The Harvest Pheasant, The Progress of a Dinner II

Thanksgiving
Second Course
Feast or Pheasant?
(The Gathering)


Thanksgiving is all about GATHERING . . .


GATHERING the bountiful crops before the harsh winter
GATHERING with friends and loved ones to give thanks
GATHERING all the accoutrements for a lovely meal and table

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth
Jennie A. Brownscombe, 1914

This is where I really have to edit myself, but NOT at first.

I think harnessing the imagination and starting the GATHERING process is my favorite part of creating, whether it be a home, a room, or a table. 

My freerange mind has been cooking on my
Thanksgiving "Harvest Pheasant" idea and
my 'range of fall reds with a bit of orange' color scheme for the Thanksgiving table.

Linda Whiting, 2004

Now it is time to GATHER.
I first have to mentally gather all those ideas and corral them.

I start making LISTS . . .

LOTS OF LISTS

At first the lists are general genres of things that I want to include.


1. Silver "Things"

Sampson Mordon Pheasant Sterling Silver Menu Card Holders, ca 1909
I wish I had these!

I love the patina of slightly tarnished,  and sometimes more than slightly tarnished silver.  Plus, you don't have to polish nearly
as often or thoroughly!

2. Fruits and Flowers

I LOVE to mix fruits, veggies, and flowers for occasions all year round to take advantage of natures bounty and be more unexpected.  It usually cuts the flower bill too.

3. Fabrics

Vintage Fortuny Orsini

Vintage French Velvet Tablecloth with Pheasants



Velvet Quilt


I want to juxtapose patterns and textures on the table.

4. China

And I love to mix china patterns.


5. Candles

Candlelight adds so much to a glorious fall table.  I love to serve Thanksgiving dinner about 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon.  The sun is sinking and the candles make the coming twilight feel perfect for GATHERING around a beautiful harvest table.


And then I list and GATHER lots of specific items that COULD be used on my Thanksgiving Table:


Silver
1. Goblets
2. Vintage Hotel Platters
3. Mothers's Candlesticks
4. Mercury Glass Decanters
5. Assorted old compotes and tea sets
6. Large Silver Plateaus

Fruits, Veggies and Flowers
1. Red Cabbage
2. Eggplant
3. Pomegranates
4. Red Grapes
5. Plums
6. Cranberries
7. Satsumas




8. Mixed Reds Fall Bouquet

9. Preserved Dark Red Roses

Add caption

10. Magnolia Leaves

11. Branches


12. Oh, and a few nuts!

13. MOSS
(I know this will sound a little crazy, but I am rarely without a box of moss in my car.)

Fabrics
(Ok, I admit it. I am a fabric freak! 
 I love new and vintage.)

1. Burnout Crimson velvet for draping around and under the centerpiece
2. Burlap colored linen for a runner
3. Vintage Tapestry
4. Vintage Orange Fortuny
5. Napkins
6. Napkin Ties/Napkin Rings
7. Pheasant Placemats
8. Ribbons

China and Glassware
1. Dinner Plates
2. Salad Plates




3. Cake Stands
4. Vintage White Tea Leaf Plates





5. Glass Turkeys
6. Crystal Glasses
(Sister Susan, I NEED
Nanny's Cranberry glass that you have!)
7. Copper Luster Ware
8. Brown and White Transferware, including
my grandmother' vintage turkey platter

Etc.
 Daddy's Stuffed Pheasant
Antique Books

Horns




Oh, and my pheasant placecards
 and menu card

Just as if I am designing a room,
I like to layer my table too.
Only then can it truly be
 personal and interesting.


Let the real GATHERING begin.

Some of the items I will experiment with for the Thanksgiving table,
 including dark red preserved roses, petrified mushrooms, twig beeswax candles, real Southern Magnolia leaves in a faux bois container, chippy candlesticks, red books, mercury glass decanters, jute tassels, copper luster ware pitchers, and tea leaf platters

TO DO TODAY:
1. GATHER
2. Experiment
3. Edit



Experiment 1:

Experiment 2:

Time to edit and start layering!

I started with the natural linen
down the table . . .

I added the velvet burnout fabric in the middle and then layered the silver plateaus with the Southern Magolia filled faux bois urns, big chunky, chippy candlesticks, and of course THE pheasant on a stack of books on an old cedar board . . .

Next I added a few pieces of the old silver and a few of the  fruits and veggies in my colors, along with the wonderful preserved dark red roses.  They really do look fresh and I can use them again and again. 

I am expecting twelve, and do not have twelve off everything I wanted to use so I have mixed and matched on the china, placemats, napkins and crystal. I have mixed the old brown and white transferware in with my other china patterns.

I really prefer this acquired and further layered look to everything being matchy, matchy.

I am going to add a few satsumas for a bit more orange and also some of those mixed bouquet flowers will be scattered around, as well as a blossom placed in each napkin ring.

Oh, and white candles.

I am very pleased with my

Harvest Pheasant table, and I have only spent

thirty dollars on fruits, veggies, and flowers.

The magnolia was from the yard.

I will have to use the Fortuny, the white tea leaf plates, and the other edited treasures next time.

TOP TEN TIPS FOR CREATING AN
  UNFORGETTABLE TABLESCAPE

1. GATHER or collect things that you love and use them when you entertain and celebrate holidays.
2. Let your imagination roam wide and free BEFORE you start to GATHER your elements for decorating.
3. Have an idea of the look and/or feel you want to achieve.  It can be a theme, but it does not have to be. 
4. Include one or more unexpected, unusual, or antique elements to really add personality.
5. GATHER and experiment.
 Play and have fun.  Then edit.
6.Use fabrics on your table. 
 7. Establish varying heights and interest on the table with books.
8. Use fruits and veggies to augment your flowers.  They can be consumed later.
9. Mix china, silver, and crystal for additional texture and interest.
10. Enjoy the process.

AND NEVER FORGET YOUR MOSS!

Hope these tips help make your
special GATHERING a bit more
special and enjoyable.



As part of my fourth grade Thanksgiving program where I played Mrs. Brewster, we sang the hymn

"We Gather Together"



I have loved it ever since and often find myself humming it this time of year.


WE GATHER TOGETHER

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own. 

I also still remember by heart Psalm 100, which was part of the program and is still a favorite.

PSALM 100

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. 

My oldest son usually reads it at our Thanksgiving dinner, and the blessing which he wrote and illustrated in the first grade.

To be continued . . .


What have you gathered for your
 Thanksgiving table?

Do you celebrate with traditions when you GATHER for dinner?


photo credits: Jennifer Rizzo, Country Living, Marilyn Storey

The Harvest Pheasant, The Progress of a Dinner I

Thanksgiving
First Course
Feast or Pheasant?
(Making The Plan)

Andrew Carmellini’s Thanksgiving Feast featured in New York Magazine
Find the bird.
I DO love a bird on the table!

Have you made the plan for your Thanksgiving feast?



What an inspiring fall setting. 
Don't you love her jaunty cape and pheasant feather fascinator?


I am thinking foul, pheasant specifically, and well, of course turkey,
 for Thanksgiving. 

I think I will pass on this

"Galantine of Pheasants" and

 the "Roasted Pheasant with Apples",
 but I will use the galantine drawing for
my menu card and placecards.

I do love the colors in this roasted pheasant with apples though!

All fall I have been thinking

 of my table scheme for Thanksgiving, and I have been stuck on

"The Harvest Pheasant."

Have a lovely glass of Autumn Punch with me, and let's chat about how I plan my table decor for Thanksgiving.

And the same glorious colors are here in my Autumn Punch. 
The recipe for the gloriously colored punch is at the end of the blog.

For Thanksgiving or any holiday or celebration, I usually start with a single idea.  It can really be anything that is appealing.  Somehow this time I am fixated on pheasants.  

 As you may know, I LOVE birds, and the colors in the pheasant feathers are to me the perfect backdrop for the panoply

of fall colors that I love, like the ones in the roasted pheasant and the

 autumn punch above and
these lovely fall colors below. 

And that is kind of the point, inspiration is everywhere, even in a photo of a recipe I have no intention of making for Thanksgiving.

If something really appeals to you, file it away and refer to it later when you are looking for ideas.  You don't even have to know why you like it, just that you do.

Don't limit or categorize your imagination.
LET IT ROAM FREELY,
kind of like a freerange Thanksgiving foul.

So now, I have my idea, pheasants, and my glorious fall color scheme leaning toward the reds and burgundies with a pop of orange.



Benjamin Moore color chips for my Thanksgiving color scheme

And, I happen to have a stuffed pheasant,

that is my father's.  

It is that one over-the-top

antique/vintage "thing"  or inspiration piece
that will make my table really special.






And I keep roaming.

 I search for inspiration everywhere.

Holland and Sherry English Pheasant

Pheasant Chair from Horchow

Kravet Fabric



Pair of Antique Pheasant Prints, Nozeman, ca 1800
Nozeman's skill with wildlife prints is ranked with Audubon



Twigs Pheasant Wallpaper from John Rosselli, here and below.
I am dying to put this behind shelves.



Royal Crown Derby Red Aves is one of my china patterns and
 will be perfect for Thanksgiving this year.

 

 Instead of immediately making a to do list or starting to gather decorative items,
 I let my idea  "lie fallow" as my fabulous and inspiring eighth grade English teacher
 Suzanne Henley taught us to do
 when we were writing papers. 

Ideas will turn out ever so much better when they have a chance to mature and ripen
like a delicious cheese or the perfect wine. 

Both things I WILL plan to include in my
Thanksgiving Harvest Pheasant Feast.

Bries and Blues!  My favorites.  What are yours?



Always released exactly one week before Thanksgiving (yesterday) and sometimes panned by wine connoisseurs because it is NOT aged, Beaujolais Nouveau is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. 
I can never resist trying a few bottles for my Thanksgiving bar. 
This year is supposed to be fairly good, and the labels are always interesting.

So, for now, all that I am cooking is an idea . . . 

These kaleidoscope photos reminded me of pheasant feathers and provide further inspiration!

 TO BE CONTINUED 


What is inspiring your Thanksgiving celebration?

Do you have every detail planned?

Recipe
Autumn Punch

2 teaspoons whole cloves

1/2 of a vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 64 ounce bottle apple-cranberry juice

4 medium purple and/or green plums, pitted and sliced

1 750 milliliter bottle Gewurztraminer, or other fruity white wine*

   Ice cubes

1. Place cloves and vanilla bean in center of a double-thick 6-inch square of 100-percent-cotton cheesecloth. Bring corners of cloth together; tie closed with clean string. Pour apple-cranberry juice into a large container or pitcher. Add plums and spice bag. Cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours.

2. Remove and discard cheesecloth bag. Stir in Gewurztraminer. Serve beverage and plum slices over ice. (Or omit the ice and heat the juice mixture and wine in a 4-quart Dutch oven until hot. Serve in heatproof mugs.)

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Variation *Nonalcoholic Option:Substitute two 12-ounce cans chilled ginger ale for the Gewurztraminer, and serve over icee


photo credits: New York Magazine, Marilyn Storey, Holland and Sherry, Horchow, Kravet, House Beautiful, Twigs at John Rosselli