Red, White, and Blue Salad with Candied Pecans

This salad is perfect for summer and its patriotic holidays, as well as being elegant, and super easy to assemble. Have your blueberries and strawberries washed and prepped ahead of time, as well as the baby spinach. Candied pecans are a breeze to make, you can find that recipe here, but don’t eat all of them before it’s time to serve your salad because they are quite tempting. Then, it’s nothing more than piling it up on a plate, and dressing it with the best balsamic vinaigrette ever. Or, you can serve the dressing on the side.

Red, White, and Blue Salad with Candied Pecans

 

1 bag fresh baby spinach
1 4-oz. container blueberries
1 small container strawberries

Feta
Candied pecans
Balsamic vinaigrette

Place ingredients, in order, on serving plates. Drizzle with vinaigrette, or serve it on the side.

 

 

French Riviera Tablescape

Has this not been the longest summer ever? It seems like it's been eight months long if it's been a day. The heat and high humidity set in during the first week of June and never let up. I know I'm not alone in being very eager for cooler weather.

Because I am absolutely itching for fall, this will be my last summer tablescape. I just cannot wait to get into the warm autumn colors.

A couple of weeks ago when I wrote about the lovely chargers I was given by Marigene Purcell of In the Middle of Nowhere blog, I also mentioned that she had included with the plates, some lovely tablecloths as packing. I showed you one of them here, and this setting features yet another.

Being a big fan of the blue and yellow combination, this made me feel cheery and as if I were vacationing in the south of France. 

To give a nod to the Riviera, I added these starfish plates with edges in light hints of blue.

The cobalt flutes (first mentioned here) have been getting a workout of late, and look particularly festive here.

This summer has had me mad about lilies, with this centerpiece no exception. The vase is from a lovely arrangement given to me when Jim passed away, so has special meaning for me. It looks perfect here full of yellow Asian lilies.

I use these yellow goblets a lot. I have no idea as to the manufacturer, and no hint is given on the bottom. These were given to me by my mother about 25 years ago. They tend to go with pretty much everything, short of patriotic or Christmas colors.

The small carafes my son and I ran across when we were cleaning out Mr.O-P's storage locker. (I'd mentioned previously about finding this very cool jug from Spain as well.) He had an entire case of them! (Don't ask me why.) So, I brought them home, washed them up, and thought they would be perfect for serving individual portions of infused water.

The blue and white salt and pepper shakers were a purchase made when I was in college. I still love them.

This post is linked to: Dishing It & Digging It, Art of Homemaking, Amaze Me Monday, Busy Mondays, Inspiration Monday, Cooking & Crafting with J&J, Inspire Me Tuesday, Tuesdays At Our Home, Two Cup Tuesday, Tutorials and Tips Tuesday, Homemaking Party Tuesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Work It Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Wake up Wednesday, The DIY Collective, Thursday Favorite Things, Share Your Style, Coffee and Conversation, and Foodie Friday & Everything Else

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Tablescape

With my last table you were treated to the gorgeous leaf chargers sent to me by Marigene Purcell of the In the Middle of Nowhere blog.

I failed to mention that, in addition to sending me these amazing chargers, she also sent me some tablecloths.

Today's table features one of them, one, I might add, that she had used, I had admired, and the next thing I knew, it was mine!

I had a good time setting this table. This one, as the two previous, took me about three days to put together. I was so overwrought with Mr. O-P's care and imminent loss, that it was all I could do to just put one foot in front of the other.

Table settings were my therapy, I told myself, so, little by little, I would assemble them.

Initially this table was set without the bejeweled chargers. I kept looking at it and thought it needed a bit more color. This was when I remembered the chargers I’d bought a couple of Christmases ago. So I dug these out of my holiday bin and loved the look. (I love it when I can use something in more than one way.)

Then, I thought it needed just a tiny bit more red so, while Mr. O-P slept, I ran down to Walgreen's for a bag of Swedish fish.  Perfect!

As a side note, the cobalt blue champagne flutes shown here had been one of our wedding gifts. Do you know that in the 21 years we were married we never once used them?

We are not fans of champagne, but beautiful glasses should be used no matter what, so I have remedied this situation and now use them with my morning orange juice. Celebrate life, people! Use those precious items. 

Placemats – Pier One

Chargers – Pier One

Blue Fish Plates - eBay

Flatware – Crate & Barrel

Small White Fish Dishes – One Kings Road

Shorebirds – Fitz & Floyd

This post is linked to:

Silver Pennies Sunday

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Inspiration Monday

Metamorphosis Monday

Make It Pretty Monday
Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays At Our Home

Two Cup Tuesday
Tutorials and Tips Tuesday

Homemaking Party Tuesday

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Wake up Wednesday

Create It Thursday

The DIY Collective
Thursday Favorite Things

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Blue & Yellow Easter Tablescape

We won’t be celebrating Easter this year…long story…but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy having a pretty spring table to enjoy all by myself. In fact (and my guess is that I’m not alone here), sometimes it’s nice to have a table all to yourself so you don’t have to explain your “form over function” self to your “function over form” husband. Case in point: yes I did match the candy to the table setting. Actually, if truth be told, the candy came first, and the table came second.

This apple did not fall far from the tree. My mother used to match Jelly Belly jelly beans to her living room decor. I am not kidding. Actually, we sampled a lot of tasty jelly beans during her decorating tenure, and it was always interesting to see which flavor each new season would bring.

This table started with the little silver wagon. It was something that my late sister-in-law gave me years ago, claiming it was a wine cart. I love all sorts of tableware, but couldn’t imagine when I would ever serve two different bottles of wine during one meal, or that I would trust such a small cart to carry them. When I recently unboxed it, I saw that it had glass inserts and thought this would be perfect for holding chocolate Easter eggs.

The darling little chick salt and pepper shakers belonged to my mother. I didn‘t even realize that she had these until a couple of weeks ago when dad and I were digging around looking for something else and stumbled upon these.

Between the yellow chicks and the blue foil-wrapped eggs, my colors were set, so I pulled out my favorite yellow chalices and Nikko “Tea Rose” dinnerware, paring it with nubby-edged plates from Pier One.

Last week’s vase remains at center stage here, only this week with complementary blue hydrangeas in place of the room-scenting lilies that I was sorry to see go.

I hope you’ll be dining at a table as lovely as this one.

Happy Easter, everyone!

This post is linked to:

Silver Pennies Sunday
Merry Monday

Art of Homemaking

Table It

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Inspiration Monday

Metamorphosis Monday 

Make It Pretty Monday

Dream, Create, Inspire Tuesday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays At Our Home

Tweak it Tuesday

Two Cup Tuesday
Tutorials and Tips Tuesday

Homemaking Party Tuesday

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Wake up Wednesday

Moonlight & Mason Jars

It's a Party

Create It Thursday

The DIY Collective
Thursday Favorite Things

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

A Springtime Table

I am a nut for glassware.  It is just something that I can’t resist: glasses, vases, pitchers, bottles – all sorts of bottles. In fact, it can be quite dangerous leaving me alone in the liquor department of any store because I am liable to buy something that I won’t even drink just for the bottle.  Have you seen those clear glass skulls full of vodka?  But I digress.

So, when Wine Enthusiast contacted me asking if they could send me some wine glasses (Could they? Oh, yes!), I reeled in my excitement long enough to reply in the affirmative, and happily received a lovely set of four Fusion Whirl Chardonnay Wine Glasses.  Designed with the physics of fluid dynamics in mind, they tapered the bowls so the opening is narrower at the top than below, allowing for an aggressive swirl that funnels a virtual explosion of aroma directly to the nose, and, they are gorgeous!  Needing to be displayed in a table setting, I chose to blow the dust off of my Nikko tea rose dishes and pair them with other pieces featuring spring colors (It is spring, isn’t it?  Try not to notice the 11 inches of snow on the deck).  As you can see, I am still rockin’ that beautiful blue Hydrangea as a centerpiece.  Now excuse me while I pour the wine.

Wine Glasses – The Wine Enthusiast

Table Runner - Pottery Barn

Green Placemats – World Market/Cost Plus

Goblets – A gift from my late mother

Round Woven Placemats – Pier One

Napkin Rings – Pier One

Dinnerware – Nikko Tea Rose

Green Geranium Leaf Plates – Williams-Sonoma

Bamboo Edge Plate - “Cape Town” by Fitz & Floyd

This post is linked to:

Let’s Dish!

Tabletop Tuesday

Tutorials Tips and Tidbits

Wow Us Wednesdays

Tablescape Thursday

Be Inspired Friday

Seasonal Sundays