Downton Abbey may be off the air for now but you can still dine like a duchess while you’re waiting for the next season.

Top Row:

This limited edition Andrea Vase by William Yeoward is the perfect addition to any sophisticated table.

The Kensington napkins and placemats are beautifully embroidered in a soft pink.

Who doesn’t need a Bacon Server? This lovely– and handy!– Sheffield piece is the answer to room temperature bacon and roasts.

Bottom Row:

No dinner is complete without a little mood lighting. These silver plated candlesticks do just the trick.

Herend’s Queen Victoria pattern is named after, you guessed it, Queen Victoria. She was the first person to purchase the pattern at the World Exhibition in 1851.

Sip your best red from these classic Waterford Lismore glasses.

When “Amateur Night” is finally over, everyone can relax and enjoy New Year’s Day – even hosts. Start with Heirloom Books’ ingenious package they’ve dubbed The Cocktail Party. Billed as “a cocktail party in a box,” it works just as well for a daytime shindig. It contains the three excellent hors d’oeuvres in the form of cocktail sized black pepper biscuits and cocktail ham biscuits from Callie’s Biscuits, as well as a container of Callie’s addictive fiery pimento cheese. Most of your guests will be in need of some salt and carbs, and the tasty handmade biscuits will fill the bill. Stuff the pimento cheese into celery stalks for some contrasting crunch. The box also contains some excellent Jack Rudy Small Batch Tonic. For those folks who did not get enough Champagne the night before, use the Jack Rudy to make a batch of French 75s (see Fetch Bar, December 13). For those who had too much champagne, make sure to offer up a plenty of Bloody Marys, preferably those made with the “bold and spicy” Charleston Bloody Mary mix, a Garden & Gun Made in the South Award Winner. Charleston Beverage Company founder Ryan Eleutra credits the inspiration for the recipe to a hangover, so it is especially fitting for the day.

To ensure lots of luck, the main course must of course feature black-eyed peas, and we recommend Georgia-based chef Hugh Acheson’s delicious Hoppin John, the recipe for which is below. It’s from his fantastic new cookbook, A New Turn in the South (his mashed potatoes have creamed leeks in them – need we say more?), which is also available at Heirloom. To add some money mojo to your good luck, make Acheson’s seriously good collard greens to go along with the peas. Round everything out with a hot skillet of his cornbread and your New Year’s menu is complete.

Hoppin’ John

from Hugh Acheson’s A New Turn in the South, Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen

Serves: 6

1½ cups dried black-eyed peas

1 smoked ham hock

2 bay leaves

1 cup basmati rice

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large Vidalia onion, minced

1 cup peeled and minced celery

1 poblano chile, cored, seeded, and minced

1 medium-sized sweet red pepper cored, seeded, and minced

1 pinch chile flakes

1 teaspoon Hot Pepper Vinegar

Salt to taste

Place the peas, hock, and bay leaves in a large pot and cover with cold water. You want to have enough water so go about two inches over your dried peas. Place on medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the peas are tender, but not so far as to mush them all up. They should be tender but intact. If there is still a lot of liquid in the pot then drain it off, keeping the peas in the pot. Remove the hock from the peas and pull all the nice meat off and coarsely chop it. The bone and sinew can be discarded. Add the nice meat back to the peas.

Place the rice in a pot and add 1 1/2 cups cold water, the salt, and 1 tablespoon of butter. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and then fluff with a fork before using.

While the rice is cooking, place a large fry pan over medium heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of remaining butter and let it melt, bubble, and froth. Don’t brown the butter though. Add the onion and celery and cook for 4 minutes stirring once in a while. Add the poblano and bell pepper, reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook for 15 minutes until the flavors have really developed. Add the red pepper flakes and combine this mixture with the peas.

Now you can marry the finished rice to the finished peas and you have Hoppin’ John! Finish with the dash of vinegar and start the new year off right!

We can’t imagine a better looking outdoor table than one sprinkled with these terra cotta votives from And George. Bring along some potted herbs as well and your host will have the best dressed table in town (or, as it happens, in the county).

Not long before the late lamented Southern Accents published its last issue, the editors asked me to do a piece on an outdoor spring lunch. The only problem was that when the photographer arrived, a virtual monsoon was raging outside, so we moved all the furniture out of my sunroom, dragged a dining table in, opened all the windows, and pretended it was sunny. In a way, it was. Some menus evoke spring no matter what happens with the weather. Since crabs and oysters are especially plump in April, and the shrimp season had just opened in Louisiana, the theme of the shoot was shellfish (on the plate) and shells (on the table). The hors d’oeuvres were fried oysters on toast with a fennel aioli, the first course was jumbo lump crabmeat with green goddess dressing, the main was a variation of Shrimp Creole called Shrimp Malacca, and dessert was Lotus ice cream flavored with lemon and almonds.

At least two of the recipes came from my book, Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties (available at Books & Books), but they all have a personal back story and conjure some swell memories. I was introduced to the fennel aioli, for example, by my late friend, the great cook Mike Cordes, who served it with poached shrimp at the party he and his wife Elizabeth threw to welcome me to New Orleans almost 20 years ago. Combined with oysters, it’s a nod to the great New Orleans classic Oysters Rockefeller, whose ingredients include fennel tops (but never, contrary to the popular misconception, spinach). As for the crabmeat, I’d long been partial to Crab Louis or Crabmeat Maison (made like the version at Galatoire’s, with homemade mayonnaise, capers and minced parsley and scallions). But after Suzanne Rheinstein—owner of Hollyhock, fabulous hostess, and transplanted New Orleanian—served it to me with green goddess dressing in her gorgeous L.A. dining room, I became an instant convert. Not only is it delicious, the pristine lumps of crab look totally beautiful piled on pale green butter lettuce and then topped with the deeper green-flecked green goddess sauce.

I found the recipe for Shrimp Malacca in an ancient House and Garden before it was shut down the first go round and still had an excellent food section. Essentially Shrimp Creole enlivened by the addition of cumin and curry, it was created by Maurice Moore Betty and I served it at one of my very first grown-up dinner parties. The Lotus ice cream came from yet another beloved but bygone institution, Justine’s restaurant in Memphis. Located in a lovely town house on the banks of the Mississippi, it was a place that also celebrated shellfish and where half the South seemed to congregate nightly.

Had the lunch not been designed for a themed photo shoot, I’m not sure I would have served oysters, crab, and shrimp in such unbroken succession, though the neighbors I invited over when we were done taking pictures did not complain. Ordinarily, I’d follow the crab salad with veal or lamb, which is what I’ll do for a crowd of houseguests for a (hopefully) outdoor Easter lunch on Sunday.  I intend to order three or four racks of lamb from The Organic Butcher, which I’ll baste with Sally’s Greatest Peach and Mint Jam (Rub the racks with olive oil, salt, cracked pepper, and a little fresh rosemary. While they come to room temperature, melt the jam and add a little fresh lemon and/or orange juice. Grill or roast the lamb—if you roast, brown the racks in a hot skillet first—and baste with the jam every 5 to 10 minutes for about 15 or 20 minutes on each side, or until the flesh is pink. Serve with some melted jam on the side.)

With the lamb I’ll likely serve my mother’s mock cheese soufflé (page 175 in Ham Biscuits) and either asparagus, fava beans, or fresh green peas cooked with mint and spring onions—or maybe a combination of all three since they are such brilliant offerings of the season. At parties, Justine piled the Lotus ice cream (page 142 in Ham Biscuits) into enormous silver bowls she placed on the restaurant’s sideboards, but I’ll probably do single servings in glass goblets, as shown here. Either way, you could gild the lily by bringing out plates of Sucre’s assorted macaroons in those gorgeous Easter egg colors and luscious flavors.

As for wines, the Bergstrom 2009 Old Stones chardonnay is lush and expansive but has enough lively citrus notes coming to fore to be a perfect match for both the oysters and the crab. Given the day, it would be silly not to have the Mad Hatter 2007 by Dancing Hares with the lamb. Available from Eli Hardof’s A Wine for All, it’s a sought-after Napa Valley red (only 1000 cases are produced each year) made by an impressive team led by winemaker Andy Erickson (of Screaming Eagle fame) from five different Bordeaux grapes. If it’s Passover wine you’re after, you simply have to read Eli’s Passover Miracle post on A Wine for All’s home page. He is fast becoming my favorite wine commentator.                    Julia Reed

Pictured above, top row, from left:

The table above is set with Herend Fortuna china in rust (the motif is butterflies) I bought at Corzine & Co. several years ago. I’m sure it is still available to order, but Herend’s Rothschild Bird pattern, also available at Corzine, is the most fitting pattern by far for a festive spring repast.

The recipe for fried oysters with fennel aioli is on page 68 of Ham Biscuits.

The crabmeat with the green goddess dressing, the recipe for which is posted below.

Justine’s sublime Lotus ice cream

Note:  To see stunning photographs of Suzanne Rheinstein’s dining room mentioned above—as well as the rest of her house—order a signed copy of her new book, At Home: A Style for Today with Things from the Past.

I also forgot to mention that on Sunday I‘ll be giving everyone take home treats at their place settings in the form of Sucre’s handsome hollow chocolate bunnies and peanut butter eggs. Finally, my favorite recipe for green goddess dressing is below.

GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

1 bunch green onions, roughly chopped with some green

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/3 cup parsley, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons tarragon leaves, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons chives, roughly chopped

1 cup mayonnaise, homemade or Hellman’s

3 tablespoons lemon juice, or more to taste

3 tablespoons anchovy paste

½ cup sour cream

salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix all ingredients except sour cream and salt and pepper in food processor until green onions and herbs are finely chopped and the mixture is well-blended. Place mixture in mixing bowl and fold in sour cream. Add salt and pepper and check for seasoning.

Pictured above:

Gorgeous books are great props and add dimension to your table—and you could give some of the new titles at Haven or Books & Books as gifts when dinner is over. The vases are handblown glass in two sizes and a variety of colors at Digs. The candleholders–petite crystal hurricanes from Found—are also handblown, and come in both aubergine and smoke. The bronze candlesticks are designed by uber jeweler Ted Muehling for E.R. Butler at Elements. Muehling also designed the lovely Nymphenburg black and white porcelain birds, including the black nuthatch sitting on William Yeoward’s Giralda dinner plate from Corzine & Co. The plate’s colors (apple green, blue, brick red, and lots of burnished gold) are perfect for the season. More birds perch in nests and on books, and branches—they are all varying sizes of the gold and silver glass glitter birds at The Mercantile.

In the same vein, Revival’s great looking Zinc Champagne Cooler would look as fabulous filled with maidenhair ferns, narcissus—you name it—as it does filled with wine. And their “L” and “1/2 Hectolitre” Industrial Bins would be beyond cool filled with ice and bottled beer at an outdoor party. I have always used galvanized metal washtubs, but how much chicer are these Argentine bins with their gorgeous orangey patina, just perfect for fall shindigs?

I also really adore the thought of South of Market’s antique White Garden Urns at a more formal party or wedding doing double duty as champagne buckets. Believe me when I say that I was extremely grateful when my mother passed along a pair of her silver champagne coolers. But in the end, I almost always use those for roses.

Julia Reed

Comprised of piping hot biscuits, fresh butter and homemade jam, strong coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice, it all arrives on a tray lined with lovely linens. We decided if it were good enough for one of the nation’s finest luxury hotels, it would be good enough for us—and the many houseguests that come calling at both country and beach house this time of year.

Unless you have a staff the size of the Soniat, a sideboard, console, or kitchen island is the perfect place to lay everything out and let guests help themselves as they arise. Contrary to popular wisdom, there are in fact more important meals of the day, ones that require table settings and crystal and animated conversation. We think breakfast is a time for guests—and hosts—to get their bearings quietly, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be pretty. We love this mix of traditional porcelain and modern Peruvian pottery, the complex blend of rich coffee that wakes up even the sleepiest heads, the beautiful but unfussy linens (including some from William Yeoward’s brand new line), and the utterly delicious bites to eat that require no utensils. All that’s left is the newspaper. Afterwards everyone will be primed to greet the hopefully lazy day ahead.

Pictured above, back row, from left: Match pewter honey jar from The Mercantile, filled with local wildflower honey from Blackberry Farm; Match pewter sugar packet holder (for weight-watching guests who prefer Equal) from The Mercantile; Peruvian Pottery sugar and creamer set from Digs; William Yeoward Olive covered sugar jar at Hollyhock, filled with White Wood Farms Louisiana Preserves scuppernong grape jelly at St. James Cheese Company; Herend Rothschild Bird coffee pot, doubling as vase, from Corzine & Company; Peruvian Pottery dinner plate and coffee mugs from Digs; Vesuvio Blend Coffee from Batdorf and Bronson at Star Provisions; William Yeoward Bess tumbler on the new Porcupine coaster in Sky, both at Hollyhock.
Front row, from left: William Yeoward Sassadi napkin at Hollyhock; Match pewter sugar bowl at The Mercantile, filled with White Wood Farms Louisiana Preserves persimmon butter at St. James Cheese Company; Match pewter small crown spoon and green plaid acrylic spreaders from The Mercantile; Peruvian Pottery salad plate from Digs, with biscuits made from Blackberry Farms’ failsafe buttermilk biscuit mix; Gayle Warwick turquoise linen napkin from Hollyhock; Peruvian pottery small board doubling as butter plate at Digs, with Match pewter Gabriella butter knife at The Mercantile.

Grayson Handy, co-owner of Manhattan’s Prudence Designs and Events and author of Flowers for the Home, sets the table above for a dockside Fourth of July picnic with red-and-white linens, white crockery and wicker accessories. “Bluish grapes complete the patriotic color scheme,” he says. “And flashy, red-and-white variegated dahlias remind me of Independence Day fireworks.”

Food and drink can also pick up the red-white-and-blue color scheme. The slushy Watermelon Cooler from Denise Gee’s new book, Porch Parties is spiked with vodka and a perfect compliment to Handy’s table. The strawberry shortcake with local strawberries that Hollyhock’s Suzanne Rheinstein always serves at her July 4 gatherings would also look swell, as would the superlative berry cobbler (use a mix of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries) from the Chez Panisse Dessert Cookbook.

Berry Cobbler

Adapted from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Remolif Shere

For 4 to 6 servings

2 pints berries
1/3 cup sugar
1 to 1 ½ tablespoons flour

Cobbler dough:
1 ½ cups flour
3/8 teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup whipping cream

You may use a mixture of any berries available to you – except strawberries. Blackberries or boysenberries are nice for the bulk; a few raspberries or black raspberries add a delicious perfume.

Measure 4 ½ cups of mixed berries and toss them with the sugar and flour. Use the larger amount of flour if the berries are very juicy. Let stand while you make the dough. Mix the dry ingredients for the dough, leaving out the salt if you are using salted butter. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Add the cream and mix lightly, until the dry ingredients are just moistened. The dry ingredients for the topping can be prepared ahead – even several days ahead – and kept refrigerated. The cream can then be added when you are ready to bake the cobbler.

Put the berry mixture into a 1 ½ quart gratin or baking dish. Make patties of the dough, 2 to 2 ½ inches in diameter and ½ – inch thick. Arrange them over the top of the berries. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the topping is brown and the berry juices bubble thickly around it.

Serve warm with cream to pour over.

Watermelon Cooler

Adapted from Porch Parties by Denise Gee

4 cups 2-inch cubes watermelon
1 cup vodka, chilled
2 tablespoons honey (use standard honey, say clover, instead of a dark or strongly flavored version)

Freeze the watermelon chunks in a zip-top plastic bag until just frozen, about 1 hour. Remove from the freezer and add to a blender. Pour in the vodka and honey.

Process until blended and pour into frosted cocktail or jelly glasses. Garnish, if desired, with small watermelon wedge or mint sprig.

NOTE: Gee warns not to use dark or strongly flavored honey so as not to alter the flavor of the drink. The local wildflower honey at Blackberry Farm would be perfect.

Pictured above: A dockside picnic featured in Flowers for the Home at Digs, and Denise Gee’s Watermelon Cooler.

Shop Digs and Blackberry Farm on TAIGAN.com

When L.A.-based decorator and entertainer extraordinaire Joe Nye was growing up, his mother gave a black-tie dinner party every month—in the middle of rural Nebraska

That these sophisticated events took place in what Nye describes as “literally in the middle of nowhere,” is remarkable enough. There were fresh flowers, lovely linens and china, and even dancing after dinner. But still more remarkable to Nye, looking back, is “how natural it was for my mother to do all the cooking, the flower arranging, setting the table by herself. Having guests in her home for these long fun-filled evenings was something she enjoyed—it wasn’t a chore and she embraced it.”

Her son has embraced the same brand of “elegant, unfussy” entertainment his mother was known for, and in his beautiful new book, Flair, he shows the rest of us how. The book’s subtitle is “Exquisite Invitations, Lush Flowers, and Gorgeous Table Settings,” and in the sections on each, he offers up boundless inspiration and countless tips. Cheap blue and red glassware mixes with Blue Canton dinner plates and red toile tablecloths for an elegant take on good old red, white, and blue. A place card can be as tongue-in-cheek as a convention-style “Hello, My Name Is…” at one modern table setting. For a Chinoiserie themed lunch, he elevates the lowly pink carnation by cramming them overflowing into julep cups and making a tablescape.

Flair is the next best thing to an invitation to one of the designer’s talked-about parties. The flowers are breathtaking, the tables stunning, and there is a really useful “giftbag” in the form of a well-researched resource guide and Nye’s advice on everything from how to create a quick invitation to the best way to polish silver.

Pictured above, from left:
This red-white-and-blue table setting is perfect for an elegant Memorial Day or Fourth of July lunch or dinner. The cover of Joe Nye’s Flair, available at Hollyhock, features a Chinoiserie themed lunch. A single yellow Fuji mum in a teacup makes a great—and fast—individual centerpiece that is especially effective with the blue-and-white color scheme.

Shop Hollyhock on TAIGAN

Bridesmaids’ luncheons usually fall into two categories: stuffy and nostalgic, with great aunts in white gloves and women’s club white food to match (think Trout Margerie or Sole Veronique); or silly and giggly, featuring too many Cosmopolitans and hackneyed gag gifts like edible underwear. Wouldn’t it be so much more fun to throw an elegant, civilized, but slightly raucous luncheon featuring the irresistible combination of pimento cheese, fried chicken, and champagne? It can still be a tad silly, but only in the most creative way. The bride wears a party hat featuring Alice in Wonderland; one of the bridesmaids wickedly mimics the groom’s proposal by getting down one knee and brandishing a wand with a beribboned tag reading “Say Yes, Dear.” The bride’s great aunt has the wisdom to stay offstage and the generosity to send Taittinger Brut in a vintage matching the year of the bride’s birth. The bridemaids’ gifts are real shells made into tiny purses containing lovely surprises: earrings to wear in the wedding and a thoughtful trio of Excedrin in anticipation of the inevitable post-reception hangover. Someone has brought a box of macaroons to have with the coffee they decide not to have. Better to have nails attended to instead—the thoughtful great aunt has also sent over a fleet of manicurists. On the Ipod is a play list that’s a gift from her guests to the bride. Everyone sings along to the Fifth Dimension’s “Wedding Bell Blues” (better known as Won’t You Marry Me, Bill?”) and Dionne Warwick’s “Say a Little Prayer” (shades of “My Best Friend’s Wedding”). From the kitchen comes the sound of another cork popping and a good time continues to be had by all.

Pictured above, clockwise from left: foreground: box of assorted macaroons from Sucre; Shell Boxes at Digs; William Yeoward Annie champagne flute at Corzine & Co.; Herend Chinese Bouquet dinner plate in raspberry at Corzine & Co.; Gayle Warwick Linen Napkin in lime yellow at Hollyhock; Torre & Tagus Moss Green Glasses at Corzine & Co.; Gold Bug Studio “Say Yes, Dear” Magical Faery Wand at The Mercantile; Gold Bug Studio “Trip to Wonderland” Party Hat at The Mercantile; Turquoise Hobnail Pitcher at The Mercantile; Singing Brook Pimento Cheese at Blackberry Farm with Sabre Spreader from Corzine & Co.; fried chicken made with Fried Chicken Mix at Blackberry Farm

Not pictured: Le Jacquard Francais Samarkand tablecloth in kumquat, similar to the one pictured above, at Corzine & Co.; “Will You Be My Bridesmaid?” letterpress invitation at The Stationer