Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a festive celebration on New Year’s Eve, whether you were out on the town or quietly at home.
We hosted a small dinner party with close friends, and I took the opportunity to pull out some “ballgown” tableware. The first order of business, after planning the menu, was to remove a leaf from the dining room table so we could enjoy a cosier arrangement.
That done, I decided on my French or Powder Blue plates and Venetian glassware (most of the antique glassware and china on this table is from Elise Abrams). I thought it would be a fresh change from the greens and reds of Christmas with a little more colour than just gold & white.
The service plates have a rich gold embellishment on the border. They’re from the Gilded Age and produced by Royal Doulton.
You can see the delicately raised paste and the fine dots (called jeweling) in this shot.
For the salad course, I used a coordinating plate of the same vintage, though this one is by Spode.
For the main course, I used a fairly modern plate, also by Royal Doulton, which I picked up from Replacements years ago to coordinate with all my antique china. It’s Royal Gold by Royal Doulton. I’ve got the soup cups & saucers, the bread & butter plates and the dinner plates. When using antique china, it’s best to avoid using utensils on the heavily gilded, fully coloured and/or hand-painted pieces. By all means, use them as service plates (like the first piece) with a salad plate or soup cup on top, then remove them.
The goblets are both antique Venetian Glass, one plain and one with gilding and jewelling.
I used the embellished glass for water and the plain one for wine.
I have only nine of this one, five from one set and four from another; they’re slightly different heights, but it’s not noticeable on a table.
I was lucky enough to find some coordinating open salts: two small dolphins…
… and a gracefully gliding swan.
Oh yes – and a couple of dolphin vases, though I left them empty on this occasion. The small clear gilded acorn-shaped glass at the back is an antique Moser glass that we use for Port, though it may originally have been a claret glass. Wine glasses were much smaller back then.
I decided on a fairly simple centrepiece with pine and cedar branches plucked from outside and white roses, immature white hydrangeas (to get the fresh green colour) and sea holly, which looks like Scottish Thistles but isn’t, from the grocery store. I’ve tried growing sea holly and it’s one fussy plant. It’s a lovely cut flower but a scrawny, unattractive plant in a perennial border.
We deliberately set a measured pace for the evening, starting with canapes and champagne in the living room by the fire. For the canapes, I made pinwheels of Fennel, Spinach, Leeks and Pine nuts (recipe to follow as soon as I write it up), which I also served at a Scottish Tea for the family a day or so before. The recipe makes about four dozen and once the puff pastry is rolled up with the filling inside, it can be kept in the fridge for up to two days before being sliced and baked.
We then enjoyed oysters in the kitchen while I got the rest of the meal together. Glenn shucked four different varieties for us to try, and everyone added lemon, horseradish, or hot sauce as they desired. We then moved to the dining room for the rest of the meal, where the wine flowed and conversation sparkled.
Dundee helped with all the preparations from his perch on the kitchen table.
He became quite bored with the proceedings, as they didn’t involve food for him. He let me know in no uncertain terms.
The full menu for the evening:
Pinwheels with Leeks, Fennel, Spinach and Pine Nuts
Fresh oysters, including Beausoleil, Raspberry Point, Pickle Point and Silver something-or-other
Roasted Winter Vegetable and Pear Salad with Cheddar and Almonds* (modified – recipe to follow)
Rack of lamb with roasted Fingerling Potatoes and French Green Beans
I’ll leave you with a few more shots of the table.
May I wish you all much happiness, robust health and prosperity for 2019, and look forward another year here at Entertablement filled with table settings, flowers, recipes and travel adventures.
I’m sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
A table beautifully set to ring in 2019. Everything looks gorgeous. Love your cat. Hope you had a wonderful time to welcome New Year. Happy New year to you from my side. Sujatha:)
Thanks Sujatha! We did indeed have a wonderful time. It was quite low key, happily.
As to Dundee the cat, he’s a real monkey and has quite a fan club. 🙂
You have the most beautiful dishes! This is a tablescape I would have loved to be at! Happy New Year!
Thanks, Maureen. This is one of my favourite sets of dishes. I love French blue. 🙂
Happy New Year to you, as well! I hope you have a fabulous 2019.
Dear Ms. Kain,
Such a sumptuous menu for such a sumptuous table. Your Venetian glass is beautiful with this china, the stems could not be better chosen for the table.
I appreciated how Dundee contributed his own marmalade touch to remind us all that French blue looks most attractive with a little orange for piquancy.
I’m eagerly looking forward to the addition of the recipes for appetizer and salad from your New Year’s feast.
Happy New Year from Maryland,
Elizabeth Speicher
Thank you so much, Ms. Speicher!
Dundee sends his regards. His growth rate has slowed as he approaches six months, but his appetite has not, so he’s got a comfortably round physique and the softest fur imaginable. He’s quite an independent soul these days, preferring to spend his nights on the couch on his favourite blanket, rather than on the bed with us. He comes in first thing in the morning, hops onto the bed and makes his way over to the nightstands to knock things to the floor in an effort to rouse us to fill his food bowl. This, of course, rouses Clementine, who snaps up whatever he’s managed to send cascading her way. I’ve learned to put my contact lens case and Fitbit into the nightstand drawer as they’ve narrowly missed being chewed to bits on a few occasions. He has more fun on Glenn’s side of the bed with digestive tablets, wallets, books and coasters. Once the room is in an uproar, he saunters out and sits beside his bowl, pointedly waiting. If he wore a watch, he would tap it. Simon’s Cat, indeed!
I’ll get the recipes up for the appetizer and salad this weekend. They’re almost done.
Have a lovely day!
Best,
Helen
Exquisite! I love the color scheme for welcoming in the New Year.
Have you ever considered publishing a book of your tablescapes, floral arrangements, etc?
Thank you, Julie. I think blue is a four season colour, don’t you?
I have considered publishing a book, or perhaps seasonal short books, and am looking into how I might do that using Blurb, Lightroom’s publishing module. I actually put most of one together with fall settings, and then time got away from me and it didn’t get finished before Christmas was upon us. It’s on my mind for this year. I thought I’d start with a small one and see how the quality of the printing is, what it looks like, pricing, etc.
Thanks for asking!
Oh, my kind of festive table; such a nice break from the usual green-red. However, I’ll never forgive you for your link to Abrams…grrrrrr. Maybe when I win the lottery. I knew your setting would have me pea-green. And I just happen to have an extra Dufour’s puff pasty and a pound of pine nuts in the freezer!
Hard to get in the mood when it’s 80 outside. Best to do it like the Aussies: First, a walk on the white beach, where some wag has erected a fully-decorated Christmas tree…wade in 70-degree water…hang a shell on the driftwood tree, a local institution. Then to the farmer’s market for Royals (like lobstah!) and Pinks from the Gulf and southern-raised marinated butterflied lamb leg for the barbie.
Elegant rarified settings have their limits here, and anyway most of its elements live elsewhere. I make up an all-white table with a cachepot of white frilly cattleya orchids that have obligingly bloomed all holiday season; set with ornate glazed Italian and Portuguese; drag out the Francis I; get sparkling with square cut-glass square pillar columns with white PB pillars, crystal lotus tapers, Gallia wines, and Rock-Sharpe stacked-cube-stemmed goblets, Wreath #1001. Sprinkle the tabletop with piles of tiny glass discs to simulate diamonds of sun reflecting on a pristine snowy field.
Starter salad courtesy of Harry & David, with its incredible dressing of Dijon, champagne vinegar, honey, and La Tourangelle walnut oil on watercress–top with dolce latte and slices of their incomparable pears. Finish with the dead-easy chocolate ice cream recipe it took me years to find and perfect (no thanks to Marcella Hazan, who had me sidelined for a while with her almost-bitter caramelized-sugar version). I use Milka’s layered white/milk/bitter bar and 85% brought from CH, lots of Scharffenberger 100% cacao powder, and a secret ingredient that makes the smoothest ice cream this side of gelato. Scatter with crystallized violets from a tiny gelato shoppe in Bologna. Heaven…Happy New Year!
Funny you should mention pine nuts in the freezer. That’s exactly where mine came from. Glenn was apparently in an expansive mood when he purchased them to make pesto last fall. I don’t think we’ll go through them in a month of Sundays! I will get the recipe published this weekend, so you can have at it, my friend.
I have described Elise’s site as “dangerous” which she finds to be a compliment. It doesn’t begin to give an account of her inventory, though, Beatrice. If you’re ever in Great Barrington you would be in seventh heaven wandering around the shop. She’s incredibly knowledgeable and a lovely person, too.
Your description of an Aussie New Year’s ritual sounds perfect. When in Rome…
Devonia Antiques used to (may still have) a store in Naples, Florida, and in speaking with the owner one day, she said much the same about the appetite for elegant settings. The locals have much more focus on casual and dishwasher-safe. I think it’s a trend everywhere, though, not just Florida. Your all-white setting sounds perfect. Icy Elegant Bling in a warm climate. And your menu – marvellous. We must figure out a way for you to share some of these recipes! Mmmmmmm….
Happy New Year to you, also!
This one’s a beauty! Thanks for sharing all your beautiful table scapes and tasty recipes. Will look forward to more in the new year. Happy New year to you and Glenn.
And Happy New Year to you and Bill, Maura! Thank you for all your support of the blog. It means a great deal to me and I really appreciate it. Xo
The dinnerware is absolutely stunning, as is the centerpiece! I have not hosted a dinner party for a very long time, and would love to do so again. For an elegant occasion like this, how did you narrow down and decide upon your menu? Thank you for sharing such beautiful inspiration!
Hi Janet,
Thank you so much!
To answer your question, when I’m hosting a dinner party, my first consideration in planning the menu is minimizing time away from my guests, so I look for things that can either be prepared in advance or require minimum fussing in real time. For this meal, I made the pinwheels the day before and they were in the fridge, rolled and ready to slice and bake. I also roasted the vegetables for the salad the day before; washed the lettuce and had it sitting in the spinner and made the dressing earlier that day. Rack of lamb only takes about 30 minutes to roast in the oven; I tied two racks together with fresh rosemary in between and roasted them at 400 F. The fingerling potatoes took just a little less time than the racks to roast, and the green beans were quickly cooked in boiling water on the stovetop. The dessert had been made the day before.
The only fiddly bit was the oysters, and we all moved to the kitchen to do those, sipping champagne and chatting while Glenn shucked.
Hope this helps! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a lovely weekend.
Thanks again for the spinach pinwheel recipe, a winner!!
I have a crush on Lindsey Ray vintage goblets in gold. Your stemware is BEAUTIFUL here. I may have been last to know but there is a group… “Antique glass club”. Holy cow!! Where do I join?!! Right?!! Online for now. In better times, 2 places to meet even a couple hours from me by Madison. Who knew?!
Gilded glass does have a wonderful place for special holiday entertaining. For spring and summer, I prefer the lighter, less formal finely etched depression glass, but it sure is nice puttin’ on the Ritz for the holidays!