end up throwing quite a bit away. Anybody need parsley garnish for their cake? No? I thought not. Wonder if the boys would like parsley on their kibble? hummmmmm.......

Here's my gallon bag of tomato wedges ready to marinate.

For extra security I always put my bag in a big bowl before I put them in the fridge.

Next day you have a bowl of some of the best yumminess available (until the Hanover's are ready that is)! Save the marinade for dressing your salad or it's even good for marinading chicken or steaks! Come on over with your cake and I'll share some tomatoes with you!
See ya!

Lazy Daisy Tablescape

I was going to call this tablescape "Daisy Days" but decided to name it "Lazy Daisy" instead because I'm going to tell on my own lazy self. If you've read my last post, you know I was on vacation last week, having a nice "lazy" time in Florida. When we arrived back in Virginia Saturday evening, it seemed that I hit the state running. You know what it's like getting back from vacation and all the things that must be done! I worked all day Monday and that night decided to relax with a little tablescaping. After I was finally satisfied with the tablescape - I decided to wait until the morning for daylight to take the pictures. Then I made my BIG mistake! I put the chairs back under the table. So the next morning the overhang of the tablecloth was wrinkled. I thought about taking everything off and ironing those tablecloths and starting all over again --- really I did -- but then I decided maybe if I just misted them a bit the wrinkles would fall out. I got my spray bottle out and unfortunately, it squirted the water rather than misting. So now I have a wrinkled AND wet tablecloth. Then I decided Heck with it! I took the pictures anyway. My laziness got the best of me -- just so you'll know - here's my disclaimer - No actual guests were harmed by sitting at a table with wet and wrinkled tablecloths! In that case I would have really done it all over -- not that I don't love you and all - but I know that you can imagine this unwrinkled and dry! I hope you find this a little amusing rather than pathetic!

This picture shows the layering of the tablecloths. First I have a plaid baby blue, butter yellow, spring green and white tablecloth - topped by my square daisy tablecloth. I love table linens - don't you?

This picture shows a place setting. I've used these dishes before in tablescaping. My white JCPenney dinner plate topped with my American Aletier Waverly salad plate. Shell design flatware. Butter yellow napkin with white ceramic napkin ring. This is the kind of tablescape that I would do for an informal brunch or lunch with some girlfriends.

This is a daisy platter that I found ages ago at Walmart. Perfect for this tablescape - don't you think?

I like this basket of flowers because I think it looks like someone just gathered a bunch of wild flowers from a field and set the basket on the table before they decide how to arrange them. My bunnies are from my Easter/Spring setting on the sideboard. Large pillar candles finish the look of the off centered centerpiece.

My Target birdies and Ross birdies are working my table once again.

Now I want to show you one of my latest eBay purchases. These are coasters that are exactly like ones my grandmother had on her table all my life. So they have to be from the 50's or earlier. She always set them on her table when she would be serving iced tea with her meal. The little side piece is a rest for the teaspoons. Because, of course, once used those spoons are not supposed to touch the table again. Now, I've also seen some sellers say the the side piece is to hold lemon wedges -- they could do that, but they have a nice little cut out area for the spoon handle. Unfortunately, that has really confused some sellers to describe them as coasters with ashtrays! No! No! No! Have you seen these before?

Here's a close up of the empty coaster.

An overview of the center of my tablescape.

An overview of a broader look at the "Lazy Daisy" table. To find more tablescapes this week, please visit our hostess, Susan, of Between Naps On the Porch. You can find her listed on my sidebar - just go and click on it. I'm sure all of the other tablescapes have unwrinkled dry placesettings and there's a place set just for you!
See ya!