Decorating for Autumn and Halloween

Even though Autumn is my favorite season and I love all the rich earthy colors, I decorate my home very sparingly in these hues simply because these colors clash violently with all of the pink in my home. 

Does anyone else have this problem?  Do you find the colors in your seasonal decorations not flowing very well with the colors in your home?  I would love to hear how others work around this!

The island in my kitchen is one area that I always try to decorate for Fall.  I started out with a glittered cloth, decorated with a pumpkin, from the local antique shop.  A wooden tray holds a scarecrow couple, a pumpkin, and an orange glittery candleholder surrounded by pinecones and acorns.

The other end of the island holds my favorite cookie jar – of course full of Halloween cookies.

Lisette, a witch from the old country, is visiting with us until after Halloween.  I tried to take a photo of her to share, but she threatened me with several different spells if I did.  I distinctly remember hearing something about boils on my toes and hair growing out of my ears….so no photo of Lisette.  She will be attending the Annual Witches’ Ball on Halloween night and has her finery and best broom all ready to go. 

Her fur topped boots will keep her feet warm while she dances in the moonlight’s glow. 

Black leather gloves are a must have fashion accessory at all the best soirées for witches. 

Her favorite moth-eaten shawl is hanging on hooks, along with her most spectacular feather boa. 

After a quick consultation with her crystal ball, Lisette knows she is going to have an enchanted evening at the Witches’ Ball!

My dining area is the only room in my house that gets a full Halloween makeover.

This fellow sits on top of my china cabinet keeping watch over all the mystical events that occur in this room.

The buffet is decorated with candles and potion bottles.

 

Lisette has been cooking up a Witches Brew Love Potion from an old copy of Magickal Booke of Spells for Halloween night.  She says it has to ferment for several days before it’s ready to slip in some poor unsuspecting Wizard’s drink.

Lisette and I thank you for coming by to visit us!  We’re joining in Table Top Tuesday.  Be there or…Lisette was mumbling something about spells most vile if you don’t visit Marty over at A Stroll Thru Life to see all the beautiful table tops! 

DG

Grandmother’s Cookbooks

A couple of months ago, my aunt had asked me to help her clean out some closets and drawers.  You know, that fun job of organizing and getting rid of clutter.  Well, as we were going through a drawer, I began to find loose cookbook pages.  By the time we got to the bottom of the drawer, I had found pages from three different cookbooks that had belonged to my Grandmother.

My aunt said “just throw that junk away”.  Excuse me!  I don’t think so!  I scooped up those pages faster than you can blink!

I brought all of them home, bought a binder and several packages of sheet protectors and now…VOILA, my Grandmother’s cookbooks are ready for my kitchen!

The three cookbooks worth of pages filled up an entire 3” binder.  There are handwritten notes throughout the pages.  There are even some pages that a child had written on.  I won’t name any names (Mom!), but it looks like this child was practicing her handwriting. 

I put photos of my Grandmother in the binder and a note telling how the recipe binder came to be.  Hopefully some day one of my grandchildren will appreciate having this binder of recipes as much as I do.   

One of the books dates to the 1960’s.  The other two are harder to date exactly since the covers were missing and we couldn’t find any references to the names of the cookbooks.  We do know however, that they are both much older and one of them definitely dates at least to the 1940’s if not earlier.

Also with the cookbooks was a loose page of recipes torn from The Progressive Farmer magazine.  On this page was a recipe for a Lemon Gold Cake.  I’m pretty sure this recipe was the reason my Grandmother kept this page since she loved the flavor of lemons.

This cake was the first one I made from her recipes.

Ok, I totally can not frost a cake, but my husband says I’ll get better with practice!

Would you care for a slice?

To share my adventures in cooking my way through Grandmother’s books, I’m joining in over at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday and Brenda’s Canadian Kitchen for Cookbook Sundays.  Hope to see you there!

Lemon Gold Cake

2 1/4 c sifted flour

1 1/2 c sugar

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

1/2 c oil

6 eggs, separated

3/4 c cold water

2 t fresh lemon juice

1 t grated lemon rind

1/2 t cream of tartar

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Make a well and add the oil, egg yolks, water, lemon juice and rind.  Beat with a spoon until smooth.  Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat until very stiff.  Gradually pour the egg yolk mixture over the egg whites; fold until blended, but do not stir.  Pour in an ungreased tube pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour 10 minutes.  Turn cake out of the pan and cool completely.  When the cake is cool, slice it into 3 layers and put the cake back together with the Lemon Filling.  Frost the cake with a 7 Minute Frosting flavored with lemon juice.

 

Lemon Filling:

4 T flour

3/4 c sugar

dash of salt

1/4 c lemon juice

1/2 c water

2 egg yolks or 1 whole egg

2 T butter

2 t grated lemon rind

Combine all except the butter and rind in the top of a double boiler.

Cook over boiling water, stirring constantly, until thick.

Ad butter and lemon rind; cool and spread between the cake layers.

Paisley and Goldenrods

From 1927 until 1959, the Goldenrod was the official state flower in Alabama.  During the fall, they grow wild and have the most vibrant displays of color.  You’ll find them growing along the sides of roads, in the woods and sometimes even find entire fields covered with Goldenrods.   To many people, they are just weeds…but to me, they’re like glorious little golden sunbeams that signal Autumn is finally here.   

This is just one small group of Goldenrods that are growing at the edge of the woods behind my house.  They have always been one of my favorite flowers.

I wanted to make a table setting with sprays of Goldenrods as my centerpiece and used a white iridescent vase to hold the arrangement.  Since I wanted the flowers to be the focal point of the table, I decided the setting needed to be very simple. 

I kept the gold damask tablecloth from last week’s table and layered a red paisley runner over the cloth.  This runner is one of my favorites to use in the fall as it has so many different colors in it…blue, green, gold, red, and white.

 

For each place setting, I began with gold baroque chargers.  Then I layered white dinner plates with a gold rim and amber Depression salad plates on the chargers.  I added antique soup bowls and topped them with “Fairfield” glasses in honey gold to use for dessert.

Oops, I  had moved the spoon to take a photo and realized looking at this photo that I forgot to move it back.

I used crystal votive candleholders around the vase and I love the shadowy swirls you can see on the table!

Gold and crystal hurricane candleholders were placed at each end of the table.

Now I have a confession to make…I am a place card-aholic.  Even if it’s simply the four of us at home, I love putting place cards on the table.  My sweet husband says after all these years we should know where we sit!  Can’t help it though…I just adore adding them to the table.

I thought this Victorian lady would be perfect for the table.  She’s wearing a beautiful yellow gown and has a bouquet of flowers in her lap.  Hmmm…might even be some goldenrods in that bouquet!

Dinner is ready and the candles are burning…

One last view of the Goldenrods by candlelight.

I’m joining Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for another Tablescape Thursday.  We would love for you to come join in the fun!

In the Days of the Golden Rod by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Across the meadow in brooding shadow
I walk to drink of the autumn's wine­
The charm of story, the artist's glory,
To-day on these silvering hills is mine;
On height, in hollow, where'er I follow,
By mellow hillside and searing sod,
Its plumes uplifting, in light winds drifting,
I see the glimmer of golden-rod.
In this latest comer the vanished summer
Has left its sunshine the world to cheer,
And bids us remember in late September
What beauty mates with the passing year.
The days that are fleetest are still the sweetest,
And life is near to the heart of God,
And the peace of heaven to earth is given
In this wonderful time of the golden-rod.

Thank you for visiting and please come back soon!

DG

Jeweled Sunflowers

Fall is my favorite time of the year and with the cooler weather finally here in Alabama, I had the urge to create a table setting celebrating Autumn.

I started with a gold damask tablecloth and layered a white lace cloth over the gold one.  The napkins were an Old Time Pottery find and are a green, white, gold and rusty red plaid.

My inspiration came from these dinner plates and the saucers that I’m using for bread and butter plates.  The dishes belonged to my great-aunt and were given to me by one of my cousins.  The pattern is “Golden Meadow” by Sheffield.

Gold leafed apples rest in “Wexford” sherbets by Anchor Hocking.

 

The salad plates are “Italian Villa” and were a thrift store find.  The colors in the salad plates are a deeper version of the colors in the napkins. 

The green iced tea glasses also belonged to my great-aunt.  They were made by Anchor Hocking probably during the 60’s or 70’s and are called “Rainflower”.  I used “Fairfield” wine glasses, also by Anchor Hocking, in their Honey Gold color.  These wines originally belonged to my grandmother and I borrowed them from my favorite aunt to use in this setting.

The small ramekins for holding butter are “Harvest Vintage” by BH&G.

I love sunflowers, so these made a perfect centerpiece for my table.  I also like the addition of the fuzzy branches and small faux cattails.

These little pumpkin place card holders are really cute!  They were a Hobby Lobby find and best of all, they were on sale. 

Crackled glass votive candleholders have pretty autumn leaves decorating the glass.  I scattered berries, pinecones and fall leaves around the center of the table.  I also used two avocado colored open lace sherbets as holders for votive candles.  They were produced in the 1950’s from “Lorain” depression glass molds. 

Although it doesn’t show in the photos, I love how the candlelight shimmers through the jeweled mosaic hurricane globes.

The table by candlelight…

 

I’m joining Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for another Tablescape Thursday.  There’s always an open invitation to join in and see all the beautiful tables!

I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit with me and please come back soon! 

DG

Summer Serenity

Don’t grow up too quickly lest you forget how much you love the beach. –Michelle Held

In the Photo Forum at Recipezaar, I participated in the Grilling Special for July.  The recipe I chose to make was Spicy Grilled Shrimp by bratty.  Wow, this was some delicious shrimp!  If you love shrimp and spicy foods, this recipe is a must try.

Along with the grilled shrimp, I served Cheddar Bay Biscuits, fries and a garden salad.  It was a wonderful meal!  In the spirit of seafood for dinner, the table was set with a beach theme.

I love the beach…the warm breezes, the amazing colors of an ocean sunset and the soft sounds of the waves lapping at the shore.  You can almost feel your troubles floating away on the waves.  I’ve tried to bring a bit of that tranquility to my table setting. 

I started out with turquoise straw placemats layered over a white tablecloth.  The dinner plates and bread/butter plates were white rimmed with platinum.

The salad plates each feature a different sea shell/starfish and were found at a local thrift store.

I couldn’t resist buying these goblets after my daughter spotted them on a shopping trip last year.  They just jumped in my cart and begged me to bring them home!   So what’s a girl to do?  I love how the blue glass at the top fades into a green shade at the bottom. 

Butter spreaders have a little blue fish on the handles.  This was another thrift store find that I couldn’t resist.  The napkins were recently found at Old Time Pottery and the napkin rings are clear acrylic with seashells on the top. 

I love how the turquoise blue in the placemats shines through the clear handles on the flatware.

The bowl I used in my centerpiece is an antique store purchase from many years ago.  It’s depression glass, but I don’t know if it has a pattern name.  The bowl is filled with sand and seashells.

Place cards were held by seashells and feature a tranquil beach scene.

The candles have little seashells embedded in them.  Can you spot the tiny starfish in the candle?

Seashells surround the bowl and are scattered around the table.

For the finishing touch to a delicious meal, dessert was Lemon Gold Cake.  This is an old recipe from an issue of “The Progressive Farmer”.  My grandmother had cut out the recipe and saved it with some papers in her chifferobe.

 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you’ll come back soon.

I’m joining Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for another fantabulous Tablescape Thursday.  Don’t you want to join in too?

DG