Lemon Tablescape

How many of you remember the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” story from your children's childhood?  My husband and I must have read this story - and its sequels (“If You Give a Moose a Muffin,” “If You Give a Pig a Pancake”) a hundred times!  And, ahem! we only did it for the kids, not because we enjoyed it in the least.  Oh, what fun times!

And now, I've created my own version.  It goes like this:  If you give Maria a Lemon Thyme herb plant,

the variegated Lemon Thyme that she can find locally only at Trader Joe's every other year . . .

chances are she's going to want to bake something special . . .

like the Citrus Loaf Cake from Rattlebridge Farm . . . 

When she makes the cake, she'll realize she needs to put together a table to go with it.  

She'll want to use her Botanical Citrus Salad plates from Williams-Sonoma, featuring limes . . .

blood oranges . . . 

grapefruits . . .

and, of course, lemons!

To complete the table, she'll realize she needs a nice centerpiece . . .

Some lemony yellow roses interspersed with creamy whites . . .

Set on a vase surrounded by lemon slices . . .

Once the table is set, she'll want to invite some friends for lunch . . .

  

If she invites some friends, it'll dawn on her that she's now going to have to prepare some food, because, unfortunately, it won't magically appear on the plates.  She makes a nice arugula salad with shaved Parmesan cheese and dressed with a lemon vinaigrette . . .

using her precious olive oil, bought in Italy last year while she was traveling in Tuscany.

Then, she'll prepare one of her favorite dishes:  Chicken Marbella, from the Silver Palate Cookbook.

The chicken is prepared with yummy treats like olives, capers, prunes, garlic, oregano, and, of course, more precious olive oil . . . All those good things that remind her of the Mediterranean . . .

Then it's sprinkled with brown sugar, which will caramelize during baking and flavor the chicken beautifully . . .

Once the chicken is done, she'll need to turn her attention to the beverages, and, since her mind is still taking a short trip back to Italy, Pallini Palmers seem perfect for the occasion!

Made with her favorite Arnold Palmer recipe, and adding a generous portion of Pallini Limoncello.

It's a perfect summer drink!

There are a lot of lemons in this post, but as Mae West once famously said:  “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!”

She and her guests can glance at her flowering clematis in the backyard, just to cleanse their visual palate . . .

Her friends will come and share the food, the drinks, and some lovely conversation on a beautiful summer afternoon . . .

And chances are . . . she'll have so much fun, she'll want to do it again and again!

A Winter Wonderland - Christmas continued

We were busy at our house this December, this time, hosting my son, John's friends from NIU - Northern Illinois University.  Now that they've all graduated, it gets harder and more complicated for this tight group to see each other, so Christmas break seemed to be the perfect time - the only time actually, in which this group could get together.

I needed to cleanse my tablescaping palate, after all the reds, greens and gold that we used earlier in the month (plus my cream-colored tablecloth was still at the cleaners), so we went with a silver and white color scheme . . . with a teensy bit of red thrown in . . .

It was so exciting to be able to go to my stash and pull out all the elements of this table without having to spend a cent!  I had all these things in my basement from previous Christmases.  What a delight to be able to use them again.

The snowflake napkin rings have been around forever.  I still have the original Marshall Field's box in which they came.  Now that Field's is gone, I can never get rid of the box!

Every guest received a box of Frango Candy Cane mints.  The boxes were so pretty I didn't feel they needed any additional wrapping.  I love the pop of red against all that white and silver.  What do you think? 

The menu:  Crab cake on a bed of arugula, served with lemon wedges and tartar sauce, chicken noodle soup, served with oyster crackers, filet of beef au jus, served with Roman potatoes.  There was no point in serving a green vegetable to this bunch, so I saved myself the trouble.  Dessert was Coconut Flan, Oreo mini-trifles, and a tray of cookies, including Pecan Butterballs, Potato Chip Munchies and Double Chocolate Chip Candy Cane cookies.  Then we served coffee, and, since I'm still on a Venetian high, I served shot glasses with limoncello.

And here's the Motley Crew, including my son David, who showed up at our house unexpectedly on Christmas morning, on a second short leave from the Army, giving us the best present we could have hoped for this holiday season!  I am so grateful to have had all these young adults around!  They are such genuinely nice people . . . and they keep me young!

Linking to Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.  Don't miss the talented tablescapers who join this fabulous party!