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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Intarsia: Travel, China, and Ebay

Wilkommen!

You have probably noticed by now that I love eBay. Years ago, when eBay first started, my PayPal account was hacked. Ebay and Paypal handled everything beautifully, but it made me nervous, so I stayed off a few years. I eventually worked up the nerve to get back on, and I am so glad I did. Not only are there fabulous finds, but I have been very fortunate to build relationships with several antique dealers, large and small. Even though I try to find the time to go to antique shows, traveling around eBay is like traveling around the country and the world, all from the comfort of your own home. One of my favorite finds is some brown Fostoria glassware in the Mesa pattern. I have the salad plates, juice glasses, and a lovely pitcher. I ran across these when searching for matching green Mesa for my mother. They were a steal. As it turns out, they are a wonderful accent to Intarsia. So are the smoke glass Noritake Perspective water goblets!

But back to traveling...I like real traveling even more than virtual traveling!  In 2006, I started the tradition of taking my children to Europe for on their seventh birthday. My daughter Emma, now in seventh grade, accompanied me and some of my students on a trip to France, Spain, and Morocco in North Africa for her first overseas travel adventure. My son turned seven in 2009, and he opted for Germany and Denmark. My youngest daughter most recently chose England and France in 2010, but this is a story about my son's trip.

My son's birthday is in January, a bad time for a trip in terms of work, school, money, and weather. Sadly, I put him off for a while. As 2009 was winding down, I realized I was running out of time for a trip. As I do so often, I sat down and started combing the travel websites for flight deals. As he was pressuring me to find out where were going, I found round-trip air travel to Frankfurt from Atlanta for $400 per person, including taxes. It was for the week of Thanksgiving. I booked three tickets, surprising Emma. I also noted that rail passes were 20% off in Germany to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was in honor of its 20th anniversary that November. So, I bought 4 day pass bundles for the three of us. All three of those together were about $400, and the tickets were delivered to my door 10 days later.  Then there was the matter of where to stay and the language. It is my experience that you can get around with just English in Europe. Just plan really well. I travel some, and I took a tiny bit of German in college, but I had only been to Germany once while passing through in the south earlier that year, (at a bus stop by Lake Chiemsee).  I was a little concerned to be there for a more than a week with an 11-year-old and a 7-year-old, but I figured as long as we could eat and get back to the airport to fly home, we'd be fine. I was so right! (Much to my youngest daughter's chagrin, I told her she was a bit too young for me to handle the three of them and all of their luggage and souvenirs alone! She would have to stay home with dad, his family for Thanksgiving, and spend the rest of the week with my mom and dad!)

Ah, the blessings of the internet! As I was posting updates of these adventurous plans on Facebook, a friend of mine from high school whom I'd not seen for twenty years (10th grade!) messaged me. She said her family was stationed in Flensburg, in northern Germany near the border of Denmark for a post at the German Naval Academy. Would I consider staying with them?


Wow! Of course we would!  

The main Hamburg train station. We made many trips through Hamburg, some intentional, some not! :) What a beautiful city! The Saturn electronics store, just a block or so from the train station saved me when I couldn't find my European charger for my iPhone! We carried our suitcases in and everything. The staff was breaking down an Apple display to relocate it in the store. Everything was in boxes. They were so sweet to find just what I needed!

Lego Discovery Center, Berlin. A major highlight of this trip. We had considered going to the original Legoland in Denmark, but it was a little out of the way for this trip. Not to mention, it was a little cold for outdoor amusement parks! This center has a ride, lots of building centers, and several interactive exhibits including a film and a cute theatrical walk-through exhibit about how Legos are made. And of course, a fanstastic gift shop. My son's pride was a Lego chess set!

German Naval Academy, Flensburg. What a neat place! I have no idea if this is a place you can visit in general. The stenciling in this place is amazing. The history! And the food was fantastic in the Officer's Club. See a recipe at the bottom of the page for some yummy schnitzel!

Dining Room and part of the tableware collection, Glücksburg Castle


I have so many pictures of china and silver from trips abroad. Many pictures are blurry, but I had to share just one!








So that is how our German adventure began. I could write pages and pages about how much I loved Germany and Denmark, the Weihnachtsmarkts in each city, the castles, the missed trained stops, all of the Lego visits, the history, the wonderful people, the schnitzel, the döners, and the Danish dogs!  But I am trying really hard to stick to china!


What does this have to do with Intarsia?  Well, Villeroy and Boch are German makers of ceramics, reputed to be the largest ceramic maker in the world. They are in their eighth generation; over 260 years of production.  In selecting the colorful pattern Intarsia, I couldn't help but think of our travels to Germany and some of my favorite souvenirs. In researching for this blog, I realized their museum is in Mettlach, Germany, close to France. I am more often in France than anywhere else when I am traveling, (French teacher!), so it seems like a convenient day trip!


While my children brought back toys, (LEGOS!), dolls, coins, antique knick knacks, charms for charm bracelets, clothes, cards, and the ever-important Hard Rock memorabilia, my favorite treasure is my Berlin Bear. 

Different artists have designed patterns for these collectible bears honoring the city of Berlin. The sculptures are all over the city, and the collectible bears are easy to find. We have one large one, and each of my children have the mini-bears. We also brought home several extras as gifts.

All of the maps remind me of traveling. I especially like the elephants on the boxes in the background. Did you know Berlin has very famous zoo? This zoo receives the most visitors of any in Europe each year. It is an old-fashioned, themed zoo. These boxes remind me of the Elephant Gate! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Zoological_Garden 
Google the pictures. It is amazing!

In planning my Intarsia table, I really wanted to honor its German origins of the china and evoke our memories of traveling together.  The map theme continues on the chargers from The Pottery in Commerce, Georgia for $1.00 each. I mentioned The Pottery in a previous post; I am sad to say again that it closed a few years ago. However, the outlets in Commerce are still worth the drive!

 Accents from TJ Maxx

 Beacon Hill stainless from Towle

All this table needs now is food! Look below for recipes from our trip to Germany and Denmark!


Thank you for stopping by! (Recipes below!)


-Andrea


As I mentioned above, we had a great chicken schnitzel at the Officer's Club at the German naval academy. This is very close!


Lemon Chicken Schnitzel

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves or strips
Juice of 1 lemon or 2 to 3 tbsp. lemon concentrate
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 egg
1 tsp. water
1/2 c. fine dry bread crumbs
Dijon mustard or sweet and sour sauce for dipping (optional)

Directions

Italian bread crumbs make it very flavorful.

Cut chicken horizontally into 1/4 inch thick slices. 

Place between 2 pieces of waxed paper and flatten, using the flat side of a cleaver or bottom of bottle. 

Sprinkle chicken with lemon juice; let stand for 10 minutes. 

In shallow dish, combine flour, salt, and thyme; mix well. In another shallow dish, lightly beat egg with water. 

Dip chicken pieces into flour mixture, then into egg mixture, then into bread crumbs. 

Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes or in microwave, uncovered, on high for 4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink inside.

From: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1939,146170-233207,00.html

Danish Dog

Take a typical hot dog or any frankfurter style sausage in a bun.  Many websites offer good recommendations, including adding vinegar to the water you boil your hot dogs in. 

Top with remoulade, sliced pickles, ketchup, mustard, and fried onions. (I prefer the canned kind you put on top of green bean casserole. They seem the most like what I had in Denmark.) I don't like pickles or mustard, but I have to say, I crave these hot dogs all the time now!

Warm German Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 3 cups diced peeled potatoes
• 4 slices bacon
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Place the potatoes into a pot, and fill with enough water to cover. 

Bring to a boil, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork. 

Drain, and set aside to cool.

Place the bacon in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. 

Fry until browned and crisp, turning as needed. 

Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add onion to the bacon grease, and cook over medium heat until browned. 

Add the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper to the pan. 

Bring to a boil, then add the potatoes and parsley. 

Crumble in half of the bacon. 

Heat through, then transfer to a serving dish. Crumble the remaining bacon over the top, and serve warm.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/authentic-german-potato-salad/Detail.aspx

A Jungle in My Dining Room

This is truly a Tablescape Times Three week. All three generations are setting a table using one china pattern. The china is “Intarsia” by Villeroy and Boch and belongs to me. As with most of my china, it comes with a great story.

In 2003, I had just finished a partial re-do of my kitchen. I had granite countertops installed and the blue and white china that had decorated my kitchen could not stay. It looked terrible with the countertops that I chose. That left me with no china to display in my kitchen.

This is the Giallo Antico that I used in the kitchen re-do.

Soon after the completion of the renovation, my daughter and I traveled to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina for a day trip of outlet shopping. Just for the record, Hilton Head is a three and one half hour drive away, but we used to make the trip often to visit the china outlets.

On this trip, we were in the Villeroy and Boch outlet store (now closed, alas!) and I spotted a china pattern that had an unusual decoration on the rim that I thought would exactly match the granite. I decided to buy almost all of the pieces they had - it was discounted, because it was going to be retired soon. I spent more money on china in one day than I had ever done previously (or since, for that matter). I thought I had gone completely mad. However, I was pretty smart, because the eight mugs that I purchased that day, among the rest of the pieces that I brought home, are worth more on Replacements now, than the entire amount that I spent! Over the years, I have added more pieces to the collection - some from the Villeroy and Boch outlet in Destin, Florida (also, closed!) and from Replacements and Ebay.



Since Villeroy and Boch made only one very large serving bowl for the “Intarsia” pattern, but is too big for most occasions, my husband surprised me with two smaller serving bowls this past Christmas in the “Intarsia II” (also, retired) pattern. They match perfectly.

Now for the best part of the story! After so carefully choosing a china pattern to match my granite, last summer I had a complete renovation done on my kitchen and changed my counter tops! Fortunately, I chose a a new granite that looks fine with "Intarsia". I did not think that my dear husband would understand having to buy all new china, again, to match the recently installed granite!

My new "Ming Gold" granite.



For my tablescape in “Intarsia” times three, I wanted to emphasize the green in the pattern. Despite the fact that fruit is featured prominently on the china, I have always thought that it had a jungle feel to it.

Perhaps, it has something to do with the birds on the mugs. Doesn't this parrot look like he is ready to fly out of the jungle?

I added more birds that were bought at a local gift shop. They usually reside in a bedroom, which is decorated with a bird motif.

The centerpiece of greenery from my garden adds to the illusion of a lush tropical forest.

It is interesting how the black and green look together. The contrast is wonderful!



The balloon wine glasses are Royal Bohemian and were a TJ Maxx find. The ruffled glass bowls are from Mikasa. Crate and Barrel was the source for the green place mats and napkins.

The flatware is "Jasmine" silverplate by Simeon L. & George H. Rogers Company – Oneida Ltd.

Here is a close-up look at my beautiful Jardinière. It is placed on my largest “Intarsia” serving platter. Both were part of the original Hilton Head purchase.

I enjoyed creating the jungle-like feel in my dining room and thinking about how and why I acquired "Intarsia". I cannot wait to see how the other two generations use my china in a new, fresh way!