cordial collection

I now have quite a few cordial glasses.  Cordial glasses are tiny glasses from which a person sips tiny amounts, one or two ounces, of a liqueur.  The liqueur is usually served neat with no ice or mixer so a small amount is just right.  I have been planting fruit at the farm and my plans have always been that when the fruit started producing I would make jellies and cordials from the bounty.

I started this cordial collection when I happened upon a set of four of these on an online auction.  The base is metal, I am assuming pewter.  The glass bowl is very delicate.

Not all cordial glasses have stems and these were found at a thrift store.  An internet search revealed pictures of what appears to be the same glass called Galassia  by Bormioli Rocco in Italy.  I have a set of six.

These are two different silver cordial glasses.  They were discovered at two different shops within a couple of weeks of each other.  I have five of one and six of the other.  I have not searched out their history yet. 

These are similar in shape to the Galassia above but these have the Princess House pattern of etching on theme.  Another thrift store find.  Six of these became a part of my collection.  Years ago Princess House sold crystal at home parties, kind of like Tupperware then or Pampered Chef now.  I bought quite a few pieces in two of their lines.  One of the sets that I purchased had the same etched design so these will coordinate with those glasses. 

These are also Princess House with the same matching etching.  These hold a smaller amount of liqueur and are stemmed.  I found 11 of these.

The glasses in the right corner are a peachy colored glass.  I have 10 of these.  They match nothing else in my dish stash but I thought they were cute. 

I wrote about my first attempts at making a fruit cordial here. and posted the recipe here..  It should be ready in time for the holidays--Thanksgiving and Christmas for sure, maybe Halloween.

Joining Tablescape Thursday at BNOTP 

collected white

A few years back I started collecting white dishes.  I was not collecting certain brands, just anything white that caught my eye.  Some of my pieces are new but recently I have been doing more thrifting and everything on this table, except for a couple of exceptions, is from one of several thrift stores or the estate store in my area.

This table is set for a ladies night out.  The group is small, just four, for a few Italian favorites and some conversation.  The table is ready but the food is not.  I will, however, share links to the recipes.

The tablecloth is a length of fabric purchased at Goodwill.  The napkins, napkin rings, candles and candlesticks were all purchased used.  The salt and pepper shakers were a recent find and I am using an individual white salt cellar at each place that will hold freshly grated Parmesan cheese  The flatware is my everyday stainless. 

Our meal is meatless so the antipasti is simply bread dipped in a small puddle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The small bread plate is centered over the other plates in the setting and the soup bowls are stacked at the end of the table to be brought out for the first course.  The bread plate is part of an appetizer set sold by Pampered Chef.  The white cruets, a Goodwill find, hold the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar.  

The first course is a butternut soup.  The rimmed soup plates were purchased new and a gift from my daughter.  They can also be used for pasta or salad but today they are holding soup.

 The soup tureen was a Goodwill find.  The butternut soup recipe is here savory butternut squash soup.

The second course is typically a meat but we will be substituting a pasta selection.  The large bowl that will be used to serve the pasta was found at New Leaf, a local thrift store that specializes in estate sales.  The pasta is a homemade pumpkin ravioli with a white sauce, sauteed kale and Parmesan cheese.  The recipe is here pumpkin ravioli.  The ravioli is served on a white salad plate found at Goodwill.

The third course, the salad course, is a caprese salad.  Tomato, basil and mozzarella with more olive oil and balsamic vinegar served on a dinner plate from Savers.  This recipe is here caprese salad.

The dishes for dessert sit waiting on the dresser.

The lion's head bowls found at New Leaf will be used for the affrogato. Affrogato is a serving of cold gelato with a shot of hot espresso poured over it.  I have been pinning recipes for homemade gelato but today we will be having a version purchased at the grocery store.  The espresso, though, will be authentic, made in a vintage Italian moka pot.

We will end our evening with the digestivo--a small glass of limoncello served in a fun thrift store glass.

buon appetito

Joining Tablescape Thursday at BNOTP.

Classic Heritage in Green

I shared this picture of my late breakfast/brunch here.

It was a special treat, a celebration of sorts, a leisurely cappuccino in a vintage cup and saucer with several chocolate almond biscotti to dunk at my desk while I caught up on my email.

These dishes were a recent purchase.  I first spotted them a couple of months earlier in a shop that is a nonprofit and is half thrift store, half antique store.  What first caught my eye was the color.  A rich,creamy center with a celadon green rim and two gold bands.  The green is very similar to the wall color in my front room, which is dining at one end and living at the other.  The other thing that attracted me to them was that there were a lot of pieces.  Not a full set of all the pieces but lots of each and there were seven different pieces in the place setting, a dinner plate, a cup and saucer, salad plate, bread plate, soup bowl and a dessert bowl.

They were more than I was willing to spend so I admired them in passing several times when I was in the store.  And then one day when I was in the shop I discovered that the business was going to be moving to a new location and they were having a sale.  Every thing in the store was half price.  They came home with me that very day.  Not every piece is perfect.  There is an occasional chip and the center gold band is worn off of some of the dinner plates.  I seem to have the most cups--12--but there are sufficient pieces

three sizes of plates

two sizes of bowls

beautiful cup and saucer

In doing some research I learned that they were a china pattern made by Taylor, Smith & Taylor around the late 1930s or 1940. They are pictured above on a white tablecloth.

But they also look nice on this deep red one.

Shortly after I bought them my younger daughter hosted a bridal shower for her sister, my older daughter, using several different patterns of vintage plates.  Some of the plates were hers and some were mine. They were part of that table paired with a goldleaf charger.  Here a brass napkin ring suggests that brass candlesticks and vases would be lovely on the center of the table.

Joining Susan at BNOTP here.

island tablescape

I just spent several days in Punta Cana for my daughter's destination wedding.  We stayed at an all inclusive resort with several restaurants.  This tablescape for two was set up outside the entrance to one of the restaurants.  It featured a beautifully folded napkin, three forks, three knives, a soup spoon and a butter plate and knife.  The glasses were arranged in a diagonal line.  Each day this table was set differently.

Multiple knives was typical for most settings.  Sometimes the knives were identical.  Sometimes the knives were the same pattern with one slightly larger or slightly more elaborate.

These knives had an interesting curve.

This blurry picture shows the two different knives.  The outside knife was a bit longer with a slightly wider handle.  White tablecloths were typical in the restaurants.  The tables near the buffet generally had a placemat.  
 
                                   

This was the place setting for the wedding supper.  This was the only meal we had where a charger was used.. 

 

Linking up with Tablescape Thursday at BNOTP

a thrifty table

I recently became a thrift store addict.  My youngest daughter took me along when she was checking out the thrift stores looking for new pieces for her collections.  She is starting a decor rental business as a sideline to her regular job.  Something to do in her mostly non-existent spare time.  We hit both of the local shops--our small town has two--and an estate sale which was basically a garage sale.  Then she headed back to the city and our thrifting together only happened sporadically.  But my sister and/or my mom and I started going without her and now my sister is hooked too.  We have a great time digging through the local shops but also the shops in the neighboring town and even a little more distant bigger towns when we have been there.  We have even bought a few things on K-bid.

In the picture above the 'tablecloth' is a length of fabric that I brought home from Goodwill.  I spread it out on the table to see if it was a long enough piece to sew into a tablecloth.  All spread out it appears to be about 4 yards, plenty long to cover my table with some overhang on all sides, but it could also be made into placemats or even cloth napkins.It is a thin stripe, kind of a brass color and cream.  I added some dishes to see the effect. 

The glasses and silverware are pieces that I already had but the china, napkin and napkin ring are all thrifted.  The china came from Goodwill.  It is without cups and saucers, but there are 9 dinner plates, 9 salad plates, 8 bread plates and 9 fruit dishes.  It is white with silver.bands.

The napkins came from the same Goodwill.  They look to have never been used.  There is  pretty embroidery in one corner.  There were eight that matched.

The napkin rings appear to be a cut glass or crystal.  They came from one of the local stores that receives much of their stock from estate sales.  They were in what seems to be their original boxes.  Four to a box, there were three boxes, two boxes were complete but one box was missing one of the napkin rings.  The fun part of this purchase was that I happened into the store on a day when they had all of their crystal half price.

When setting up the dishes for the above picture I neglected to add a crystal salt cellar.  It was my very first purchase at that first estate/garage sale.  It was a bag of 12 and I have not used them yet since they are not the same style as my normal dishes but they will work nicely with china.

Update:

This is a second tablecloth that I bought and when I hung the two fabrics together on a hanger I noticed that the colors seem similar.  I am not one to know what patterns mix well.  Hmm.  Something to think about.

I will be linking up with the following:

Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday 

a healthy homecoming

A couple of weeks ago my mom spent some time in a hospital that was a distance from her home.  Both she and my dad have had health issues and hospitalizations recently that has inspired a healthier diet not only for them but also for some of the rest of the family.  When it looked like she was going to be going home later that day, and because of the long ride, my daughter Nikole, went ahead and stopped and got some groceries and had a healthy supper waiting for us when we got home.  She prepared a healthy version of stir fry that used a peanut sauce to replace the soy sauce that we usually use.  She also had a couple of soups on the stove that could be warmed up over the next couple days to provide more healthy meals without a lot of fuss as my folks recuperated at home.  Nikole has shared the recipes so I can post them as well.  I did not get any pictures of our supper that evening but it was great and the peanut sauce added a nice flavor to the vegetables and chicken.  No one missed the higher sodium soy sauce.  Although generally more spicy she left the heat out of the peanut sauce in deference to those who like less heat and it was great.

The two soups were full of healthy vegetables and very flavorful.  A serving of each made it home with me and so I was able to catch a photo of those before eating them.  Both were really good.  Our family did not grow up eating lemon in anything that was not a dessert so I was curious about how the lemon would be in the lemon chicken orzo soup and it was wonderful.


We also didn't grow up eating stuffed peppers so that was a fun soup as well.  In my opinion all of these recipes are keepers.

The recipe for Lemon Chicken Orzo soup is here.

The recipe for Stuffed Pepper Soup is here.

The recipe for Healthier Stir Fry with Thai Peanut Sauce is here.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Stuffed Pepper Soup

mother's day and a supper meeting

This past weekend was mother's day and we had lunch in town to celebrate with my mom.  Then a couple days later on Tuesday it was my turn to serve for a group that I belong to.  We meet once a month, 10 months of the year.  We are a small group, usually only nine or ten people and we take turns providing a meal.  This year I made an old favorite for my meeting lunch.  I have had this recipe for over 30 years.  It is sweet and sour meatballs and it is served over rice.  I have made the meatballs before and placed them in a slow cooker and cooked the rice separately.  Usually I place the rice on a large platter and top it with the meatballs but this time I borrowed my mom's new slow cooker which is shaped like a cake plan which allowed me to place the cooked rice in the bottom of the heated slow cooker and top it with the cooked meatballs/sauce and keep it warm until it is time to eat.  These meatballs are pretty easy.  The meatballs are formed and then baked in the oven and when cooked through are added to the sauce which is cooked on top of the stove in a saucepan.  The meatballs and sauce are then baked in the oven or cooked in the slow cooker to marry the flavors.  This recipe is here,

I found a colorful salad on facebook and served it along with the meatballs.  I decided to try it first on the weekend as a practice run before my meeting.  The salad is a cabbage slaw with an Asian dressing and dry roasted peanuts.  The recipe post is here.

For dessert I decided to make an assortment of homemade candy bars.  On facebook I came across this recipe for a homemade Twix bar.  I knew that there were other recipes for homemade candy bars that I had pinned previously and I decided to make homemade Payday and the homemade Butterfinger to make a trio of sweets.  I made them on the weekend and served them for both events.  The homemade twix candy bar cookies can be found here.  The recipe for the homemade butterfinger candy bars can be found here.

The recipe for the homemade payday bars is here.