Soup & Haviland

First things first...We are truly blessed to have the means to set a pretty table and invite our friends to join us for good food and fellowship. As the harvest season approaches I am mindful that many are not so fortunate. My daughter has a passion for the work of the Food Bank. As a singer-songwriter, she has written and recorded a song that is the anthem for the world wide Crop Hunger Walk project. Her song, "Raise Your Voice" is featured in their video. I've included a link in the side margin of my blog. I hope that it will encourage you to support projects in your community that contribute to the effort to overcome hunger.

As my little blog rolls along, you will become more and more aware that I love chicken noodle soup.  I enjoy making it, I enjoy eating it, and I enjoy sharing it with my friends.  I also have a great fondness for Haviland china.  We inherited some pieces of Haviland Ranson from our precious Nana, and I collected it for several years until I had a full service.  Once my set of Ranson was complete, I discovered that I really enjoyed mixing it with other Haviland patterns...and there are thousands of Haviland patterns just waiting to be discovered by you and by me!  This day I invited a small group of friends to join me for a lunch of....what else....chicken noodle soup.

I discovered 9 of these Haviland rimmed soup bowls at a Haviland dealer's shop one day.  I was enchanted by them, and they were priced well.  They came home with me that day!  I invited my friends for lunch mainly because I wanted a reason to use these bowls.  The tablecloth is actually a king-size duvet.  It's a marvelous stripe on the reverse side, and you'll see it again on my table.  Tip:  Think outside the box!  Use what you have sitting in your closets, in your linen cabinet, or on your bed.  I bought this one at an estate sale for $10.00.  Someday I may even use it in a bedroom.

The charger is the Bordallo Pinheiro Cabbage Leaf pattern.  Sandwiched between the charger and the soup is a Haviland Ranson dinner plate.  The crystal is Mikasa Stephanie Gold; it belonged to my sweet mama.

I was attracted to what I refer to as almost a piecrust edge on the soup bowls.  I like that the design element is repeated in the optical design of the Stephanie Gold goblets, as well as in the two crystal decanters.  The decanters were to be filled with ice water and wine for the guests to refresh their drinks.  I used Haviland Ranson crescent dishes as bread and butter plates.

Again, we are so blessed by our precious Nana's amazing acumen for entertaining and collecting lovely tabletop items.  The Madiera napkins, the green cloisonne centerpiece bowl filled with very inexpensive Sweetheart Roses from Sam's , and the Lalique 'Game Cocks' once graced her home and her table.  I think that she would have liked that I mixed her beautiful things with my bamboo flatware from Big Lots.

Are you hungry?  That soup smells really good!  Let's take our bowls into the kitchen...we'll serve from the stove.  Grab a hot roll from the oven.  Yummo...I'm famished!  Let's eat.

You can check out KC's music at www.kcclifford.com, on iTunes, and on YouTube.  I hope that you'll take a few minutes and give her a listen.  You'll also enjoy reading back through her blog on this site.  The girl can really write!  Her latest CD is called "Orchid."

    

Thank you, yet again, to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting her magical meme, "Tablescape Thursday.  I'll be linking my post to "Tablescape Thursday.  Click on the button below to hop on over and check out the myriad of marvelous tablescape designs, after 9:00 pm on Wednesdays.  You'll be glad that you made the trip...it's a wonderful adventure.