So many people are posting fall items now, but quite honestly, it’s hard to think of autumn when it is over 100 degrees. Inspired by this dilemma of a hot summer but longing for cooler temperatures, here are two seasonal tablescapes, utilizing some of the same elements, but creating two totally different vibes.

There are two talented women who encourage me to think out of the box when setting a table. Chloe from Celebrate and Decorate oozes of talent and innovation. You may recall, Chloe using a large antler shed last November and making the centerpiece of a gorgeous table out in our orchard. See that post here.

Though I have never met Bonnie Chase from Bonnie Chase Designs, I follow her on Instagram and drool over her beautiful tables. Check her out at @bonniechasedesigns. So channeling my inner Chloe and Bonnie, I set forth in creating a summer and fall tablescape.

Summer Tablescape

In the most recent My French Country Home box, the theme for August is Saint-Tropez. (If you are unfamiliar with this quarterly subscription, see more information here). A pretty raspberry and white striped fouta is made exclusively for My French Country Home and is just stunning. What is a fouta, you ask?

The fouta is a piece of thin patterned cotton or linen fabric of Yemeni origin used in many Mediterranean countries and Yemen. Among other uses, they were worn, by both men and women, wrapped around the body while at the public baths in 19th-century Syria. However, this large fouta is perfect as a tablecloth.

Starting with a green basketweave dinner plate from Pier 1 Imports, I add my cherished Wild Strawberry pattern teacups from Wedgwood. I bought these at Harrod’s in London many moons ago. The embroidered “C” napkin is an online order by Jan de Luz linens in Carmel, CA.

There is something very summery about pink and green~perfect for a Sunday breakfast. Pink flowers, such as these very fragrant star lilies are cut short and placed in glass juice glasses. Have you ever seen this multi-petal lily before? My husband did buy them at AJ’ Fine Foods.

My trusty Wallace Napolean Bee flatware adds a bit of gold to the place setting. I just purchased another set of 8 as I find I am using this all the time. I cannot say enough about this flatware! You can find it here.

Since this is a breakfast table, I add my Wedgwood tea pot and sugar bowl. Pink etched glasses from Pier 1 are perfect for water (or wine or mimosas?).

I do like to add something a bit whimsical and unexpected to the table. Meet my bejeweled frog box. I don’t really like knick-knacks, but this little guy just makes me happy.

So here is my summer breakfast table for two. Now let’s move into the fall season.

Fall Tablescape

This wool blanket reminds me of fall tailgating parties and has all the luscious colors for the season. I will use this as my tablecloth. Here are some similar wool blankets. You can use many things as tablecloths-shawls, scarves, throws or a piece of fabric. Use your imagination!

Utilizing some of the same elements as my Summer breakfast table, it’s easy to change it up a bit for Fall.

Here you can see I am using the same green basketweave plate, but am adding a clear gold rim salad plate (from Leslie Roy) and Villeroy & Boch yellow and green plates and an espresso cup and saucer.

Same silverware, different napkins. These hemstitched yellow linen ones are from Sferra. See them here. You can also find similar ones on Amazon here. The wine glass has autumn tones in the stem but I cannot recall where I purchased these.

For flowers, orange hue roses and alstroemerias (from Safeway) are cut short and again, put into small juice glasses. Our huge pine tree in the front yard is dropping gorgeous pinecones every day. Using items from your yard or garden is such an affordable way to add nature to your centerpiece.

Even the frog looks at home in his new habitat!

Overall, just a few additions and you can use your dishes to change the look of the table from season to season.

Wherever you live, I hope you are enjoying the end of summer or the beginning of fall. Here it will be hot for several more weeks, but as it does every year, the cooler climate will be here before we know it.

Have a happy Tuesday!

If you enjoy this post, please share on Pinterest.

This post shared with Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday #675 and Thursday’s Favorite Things #560

Sunday is the official first day of summer, but school is out, gardens are growing and the weather here says otherwise. Even though it is a bit too warm to eat outside, that doesn’t stop me from wanting to create a cheerful summer breakfast table.

The Tablecloth

I am so fortunate to have this brightly colored vintage tablecloth from my Aunt Gail’s belongings. Since it didn’t appear to have been laundered for quite some time, I did wash it in cold water on a delicate cycle and then hung it on the line to dry. I love how the fabric matches the foliage! With a quick iron, the table cloth is clean, fresh and ready to go.

Vintage linens can be found in many thrift stores. The patterns and colors are so rich and beautiful. Even though there are many online, I personally like to see them in person so I can handle the fabric and view the colors. And they are so affordable. A few are for sale and can be found in my Store tab above.

The Dishes

Layering dishes gives the table setting some substance and I start with a buttercup yellow charger. These handpainted Italian chargers are from Pier 1 Imports many years ago. You can find similar ones here.

Next, of course is a blue and white plate. These are again, an old purchase from Horchow and each plate is a different pattern. You can find a similar plate from this incredible selection here.

For the smaller plate, I select a pretty gold rimmed clear glass on from Leslie Roy (no longer in business).

The Centerpiece

Since I love my tulipiere, it is the perfect blue and white vessel for the centerpiece. Filled with yellow bells from the yard, it is set off to the side in order to allow visibility between the place settings.

Not familiar with tulipieres? Click here.

I also add some daisies in small glasses for added color.

The Meal

Since this is breakfast, a gorgeous juicy Ruby red grapefruit is a great way to start. The mint garnish adds a bit of contrast.

Fresh lemon slices on the edge of the water goblet add just a bit more yellow to the table. The large size coffee mugs are a gift from my friend, Anne.

My homemade granola is sooooo good and you can find the recipe here. You can make it as is or add other ingredients…but it’s another recipe I can guarantee you will love.

Isn’t this just a summery setting?

Other small items complete the table. The mini pitcher is for milk for the granola and I like to have regular milk and oat or almond milk as alternatives. If you haven’t made your own nut milk (super easy), here is my recipe. And here’s a cute blue and white creamer on Amazon.

The sweet vintage place card holder is a gift from my friend, Janie. I didn’t use a place card as I think it is perfect just as it is.

This table is set in our living room corner near the east and south windows. Perfect light in the morning to have our breakfast and celebrate the summer season.

Do you have breakfast on the run? Often, that is the case with me. It is nice to sit down at a lovely table and actually take the time to enjoy this meal.

Have a wonderful day, my friends!

If you enjoy this post, please feel free to share on Pinterest.

This post shared with Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday #664

For many years I did cook for large groups of high school athletic boys, in addition to my family of 5. However, since we are now empty nesters, a meal may consist of cheese and crackers and a glass of wine. Funny how one adapts! But having a house full of guests this week, with healthy 25-26 year old young men, I am quickly reminded of how much they love to eat. Here are a few of my “go to” recipes for feeding a crowd.

Breakfast

Generally, I like to do a breakfast spread that can stay out for a few hours to allow our guests to come in and eat when they want. This egg casserole is delicious either hot or cold.

Depending on the size of the piece, it can feed a lot of people. Since it is an easy recipe, it is generally served at our July 4th brunch and holiday weekends. See blog post and recipe here.

We are also blessed with having a lot of oranges from the orchard. The trees need to be gleaned when the first orange blossoms occur. So there is a wheel barrow full of them and perfect for squeezing fresh orange juice~again something that can be made ahead of time. Or it’s fun to engage your guests into squeezing the fruit too.

For beverages, everyone gets a quick tutorial on how to use the Nespresso machine so they can help themselves to coffee, espresso or lattes in the morning. The coffee station has everything you need from German rock sugar to Torani flavored syrups. Coffee cups are handy and available.

Other Breakfast Ideas

Homemade granola (see recipe here).

Quiche (use store bought pie crusts for extra ease).

Breakfast pizza with store bought pizza dough (add bacon/sausage, eggs, cheese, herbs).

Lunch

Lunch has been relatively easy with this group of friends because they love Arizona tacos~something difficult to find in Washington, DC. Taco crawls to different places are a way to taste the authentic Mexican food which is abundant here.

But if I need to prepare something, I would suggest a sandwich bar with deli cuts of meat, lettuce, tomatoes, spreads (mustard, mayo, pickled onions) and a great bread or bun (or homemade sourdough bread)! A few bags of different chips and you are good to go.

Another easy solution is the heating up the pizzas I recently found from Naples, Italy. They come directly from the source, packaged beautifully in quantities of 8 and a wonderful item to keep on hand in your freezer. Add some more toppings and 10-12 minutes in the oven and you have an authentic Italian 10″ wood-fired pizza. I am getting ready to order another batch from Talia di Napoli. See resource here.

Dinner

You can’t go wrong with steaks on the grill and a big salad. I also just tried Rachel Ray’s lemon smashed potatoes, which can be made ahead of time. Everyone said they were delicious as I could not indulge being on my Fast Metabolism diet. Here’s the recipe and sorry, I failed to take any pictures of them.

One recipe that is simple to make and does feed a crowd is lasagna. Using store bought tomato sauce and oven-ready lasagna noodles (see here) helps with the quick preparation of this dish. The tomato sauce I always use is Rao’s, if I don’t have any homemade sauce available. You can find it at most grocery stores, Costco and on Amazon here. It does not contain any sugar (check the label as most pasta sauces have lots of sugar).

What makes this recipe flexible is that you can make it with zucchini instead of pasta. Also, you can add beef, turkey or sausage if you like or not. I find it helpful to make a smaller casserole of vegetarian lasagna at the same time. Both freeze well too.

Lasagna, a big salad, garlic bread and a nice bottle of red wine and dinner is served.

Desserts

Whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies takes me approximately 17 minutes from start to finish. How do I know this?

While in high school, my son would ALWAYS ask me to make cookies. One night, I was very tired and getting ready to head to bed and he made another cookie inquiry. I suppose I could have said no, but I knew he had more studying to do. With his help, we made them together very quickly….about 17 minutes.

Having the ingredients on hand makes a difference! I sprinkle the top with Maldon smoked sea salt flakes for an extra flavor. You can source it here.

Another easy dessert is a Fruit Crisp. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries…really any fruit works. With a crispy, oatmeal/brown sugar/butter topping, all you will need is a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Here is the recipe to my favorite peach crisp. Just substitute another fruit and double the recipe if you are serving many.

Hopefully with the world opening up you will be entertaining with lots of people soon. Fresh food sources are the key to making great food! Do you have any tried and true recipes for feeding a crowd? If so, please do share.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

If you enjoy this post, please share on Pinterest.

P.S. Just a reminder that any words that are italicized bring you to the source. If it is a product on Amazon, please note that I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you purchase something through my website, I receive a small (very small!) stipend, which doesn’t affect the price you pay at all. My goal is to make sourcing the items easy for you. Thank you for your continued support.

I am happy to report that we had an absolutely lovely Christmas. In spite of a late night Christmas Eve, this blessed day could not have been better. With just our clan of 5, we experienced the best of family time, food and traditions. Here is a look at our post-Christmas wrap up.

Gingerbread Houses

As you may recall, I just started making a gingerbread house two years ago. Utilizing a set of templates from Martha Stewart (that are so old you can’t even find them referenced online), I select the chicken coop instead of the log cabin. To see my log cabin last year, click here.

To be honest, Martha’s chicken coop template is a rather boring structure. It looks a bit like a warehouse and doesn’t really have any resemblance to our chicken coop. But I proceed anyway, in hopes that I can add elements to make it more attractive. The log cabin design is much more interesting. Gingerbread dough is quite tasty and you can find the recipe here. I make 3 batches for all the pieces.

The pieces are assembled and “glued” together with Royal icing ~ 4 cups of confectioners sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder and 6 tablespoons of water.

Using shredded wheat cereal and mini-York peppermint patties, texture is added to the roof. Frosting tinted to look like adobe is painted on the sides. Pretzels trim around the entries and melted butterscotch candies make up the glass in the windows.

My attempt to make gingerbread chickens is a complete failure, so thankfully, I have these wooden chicken magnets as the coop’s occupants. Chocolate blocks become shutters and fresh greens dress up the window sills.

Camper Gingerbread

A few years ago, I saw this cute gingerbread camper by Sugar and Cloth. However, the instructions are vague and I would imagine their vintage camper was done by a professional baker.

My camper kept collapsing and the pieces didn’t really fit together. Completely frustrated, it was going in the trash. So my husband ate the wheels and a few pieces and as I’m ready to discard it, my youngest daughter insisted we not give up.

And I am so glad she did! So I baked a few more wheels and created new pieces that would fit. Candied windows and colorful lights make it look like a party camper. Though far from perfect, this became a great mother/daughter project. It is SO cute!

Raisins and chia seeds make up the walk. A paper cocktail umbrella provides shade to the lounge chair. A leftover Christmas tree cookie is placed on the roof. By the time we are finished decorating, we are belly laughing and having so much fun! A worthwhile rescue!

Unexpected Christmas Joy

On the 24th, I dropped off a present to my friend, Janie. We met at her outside back terrace and she surprised me with a cup of Christmas tea and shortbread cookies. What I thought was going to be a few minute gift exchange, turned into a lovely hour of conversation. Using her beautiful Spode tea cups and this incredible needlepoint tea cozy, made the time even more special and festive.

I don’t have a tea cozy, but I just purchased one on eBay that is identical to this! It is surprising how hot that cover kept the teapot, especially outside in the cool weather. Now I just need the cups!

Making Homemade Bacon

My daughter, Elisabeth (almost 20) is starting to learn to cook. She decided she wanted to make bacon for Christmas morning. Make bacon? So she went to the butcher and bought a 3 lb. pork belly, cured it (brown sugar, pepper, salt, distilled water and Prague powder) for several days and then smoked it for a few hours until it reached the ideal temperature.

On Christmas morning, she sliced it up and cooked it for the family and it was absolutely delicious! Who knew?

A Collaborative Cooking Day

In addition to homemade bacon, my husband and other daughter, Julianna made Eggs a la Goldenrod (see recipe here), my son picked oranges from the orchard and made fresh squeezed mimosa and I made cinnamon rolls from sourdough starter discard (delicious!). Recipe from Amy at Little Spoon Farm is here.

Disguising Gifts

After breakfast, we moved to the living room to open gifts. A rather tired looking Santa is sitting in one of the wing chairs. The children laugh about it and we go on to unwrap all the presents under the tree.

Finally, my daughter asks if she can “unwrap” Santa, which happens to be a cello for her. Though it was a bit comical trying to dress the cello as Santa, it is a good way to disguise the gift.

After we opened presents, the rest of the day is spent cooking, both indoors and out.

My dear friend, Connie let us borrow her smoker while she is out of town and we have certainly put it to good use. A rather non-traditional holiday dinner consists of smoked baby back ribs, a chicken on the rotisserie, stuffing, gravy, pear and apple chutney, spiced red cabbage with apples and oranges, twice baked potatoes, roasted vegetables, persimmon bread and mincemeat pie.

Dinner was consumed in the pink themed dining room, which just felt magical. If you missed that post, you can see it here. Needless to say, it’s time to exercise and eat greens again!

The day ended with our fabulous neighbors coming by to sing Christmas carols and deliver an amazing gift. In spite of this challenging year, I could not have asked for a more perfect day~filled with laughter, love and some of the best food I’ve ever eaten.

The time between Christmas and New Year’s is one of my favorites~enjoying the slower pace of it all and wearing elastic waist pants! With the new year, I will get back on track exercising and eating better, but for now I am giving myself permission to enjoy my family being all together and our good health.

Sending warm, relaxing wishes for the balance of 2020.

If you enjoy this post, please share on Pinterest.

stories

Happy July 4th to all of you! We are happily ensconced here in the mountains of Arizona enjoying the cooler temperatures. I love all the patriotism here as nearly every cabin is displaying flags and lots of red, white and blue.

Our mountain community is a combination of older, original cabins and of course, the newly built McMansions. I love walking in this area because I get to snoop at each and every house. Who doesn’t love looking at other people’s homes? My favorites are the original ones that are bursting with charm and character.

The Drive Up

The trip from our home in Phoenix is approximately 3.5 hours. I love the drive, because the minute you leave the metropolitan area you are winding up through the mountains and forest.

As you may or may not have heard, but we had a very large fire (Bush Fire) that started on June 13th and today is 99% contained. It was so big that NASA could see it from space. However, even though I heard about it, it wasn’t until I drove through it did I realize the extent of the damage.

Experiencing it first hand was shocking and heartbreaking. Here is my posting on Instagram.

Highway 87 runs right through the middle of the 194,000 acres that have burned. On both sides of the road, as far as the eye can see, was blackened earth covered in fire retardant spray. I drove for an hour and the view was the same.

For a 13 mile stretch, the road was reduced to one lane because the guard rail posts had burned and the actual guard rail looked like a melted ribbon. Apparently the fire was caused by a burning vehicle and high winds. Our firefighters are such heroes in battling what is now the 5th largest fire in our state’s history.

That was bad enough, but when I was driving on State Route 260, there was a driver traveling at very high speeds going the WRONG WAY. Thankfully I was in the right hand land and since we were moving up an incline, I didn’t see him/her until they blew by me. It was so fast I couldn’t tell you the make, model or color of the car. I pray no one was killed by this maniac.

Finally Here!

The rest of the way I drove like a little old lady. Naturally, after such an eventful trip, I am thrilled to be here.

Every time I arrive at the cabin, I start daydreaming about re-decorating it. Right now, it is a hodgepodge of furniture we’ve collected over time. I suppose if we spent more time here, it would make sense to redecorate. Here are some inspirational photos on what I’d love to do to the bedrooms.

Next 4 photos from Google.com

I love how they have displayed the quilt on the wall below.

To see more pictures of our cabin, click here.

Lack of Rain and a Surprise

As you may recall, we haul our several big pots of geraniums up to the cooler climate every year. There has been such little rain, and the plants are looking a bit stressed. While watering them, we found this sweet bird’s nest tucked inside the greenery.

Momma bird was startled by the garden hose and flew out, long enough for me to take this photo. Sorry it’s a bit blurred, but I didn’t want to disturb this protected setting. Momma is back on the nest happily protecting her eggs. To see all our geraniums journey, click here.

Sox, our Beagle Update

About 10 days ago, our beagle, Sox lost the control of his back legs. I found him laying in the driveway, overheated and exhausted. We rushed him to the vet and was told he has arthritis (he’s soon to be 13) and a disc issue with his spine.

Our instructions are to keep him crated as much as possible for at least the next few weeks and only take him out for bathroom runs. Well, if you’ve ever had a beagle, this is a very challenging task. This dog follows his nose and from the waist up, he’s very puppy-like. He’s on oral steroids, muscle relaxants and pain meds.

However, his legs are still working and he does get around fairly well on carpets or rugs. Hardwood floors are difficult for his balance. But it’s looking hopeful. Here is how we walk him around. The exercise band is perfect for supporting his hips and still allows him to do his business without obstruction.

Happy July 4th Weekend!

I am getting ready to have an Independence Day breakfast. Fresh berries, plain yogurt and my breakfast cookie accompanied by morning coffee. If you missed my breakfast cookie(s) recipe, click here.

In my last post, I stated that our July 4th parade is cancelled. However, some clever residents are creating a golf cart parade that will start at 10:00 a.m. So after I send this post out to you, I’ll be decorating Shrek, our green golf cart in July 4th attire!

Whatever you have planned for this holiday weekend, I hope you are with those you love, either in person or virtually. Being here in the cabin and around nature has already lowered my stress levels. Be happy, be kind and most of all, be safe.