Sweet Thirteen

 

I am not sure how many times you have visited our blog, but I am the one in middle school, Emma. I have just gotten into tablescaping with my mom and grandmother this year, though I have played in the china since I was little.  I have been thinking that I can design my own table for my 13th birthday. Today is the first of many  ideas I am considering. I also want to do all of the food if I can, so everything you will see today is something most 12-year-olds can do.

I decided to do a beautiful buffet. Snack plates that I just adore sit at one end next to the silver. My mom's silver is Sir Christopher by Wallace. My silver is Francis the 1st by Reed and Barton, but I don't have 12 salad forks yet. I wanted to use her cocktail forks, but she only has 8 of those I think.

My mother loves snack plate and cup sets. These snack plates are Johnson Brothers Rose Chintz pattern.  I like how they have a place for the cup. They have blue, brown, and green in the pattern, too, so they would match different kinds of rooms.

My mom actually bought these plates to go with the punch bowl set. She bought the punch bowl set from a woman in New York off eBay. The 24 cups, the bowl, the stand, and the ladle were less than $40 including shipping, she said. After she bought the set, she wanted 24 plates to go with them. She doesn't have the actual cups in the pattern, but she said she doesn't need them because the punch cups fit. She found 24 of these great plates on Replacements.com. I am only using 12 of everything on this table.  I really adore these plates. They look white here, but they are actually cream. I still wanted to use the white tablecloth, though. I think they look fine on white.

For the food, I decided to use anything we had that didn't require cooking. 

I used fresh vegetables and ranch dip.

And I had crackers and cheese.

We have bought a lot of Girl Scout cookies lately, so I included those and some of the Valentine's candy we still have.

The grapes were pretty on the table. My mom bought this bowl and the matching chip and dip at an Oneida outlet store many years ago.

I think you can tell from this angle and some of the other pictures, I had peanuts on the table. My little sister and I love peanuts and peanut butter. As a baby, she called it teeny butter, and we still call it that in our house.

We also always have several kinds of juice. This is a punch I made with CranGrape juice. I found the recipe on the internet, and I have copied it at the bottom.

I added potpourri in a crystal basket and rose petals in a crystal bowl. They are the rose petals from my mother's earlier post about making frosted potpourri. Those were just for decoration, not eating, of course! I also had topiaries and a vase of flowers. My grandmother bought the vase in Ireland, and it was a gift to my mother. The pattern is Lismore by Waterford. 

The napkins are some my grandmother gave to my mother before I was born.

I like this look for a thirteenth birthday party. I would want to add a meat if it were close to a meal time.  The best part about this tablescape is that after my mom helped me take pictures, we ate this for lunch. Not all of it of course, but it was fun to make a buffet for ourselves!

Thank you for visiting me and trying the recipe!

Emma

CranGrape Punch

2 quarts of cranberry-grape juice, chilled

1-6oz can of frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed

1-32oz bottle of sparkling water, chilled

Mix the juice and lemonade concentrate in a punch bowl. Stir in the sparkling water just before serving.


From: http://www.freecookingrecipes.net/beverages/sparkling-cran-grape-punch

We used lemon juice and water to substitute for the pink lemonade concentrate and Sprite for the sparkling water. It was really good!


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Is it Winter or Spring? (With recipes!)

For just a few hours here and there over the weekend, there was rain, wind, and falling temperatures. Only to be followed by a beautiful, bright sun! It was muddy enough that the kids could not play outside, and boring enough that they didn't want to stay in! Both the air conditioning and the heater ran Saturday!

As for me, I am eager for the brightness of spring, but the chill has put me in the mood for some homemade soup!

This table was an impromptu design bringing in the spring colors and my desire for some yummy soup. I have added a few of my recipes below.  

I really hadn't intended to do a tablescape. However, I was cleaning the kitchen and polishing the silver. First the tureen, then the goblets...I got carried away.

The tureen is a new treasure from eBay. This is the first time I have used it. It was a great find. This was the eBay description:


"This auction is for an antique English silverplate soup tureen by Henry Wilkinson & Co., circa 1850.  This beautifully styled piece measures 10 1/2" tall and 16" wide from handle to handle, and is marked as pictured below.  Structural condition is excellent, with no dents, dings or restorations what so ever.  There is however a small amount of pitting on the lid, visible in the photos, and on the interior of the tureen.  Still, nothing out of the ordinary for a 160 year old piece of silverplate."

This is a picture of the maker's mark:

This is the site where I verified the information:

http://www.silvercollection.it/ENGLISHSILVERMARKSXHDUE3.html#918ING

The goblets are part of a dozen that were purchased on lay-away at an antique show in Savannah while I was in college.  That was before the price of silver soared. :) They were already engraved with the correct letter.

The butter paddles below are one of my favorite pieces of flatware. I am not a huge fan of passing butter around with a master butter knife balancing precariously. It is incredibly awkward, even for adults. I treasure these useful little items!

The dinner pattern that I chose fifteen years ago still goes with everything. I really wanted something with color, but I listened to my mother and selected a timeless pattern first. I will say, though, that not every silver pattern works perfectly with Tuxedo by Lenox. But my silver, Sir Christopher by Wallace does.

The soup bowls were a steal. I found them at a Lenox outlet and purchased the last six. I have eight now. They are the pattern Republic, and there are little red enamel dots around the rim. They blend with many patterns.

Let's see...what else ended up on the table?

The flower vases were another Lenox outlet find. The Jacquard Gold oval vegetable by Lenox was purchased for me by my mother as a gift many years ago in Las Vegas. Once upon a time, there were Lenox outlets everywhere! (Our pre-travel conversations go like this: "What do you want me to bring back as a souvenir for you from _______?" "China, silver, or crystal.")

You may recognize the thumbprint goblets from the Mardi Gras table. They are faux carnival glass and were one of my eBay bargains.

The yellow and rust embroidered placemats and the table runner were purchased at Target on sale a few weeks ago. The napkins are part of a set that were used in our very first post.

The crystal butter dish is an old TJ Maxx find.

The Alvin art deco silver bowl was a birthday present I picked out at an antique show as a teenager. Think of all of the things my friends received when they turned 13, 14, or 15! I wonder what happened to all of the clothes, cassette tapes, and curling irons, etc. I never asked for anything of the sort! I knew then I didn't want to waste money on things that wouldn't be around. :)

Finally, I have used a matching cloth napkin in a silverplate bread basket.

So, if you sat down at the table to join us, this would be your view:

Thank you for coming by! The recipes are below. :)


- Andrea

Fast and Easy Homemade Chili

This is another one of those "I don't measure" recipes that I throw together when short on ingredients.

Ground beef - 1-3 lbs.

1 can of tomato paste and water per pound OR I standard size can of Tomato sauce per pound OR both

(either way, you will may have to add enough water to cover and/or cornstarch to thicken if the sauce is too thin)

At least one can of kidney beans (or not if you don't have one!)

Spices on hand: salt, pepper, cumin, chili pepper, red pepper flakes, onion powder, and garlic salt.

Fry and drain meat. Mix in spices while cooking - in any combination of you have on hand.  (Whatever you end up with will taste great, even if it's not your dream chili.) I usually sprinkle each across the the entire top of the meat as it is cooking. Some I like to "see,", like the peppers. Some I go a little lighter on, like the cumin, until I get to taste-test stage.  I stir in the addition of each spice. I drain the meat and add to a pot, along with whatever tomato base I have and enough water to cover and the kidney beans. I bring the mixture to a boil, and taste test. I add whatever I think it needs - spices, cornstarch, sometimes a little flour, etc. A warning about the cornstarch and the flour: if will lump up if you aren't careful. You can always dissolve it in a small cup of water first and then add.  Or you can make a little roux and add it.

Easy Crock Pot Potato Soup

I found this on at: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/slow-cooker-creamy-potato-soup/Detail.aspx

It is yummy!

• 6 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 5 large potatoes, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 
  

• Place bacon and onion in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until bacon is evenly brown and onions are soft. Drain off excess grease.

• Transfer the bacon and onion to a slow cooker, and stir in chicken broth, water, potatoes, salt, dill weed, and white pepper. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 7 hours, stirring occasionally.

• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and half-and-half. Stir into the soup along with the evaporated milk. Cover, and cook another 30 minutes before serving.

Serves 6.

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