lulu
With the house having little touches of fall, it was a no brainer to have the next step be continuing them on the table for the evening dinner. Already what can serve as a centerpiece is there making it easy to add the rest.
None of my dishes reflect fall better than these. The rich color with its arty black leaf outline is perfect, and I like using them for another reason. They were a gift from a very special and thoughtful friend who knows how crazy I am about all things for tables.
Some time ago this flatware was on sale at Target, and it has been such a good find. Its coppery contrast with the table’s wood surface adds such warmth.
Thinking about what food is going to be served, I don’t put more dishes on the table than can be used. Tonight there will be an entree and a salad, so nothing more than dinner and salad plates are needed. The black salad plate complements the leaf outline, and its shape will be perfect for the salad.
On any table, the napkin presentation is one of those little touches that make a table special. One of my favorites is this one folded accordion style and fanned to make it stand.
With the addition of wine stems and water glasses, a table can’t be much simpler than this. It started with what was already there and has warm color and texture which makes any table inviting.
I can’t resist sharing with you one of my favorite salads made with delicata squash, one with which I was unfamiliar. The attraction was its green and pale yellow striping, reason enough to give it a try!
For the salad, cut the squash into rings and remove the seeds. Place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 400 until tender, roughly 15-20 minutes. To prepare the salad, place mixed greens or any lettuce on a plate. Top with the roasted delicata rings, sprinkle with craisins, toasted almonds and feta (optional). My preference for dressing is a honey mustard vinegarette, but most any salad dressing would work.
I can assure you this salad will be a hit at your table not only because it is so tasty but because it’s a little different.
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What used to be a softball field has been converted to gardens and greenhouses where seasonal produce provides most of the ingredients for the meal.
One greenhouse serves as a dining hall where long tables and mismatched chairs are set up for forty guests.
The table decor, candles and simple arrangements of flowers in bottles, is just my style.
The menu features what is in season and no two are the same which makes eating there a real treat.
With it comes a beautiful salad topped with an array of edible flowers.
Finishing the main course is a perfectly roasted combination of seasonal vegetables.
By the time dessert comes, there’s scarcely any room for it, but there are 40 smiling faces around the table!
The most recent dinner was a visual treat. The delicately designed dishes are quite old, a memory of the hostess’s mother.
Without question, they made a lovely setting when combined with silver and glass.
Playing off the pale green in the pattern, the hostess found the perfect linen tablecloth and napkins. All together the look was quite elegant at the same time warm and friendly.
A few days before our gathering a storm blew through that flattened many of the small blooming things. The hostess was clever enough to see that her damaged flowers perfectly matched the colors in the china, so, voila, a just right centerpiece made in a silver bowl.
So there would not be question about where each person sat, there were name tags directing us to our place. That is always a thoughtful gesture.
The first course, a zucchini mold, happened to be my assignment. It was something with which none of us were familiar, so we all experienced a new taste treat. Not only was it tasty, it was easy to prepare which makes it worthy of making again as it gives a whole new way of presenting zucchini.
Overnight it seemed, this big blob sprung up in the yard. Curious, I pulled it up, took it inside for a photo that was posted on Facebook with the question what is it. Immediately came back a number of responses, mostly from Maine friends, identifying it as an edible puffball.
Edible? I was a little doubtful but decided to give it a try. First, I sliced it to find it a little on the spongey side and solid all the way through. So began a series of dishes ranging from omelets to risotto to pizza and adding chopped, diced orsliced pieces of puffball. What was discovered was that a puffball is fairly tasteless until it is seasoned and has a very different texture from other mushrooms with which I am familiar.
Of all the ways it was prepared our favorite was mushroom soup. I had no recipe so I chopped a section of the puffball and sautéed it in butter with some onion and garlic. Chicken stock was added along with salt, pepper and herbs d’Provence. The mixture simmered for about 10 minutes and then using a handheld blender(my favorite kitchen tool), I pureed it. It tasted good, but thinking how it could be improved I added half and half and returned the soup to the stove and heated it through. Talk about good, the hubby and I both had seconds. Served with a green salad and some crusty bread, puffball mushroom soup is a simple and yummy dinner.
So spoke my neighbor commenting on the run of less than perfect days experienced in the last month. Like so many other places on the planet, midcoast Maine has had unusual heat that combined with fog and humidity have made for some pretty uncomfortable days. Here we suffer through because most homes have no air conditioning. For me, that means spending more time than usual at the grocery or TJ Maxx where it is cooler.
Breakfast and lunch are easy. Cereal or a blueberry muffin heated quickly in the microwave suffices in the morning. 
A midday sandwich, especially one made with lobster, is more than satisfactory. 
Dinner is a bit more challenging, but I’ve gotten pretty creative with salads. This time of year corn and tomatoes are at their best and layering them with cucumbers, red onion, olives, feta cheese and basil makes for a delightful and refreshing meal.
A favorite again takes advantage of the season’s bounty and adds grilled lobster. There are never complaints about anything made with lobster!
Setting the table to inspire memories of Italy was easy. The centerpiece was a $3 find from the local Goodwill.
Clusters of red grapes repeated the look of the clusters on the candelabra. Talk about an easy creation!
Dishes, each with a different Italian landscape and wine, bought some years ago at TJ Maxx completed the theme.
It’s hard to imagine a table coming together more quickly than this one. With the plates having so much color and energy, there was no need for more than a simple background.
PROSCIUTTO BAKED BUFFALO MOZZARELLAWITH GARLIC & TOMATOES
So what to do with a collection of odds and ends? Soup seemed to be the best answer, and here’s what I pulled together.
Add to these a teaspoon of Hungarian sweet paprika which I have enough of to last a lifetime. I will have to do as what was done in Hungary and put some in everything.
The end result of this concoction was pretty darned good and the accompanying salad’s ingredients used up the rest of the odds and ends. The only thing missing was a good piece of cornbread!