spring table

no need for big flower bouquets when I have a few white hyacinth bulbs forcing and potted to add to the spring table setting...from At Home with Wedgwood, photographs by jeff mcnamara

setting the table

robins egg blue china by martha stewart...
from At Home with Wedgwood: The Art of the Table
photograph by Jeff McNamara

irish soda bread

many years ago, when i was working on my first book, "Having Tea", I asked friends and their mothers for recipes. lauren and claudia fleming sent me their mother elvira fleming's recipe for irish soda bread. my irish nana made her version with buttermilk, but they both used raisins and caraway seeds... I'm looking forward to making it for saint patricks day with a big pot of irish breakfast tea to mark the occasion.

mrs.fleming's irish soda bread
makes one 8" loaf

ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs, beaten
1 pint sour cream
1 cup dark raisins
2 tsp caraway seeds

preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
grease and flour a round 8" cake pan.
mix together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder.
fold in the egs and sour cream.
add the raisins and caraway seeds.
do not overbeat.
pour the batter into the prepared pan.
smooth the surface and use a knife to cut a cross on top of dough.
bake for about 1 hour, or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped on bottom.
Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
from Having Tea, by Tricia Foley
photograph by Keith Scott Morton

outdoor table

hoping for warm enough weather this weekend to have brunch outside at the big wood table
photographs by marili forastieri

cheese course

I'm having friends visit over the weekend and have some beautiful white cheeses to have with dinner tomorrow...this image that christine rudolph styled at my house for wedgwood is my inspiration...a bit of cheesecloth, a couple of flowers in a glass...so simple, but just right....photograph by mikkel vang