A Black and Gold Tablescape

Yesterday [Tuesday] I had four lovely ladies over for a tea luncheon.  It was the first time we had all been together since the COVID pandemic prevented gatherings.

With my recent blog post about black teacups in mind, and two of those teacups were gifted to me by two of the ladies who were coming, I decided to go with a black and gold tablescape. Those colors were a first for me, but I was quite pleased with the dramatic and elegant look.

I really wanted to fold the napkins into bows, but the night before when I sat down to work on them, I just couldn't get the hang of it - even though the tutorial said it was very easy! When I finally got one made, the teapot on the napkin ring wasn't in the upright position and I was too tired and frustrated to continue.  I ended up just putting the napkins through the rings the same old ordinary, uncreative way.  I'll practice for next time!

Louise sat by the teacup she gave me, and Barb by the teacup from her.  Louise told me afterwards that her teacup sat in her china cabinet ever since her grandmother passed away in 1988, but she had never had tea in it.  She was grateful for the opportunity to drink from it in honor of her grandmother.  As for Barb, she didn't remember giving me the teacup, but said she really liked it and I was lucky she gave it away!  ;-)

Since these were ladies who all had fond memories of Hudson's Department Store and the famous Canadian Cheese Soup and Maurice Salad served in their restaurants, I made those items my menu.  The recipes were in The Marshall Field's Cookbook that devoted a section to Hudson's.

Hudson's used to serve popovers with their soup and salad, but since I didn't have a popover pan I went with another item on their menu - blueberry muffins.

We were so busy chatting and enjoying each other's company that I forgot to take a picture of the soup, but Linda took a picture of the salad and sent it to me.  I served two black teas from The Tea Room in Savannah throughout our meal - Emperor's Bride and Asher's Georgia Peach.

Dessert was Hot Fudge Ice Cream Puffs - also a Hudson's specialty.  I have made the cream puff pastry from Julia Child's cookbook several times with success, but for whatever reason... like the napkin bows... the recipe met with resistance this time.  I thoroughly read the recipe before starting, and accurately measured, but the pastry paste wasn't stiff enough.  So I pitched it and started over and got the same results!  I decided to bake them anyway to see what would happen.  With 'creamy' paste instead of stiff paste, they spread out on the baking sheet like a small pancake, but did manage to raise a little.  After baking, I cut a slit in the side so the insides could dry out a bit, then removed the excess egg-like mixture.  I sampled one and they tasted like a cream puff so I decided to use them, and like Julia Child always advised, I made no explanations or apologies!  ;-)  My guests must have enjoyed them because they all ate the whole thing, but what went wrong with the pre-baking pastry paste will definitely be a question for pastry chef, Eric, at The Whitney the next time I see him.

It was such an enjoyable afternoon.  It was Linda's birthday and we all had an opportunity to reflect on the gift of friendship.  I made a chocolate mound cake for Linda, and was glad she got to take it home to enjoy with her family in its entirety, rather than part of it being served as 'Plan B' at our luncheon.

Back row L-R:  Me, Louise and Barb

Seated:  Linda and Joanie

I requested no hostess gift because the luncheon was my gift to them, but Linda brought a 1,000-piece teacup jigsaw puzzle.  Can you believe I have never put together a jigsaw puzzle before? Jerry and I decided it would be a fun project to work on together.