It’s that time of year again to dust off your traditional family recipes, call up your loved ones and welcome them over for a delicious Thanksgiving gathering. We took advantage of our temperate climate and did a test run at our friends’ home on their outdoor patio farm table. I assembled all of my favorite decor to set the mood for the beginning of a beautiful night.

First come the candlesticks, then come the placemats, platters, and, last but not least, the food! Proper place settings for this special occasion might seem fussy, but it follows the logical progression of the meal, and makes dining luxurious yet comfortable for your friends to enjoy every last bite.
This time of year begs for subtle and subdued colors as a back drop to the stunning fall foliage. For each table setting, I started with a light grey lux Italian linen placemat and then stacked a dinner plate, dessert plate, and bowl. I finished it off with our new DIANI block print organic cotton napkins.


I also brought in fall foliage, apples and pears to add some seasonal bounty to the table. One of my favorite table setting touches are wrapped chocolate bars. Sometimes we’ll write the name of each guest, but since I wanted to keep this a little less formal, we wrote a special message, perfect for the occasion.

Now on to my favorite part of setting the table… the delicious food! It speaks for itself. I decided to serve up our veggies on complimentary serving dishes. The aroma was magnetic and some of us just couldn’t wait to dive in!


And for those of you who don’t eat meat, we served up a delicious and filling Savory Vegetable Wellington as our main course, made by Jeffrey. Stay tuned for the recipe in a follow-up post.

We don’t have Thanksgiving in England, but it has fast become one of my favorite holidays. There is something about this day that brings people together like no other.
Jeffrey made an after dinner cocktail inspired by one he had in London which is perfect for this time of year: 2 parts brandy, 1 part amaro (or port depending on your preference). Then soak a sugar cube in absinthe, light it on fire to caramelize it, and once the flame has gone out, drop it into the glass, and enjoy!

We did our best to keep some room for dessert, because it just wouldn’t be a proper Thanksgiving meal without it. Jeffrey created what he calls a Cockney Crumble, made with apples and pears. Once again, stay tuned for the recipe in a follow-up post.

And after dessert… we kept going. We popped open our own DIANI cookie box, and filled what little space we had left!
With good friends, a beautiful setting, and delicious food, it’s no surprise that our test run was magical! A huge thank you to Elizabeth Willson and her family for opening their home to us. We adored every second of it.
Caroline xoxo
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