Estate Sale Finds · Glassware

When I was home for Easter weekend, my mom and I were able to take advantage of several different estate sales/thrift stores.  Many goodies ensued!  And basically, I just realized yet again how much I love old stuff.  It's kind of a weird thing to enjoy when you think about it, but I'm glad there are so many others like me in the world and that we now have the internet to feel connected in our love of old. ;-)

It rekindled the desire to share this post- it's been floating around in the drafts folder for nigh onto a year, and it's high time it finally saw the light of day!

I have a few different collections that I purposefully keep an eye open for (luggage, globes, cake plates, attractive books...) and- glassware!

I've admired pink depression glass for years, and it's always been a secret desire of mine to have a set.  I must admit that its current extreme popularity in the antiques community has made my pocketbook reluctant to comply with my desires, so I've been on a mission to bide my time and wait for super great deals.

Last spring, I came across 2 cups at an antique mall severely discounted due to their lack of matching saucers.  I realized how dumb that idea was after bringing them home.  The chance of finding the saucers for sale separately is like finding a needle in a haystack.  There are SO. MANY. styles of depression glass!  A few weeks later, our town was having town-wide garage sales; we never go, but with our new-found love of estate-saling, I thought it might be fun!  A crunched time schedule and threatening rain meant that we only hit 5 or so sales, but as it would happen.... one of them had pink depression glass!  The prices were amazing.  I picked up 3 cups and saucers, a platter, and.... they had 2 cups and 4 saucers in the same pattern I had at home!  That means there were exactly as many loner saucers as I was in need of!  Amazing!!

 I'm beyond thrilled with how the whole situation worked out, but I have learned my lesson not to randomly add loners to my collection without *very* good reasons. ;-)

I currently have "Queen Mary", ''Coronation", and "Old Cafe" in my collection.  I love the idea of a slightly mismatched set, but I'm hoping to contain my collection to just these 3 styles.  The hope is that this measure will keep my collection to a managable level. ;-)  One thing about estate-saling is that it exposes and encourages the dark side of hoarding, so I'm trying to only aquire (semi)wisely. ;-)



I suspect that these goblets aren't originals, but nevertheless, we couldn't really resist sipping out of pink goblets. ;-)

My very favorite style of china has long been china in the Royal Copenhagen design.  As far as I can discern, the design originated as "Blue Fluted" in the late 1700s with the, well, Royal Copenhagen manufactury.  The style has been picked up by several other china manufacturers, so there are lots of versions of it with slightly different variations!



I stumbled across a set of 7 cups and saucers and a creamer and sugar set last May in an antique store in Texas, so I am now commited to the Myott "Finlandia" style.  This is another set that I'm going to add to slowly and I'm open to getting less than a complete set.  I think it's a great set for mixing-and-matching with other blue-and-white or plain white china pieces. :-)

I am just so thrilled to finally be starting the 2 glassware collections I've admired so long, and since part of the enjoyment of the process is the thrill of the hunt, I'm excited about slowly adding in pieces!

Do you have any glass/china collections that you're always on the look-out for?  Have you ever come across fabulous deals you just couldn't pass up? (Ha! Who am I kidding?? We've all done that before.... ;-))

· A Gold Dot Party! ·

Kathryn and I have had this thing for gold dots lately.  You know, the kind that show up all over Pinterest and on everything from sheets to sheet cakes nowadays.

It had been going on for a little while when I came across my gold dotty fabric.  I needed a few excuses before I'd be ready to splurge on the fabric, so one of my "reasons" was that K and I would host a Gold Dot Party.  Well, the time and place was now!  My dress was long-since done, Kathryn's outfit was complete (did you notice how we had entirely circular reasoning going on here?  Yeah, we don't care), Christmas decor was drastically clearanced, and the social wasteland of the early portion of the year was upon us!

Gold Dot Party indeed.  We did our best to live up to the theme, albeit there were some aspects where we had to cut corners.  Oh well, nothing too glaring. ;-)

So here you go- a party all about gold and all about polka dots!  Enjoy!

I made over 180 feet of garland for the party out of 1,250 gold discs (go big or go home is my motto when it comes to these things!)- it was a fun project and I adore the way it turned out!  Now I'm just looking for ways to incorporate it into every party we have...

We compiled a Pinterest board of our favorite gold dot ideas, and dotted champagne flutes were on the "must do" list. ;-)  Due to my job, I wasn't able to help out with the majority of prep but Kathryn did a wonderful job on them!

The backdrop for the food table is entirely the handiwork of Tara, Kathryn, and Kristen- didn't it turn out smashingly??  Clearanced Christmas ornaments for the win!

And I have to mention here- major props to Tara for her help in all the prep for this party!  Without her diligent work taking care of details, our party would not have been nearly as successful!!  Thanks again, dear!

Kathryn's amazing calligraphy is always welcome. :-)  You should have seen her handiwork on the invitation envelopes!  Stunning!

Kathryn has this cute antique end table (that I always want to steal from her), but the top is rather beat up.  We covered it with gold dot wrapping paper (another Christmas clearance score!) and voila!  A properly theme-fitting area for decorating nails. ;-)

Artisan Bread - from this book (*highly recommended!*)

Pear, Goat Cheese, Candied Walnut, and Craisin Salad · Authentic Tuscan Risotto

Here's a little preview for you of Kathryn's gold dotty outfit.... now we just need to find a great photoshoot location for a full-fledged post!

My dear friend Marie Michelle was able to make it for the occasion, too! :-)

All in all, it was a great excuse for a delightful day spent with a delightful group of ladies!! :-)

(and it was also a great excuse for that fabric!)

· Photos by Kathryn ·

· Birthday Tea Party ·

This isn't my normal, predictable sort of post, but I thought our tea party this month was worthy of a post. :-)  We had some friends visiting around our "birthday season" (3 of the 4 birthdays in our family fall within a 13 day period), so we took that as a sufficient excuse to have a tea party. ;-)  There's something addictively fun about making more-than-usually cute food and pulling out all the fun china and serving dishes!

Our place settings included the plates my parents picked out for their wedding registry.  They are a simple white octagonal design from Johnson Bros. and they've proven to be extremely versatile and classic throughout the years.

The tea cups are part of my fledgling collection of pink depression glass.  I have a post about the depression glass I've collected from estate sales in the works, so I'll keep it brief this time!  I'm only buying when I find great deals and I'm open to a mis-matched set- I currently have 3 different styles of cups and saucers and I think depression glass is actually rather charming when mixed up! :-)

The tablecloth and napkins were a fun, frivolous purchase from an antique mall.  We love decorating with this tablecloth- the embroidery is so stunning!

My sister enjoys folding napkins for special occasions and we all enjoy the fruits of her labors. :-)  A Crown fold highlights the embroidered corner of these napkins perfectly and starched napkins ensure crisp, neat folds!  Unfortunately... I forgot to get a detail shot of the napkins.  Oh well. ;-)

Our 3-tiered server displayed the savory treats: Cucumber Sandwiches and Fish-Paste Sandwiches.  We may or may not have been extremely interested in trying fish paste sandwiches after watching the adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Sad Cypress"... ;-)  I'm pleased to report that our ventures into fish-paste were a success and they've made it onto the "repeatable" list!

Fish-Paste Sandwiches

Adapted from a recipe from Yummly

6oz can salmon
1/2t black pepper
3T cream cheese
1T mustard
1T butter

Mix together using fork or food processor, spread on white bread to make sandwiches.

The last tier housed one of our favorite recipes: Rosemary Parmesan Scones.  These are a must-try!!

The chocolate-covered strawberries are always an easy addition to a party and this time we used a mixture of chocolate candy melts and chocolate chips- I think we achieved a good compromise between taste and firm-enough chocolate coating. ;-)

Rosemary Parmesan Scones

Recipe from Tea Time magazine

2 1/2 c. flour

2 T. sugar

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. chilled butter

1/2 c. parmesan cheese

1 T. dried rosemary (or 3 T. fresh)

3/4 c. (or more) milk

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.  Add cheese and rosemary and combine.  Add milk and stir, using more if needed until dough holds together.  Knead dough 8-10 times (this step makes the flaky layers).  Gently shape into a circle about 3/4" thick and cut into 12 wedges.  Bake at 375° for 16-20 minutes or until tops get lightly browned.

-Optional- 

Brush tops before baking with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.

Our official dessert for the day was also a new, successful recipe!

Lemon Curd Tartlets

Crust from Williams Sonoma

1 3/4 cups gingersnap crumbs
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
About 1 1 /2 cups lemon curd (see recipe below)
3 or 4 kiwis, peeled and thinly sliced
Mint leaves

Preheat an oven to 375ºF. Butter four 4 1/2-inch tartlet pans with removable bottoms. 

To make the crust, in a food processor, combine the gingersnap crumbs and butter. Pulse until the butter is evenly distributed and the mixture starts to clump together. Remove the crumb mixture from the food processor and press the mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of the prepared tartlet pans.  Bake until the crusts are set and begin to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool. 

Remove the cooled tartlet shells from the pans and gently spoon the curd into the shells. Arrange the kiwi slices and mint leaves on top.

Lemon Curd

Juice of 4 lemons (1c)
Zest of 4 lemons
4 eggs, beaten
1/2c butter, cut in small pieces
2c sugar

In the top of a double boiler, combine all ingredients.  Place over simmering water and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened and smooth.  Lemon curd will firm up slightly when cool, but for the tarts it is nice to have a slightly thicker consistency.

Yield- approx. 1 pint
Lemon curd can be stored in the fridge, however if you are making in bulk, it freezes excellently too!

Enjoy!

· Pi Day Party! ·

Did anyone else have festivities for Pi Day last Saturday?  Math and science (particularly chemistry) were my very favorite subjects in high school and since my Dad is an engineer, our family takes lots of opportunities to have nerdy math fun. :-)

As you all probably heard last week, March 14th (3/14) is officially acknowledged as Pi Day.  Pi is the mathematical constant for the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.  The number is infinite, but is commonly abbreviated to 3.14159.  Our family has celebrated Pi Day for years, but since this year (3/14/15) is as close to "Ultimate Pi Day" as we'll ever get in our lifetimes, it called for more than usual celebration. :-)

We had Chile Chicken Potato Pi(e), Apple Pi(e), and Chocoroon Pi(e) to celebrate the day.

Thankfully the day corresponded with a visit from Kathryn, so we have photogenic proof of our fun. :-D

This was the first time we tried this recipe, but it was a resounding success!!  Definite must-try!

An ultimate favorite pie of our family- Chocolate Macaroon Pie.  Soooo good.  And soooo easy. ;-)

Per request, here's the recipe!

Chocolate Macaroon Pie

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 c. butter
3 eggs
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350°. Coat a 9" pie plate w/ nonstick spray.  Melt chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  Stir together rest of ingredients then add to chocolate mixture.  Pour into prepared pie plate.

2/3 c. sweetened condensed milk
2 2/3 c. coconut

Combine. Spoon over chocolate mixture, leaving a 1/2-1" border.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, until center is firm but still moist.  Cool completely before serving.

Enjoy! :-)

Apple pie!  We discovered earlier this year that Costco makes wonderful apple pies, so this seemed like a great excuse to get another. ;-)

This was one of those "Pinterest win" sorts of moments- I finally had an reason to do one of those banner things! :-D

We had a laid-back celebration with just the 5 of us, but we made sure to include plenty of bunting. ;-)  After all, what's a party without it?!

We had tons of bunting left over from my sister's graduation party last year, so it ended up being a very easy-to-prep party!

Around the circumference of the cake stand we made pennants with the first 15 digits of pi. :-D

A good time was had by all! :-)  We're already planning for next year!

· Photos by Kathryn ·

· Foyle's War Party! ·

Last month, Kathryn and I hosted a Foyle's War party!  Or rather, Kathryn hosted the party, and I was the trusty sidekick. (personally, that's my favorite role anyway! :-) )

Foyle's War is a British TV show set in the Hastings home front during WWII.  It follows a police detective throughout the war years and covers many aspects of wartime life and crime.  My family have been big fans of the British show since we discovered it several years ago, and we've slowly recruited fellow mystery/history buffs to our Prestigious Fan Club.  Kathryn and I had talked about throwing a Foyle's War themed party for a long time, but we finally got around to it this winter!

The evening was filled with mystery solving, WWII food eating, movie-based trivia, photobooth posing, and general merriment! :-)

Each guest was given a "ration book" with trivia questions inside.  We had fun watching the show to get ideas for trivia questions, but consequently the trivia was not for the faint of heart.  But really- who doesn't know the names of all the Assistant Commissioners mentioned in the series?? ;-)

We tried to squeeze in several episode references throughout the evening, so if something seems... odd... that's probably the explanation. ;-)  Consider this your excuse to watch the show!

Drinks served:

Uncle Aubrey's Green Gage Wine

(or: sparkling pear juice)

Scotch

(or: sweet tea)

Kathryn and I had a blast going through old propaganda posters to choose some to print off.  We decided against the more, ahem, intense ones. ;-)

Even the prep was fun!  We made bouquet garnis for the Coq au Vin- I'm a fan.  If cooking involves cute little arrangements tied up with bows, count me in!!

We had a photobooth set up with props, and all had a blast goofing off!

I wore my "surprisingly pleasing" 1940s dress, and my friend Grace borrowed my very first 1940s dress!

The ration cakes (both strawberry and chocolate) were a fun challenge, and mostly successful. ;-)  It was very fun to follow historically accurate recipes, though!

Would you just take a whiff of that onion?!?  Scrumptious!

One of the Foyle's War episodes discusses the ration on onions.  I had no idea why until we researched it- apparently onions were rationed, not due to a shortage, but as a ruse to trick the Germans into thinking the British were using onions as a vital ingredient in making explosives.  The plan was codenamed Operation Omelette.  No kidding!  Personally, I think I'd be a bit unimpressed that the only reason I wasn't able to have onions was to trick the Germans....

My parents- aren't they cute?!

The resident maids.  Or at least they played maids in the murder mystery game we played at the beginning of the party. ;-)

Kathryn and I spent the entirety of a day (and a portion of the one previous!) constructing and assembling the patriotic bunting!  We didn't intend for the room to be so very decorated that it was reminiscent of the Police Station on the eve of VE Day, but once you start.... it's hard to stop. ;-)  And really, you can never have too much bunting.

This project was a wake-up call to me, though.  I love the way it turned out, and I'm glad we did it that way, but it was so. much. WORK.  Each of the pennants is cut from 2 pieces of fabric, sewn on 2.5 edges, turned out, pressed, and strung on a piece of string.  Oh, and did I mention that we made 100 feet of this?!  After we were 2 hours into the project, our insanity dawned upon us.  After 10 hours, it was inescapable.

As it is, we are now completely prepared for any red, white, and blue themed party.  Fourth of July- check!  Bastille Day- check!  Australia Day- check!  Norweigan/Icelandic/etc national celebrations- check!

Me and my partner in crime- thanks so much for making this happen!!  It was a blast to plan! (and attend!) (and relive through pictures!) :-)

I credit Foyle's War entirely with making me tolerant of the 1940s.  Previously I was decidedly unimpressed with the decade and particularly WWII.  I know, scandalous. ;-)

But at any rate, Foyle's War changed that for me.  Learning about the British home front during the war years was enlightening and opened up a much more interesting aspect of the war!  If anyone also has a distaste for WWII (or even if you already like it!), I'd highly, highly recommend the show. :-)

· Photos by Kathryn ·