Spring has been long coming this year in the Northeast. While I’ve relished the additional daylight, I’m longing for warmer temperatures and dry days. My goosebumps are starting to rust! But a glimmer of hope has emerged with the advent of luscious strawberries. They are still imported, mind you, but a taste of good things to come.
I began rummaging for tableware to celebrate The Season of the Strawberry and reached back into the 1970s for Fitz and Floyd’s Wild Strawberry pattern. It’s very lively, with vibrant green leaves and berries in several stages of ripeness.
The clear spring green echoes Jeanette Green Cherry Blossom footed compotes and 8 oz footed tumblers from the 1930s. True Depression glass, these pieces would have been found in boxes of food from companies such as Quaker Oats as an incentive to purchase. Moviegoers were treated to a piece on designated nights; gas stations gave them away to customers with a fill-up of the gas tank. The vintage pressed glass is sturdy and was  “cheap and cheerful”. I have got a lot more use out of the pattern than I ever imagined. It’s perfect for this cheerful table.
To showcase the strawberries, I cooked up a batch of Fruit-Filled Shortcake Baskets using a Nordicware pan. The little cakes have a more open, crisp crumb than a pound cake—perfectly sized to hold a hearty dollop of whipped cream topped with sliced berries.
Since we were reaching back in time with the tableware, I decided to go full “country kitchen” with the table. Aptly named Ralph Lauren Homestead dinner plates frame the Wild Strawberry salad plates. I played around with several tablecloths before settling on the more open gingham pattern. I had four wooden strawberry-shaped napkin rings to hold white napkins with red blanket stitched borders.
I set a lot of tables, and this is one that made me smile.
Strawberries, shortcake and sunshine. Oh – and whipped cream. Bring it on!!
We have been travelling these last few weeks, and I will be posting about our adventures on Entertablement Abroad. We spent nine days in England, in London, Essex, and Kent, which included a trip through the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Hall, which (astonishingly) we had never visited. Digging into the Tudor and Stuart eras, I discovered several royal residences of which I had previously been only vaguely or completely unaware, including Ashridge House, the Queen’s House in Greenwich, Framlingham Castle, and Walmer Castle, so they were all on the list for this trip. We rounded things out with a stay at Audley End, from which we visited Wrest Park and Houghton Hall. Then to Kent, where we stayed on the grounds of Scotney Castle, stopping at Waltham Abbey on the way down. We then flew to Athens and boarded a ship through the Greek Isles, stopping in Ephesus, Turkey. More to come on all of that!
This bright table setting would brighten any gloomy day that we now are having on the Cape. A definite inspiration to make mini strawberry shortcakes
Sorry the weather is crummy! I hope it improves soon.
We can share some shortcakes when I get there!
This table is absolutely perfect! Can you tell me where you get those plaid cloths? A few weeks ago, I was lusting over the brown one you used on the Pier 1 Pumpkin table but wasn’t able to find anything even close!
Thanks Barb!
I got both plaid cloths at HomeGoods (HomeSense here in Canada). They usually have some plaid and they’re very reasonably priced.
Oops! Forgot to add: Ephesus is amazing, isn’t it? I can’t wait to read your write-up!
Loved Ephesus. I think my favourite place on the cruise. We also went to Delphi and Olympus. They added some layers to the history for me. Oh – and the Ancient Agora in Athens. Fascinating. 🙂
Dear Helen, I love the fresh green in this table and the sweet strawberries, but I have to confess that at first glance I thought the serviette rings were tomatoes. Too bad there is no knighthood in the US, because RL deserves one. Hope you got some good weather in England and GR, but it has been awful in most of Europe this spring, with storm after storm from the Atlantic. We’ve gone from summer to winter snow and back to spring–the lilacs were early, the peonies late, but all the roses are in bud, soon to pop. Looking forward to the posts on your travels. Northern Lights were pretty impressive here; did you get to see them? Not long now to the longest day of the year…
Hi Beatrice!
You’re quite right that those napkins rings could double as tomatoes. Too funny. Those Ralph Lauren plates have served me on many a table. The gingham pattern is just the right scale.
The weather in England was freezing cold. Fortunately, we keep winter coats in the car we store over there, and they were a godsend (as they often are for Goodwood). Brrrrrr. In the gardens we visited, it was as you report: the lilacs were glorious but the peonies were stalled as marble-sized buds.
Greece was not much warmer, especially on the water. We got some warm weather in Athens, Delphi and Olympia, but I had a jacket with me most of the time. Not much need for shorts.
We did not see the northern lights, but judging by the photos in the Times and Telegraph, they were spectacular. What a display nature can put on. We saw them a lot in the countryside where I grew up; I remember doing a project on the aurora borealis when I was in grade 8.
Hi Helen, you are so talented and god bless you for the energy you have to put together such beautiful tables! An inspiration you are! It’s Sheree from our cruise on Windstar, your fellow Canadian.
Hi Sheree! So lovely to hear from you. I hope you had a fabulous time at the Acropolis on your final day. Thanks for stopping by at the blog! It’s my zany hobby which keeps me out of trouble.