Apartment Therapy 8-Week Cure nearly complete! Our first of many dinner parties is set. Lots of weeding of belongings, lots of cleaning, lots of taking stock and seeing things in a new light. Lots of stress lifted. And two new silk/feather bolster pillows, one tablecloth, one couch solution, and one furry chair cover made by me! I totally recommend this.

These greens keep lasting! I got them, post-Christmas for 3 bucks. Score.

I got tired of buying hydrangeas. They lasted one day! Just one day! And then withered. It is definitely not hydrangea season anymore.

our TG table

This year I decided to go with a windswept look with golden pine cones and leaves. Here's what we served this year. Be prepared, there is no turkey or pie. I just figured out TG is all about pie and potatoes. Why did I not see this before? We had our dessert first, up the street at Cafe Riviera, a sweet place on Manhattan Avenue. Polish Apple Cake and coffee with steamed milk. Very festive.

First Course

Salmon Ceviche

Black Beans

Cassava Toasts with olive oil & cilantro

. . .

Second Course

Turkish Spinach & Onion Boreka

Roasted Masala Spice Sweet Potato "Fries"
with spicy coriander yogurt dipping sauce

Trio of potatoes (red, white & purple) sliced à la Internet

Roasted Asparagus

. . .

Third Course

Homemade Cranberry Relish & Fresh Apples, Oranges & Cranberries

Persimmons

Pecans & Almonds

Coffee

Quite pleased with my Second Avenue deli purchase yesterday. Twenty one spray roses for five dollars.

Time to add the trees! Really, the pumpkins should totally drop out, but I love them, and they are still perfectly firm, so I am keeping them.

It's getting to look a lot like Thanksgiving! Mini pumpkins, check. Gold leaves, check. Gold mini pinecones, check.

When your plates look this delicious, you have to raise the level of your cooking.

New and Exciting! Wobbly Plates at the Brooklyn Flea!

This past Saturday at the Brooklyn Flea, I spotted an exciting new vendor: Wobbly Plates by Brigitte Bouquet. These "thick as pancakes" plates are so colorful and pleasingly handmade with blunt edges and lace-like textures pressed right into the clay. They look tasty enough to eat (on). I can imagine a fun dinner party or two or three with these plates.

I like the classifications Brigitte has made on her Etsy shop: these are reserved for cupcakes, and these for crostini. A cupcake and crostini party sounds right up my alley. That gives me an idea... Follow Brooklyn-based Brigitte on Twitter to see when she will be exhibiting her beautiful ceramic wares again! I think I will be purchasing in the very near future.


Brooklyn Flea
176 Lafayette Ave
Fort Greene
Brooklyn
718.935.1052
Get directions

Wobbly Plates by Brigitte Bouquet
Find her work on atelierbb.etsy.com

Mustache Napkin Rings, set of 4, $24 on Modern Dose

It seems that Modern Dose has been reading my blog and all my posts about moustaches vs. mustaches, because they sent me an email about these little numbers for the table. Mustache Napkin Rings. Yes I am a fan. The mustaches are painted with chalboard paint. Now that is clever. I want these. Thanks Modern Dose!

I like this trend of eco-friendly lookalikes. There are so many of them nowadays. The ceramic Greek Cup. The "not a paper cup" ceramic paper coffee cup with travel lid. The ceramic paper plates. And now, the leather paper bag. I love it. So funny. Found on Popgloss today.

Ceramic Paper Plates, via DesignBoom

Orla Kiely Sky Abicus Flower Collection, $11.99-$15.99 at Target

Hey, Orla Kiely is at Target! Mostly melamine, with some stoneware. I do like the mugs. And the trays. And the square serving bowls. I would like to see some textiles on the Website, however. The ad shows a cute apron, oven mits, and the like.

Look at these brussel sprouts!


I got them at the Union Square Greenmarket yesterday.
It was the best day to be there. Pies everywhere. And the fruits and vegetables!
A bountiful beautiful harvest.

I got the pumpkins from the brussel sprout man. He had a very kind face.

Hope your TG is a festive feast! Happy Thanksgiving!

Recently I went to IKEA in Red Hook on the B61 bus to buy some new pillows. I can't express how much fun it was to take public transportation to IKEA. I felt so DIY, or something. Anyway, I felt totally free. And giddy. And so I took myself straight to the cafe and had myself a piece of apple cake and a cup of coffee. I selected the birch tree area for my IKEA cafe experience, because it was pretty. I want to put up birch wallpaper in my house. But I have no idea how.

Made from reclaimed wood: Walnut Pepper Shaker [L] and Poplar Salt Shaker [R]
by Domestic Aesthetic, available on Branch, $48.

I was browsing Happy Mundane this morning and found these beautiful wood salt and pepper shakers, by Domestic Aesthetic. Of course, the designers are from Brooklyn! I love the photo too.

The latest "Confetti Group" by Zak! includes divided plates, bowls and cups,
available at The Conran Shop

I have a thing for Zak! Ultra smooth. Pleasing to the touch. Affordable well-designed tablewear made of melamine. For example, just look at these ice cream spoons, which I purchased recently at Food Emporium (for $7.49). They make the experience of eating oatmeal much more exciting. The Food Emporium Bridgemarket carries many pieces from my favorite "Seaside Collection." I have had my eye on a set of bright sky blue serving spoons and matching giant bowl to use for fancy salads (or better yet, fancy pasta salads). The color would go great with red salad plates. Think of the dinner party possibilities! I do. If I talk much more about this, I will be running right over to Food Emporium and buying up a storm.

Right next door at The Conran Shop, you can shop Zak's latest "Confetti Group," pictured above. I love the oval-shaped drinking cups. A set of 6 is around $20. Also available on Amazon and Target, for those who don't get that far East.


Food Emporium
The Conran Shop
Bridgemarket
1st Avenue & E 59th St
Midtown East
New York

This CB2 white square dinnerware seems to be popular with NYC restaurants. I keep noticing it everywhere I eat. After test-driving it, I think I would like to add some pieces to my own cupboard. Like all three sizes of the bowls and all four sizes of the plates. Have you noticed the prices? $4.95 for a dinner plate, $1.95 for a dessert plate, $2.95 for a 6" bowl. Those are nice prices. The prospect of purchasing makes me want to have a party.

'Shadow' paper plate by French Bull, $4 set of 8, available at Loft Party'Delight' paper plate by French Bull, $4 set of 8, available at Loft Party''Mulitidot' paper plate by French Bull, $4 set of 8, available at Loft Party

'Fantasia' paper plate by French Bull, $4 set of 8, available at Loft Party

Can you believe these beautiful plates by French Bull are paper? I think I would feel compelled to wash them and save them. Well perhaps I wouldn't go that far. But I am afraid that as lovely as they are, they would fall into the 'too nice to use' category in my house. The melamine plates by French Bull, however, I wholeheartedly support. Ooh la la. Reusable is sexy.

'Barcelona' melamine dinner plates by French Bull, $36 set of 4, available at Loft Party

I am pretty excited to have my downstairs neighbor over for coffee today. We haven't had a good chat in awhile. I was trying to figure out what to serve instead of delicious sugary pastries, and then I came up with it. A nice fruit salad! And some roasted almonds. I hope the menu isn't too ascetic. But I am doing so well in my sugar fast so far, and would have NO willpower to sit anywhere near biscotti, chocolate almond croissants and chocolate-dipped almond horns (my alternate menu) and not eat them. Today is Day XVI of my Sugar Fast.

I decided when I woke up this morning that we should Deck our Halls* tonight after dinner. We have been having a rather ascetic holiday season with both of us getting the coughing sneezing stuffy head pounding headache sickness that always perfectly coincides with The Season. 'Tis the season to blow your nose a lot.

But anyway, I thought we should try to inject this week with some cheer, and decorate. So I spruced up the table to set the mood. And found a box of Christmas decorations for later merry-making. I really wanted to get a Charlie Brown Christmas tree this year, but I don't know if that will happen, as Christmas is only one week away, and I don't know that we would get enough mileage out of it. I saw three people carrying a Charlie Brown Christmas tree home on the L train last weekend. Poor little sad tree with only a few floppy branches to decorate and needles dropping everywhere. I immediately liked them. A lot.


*which I hope just means 'seasonal decorating' because that's all I'm trying to convey here.

With the table design all set and the house clean, today is all about the menu and gathering ingredients. I have already been out to 82nd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens to get some special surprise treats for our TG feast tomorrow. I bought a small ton of veggies too.

Yesterday at the Container Store, I found delicate gold leaves that look like lace to include with my mini pumpkin, purple mums and gold pine cones. Now I must set the table, and go back out for more food gathering. Back soon to post more.

My Spring/Summer Table:
green stripe table cloth, white cafe paper and polkadot placemat overlays

All of my table designs are conceived as 'Modular layers.' Just like my clothing collections!
I think that layering complementary and contrasting
textures, patterns, and colors
creates more interest to your table (and to your ensembles too).
To read more about my concept of Modular Dressing,
click here.

I was browsing my blog the other day, when I came across an old table design which I completely forgot about [pictured above]. I have been using a purple linen tablecloth and brown wrinkled craft paper overlay [pictured below] for so long that I forgot about the summery green stripe table cloth with the white paper and polka-dot placemat overlays.

So I am designing a new table for dinner tonight and making a refreshing and light lemony-feta orzo pasta and mesclun salad. I am also trying to nurse my Lucky Bamboo back to health. I think it got heat stroke over the past 2 weeks. These plants mean a lot to me. I must make a grand gesture to try to save my Lucky Bamboo! I hope I can work some magic. Please send your good thoughts in the direction of my Lucky Bamboo...

The purple linen tablecloth with brown wrinkled craft paper overlay
as set up for a dinner party.


The purple linen table cloth with brown wrinkled craft paper overlay
as set up for Holiday: the same basic idea 'further accessorized' with
seasonal laser-cut plexi snowflakes