Fall Dinner Party

Last Sunday, we had some friends over for dinner to celebrate the Fall Season. It gave me the push I needed to add a little Fall decor to my house. I rearranged the front table in my Living Room adding a piece of art done by my sister-in-law for a wedding gift, some pumpkins from the Farmer's Market, and a beautiful arrangement of corn stalks, seed pods and wild grasses put together by a wonderful vendor also from the Farmer's Market. I wish I could take credit, but when you have it right in front of you, why pass it up?! (Plus, for only $4, what a steal!!!!).

I put the Fall foliage in an ironstone master jar, and added two ironstone footed bowls, the small from H&Co, the large from Thomas Hughes. I think I will fill them with walnuts.

At the Dining table, I started with a table cloth I made from inexpensive natural burlap. I find that if I use this as a base, I can put all different sizes of smaller cloths on top. The white one here is a vintage cotton cloth with fringe on each end. I used a pair of antique mercury glass candlestick holders in which I put some brown fun faux bois candles I found at Target. More pumpkins from the Farmer's Market and leaves from the yard make a very easy center piece. I added a few votive candles among the leaves.

I used simple large white plates, and my silver, hand blown glass water glasses from Anthropology, simple wine glasses that are always available at Cost Plus or Ikea, and Hotel Napkins from William Sonoma. Easy and very quick to put together!

We had a Fall menu starting with goat cheese filled dates with toasted bread crumbs as the appetizer, and then a French Onion Soup, which was pretty easy and delicious! We made grilled Cornish game hens with a Dijon Mustard and Riesling marinade on a bed of sauteed carrots, turnips and cabbage and an Apple Potato Gallete. There was Schwelmer Hefe Weizen Beer and a Dry German Reisling to choose from. Good food and good company!

(All of the recipes for this dinner can be found in the William Sonoma Entertaining Cook Book)

My Dining Table.

Dining tables......there are so many options. There are round ones, rectangular, racetrack. There are wood tables, and glass topped and stone topped tables, and lacquered tables. There those that seat two, four, ten...and way beyond. There is the pedestal table and the four legged table. And don't get me started on the styles or periods.

Veranda, September, October 2006, Photo by Laura Resen

It can be quite a daunting task to find just the right thing for oneself. One must consider the size and shape of the room, and how many guests are typically around the table. Is one's lifestyle casual? Formal? And, very importantly, what can one afford? These are all of the practical considerations. But then there are the preferential considerations. What does one "like"?

I have been on the hunt for a Dining Room table for my family for a few years now. My criteria: it has to be round, or nearly so; it must seat up to 10; it can't be too formal; I prefer wood because it is more forgiving and I like the warmth; and I would love to have something unique. I can go contemporary with an antique chair or antique with a more contemporary chair.

Well...to cut the the chase, I saw this table in Veranda magazine and thought "this is it!" It's perfect! It seats eight, it's wood, it's beautiful and unique. Any sort of chair would look wonderful with it. And one thing that really matters to me: one can comfortably fit crossed legs under the "skirt" of the table. It has these wonderful Palladian arched openings. There are no sharp edges to bump a leg on. Even better: it was designed by Robsjohn-Gibbings.

The down side: it was designed by Robsjohn-Gibbings and is VERY unique. In fact I can't find another to even look at, much less purchase. ( A little help 1st dibs?)This particular table is owned by Dara Caponigro, decorating editor of Domino Magazine. You may have caught it in this new book:

Photo from Amazon Website

So Dara, if you ever want to talk. If you are planning to move into, say, a bigger place where this table just won't work anymore, could you please......just shoot me an email? I would really appreciate it. I have started a fund. Perhaps by the time I have enough in "the fund", you may have moved on to something new? Just a thought. Call me.