St. Patrick's Day

Since our daughter has a birthday near St. Patrick's day.....we always celebrate with her favorite birthday dinner of corned beef and cabbage. 

We enjoyed the company of this little leprechaun as our centerpiece.

Shamrock napkins added a bit of festivity to the green goblets.

I found these little cottage plates at Marshall's years ago and we've used them for St. Patrick's dinner every since.  The green dinner plates were a Kroger find and the cabbage leaf "placemats" came from the craft store a few years ago.

These Starbuck's bottles  were perfect to decorate for the girls.

Place settings for my little lasses.

Kendall was all smiles.

And Keelyn too!

Table all ready for Irish dining.

Green milk was the beverage of the day.

Looks like green beans.....but it's green mac and cheese.  (If it wasn't Irish, it was green!)

My sweet girls....what fun it is to celebrate holidays with them!

Green leprechaun cake was the Monday treat this week for my office.  Yep, we love St. Patrick's day at our house.....how about you?

See ya!

Roosters, red and toile tablescape

An early release snow day today gave me some time to play with my dishes!

This seemed to be a good day for roosters.....I could have used one this morning when my alarm clock didn't go off!

I hate to rush in the morning and would much prefer to linger a bit.....

....especially with some good food and good friends!

Of course where there's a rooster there's usually a hen or two.

This handsome fella's calling us to breakfast.

Always a little chick running around!

I've always loved toile....

....the people and animals just seem to want....

.....to tell me some sort of story.

Overview of our breakfast table.

A couple of rim shots to show the layers of the dishes and the bamboo flatware.

All inspired by my Lang calendar.  I turned to March and just knew how I would set the table this week.

I hope you have a chance to visit more tables with me this week.....I'm linking up to "Let's Dish" --- always fun tabletop conversation with Kathleen.  I'm also linking to "Between Naps on the Porch" with Susan.

See ya!

Plays with food

Do you ever play with your food?  Like making "sliders" that are really .....

cupcakes made with yellow cake mix, brownies, red and yellow icing and coconut dyed green.

Or "tee" cakes?

Some are in the rough.....

....and some are on the fairway.

Or how about a flock of cream cheese, black olive and carrot penguins.....

....standing guard over a cheese ball?

Do you "play" with your food too?

See ya!

Valentine's Tea with my girls

Last week while sitting in church with my daughter and her twins I asked, "Would you and the girls like to come over on Saturday for a fancy Valentine's tea luncheon?" Before she could even answer, Keelyn answered, "Yes we would!"  And so our date was set.  Here's a look at our tea table.

Place setting with white chargers (Pier 1), red plates (Marshalls) , white salad plate (Tuesday Morning), red cloth napkin (for the lap) - (olden from my parents home) , paper valentine napkin for the mouth (grocery store), "pearl" handled flatware (Target), Strawberry Fair teacups and saucers (from my mother-in-law).

"Poppa Daddy" entertained the girls until the tea was ready.

Our tea party goodies included: chicken salad cups, cucumber sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches, cheese straws, ants on a log, fruit kabobs, pirouline cookies and blueberry scones.

And of course tea --- our flavor today was an herbal pepermint tea

Judging by the smiles of Kendall....

....and Keelyn....I believe that we'll have to have "fancy tea" again soon!


See ya!

I am linking up with Cusine Kathleen and all my tablesetting blogging friends.  Hope you'll visit her beautiful blog, if you haven't had a chance to before.  I'm also linking up to Between Naps on the Porch -- always a fun spot to visit!http://betweennapsontheporch.net/a-gathering-of-friends/

2013 Lang Calendar inspiration Tablescape

This week I've set the table to match my dessert!

There's just something special about trifles......don't you think?

Since this dessert has strawberries in it....I've set out my strawberry china and tablecloth.

When I was playing with the napkins....I thought this sort of looked like an envelope.....these would look cute with a little valentine tucked inside peeking out.

My "pearl handled" flatwear.

A red bowl is about perfect for a Valentine's trifle.

I layered the red bowl over a paper doily (that I couldn't get to lay flat to save my neck!) over my Johnson Brothers Strawberry Fair dishes.over my white chargers.

I love the design on these red bowls.

I loved the look of the red napkins, red bowls and red goblets.  All these reds would make this a great table for Valentine's.

And if you don't have flowers for the centerpiece......how about a trifle?

I've enjoyed this strawberry tablecloth that I found on ebay a few years ago.

And one last tabletop photo.

Last year I used a Lang calendar for tablescape inspirations each month.  This year I'm starting out with a new calendar.....

....except this year, each month has a different recipe! 

I guess you can't go wrong when you start off the year with a "Very Berry Triflle"!

As some of you know, I take a treat to work to share each Monday.  Berry Trifle was a hit this week!  I didn't make it exactly like the calendar recipe, but modified it a little.... I'll share my recipe with you.

1 Angel food cake torn into bite size pieces
1 8 oz block of cream cheese softened
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tub of Cool Whip
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 cups of berries (I used strawberries and blueberries)
1 large can of crushed pineapple drained
shredded coconut

Mix cream cheese and milk until smooth, stir in Cool Whip and vanilla.

Layer in trifle bowl:

1/2 of the Angel food cake
1/2 of the cream cheese mixture
1 cup of the mixed berries
1/2 of the crushed pineapple
sprinkle with coconut
repeat

If you want you can spread more cool whip over the top.  I did not do that. I made a fancy design with a couple of strawberries and some blueberries.


I'm looking forward to joining Kathleen and Susan this week and seeing all the tablescape inspirations for the month of February.  There are so many themes to choose from.  Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, Valentine's, President's Day.  Can't wait to see them all!

 

Be sure to stop by and see Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen and all the fun tables!http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/2013/02/it-is-unusuallet-dish-47.html
Also check out the beautiful tables set over at "Between Naps on the Porch"http://betweennapsontheporch.net/valentines-day-table-settings-casual-and-elegant/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BetweenNapsOnThePorch+%28BETWEEN+NAPS+ON+THE+PORCH%29
I'm joining Michael Lee at Foodie Friday -- always a yummy new recipe to try!http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/2013/02/foodie-friday-february-8th.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DesignsByGollum+%28Designs+by+Gollum%29