Our good friends Bill, Maura, Carolyn and Paul, with whom we went on the cruise in 2019 (a lifetime ago, it seems), were visiting recently. Oh, happy days!
We took every opportunity during their short stay to get together for a Cape-Cod land-locked reprisal—Maura hosted dinner one night, Glenn and I another night, and we had dinner out twice.
The weather cooperated, and we could dine outside on Creamy Corn Crab Bisque, followed by Florentine Bistecca and Roasted Vegetables (recipe in Entertablement—Much Depends on Dinner).
We finished up with Lemon Chiffon cake garnished with fresh berries and whipped cream.
Blue and white is a refreshing palette for summer; the cool tones providing some visual relief from the sultry weather.
The Depression Glass tumblers, soup cups and saucers are Cobalt Royal Lace by Hazel-Atlas.
Sturdier than “elegant” Depression glass, patterns such as this one were given away in packages of Quaker Oats or laundry detergent or by gas stations and movie theatres during the 1930s as inducements to purchasers of qualifying merchandise to part with their scarce resources.
Larger pieces, such as platters or punch bowls, would be obtained with coupons or proofs of sale from multiple purchases.
The clear wine glass is an antique wheel-cut from an unknown manufacturer.
I pulled out cobalt accessories to add to the visual bounty, including this little bird open salt.
And a tiny chicken butter dish.
The cobalt vases are all modern, from Save on Crafts, and sadly discontinued. However, they were very inexpensive and did a marvellous job holding creamy stems of Pee-Gee hydrangeas aloft.
I acquired the blue & white runner years ago; the napkins are a more recent acquisition from Etsy.
While I like the embroidery, the fabric was a disappointment; I won’t recommend them.
Summer dining at its friendly best.
Thank heaven for good friends, good food, lovely weather and a slow return to normality.
And a reminder that the Giveaway for Entertablement—Much Depends on Dinner ends tomorrow. Many of you have provided wonderful comments, weighing in on what you’d like to see more of from the blog. I’m very appreciative! If you haven’t had a chance to do so, Mary and I would still love to hear from you.
Until tomorrow, when we will announce the three winners of a hard or Kindle copy of the book, the reader’s choice.
So great you’re entertaining again and beautifully deck out the outdoor dining experience. Wonderful!! Pretty blues. Dessert reminds me of my dear Mother. She often served an angelfood cake, berries and whipped topping for a light dessert. Glad your weather is perfect this August.
Chiffon or angel food cake is a classic, isn’t it? I made it for the first time this year and found I really like it. I’ve always loved pound cake; this was a lighter version with just as much flavour.
Oh, your cobalt blue Depression Glass is gorgeous, and this table shows it off beautifully.
Good lighting! I was lucky that day. 🙂
I can’t believe we made your blog!! It truly was a wonderful long weekend spent with special friends. Your dinner was a visual and culinary delight. Thank you for being our cherished friends.
Right back at you, Carolyn! Looking forward to many more such evenings. What fun!
Dear Helen,
Ooooh…those wheel-cut glasses again (*swoon*). Thanks for another beautiful blue-white-clear setting to brighten the end of summer. After a “summer” that was very cool for us (but a nightmare heat dome for inland Iberia and Greece), autumn is coming on strong; time to harvest the huge deep-purple hydrangeas. I will make return visits to your settings and replicate some before it gets too cold.
I wish I could say something encouraging about travel here, but delta has created more chaos–fully vaxxed people denied homebound flights because a last-minute positive PCR. Sigh…
Much as I love summer, I’m looking forward to autumn. I’ve been setting, cooking and snapping fall-themed tables and dishes for a couple of weeks now. The autumn magazine/flipbook is coming along a treat with the new InDesign software. Always love a challenge!
I still have a few more summer tables planned — want to get some photos into the “bank”, so to speak. It helps with planning future blogs well in advance of the actual season.
I hear you on the travel, Beatrice. While the vaccinations have done wonders in preventing serious illness and hospitalizations, they aren’t the panacea for transmission we had hoped for. Thus, it seems going to be stuck with this testing regime for the foreseeable future. A few people I know have had both shots and have tested positive with no symptoms. As you say, one may well be faced with missing the flight there or back while waiting for a negative test. It’s either accept that’s part of the travel menu for now or stay home. I’m not inclined to just stay home. 🙂
WOW, I feel privileged to have been at that famous dinner with the chef of the day on Cape cod. Besides the meal being fabulous, the setting was second to none and our hats off to the grill master Glenn. Everything was so perfect with good friends and good food. Thanks for the memories.
Always fun to celebrate with great friends! We have so much to be thankful for. Summer on the Cape takes a lot of beating!