Entertaining | Mix & Match

People who love to eat are always the best people.

                                                                                Julia Child

There are few things I enjoy more than cooking for others.  Having come from a long Greek line of food pushers, it is simply what I do.  I cook for my family daily and whenever the occasion calls for it, I cook for others.  If you have a new baby, I will bring food.  If you win the Pulitzer Prize, I will bring food.  If you have a death in the family, I will bring food.  If you leave the restroom trailing toilet paper from your shoe, I will bring food.  This is how I celebrate my family and friends, in good times and bad.  Much like my Yia Yia, I show my love through cooking. 

This love of cooking has naturally extended to entertaining. I entertain at home quite often.  Preparing a delicious meal and setting a pretty table thrills me to no end.  I relish any opportunity to raid my china stash.  I have an incurable habit of collecting it so I reason that I should use it as often as possible.  We use my grandmother’s vintage blue willow collection for our everyday dishes, which I have been augmenting since college graduation.  Just last weekend, my mother dropped off my Yia Yia’s blue willow to augment my collection – it was very much like Christmas come early.

The other day I had a few friends by for dinner and set this festive table.  Almost always, I mix patterns and color, just like I do with my interiors.  The pink poinsettias and artichokes are a nod to the holiday season without being overtly Christmasy too early or Turkeyfied too predictable.  No red and green for me, or heaven forbid, brown and boring.  I do appreciate brown, as evidenced in my bathroom, just not in any predictable manner like a Turkey Day table setting.  Instead, you will get a crazy mix of color and pattern at my table, even on major holidays.  I’m frisky like that.

SOURCES:

monogram napkins | Chinoiserie plates | blue Villeroy & Boch goblets | gold chargers | Blue Willow bowls | green Limoges plates | bamboo tray | placemats | silver  | pineapple print | pink candles

Items without links are things that I have inherited.  My holiday tables will be a similar riot of color with a few more seasonal tweaks here and there.  My equation for a frisky, gorgeous table always starts with classic elements. Classic elements, like bamboo, rattan, and silver help to keep the look grounded, while the mix of unexpected color, pattern, and fresh produce keep the look fresh and frisky. 

I encourage you to not only entertain more this season, but to do so colorfully. #colorismyfavoritecolor

In my book, people who love to mix color daringly are always the best people too!

All designs, layouts, styling, and photos by Emily Vanderputten

kisses,  mrs. V

A Rerun Of Our Chinoiserie Easter Table

With my kitchen all torn up because of The One Room Challenge™, I am not doing a beautiful Easter table this year.  But I am still so smitten with the table I set last year that I am sharing these images again.  I had so much fun making these eggs even though I set out to make pink ones at the outset.  Call it a happy accident that I ended up with these gorgeous deep blue beauties.  And as with all things in my life, all roads lead to Chinoiserie. It's like we are the ChinoiserVs with my mister as a reluctant but indulgent bystander.

Click here for more detailed info on how I actually made these.

An example of the pink color I was originally trying to achieve but I wasn't happy with the speckling and splotching.  That is when I shifted to the blue colorway but of course I could not resist slamming some gold on that pink.   Imma one trick pink and gold, chinoisy, animal printed pony.

Speaking of Chinoiserie, have you guys seen this goodness that Emilie is cooking up over at Shell & Chinoiserie for her ORC room in the link up? Living for these chintz chairs against that Imperial Trellis wallpaper!

via

Be sure to head over to Calling it Home to see what all the linking participants are up to this week.  So many great spaces coming together!

Have a good Friday on this Good Friday!

All photos, layouts, and styling by Emily Vanderputten unless otherwise noted

kisses,  mrs. V

Pink Ombre Cake

The neverending winter of snow, frozen tundra, and prolonged sub zero temps.  That about sums 2014 so far.  This is the longest short month EVER.  Last year I joked about the things that winter does to a person in the Midwest.  Little did I know what we were in store for this year.  Crikey.  I’m just going to get in line with the dodos.

To beat the winter blues, I fancied up another cake on Friday to celebrate Valentine’s.  I am happy to report that I survived the encounter.  Y’all know I love to cook but baking is just not my jam.  Too precise for this cavalier cook.  But I love a good challenge so I keep torturing myself.  Icing is Public Enemy numero uno.  Outside of catching the oven on fire with overflowing batter on more than a few occasions, icing almost always gets me down.  Too many fails to chronicle.  And don’t even get me started on royal icing.   Middle finger to royal icing.  Those decorated Martha cookies of my dreams will remain squarely in the land of nod.

Any who – this time worked out just fine using a few tricks that I employed last year for my Cupid’s Arrow cake.  Tip one:  box cake is your friend.  Tip Two:  use smaller pans to give the cake a boutique bakery look. Tip Three:  make your cake the day before - after cooling completely, wrap your layers tightly with cling wrap and refrigerate.  Tip Four:  homemade frosting will go a long way toward fooling your guests into thinking you spent hours in the kitchen whipping up the cake from scratch.

 

Click here for specifics from my Cupid cake last year including an easy buttercream recipe that I used for both cakes.  This year I split the icing into 3rds to create a loose ombre effect using gel food coloring.  I don’t remember the exact amounts but I used about 15 drops of red gel to get the dark fuschia and 5 drops of red gel + 2 drops of yellow gel to get the lighter pink.

This cake would also be perfect for a shower, Easter, or Mother’s day, tinted accordingly.  Now go do your best Martha impression and get your box cake on.  Oh, and please excuse my tarnished silver, Momma. I couldn't find my way to the polish.

Do you ever cheat and use box cake?

All photos and styling by mrs. V.

kisses,  mrs. V

Chez V Mini Home Tour - Inside

Let's take the Chez V mini holiday at home party inside.  Welcome to Chez V.  Grab yourself a bevy of choice and make yourself at home.   Really, I wish I could entertain you in real life, as few things bring me more joy than opening my home and table to others.  So this virtual peek will have to suffice.  Just imagine music, aromas from the kitchen, and copious amounts of adult beverages intermingled with laughter and perhaps even some inappropriate topics, all of which devolves into an impromptu kitchen dance party and you’ve just about got the real deal.

Happiest of holidays to all of you, my dear friends!

All photos and styling by mrs. V

kisses,  mrs. V