The teapots are from the VNA, the French Press, a gift, along with the matching cups.
The blue tea cups are from an incomplete set that I got for 5 dollars at a garage sale
years ago, they were my grad school (library school) dishes.
The other dishes are a mixture of my Grandma's set, VNA finds, and things I bought
vintage via sellers on Etsy.
The candle sticks were my Oma's and I polished them as well...
the delft trivet is from my Mother and the grass trivet on the other side of the table
is from +Patrick's home and is used daily.
My Husband had the two delft trivets, the one under the French Press and the one
under the empty water pitcher (later it had hot spiced apple cider from Trader Joe's,
heated up in my crock-pot on high).
The hors d'oeuvres worked out really well.
Boursin Garlic & Fine Herbs Gournay Cheese (5.2oz)
The Trader Joe's scalloped trio crackers + Camembert and cranberry filo bites
and the french onion soup bites.
The latter were new to me,
they were good but stuck in the tray and did not come out neatly.
The crackers were excellent! As was the soft cheese!
So next time I may try baking them outside of the tray on
parchment paper and see what happens.
Regardless, they were good, my husband esp loved the cheese!
The Turkey, 2 types of stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans (in covered dish), applesauce
were all from Fresh Direct. The salad and croutons + rolls were brought by others.
The rolls were from a NYC bakery and really good; the croutons were organic and we realized today
are vegan...so my Husband is esp excited to have those during the fast on pea soup!
The Polish Pottery was a gift from my parents-in-law for my birthday (via birthday money)...
Other bowls above were from garage sales, VNA, my Grandma's set, Christmas gifts and one I bought in Halifax years ago from a store that was closing....
My other friend brought us the beautiful poinsettia!
The cranberry sauce and gravy were from Fresh Direct as well.
Do you see the one thing that is not exactly right in the above picture?
I had put my small plate with hors d'oeuvres next to my plate
(bottom centre in the picture, easy access to the kitchen) and moved the fork
and did not realize it! Oh well! :)
You can see the plate in the picture above... :)
I know it's not a big deal... it's just that I view table settings for big events as
an art form and pictures are part of that art, to me, so I notice things like errant crooked forks :)
In other news about the meal...
One of our friends brought wine, a white and a red.
I also had chilled sparkling apple cider and lemon water.
I really liked how the Turkey turned out this year.
I think it looked better; it had so much turkey meat!
It was between 12 and 14lbs. Heavy! I wish I had a big roasting pan for it!
it was a challenge to lift in and out of the oven with only a pan that one does not keep,
a thick disposable 100% recycled aluminium pan with a baking sheet underneath.
And I like how the island looked this year much better.
The green table cloth and beautiful Romanian table cloth really made the meal look more
together and less 'lost'/disconnected that I felt it looked last year.
And the candle sticks on the island!!
These were a beautiful surprise to me...my Husband bought them years ago,
he thinks at the VNA rummage sale... they had tarnished to a very dark brown,
nearly black! They seem to be copper! I was so pleased... was a lot of work polishing them,
but it was worth it for the beauty that was discovered!
I used cloth napkins this time and they worked so well with
the table setting! I alternated them because I only had 6 of the dark ones
and 4 of the deep yellow ones but that meant for a table of 8,
I would have 4 of each. I got all of these at the VNA.
The napkin rings were from a thrift store in GR MI a few years back.
The silver plate on the table setting is actually my main Christmas gift for this year
but my Husband was OK with me using for special events before Christmas.
We found it this past May.
I call it my Christmas silver plate!
I realized that this set was not complete in that it did not have any dessert forks.
So I used dessert forks from another set... I don't have any complete sets of
silver-plate, getting much of it from the VNA rummage sale,
one set from an Etsy dealer who sells vintage items, one from a GR thrift store
and then the set from my Grandma, which is nearly complete for a seating of 8.
The food was excellent and we have leftovers to enjoy tomorrow!
***
I was so worried about forgetting the yams because they were in the back of our fridge!!!
I had 8 of us total and I had everything set up in advance and every bowl had a post-it note saying what was going in it; I have no memory and when more people come the more it goes and one of my friends helped man the stove and oven so I could get the appetizers going and such!
****
I hope to write more about this meal later
but for now will close with saying how thankful I am to God for
the blessings of the Thanksgiving meal and all those who came!
