So your Grandma Beatrice left you her fancy Tazza and Great Aunt Sally has gifted you a stunning compote, what are you to do with them? Use them darn it! Look, if we were talking about a sixteenth century priceless porcelain dish, I’d tell you to be careful and leave it in the cabinet, (or…
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Outings: The Best London Museum You’ve Never Heard Of
The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising is one of those gems that once you’ve visited you can’t understand why it’s not one of the first things that people tell you to visit. This little museum is dedicated to exactly what the name states, Brands, Packaging and Advertising. Built upon the collection of one man,…
Read MoreObscurities: Chocolate Sets
Let’s take a look at the Chocolate Set. I covered the rise of chocolate in my post on the chocolate spoon, but I want to say a few more words here. If you want to know more about hot chocolate, my post on Chocolate Spoons gives a little more back story. This will just cover…
Read MoreAll The Stuff: Breakfast Sets
I touched on this briefly when I discussed the breakfast tray and the tray cloth, but I love breakfast accoutrements and I can’t stop posting about this topic. Sorry, not sorry. Breakfast sets were china sets made specifically for both tray service and/or for your morning table service. Breakfast sets made for trays generally contained…
Read MoreAll The Stuff: Hand Fans – Part 3 (Flirtations)
It seems that during the Regency and on into the turn of the century, people used any object at their disposal to send secret signals to the object of their desire, fans were no different. I hope you’re well and happy flirting!
Read MoreAll The Stuff: Hand Fans – Part 1
“What grace the fan lends to a woman who knows how to use it! It undulates, it flutters, it expands, it closes, it rises, it falls at will. It is the most powerful weapon in beauty’s arsenal.” – Madame de Stael Man made fans date from around 3000 BC. But really, what that means is that’s when we…
Read MoreNapkin Etiquette at the Dinner Table
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…
Read MoreAll The Stuff: The Napkin
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,…
Read MoreOld Timey Cookin’: The Chafing Dish Part Two, In which we learn how to use a chafing dish and it’s useful(ish) etiquette
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…
Read MoreOld Timey Cookin’: The Chafing Dish, Part One. In which we discover the joys of table top cookery.
“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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