China Galore!

You might wonder what difference can a plate make? Excellent question! Setting a table with imagination — think art installation, think many patterns of plates — may cause all manner of things to happen. Empires have risen and fallen around the dinner table. We ourselves might not be able to mend the world but we can tidy up our corner of it. Dinner by dinner we make life worth living for ourselves and others. One way is by having fun setting the table.

An opportunity has arisen to collect bits and pieces, stacks and sets, china considered best in the world; Richard Ginoi, Haviland, Royal Crown Derby, Mottehedah, Herend, Gien. Charleston’s finest wedding and gift store shut down resulting in a porcelain treasure trove. The owner of Vieuxtemps is selling off a myriad of marvels at a discount. If you relish adding zing to your dinners do something lickety-split. (This post is not sponsored!)

A single dinner plate or a set of twelve is not a big investment but an unremitting delight. Collecting these things pays dividends over and over and over, not in interest payments but in creating settings that facilitate interesting conversations and connections.

Owning multiple sets gives you tools and options to continually create unique settings. Unify the table according to your own rules. Choose plates with a similar feature from different sets, such as all rims, or medallions, or in the same color way. Have fun finding out who notices your roast chicken served on different color bird plates. Design useful centerpieces, lining chargers down the center of the table and topped with food, like serving platters. Fill wide rimmed tea cups with soup, for a first course. Collect dozens of different tea cups to host an annual mother daughter holiday tea party.  

Royal Crown Derby bird plates

Herend tea cups

Different patterns, different chargers...

Different makes (Haviland & Ginori) same color way

Now don’t get me wrong. There is a certain charm to our grandmother’s and great grandmother’s match-y match-y dining tables — do remember that their handbags and shoes, coats and hats, nail and lipstick matched too. That was the way it was. Now we live in a diverse society free to express many moods, create endless experiences and introduce all kinds of people to each other, right from our dining tables. Why not do it in the most imaginative way possible to create a scene and make things of consequence occur at and from your table?

Consider:

- A set of six different color bird plates from ultra-luxury Royal Crown Derby.

- Sets of Herend tea cups and saucers to mix and match for hosting mother daughter holiday tea parties on an afternoon between Christmas and the New Year.

- Six or twelve plain and patterned chargers to mix plus use as serving platters.

- Sets of plates of one make but with different patterns and color ways that work together.

- Sets with central medallions.

For more information:

Email info@vieuxtemps.net

DM via Instagram @UndertheFiggTree

A Summer Night's Dream with J. McLaughlin

Credit: Mark Staff Photography

‘“Sparkling summer cocktails in chilled glasses, your closest friends mingling amongst dragonflies and bite-sized hor’s d'oeuvres, farmer’s market blooms that match your botanical print dress, that match your napkins, that somehow magically match your notecards as well.”

A recipe connoisseur, author, and all-around party genius— when Pollak mentioned to J.McLaughlin Creative Director and Co-founder Kevin McLaughlin that she wished she had a dress that matched her fête essentials, we knew we had to make it come true…’

Now you can shop J. McLaughlin’s dreamy new collaboration with Suzanne HERE, and read all about last night’s launch party HERE (both via the J. McLaughlin blog!)

'The Art of the House Drink' for VIE June 2021

Serve your House Drink in any vessel you choose! (Credit: CR Fashion Book)

“I am a fan of having a house drink and a go-to menu until they’re fully mastered at every step: cooking, mixing, and presentation. Then when the excitement has evaporated or the season has changed, the time comes to move to new terrains. This steady progression of building culinary and cocktail house signatures adds to your skills through the decades. During the learning period, the practice provides stability, predictability, and comfort to those you feed and water, something guests look forward to when invited. Then, to keep you and yours on your toes, choose new treats.

In that vein, I propose settling upon a house cocktail for a while.…”

Learn how (and why, and when) to serve up a variety of champagne cocktails while entertaining at home, in the latest issue of VIE Magazine HERE!

"Open Up and Connect" for Lux Lifestyle Magazine

Credit: Mark Staff Photography

“Going from formal to informal is a breeze for Pollak who once owned 300 place settings. I pressed for more of her secrets to outdoor entertaining with pizazz. Below are some of the helpful hints I gleaned during our talk:

• Be short and sweet. Just one hour can be a lovely drop-in with cocktails and small plates.

• Help your guests feel you hospitality outside; if you are hosting by a fire pit, place cozy blankets or shawls on the seats.

• Fire in any form creates a sense of warmth, a phenomenon since the prehistoric times. Use it! A fire pit, fire ring, etc., in the Spring, when weather might not be so welcoming outside, will light the night.”

Read the rest of of “Open Up and Connect: Fresh Air Entertaining Tips with Suzanne Pollak” in the latest issue of East Coast LUX Lifestyle Magazine (pages 80-84) HERE!

'The Ultimate House Party' for January VIE

“I visited Tony and Carla in their home in southern France for two summers, and now we are family. We’ve adopted each other. When I need a lift, I tap into the memories of those halcyon days at the Hendra’s place. What could be better than reveling for a week (yes, a full week!) in communal bliss—eating, drinking, swimming, and walking around a charming village, with time for long conversations and hours of cooking? All the while, you’re leaving the frenzy of your trials and tribulations behind, at least for a spell.

A house party host must possess an overflowing heart, a hugely generous spirit (and often, an open pocketbook), boundless energy, and a willingness to carve out time for others. The house party host is the exact opposite of self-centered. The tasks are multiple, but so are the rewards for those of us who have organized house parties and been recipients of these idyllic stays. Making a group of people feel safe and loved, watered and fed for a few days is a fabulous gift….”

Read the rest of the Dean’s How To’s of World-Class Hosting (learned in large part from the Hendras) in the January 2020 issue of VIE Magazine HERE!

Conversations at Home

Three Women Drinking by Fernando Botero

The conversations in a restaurant are completely different than the ones around your dinner table at home.

Think about it. At a restaurant we mostly gather in groups - four, six, eight - as couples or a gaggle of women. (By the way, when the group is more than eight, the fun occurs once in a thousand times. I have the experience and expenses to prove this statistic.) Restaurant conversations rarely go deep. They are fun, hit the topics of moment, delve into the latest juicy gossip; but they rarely dive into the personal, the thoughts that cements connections. The banter is not always open, vulnerable, or honest about things that really matter.

But in a domestic setting, things change. Elsewhere, talk may slide on the surface, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. Sometimes that’s what we crave! I want to know about your day and I want to tell you about mine. I don’t want to tell you the results of my recent mammogram, or discuss worries about a child. I want to escape for an hour or two and you are the person who is allowing me to do that. The surface is manageable at the moment... 

However, if you want to open the door into your soul, even for a few minutes, being at home is a safest way to do this. Why? Because the rooms are where we eat, sleep, and live, so the spaces conjure up security and create a safe spot. This is opposed to restaurants where the vibe is: Let’s have fun, Let’s entertain & be entertained, Let’s be seen. A restaurant is not the place to unload your baggage for all the world to overhear. The home is the ideal place to satisfy that deep human desire to be vulnerable and strengthen relationships.

Porch Love

(Photos courtesy of G. P. Schafer)

Charleston’s single and double porches have long been synonymous with hospitality. We entertain on our piazzas all year long because temperate climate offers a type of living not available in many urban environments.  These are special spaces to watch clouds move across the sky, birds fly in formation or snap to attention on a telephone wire...all while protecting us from a sudden rainstorm or blazing sun.

On a windy Winter afternoon, there is no better place to sit with a loved one, wrapped in a blanket while sipping smokey Hu-kwa tea sweetened with honey from the bees in the backyard. In Summer, the porch ceiling fan must whirl full speed and ice buckets stay filled with large cubes for the five o'clock cocktail hour, when bourbon and drops of bitters aid in watching the sun set and moon rise.

Communication is different on porches, upstairs and down. Why? Spaces effect people's behavior. On a ground floor porch, one converses with street walkers and neighbors across the garden, or possibly meets a passing stranger who might transform her life. Elevated porches are a different environment altogether: exotic, hidden, perfect for private uninterrupted conversations -- honest, vulnerable, and open -- a place to forge a deep connection. 

Outdoor rooms and fresh air make people looser and more able to talk freely, telling truths comfortably. People behave and think a certain way in an interior room and often say what they’ve said before. Four interior walls may hem one in physiologically. Outside, it’s easier to say things you have never said, perhaps even startling yourself.  

Spending a good portion of the day on a porch can make you feel differently too. Porch life is less chaotic, fresh air calms. And though you might sit on the porch all day, you won’t feel cooped up. The porch becomes your own little cocoon. A porch is a cozy room, an outside room, a safe sanctuary. Long Live the Piazzas!

Cheetahs, Usain Bolt, and You

Bolt hits his top speed of about 27 miles per hour at the 70 meter mark. A cheetah reaches their top speed of 60 miles per hour in 3 seconds. You, my dear, have all night to reach your peak, and win your gold medal. Cheetahs, Usain Bolt and other incredible fast runners have to slow down quickly, after a few seconds. Hosts slow down too, the moment the first guest comes through the front door. That’s when we get our groove, relax into our rhythm and timing, pace and energy to set the mood. Our purpose is to lull guests into relaxed, comfortable feeling, or sometimes an anticipatory excited state…depending on our goals.

Usain and cheetahs have more in common than fast running -- they are both beautiful and graceful, as you will be too when you greet your guests, scented and dressed, everything ready to go. Going for gold means thinking through that first drink, the timing of dinner, music for mood, lighting to create a mystery (relying on the full moon outdoors.) Notice that food is not the most important part of entertaining at home. The end goal is to make guests feel good inside: connected, seen, heard, entertained. Imagine all this taking place in your own four walls! It’s amazing what a house can do if you just set it up correctly. Your impact can be lasting, solid gold in the Academy’s world. Filling others with delight, even for a couple of hours, makes your own life more enjoyable and can spark surprising results. Watch what happens!

PARTY ICE

James Bond may not have preferred ice in his cocktail, but at the Academy, it's paramount.  The old adage is true: "You can never have enough glasses, nor enough ice."  But why not serve your drinks over ice worth remembering?  With just a few 7" water balloons (and tin foil to stabilize them in your freezer), you can impress your guests with idiosyncratic spheres that will keep cocktails colder, longer.  Nobody wants a watered-down drink, ever.

Here's why our freezer is filled with balloons:

May we suggest serving Party Ice with a tipple of Old Weller, or better yet, an Old-Fashioned made with it.  Cheers!