Author Archives: cathyboettner

An Anniversary Party

I started this table thinking it would be an ode to artists, but then it was all about our family, so I added some photos and pivoted to an anniversary celebration. I started with 2 caricatures, then some Russian nesting dolls of our family, a ceramic bust of a man that reminds me of myContinue reading “An Anniversary Party”

It’s SO easy being green

I don’t know if I have written it before, but my very favorite color is green and so I have quite a few decorative items that are green. That was my inspiration for this table–and I didn’t even use all the stuff I have. I started with a natural linen cloth and lined up theContinue reading “It’s SO easy being green”

Homemade Tomato and Red Pepper Bisque

Given the weather around the country today, this seems an appropriate recipe to share with you…. Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil 2 large onions, diced 3 carrots, peeled and sliced 8 cloves of garlic, minced 56 oz. canned tomatoes (I used some that I canned last summer) 1 cup chopped roasted red pepper 1 quartContinue reading “Homemade Tomato and Red Pepper Bisque”

I’ve got the blues…and greens

I found these great Villeroy and Boch Costa Salad plates on one of my thrifting trips and I thought they would make a great jumping off point for a table. I started with a blue runner and then used green vases and pitchers filled with white flowers. This ended up looking a little more formalContinue reading “I’ve got the blues…and greens”

Blue and Yellow Beauty

I found this gorgeous multi-server piece while I was in ATL and thought all along that it would make a great foundation for a tablescape. I put a navy and white patterned cloth down first, and then the server, Dansk Christianshavn Blue serving bowl full of lemons, a yellow Fiestaware pitcher, a small blue andContinue reading “Blue and Yellow Beauty”

Fall Garden Update–Vegetables

I pulled up our tomatoes around the middle of August after picking TONS of green ones that were still on the vines to ripen on the counter. I probably picked 40 or 50 lbs and some have gone bad, but most of them are ripening just fine. I did that to get ready for fallContinue reading “Fall Garden Update–Vegetables”

How about salad for dinner?

This table envisions a meal of individual chef salads made by each guest. This table utilizes Villeroy and Boch Perugia Bowls on Fiestaware Plates and Villeroy and Boch Alea Caro bread and butter plates. I used blue pitchers and orange flowers on a blue runner which repeat the colors in the bowls. We do aContinue reading “How about salad for dinner?”

Fall Garden Update–Shitake Edition

So in the EARLY spring of 2023, my husband cut down a sweet gum tree and bucked it into six logs that were about 4′ long or so. He drilled a bunch of holes in each log and we innoculated them with shitake spores–they are pegs that you pound into the hole, and the coverContinue reading “Fall Garden Update–Shitake Edition”