Cozy blankets and hearty breakfasts. Oh—and chickens. Of course! Wynadotte hens and a Leghorn rooster pack a lot of visual punch.

We can still get some wonderful warm days in September in the Cape. Warm enough to sit outside, though my stomach has definitely switched to craving fall food, like Crispy Potato, Vegetable and Egg Skillet Breakfast.

Coq du Village by Fitz & Floyd has been lurking in the tableware wings, dying for its outing.

You must look closely to appreciate the four different plates – the distinctions are very subtle; a white rooster with two black & white hens clucks across each plate.

I was stymied on how best to style them for a long time. So I began to experiment and landed on emphasizing the red and black with a relatively neutrally coloured plaid blanket as the backdrop.

Colourful Fitz & Floyd cream, sugar and butter containers added a little oomph while staying with the same theme.

Matte black dinner plates frame the Coq du Village salad plates.

Black cast iron rooster napkin rings hold white napkins with red blanket stitching.

What do you think? Does it work?

I lost my heart to this little guy—I love how his tail feathers comprise a little sugar spoon.

He has turned away, haughtily, from the black wire chicken. “You’re not very pretty, are you?”

All the vegetables around the bottom of his “nest” gave me the idea for the skillet breakfast. Yum, yum. Healthy, hearty and filling.

Let’s hurry before everything gets cold!