For those who love love love etiquette
My Grandmother used to make this Christmas Cake on Christmas Eve. In the morning, you slice it and toast it, spreading it with butter before eating it. It is moist and delicious and hey, it’s got nuts and fruit, so it’s breakfast, right? This is a very old recipe that I’ve made only a few…
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Now that we discussed the napkin to a torturous degree. Let’s look at the current American rules for using your napkin at dinner: Firstly, the general rule is to place your napkin in your lap as soon as you sit down. There are two exceptions to this rule. When attending a formal dinner, you will wait for…
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Hello, I’m Cheri and I am a linen addict. I’ve been trying to get better, but it’s so hard. I Marie Kondo’d my linens and gave away a bunch of stuff, but there still seem to be lace, damask and cotton pouring out of the cupboards and closets. If you read my post on doilies,…
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Soooo… I was trying to find a family recipe for punch that didn’t contain alcohol and there weren’t any. I think this may be because by the time my brother and I were children, there were no other kids in the family. So there never was a need for non-alcoholic punch. I’ve yet to go…
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Chafing dishes are wonderfully simple bits of kit. Given that it’s one of the oldest forms of cookery, it’s not a surprise that they’re basic. It’s a container to hold a hot flame, a water bath to keep the food from burning and a dish for cooking and/or keeping food hot. If you’re using a…
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“Chafing dish cookery was one of the earliest known branches of the culinary art, having been held in high repute from almost prehistoric times, although it has recently enjoyed a revival at the hands of our enterprising American cousins, who find that in a country where cooks, or needed servants of any sort, are at…
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Talk about something you rarely see today. I came across this oddly shaped spoon when I was looking for additional pieces to my silverware set and found a listing for a chow chow spoon. If you’ve never heard of chow chow, you aren’t alone. Chow chow is an American cabbage relish. Used as a condiment…
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Those who could afford it at the turn of the century loved having a dish for every purpose. They also loved having a variety of nibbles at the table, (apparently ten courses weren’t enough). They loved love them so much they developed multiple similar dishes to contain the array of wonderful nosh-ables and sometimes decorative…
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“This really is the same as the formal Luncheon except the men are invited with the ladies, and coffee is served throughout the meal. The table may be covered or bare. If bare, use doilies for plates and glasses. The arrangement of the cover is the same as for the formal dinner. Lighter dishes are…
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I want to take a moment to talk about difficult conversations. Grief, death, illness and other life tragedies are some of the toughest subjects to broach with others and because of this, we often don’t. In the past people generally avoided discussing these topics as taboo. There were elaborate social customs which allowed one to acknowledge a…
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