Lunch for Two Lovely Ladies

In 2007 I had the privilege of getting to know  a lovely young woman  who is from England, but lives in Michigan because of her husband's career.  Her mum still lives in England but is here  visiting, so I invited them to lunch today.  The welcome flag was hung to greet them.

The table was set.  I had never heard of layering table linens until  2008 when I attended "An Occasion for Tea" sponsored by Tea Time Magazine, and designer April Cornell did a presentation on layering.   She began with a floor length under cloth, covered with a tablecloth, and a mini-cloth in the center [or a table runner], and place mats.   Ever since seeing her presentation, I often layer my table linens.

I used my pink Depression glass dishes.  I only had two berry bowls, so my girlfriend suggested I "re-purpose" my juice glasses [cherry blossom pattern] and use them for fruit. I liked her idea and it worked perfectly.  Pattern of the dinner plates and teacups and saucers is Sharon.

I used my Fenton Epergne for the centerpiece.  It's low and doesn't obstruct vision.

We began with tomato dill bisque.  [Bowls are Manhattan pattern]  I normally don't like to take photos once my guests arrive, but they read my blog and were very gracious about taking photos so I wouldn't have to recreate the lunch afterwards.

Green fruits in jasmine tea syrup [honeydew melon balls, seedless green grapes and kiwi] followed the soup.

I shaped corn tortillas into salad bowls for our southwest chicken salad.

We concluded with a simple dessert of raspberry sherbet.  Our tea throughout the meal was  Lemon Jade Green Tea from Simpson & Vail.

I so enjoyed my guests and our time spent together around the table.