For those who love love love etiquette
“The finger-bowls are usually brought in on the dessert plates which also hold the dessert spoons and forks. Each person sets his finger-bowl and the doily underneath it on the table in front of or at the side of his dessert plate, to be used later. The dessert spoon and fork are generally placed on the table…
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The chopstick has been used since 1200 B.C. starting in China and moving steadily throughout Asia over the next seven hundred years, though they were used mainly for cooking not for eating for hundreds of years. Bronze versions of chopsticks were even found at Yinxu archeological digs that date back to near 400 B.C. Over time,…
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Egg cups are exactly what you’d think, a little cup that holds a boiled egg so that the rolly little bugger stays put while you eat it. The egg stays in the shell and the top is cut off with a knife or a fancy egg nipper. Small egg spoons were made as well, though…
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Victorian’s liked to have a tool for every purpose. Chocolate spoons were used with drinking chocolate or what we would now call hot chocolate. Victorian’s loved drinking chocolate so much there are reports of milk chocolate, dark chocolate and even white chocolate being melted and served warm. Chocolate sets also contained a muddler spoon. This was a…
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“The dining-room must be quietly but well lighted. There should be no glaring lights, but a soft radiance which is so general as to make everything clear. An electric light hanging eighteen inches above the table, or a tall lamp whose light is at about the same height, either of them well shaded, are satisfactory additions to…
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Before you say, “Oh, no! Not another bit of useless linen.” Let me back up a moment and add a little nuance. Even though it may seem as if there was a ton of useless linen ephemera in the old days, each bit of linen was born out of a useful purpose. In days where people used silver, glass…
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I’m going to be ranking using a couple categories. The most important criteria is for the movie to contain images of lovely china and period food in situ. I’m going to leave out the Downton Abbey Movie because the china is mostly the same as in the television show and I’ll be covering that in…
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When you hear the word doily, you’re probably thinking of the paper variety that come under store bought cakes and yes, those are doilies. In past eras, they were made of cloth or lace. Most often you’ll see them in bright white with expensive lace and embroidery touches for the most formal uses. After all, keeping little bits…
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Generally speaking, you rarely see place cards today unless you’re at a wedding. Personally, I wish they would make a comeback. I’ve been to a lot of dinners where people approach the table and then hover, looking nervous and wondering where they should park their butts. When you don’t tell people where to sit, couples sit with…
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In the “All the Stuff” posts, I’m going to talk about obscure etiquette/dining/home items that you might not know the purpose of. This is all the stuff that might have filled a Regency, Victorian or Edwardian home. Many of these items had specialized functions in previous times that have since been lost to history. Our first items…
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