Dinner with the YaYa's

Last Thursday evening I had girl friends for dinner. We call ourselves the YaYa's and we are a group of very good friends who have known each other for a very long time and we decided to start a dinner group without husbands. We have enjoyed this group and we on occasion do include our husbands. This particular evening I decided to use my very best china, stemware, and silver. I feel that if you have these things you should in fact use them but more importantly enjoy them.

I used my Waterford china with the gold rim, some of my Anna Weatherly salad plates which are part of a collection and I will show more of these, my Grand Baroque sterling flatware, my Varga stemware by Anna Weatherly and are also another collection, and of course, my collection of sterling silver napkin rings.

Here are a few of my Anna Weatherly salad plate collection. They are each one different, hand painted in Hungry and became quite the conversation piece during our dinner. You'll notice below one of a pair of salt and pepper sterling silver cellars. I had seen something similar in a magazine and shortly after went to a local antique show. There they were, they are French with the original cobalt blue inserts and came from an estate in New Orleans. I was thrilled to get them.

I also have a collection of sterling silver napkin rings. A very dear friend of mine has a collection of sterling napkin rings and I just loved the idea. Not that I needed another collection but this one I have thoroughly enjoyed. I prefer French napkin rings but also have some that are English, a few American and one from Czarist Russia. Here are a few that I managed to get photos.

The name Lauren is engraved on this one so it always is placed where  my daughter Laura Nicole would sit when she is here. I don't usually collect engraved rings unless they have some special significance such as this.

This my Russian napkin ring. It happens to be my husband's favorite so I always put it at his place setting. I love the red enamel work and those are seed pearls around each side of the enamel.

I have many more, some that are more suited to place where a male is sitting but I have a tendency to gravitate towards the more intricately detailed French, definitely to be placed where a lady is sitting.


When doing a dinner party one must always place fresh flowers on the table. Flower arranging is one of my passions. The Varga stemware are also shown here in this photo. There are four colors, blue, green, a pinkish red and a gold. This particular pattern is called Springtime and they have butterflies and insects etched on each one.

I also love to cook and this was our dinner menu, a French themed dinner party.

Appetizers

Quiche Maraichere

 Rosemary Cashews

served with  Pomegranate Cosmopolitan's

Dinner Menu

Mixed Green Salad with Emeril's Pecans, Blue Cheese, Croutons, Pears and topped with a Walnut Champagne Vinaigrette

 Chicken with Morels

Haricot Verts

served with a French Chardonnay

Dessert

Coeur a la Creme topped with Raspberry Sauce

served with Champagne

Coffee

and in take home bags as a kind of Valentine gift Almond Joy Bars

The food was very good, the fellowship excellent and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We sat around the dining room table until about 10:30 and we laughed and laughed. A good time was had by all.

Today I am joining Susan's blog party, Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

I am also joining the blog party at The Little Round Table.

Thank you for visiting my blog and please do come again. Remember, you can click on to any photo to enlarge it.