HAPPY EASTER 2018

Already for quite a while I had the photos...

So, here I will use them for wishing all my readers a HAPPY EASTER 2018!

Yes, one of my sewing creations, quilted and padded place mats with matching napkins.

Photo got made on Sunday, March 20 of 2005

Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet silverware and for dessert the Bridal Rose by Alvin in sterling silver.
Fragrant daffodils...

Used here in a table setting for a dear friend on her birthday in 2007

Same as the 1st photo but now with flash light.

Those picture frames are always lovely for individual use at table.

Round silver napkin rings we had made in Indonesia.

Wishing you a HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND!

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Table Setting With Picture Frame Vases and Place Cards

Still regret for not having kept more than 6 of those Delft White Picture Frame Vases... They sold like hot cakes! BUT, I sure love to use them with my Table Setting, together with our silver Place Cards.

We happened to have still some of our white azaleas and together with a sprig of Rosemary, they worked perfect.

Also my French Christofle silver knife rests were put to use.

I've almost sold out on my French Christofle Silverware... (click the hyperlink).

My extra long French Le Jacquard damask tablecloth with napkins work fine with the additional small oak table added on in the back.

Chargers are French Pillivuyt Sancerre, also available at Replacements.

Our dining room set is solid French oak and also the floor is solid oak planks.

But instead of the Delft White Picture Frame Vase I used a little perfume bottle with silver embellishment, a dear gift from our boss in Italy.

The soup spoons, as well as the dessert spoon are Alvin Bridal Rose (Sterling, 1903) and by now you all know that I love ROSES. Clicking the link you find more pieces by Replacements Ltd.

Our solid silver napkin rings we had made in Indonesia while we lived and worked there.

This Picture Frame Vase is holding 2 Ice Wing Narcissus.

Hope you enjoyed my Table Setting and thanks for your visit.

Related links:
{Large Delft White Picture Frame Vase} | previous post by me
{Delft White Picture Frame Vase} | previous post by me
{Cooking Dinner for Twelve at Our Home} | previous post by me
{Tuesday May 4, dinner with friends} | previous post by me
{Table Setting for Friends} | previous post by me
{Mother-in-law's 1930s Société Céramique Blue Boerenhoeve Transferware} | previous post by me

google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{Cooking Dinner for Twelve at Our Home}

Only one week after we got our new Miele Dishwasher installed I had to prepare a dinner for 12 at our home.
Imagine, cleaning all that mess and having a neat home, shopping for the ingredients and cooking...
Shopping means a 2 ½ hour drive to Atlanta, one way!
This is one table setting, in our dining room for 9.
Tabecloth is French Le Jacquard Français.

And 3 more in our bay window section in the kitchen.
Tablecloth is French Yves Delorme.
Monday, January 25...

At +Costco Wholesale we did buy this great and very healthy salad.
It comes with dressing, variety of nuts and seeds!
That helps for making things easier...

These delicious wheat rolls are from +Whole Foods Market

Snow Flake Rolls they are called...
(Added this photo later)

Tira-mi-su I made the evening before... A favorite dessert at our home.

I would prepare a German style dinner and as meat choice I had Pork Tenderloin, baked in the oven.

Red potatoes, just pre-boiled and than pan fried.
I did keep them warm in my 30" Miele Convection Food Warming Drawer with dual heating system. drawer in the staircase area.
It is great, getting things out of the way and ready to clean up the cook top and kitchen counter.

From +Cost Plus World Market I did have this Red Cabbage Salad from Lowell foods.

And yes, I did for once cover the Le Jacquard Français tablecloth with a soft plastic that I have... This is a HUGE tablecloth, I've added a small table at the end, from the Rose Suite downstairs.
Not easy for ironing such size so this saved me from doing that.
My Pillivuyt Sancerre serving plates combined with Cream Colour on Cream Colour by Wedgwood for salad and later also the bigger round dinner plates for the main course. I kept those in my Miele plate warming drawer...

Cups & saucers from the same Wedgwood Cream Colour on Cream Colour and dessert plates for the Tira-mi-su.

Table setting for 3 in the kitchen.
Often I use the round teak table from the balcony for ourselves, set also in the kitchen.
Here no Wedgwood china is used but instead the Pillivuyt Sancerre dinner plates.

Those Pillivuyt dinner plates also went inside the plate warming drawer for the main course.
   Seltmann Weiden Mirabell White plates for the salad.
I've also learned not to use my French Baccarat crystal but instead a cheaper crystal for glasses...

Hard to capture such a longer table from above...

Flatware is Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet and for dessert spoons silver Alvin Bridal Rose.
Sorry there are no further photos as it was only Team Vedder that did wait on these guests and no time for snapping any pictures from main course and such.

My French trolley from La Redoute, France that Pieter used in the veranda for creating a little bar...
The Baccarat crystal ice bucket with thong always comes in handy.
So that's my duty for Pieter's Monday Night Club as it is our turn to host the dinner.
The maximum I've done is cooking for 15.

I was sure glad when all was done and I also enjoyed the compliments about the food.
Next day I had severe back pain. That was mainly because that entire week, since our Miele dishwasher got finally installed and working, I had done the cleaning etc.
It is as I said above, for our home and garden, only Team Vedder!

google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{Crocheted Table Topper}

Crocheted Table Topper for layering with linen table cloth...

Yes, that is one more item I did hand crochet. My Mom had used to have a stash of Dutch, Durable cotton and I did purchase quite some skeins from her.

You see it right; there is a PEACH in that fruit bowl with some Bosc pears... even in mid-winter!

Crocheted from an Aarlan magazine, with obviously nicer thread that had a pretty sheen...

Funny that I could almost copy-cat everything in the above photo...

My white octagonal Seltmann Weiden Mirabell china from Germany.

French Baccarat Piccadilly, narrow and somewhat wider champagne flutes.

Dutch Gero Zilmeta Menuet 528 flatware.

Creamware Fluted Salad bowl made in Leeds, England by Hartley Greens & Co., famous since 1770.

Available at: Williamsburg Marketplace ←click it

The Evil Eye from Turkey is adding some blue...

Just a simple star pattern...

Added the  crochet pattern for those that would like to copy it...

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{Dinner for Friends using Nito Place Mats}

On Saturday, June 29, I did not like to use a linen table cloth or place mats for dinner with friends. After just having ironed lots of linens, I opted for the use of our woven Philippine Nito place mats instead. A gift from a dear friend who is like a sister to me. They are really elegant looking and also very easy to wipe clean, if needed. 

Hydrangeas in the Wedgwood vase are in a very special color and were given to us by one of the dinner guests.

Not as a cut flower but years ago as a starter to grow into a bush!

As a starter, we had mussels from Costco, served as amuse bouche, in little porcelain mini sauce pans and spoons.

To the left are two courser rattan place mats, same size.

My china is from the 70s my Seltmann Weiden Mirabell in white.

Crystal is Baccarat, Piccadilly.

Flatware is my Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet and silver Alvin Bridal Rose gumbo soup and dessert spoons. +Silber-und-Rosen-Shop; yes Johanna, you will LOVE this Rose silverware... Johanna is a dear friend from Germany who wrote a book about Silver Rose Flatware; 'Rosen-Bestecke' and also loves anything with roses, just like me!

A closeup of my octagonal china by Seltmann Weiden, Mirabell pattern in white and made in Germany.

The porcelain amuse bouche spoons we bought in Yogjakarta, Indonesia while working and living there.

The mini sauce pan amuse bouche servers I bought at a whole sale store in The Netherlands, with my best friend.

Silver napkin rings are custom made for us in Indonesia.

Napkins are from Horchow.

Overview of the table setting.

Yes, the month of June did yield some pretty Gardenias for gracing the dinner table.

Do you also opt for using place mats out of convenience?

The heat of summer is not that inviting for ironing table linens...

We are looking forward to coming Saturday when one of the dinner guests will be hosting at her place.

Always fun for not having to do all the work yourself! 

Mariette on Google+

{GARDENIA PASSION}

On June 12, I did manage to cut our last Gardenia blossoms. They lived a miserable life with all the heavy rain, turning brown on their edges. But they were gorgeous and they tried so hard to be beautiful; regardless the environment. So I did use them for two of our dinners as table decoration. Let me share these gorgeous blossoms with you; too bad I cannot recreate their heavenly fragrance for you to enjoy...

Such a spiraling bliss with heavenly fragrance...

These still look fine; not all got browned from the rain, depending where they were on the shrub.

For our dining room table I used this large oval Wedgwood  Cream Color on Cream Color vase.

Here you see more of the browning from the rain.

The square Wedgwood Cream Color on Cream Color vase I used for the round kitchen table.

Our Gardenias consist of different varieties and here you see our Aimee Yoshida; the largest one.

Full of yummy pollen for the bees.

Showing this Aimee Yoshida next to my hand, close to the kitchen bay window for more light on a rainy day.

This is really a LARGE BLOOM!

Together with these wax candles (battery operated) they make a perfect centerpiece...

Just setting the table near our kitchen bay window,  for you to see.

When I did host the dinner for 12, I might have had better gardenias but NO time on hand for making any photos... 

Old vintage linen damask tablecloth with roses and new French napkins from Le Jacquard Français with roses.

French Baccarat Piccadilly stemware

Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet flatware

Silver napkin ring holder from Kotagede, Indonesia

Plates are French Pillivuyt Sancerre

link to GeorgiaWeather Rainfall Calculator

From April 19 (when we left for our Curaçao vacation) till July 9, we had 37 Rainy Days with a total Precipitation of 17.15 inch or 43.6 cm.

No wonder that Gardenias do show brown edges...

By the way, IKEA is selling Gardenia jasminoides as potting plants! In the US, The Netherlands and in Germany and probably other  countries as well. It's the small variety but still the same fragrance!

Related links:

{Gardenia by Royal Albert and our Garden Gardenias} | previous post by me

{Heavenly Gardenia Jasminoides 'Aimee Yoshida'} | previous post by me

{May 22 Gardenia by Royal Albert and blooming Gardenias in Baccarat vase} | previous post by me

Mariette on Google+

{Difference Between Coffee & Tea Cups}

Yesterday I did mention in my post that those chevrons, pointed at the particular cups in the end of my TV Interview's video, were wrong. So here I like to point out to you the visible differences between Coffee & Tea Cups. 

Sorry for the poor photos, because of the camera focusing in on the windows... I placed each time two cups on an oak tray, placed on a ceramic pedestal. LEFT you see a Coffee Cup and to the RIGHT is a Tea Cup!

• Coffee cups are more narrow and mostly straight up. Teacups are lower and wider and often tapered down. 
• The reason that teacups are wider at the top and more shallow is because a good tea is set with BOILING water. 
• The bigger surface lets your tea cool down faster, to a consumable temperature.

To the left I also placed a smaller spoon than to the right. These cups are German Seltmann Weiden Mirabell.  Spoons are Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet.

Frontal view of Coffee Cup to the left and Tea Cup to the right.

Europeans brew their coffee a lot stronger than people here in the USA and or Canada.

We do use a dark French roast, that also makes the coffee darker but always mild and never bitter.

Nowadays the famous Dutch +D.E MASTER BLENDERS coffee, since 1753, is widely available in the USA as well.

These I do use as Coffee Cups; demitasse and regular size Coffee Cups. What is your guess? These are more tapered down.

This is WEDGWOOD CREAM COLOR ON CREAM COLOR (PLAIN EDGE). Even Replacements Ltd. does not specify the difference. It names the one to the left footed demitasse and the other footed cup & saucer.

Frontal view of the two cups & saucers.

This again is easier to judge. To the left is a demitasse for coffee and to the right a demitasse for tea. The French word Demi Tasse means Half Cup. This is ROSENTHAL SANSSOUCI ROSE-IVORY (GOLD TRIM).

Frontal view of the demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and demitasse Tea Cup to the right. For both I used the demitasse spoons from Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet.

Again an easy to judge set. To the left is a demitasse Coffee Cup and a regular Coffee Cup and to the right is a regular Tea Cup in MASON'S MANDALAY-CHARTREUSE.

Frontal view of the demitasse Coffee Cup to the left, regular Coffee Cup center and regular Tea Cup to the right. I used a demitasse Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet spoon for the demi and regular spoons in gold plate for the coffee and tea cups.

This one is again easy to judge. A demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and a demitasse Tea Cup to the right with regular spoons in gold plate. When I mean regular, it is NOT a regular American size spoon but a much smaller European size teaspoon. This is ROYAL ALBERT THE GARDENIA.

Frontal view of demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and demitasse Tea Cup to the right.

Again easy to guess: to the left a regular size Coffee Cup and to the right a regular size Tea Cup. Both with gold plated teaspoons. This is ROYAL ALBERT PRINCESS ANNE (BRUSHED GOLD EDGE).

Frontal view of regular size Coffee Cup to the left and regular size Tea Cup to the right.

Again somewhat difficult to analyze... The one to the left is called an After Dinner Cup and the one in the center a Coffee / Tea cup. The one to the right is named a Breakfast Cup...  Guess we can either pour coffee or tea in them! This is French GIEN ROSE.

Frontal view of those three cups... Here I used two demitasse spoons from ALVIN BRIDAL ROSE and to the right a five o'clock spoon.

Frontal stacked view and clear view of size difference.

Though these are not tapered down I presume that the one to the left is a Coffee Cup and to the right a Tea Cup. This is from POTTERIE DE DRIEHOEK in Huizen, The Netherlands. Spoons are demitasse and teaspoon by Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet.

Frontal view of this Coffee Cup and Tea Cup.

Here we are facing our final set of in my opinion again a demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and a regular Coffee Cup to the right. I used Alvin Bridal Rose demitasse spoons for both. This is ROYAL DOULTON ENGLISH ROSE.

One last frontal view of a demitasse Coffee Cup to the left and a regular Coffee Cup to the right...

Now you also know what I am using when hosting a High Tea. We have quite a choice on china. Will show you photos from such a High Tea later. My idea is that more people are using Tea Cups than Coffee Cups. What is your take on that? You might be able to reflect on your own stock or maybe heirloom pieces that you got handed down.

Related links:
{My Etiquette Training Interview with WGXA.TV (FOX24/ABC16)} | yesterday's post (from WGXA.TV) by me referring to the cup differences in video
So, What's This About Coffee "Cans," Reggie? | previous post from Blogger Reggie Darling with interesting facts
{Our last Datura Angel's Trumpets and TEA with a Twist} | previous post by me, showing also Japanese tea
Learn from Mariette | Classes being offered by Mariette's Back to Basics
The World in your Teacup | book by Lisa Boalt Richardson

Mariette on Google+