(photo credit- 1aled.fotomaps.ru)

Hi everyone, 

I am back. I came home from vacation and had a bad bout with bronchitis. I missed setting my tablescapes and also sharing them with you. I hope you are all enjoying the end of summer. This season seemed to fly by so fast.

Todays tablescape is all about Lemons!

At the end of the post I have included a recipe for a Limocello Tart from my dear friend Marie Renello. Her website is Proud Italian Cook and her recipes are always fantastic. Check out her website at http://prouditaliancook.com

I just love lemons. I love the color, the smell, the taste. They are so bright and cheerful. And after being sick, I need some cheering up. I lost a full week of the summer being ill. So let’s start the tablescape full of lemons…

(Click on photos to enlarge)

The dishes I am using today are a very simple pattern ceramic dish with a creme background, brown border and 2 lemons with a lemon leaf on each dinner plate. It has the look of Italian ceramics (which I collect as well). I bought both the dinner plates and bread plates. The salad plates and bowls were not available, but this is a start.

 I think I will use the bread plates as dessert plates.  

To start us off, I am using a lemon pattern tablecloth and matching napkins. Very cheery all by itself. I bought the tablecloth last February in the middle of the freezing snowy weather. It gave me hope that the better weather was ahead where I could be lounging in the sun and drinking lemonade. I just couldn’t pass up the lemon pattern. I am using clear napkin rings so nothing takes away from the lemon pattern.

I am using a large 15 inch sandalwood colored woven placemat without a charger. The color of the placemat is the same color that borders the dishes. I couldn’t use a charger plate because the dishes are 11 inches instead of the standard 9 inches. The charger plates I have are too small.

So now I have the dishes, tablecloth, napkins and placemats. I need to start looking through all of my dish collections and accessories for any additions to this table or start shopping.

Once I see the pattern of a dish, my mind starts designing a tablescape in my head but a lot of times I cannot find what I wanted originally and adjustments have to be made.

You have to have patience with a tablescape. Sometimes it all comes together quickly and other times it’s the product of many months of picking up pieces here and there until you feel it is done to your liking.

It took me a long time to find the right glassware to go with these dishes. I have everyday tumblers with lemons on them but they looked awful together with the dishes because the yellow on the glass was too bright.

And then one day I walked into Pier I and on the clearance table no less, there were glass goblets with lemons painted on them that matched the dishes. I think this is where the sky opened up and the angels started to sing. I bought every goblet they had. Okay, things are coming together, slowly but coming together.

While visiting my son this Summer, I found two more additions to my lemon table. The first find are lemon teacups – absolutely precious and they match the dishes and have butterflies as part of the design. I just love butterflies. To me they are a kiss from heaven.

The design of the teacups match the dishes so perfectly that you would think that they were part of the original dish collection.

I might have to display these teacups in my kitchen china cabinet so I can look at them every day. I just love them. They are so beautiful and delicate. I think I need a tea sandwich and a scone to go with them.

I will be using both the teacups and the bread plates for dessert.

The second find is a beautiful yellow cake stand that picks up the exact yellow of the lemons in the dishes perfectly. Not too bright and not too gold. The ruffled design around the cake stand edge is what caught my eye.

The tablescape is coming along. Now we need flatware and a centerpiece. For the flatware, I chose yellow. I know, no big surprise. What other color can you use with lemons? 

My centerpiece was an easy choice; of course I am using lemons. I filled one of my favorite glass bowls with artificial lemons and used a few scattered magnolia leaves to give the look of lemon leaves. Remember what I always say, shop the house first for your tablescape accents. This time I shopped my yard. I tried to match the design on the plate.

I used to buy fresh lemons constantly to keep on my kitchen counter in a ceramic basket and they never lasted too long. So one day in Homegoods I spotted artificial lemons and my problem was solved.

They really do look real, even close up. I have had many friends come in the kitchen, pick one up to smell the lemon scent and then are shocked that they are not real. (I never say anything until they are done sniffing).

Now what to serve?

I purchased some lemon soft macarons that I will set out with dessert. I just loved the way they were wrapped and thought they would look nice on the table.

For beverages, the hot beverage could be lemon tea. But for the cold beverage, it has to be lemonade in my beautiful lemon goblets and I have the perfect lemonade. I bought it in my favorite grocery store – Wegmans.

A little serving tip: make your ice cubes out of the beverage that you are drinking. That way, when the ice melts, it doesn’t dilute the flavor of the beverage the way plain ice cubes would.

For those who know me well, know I just love Wegmans. After the excitement of seeing my son, the thought of Wegmans makes the long ride to my son not so hard to take. It’s the light at the end of the tunnel. I know I am not alone when I say that this is the best grocery store, EVER. There has to be a Wegmans fan club somewhere.

The men in our lives will just never understand our devotion to Wegmans. I wish they had one where I live.

Anyway, back to the menu. I have decided to serve a traditional English Tea with assorted tea sandwiches and scones. For dessert I will serve mini fruit tarts and also make Marie’s Limoncello tart. 

 I’ll keep a bottle of Limoncello on the table as well – just to keep the theme going.

Well, I am all done with my lemon tablescape. Thank you for letting me share it with you. I hope it brought you some cheer and some ideas for your tablescapes.

Until my next post, stay well and make every day a celebration!

Diane

Place Setting

Tablescape Details

Lemon pattern tablecloth and napkins from Bed, Bath and Beyond

Lemon dishes are from Magenta Dinnerware- Farm to Table collection

Woven placemats from Homegoods

Lemon Goblets from Pier I

Yellow cake stand from Homegoods

Lemon teacups from Homegoods

Artificial Lemons from Homegoods

Glass centerpiece bowl  from Crate and Barrel

Yellow flatware from Christmas Tree Shops

Clear napkin rings from Bed, Bath and Beyond

Lemon soft macarons from Homegoods

(Don’t forget the recipe at the end of the post.)

Recipe for Limoncello Tart 

courtesy of Proud Italian Cook

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