Hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! We had family staying with us over the weekend and Niall cooked a beautiful Easter Sunday lunch. I did a post last week on some stunning table settings as I was looking for some ideas. There were some great ideas that I just didn't get time to try out, like the dyed eggs from the Dreamy Whites blog - definitely going to dye some eggs next year, Maria's are stunning. As I used tulips on my table last Easter I wanted to try something different but as there were no wild flowers in abundance around my hedges this didn't happen either and of course I ran to the shops at the last minute there was only one bunch of tulips left! Mental note - next time buy flowers early in the morning!! the reason my Saturday was thrown out was because I had to collect something I'd ordered a few weeks ago. It just arrived in time for the weekend . . . my new French mirror!!!
I was so excited it had arrived I dropped everything and drove to collect it - from a shop that has a very special connection to me. When I moved back to Ireland from France I set a shop up with my sister, (we sold French style furniture and accessories) and called it Boulevard Interiors. After a few years I left and got married and had a baby. My intention was to open a home and garden store but life had other ideas! My baby's health was very delicate and the downturn in the economy meant having to shelve my plan, so my dream of having my own home and garden store is still a dream, that I hope, one day, will become a reality!
But I digress - back to Easter and my special delivery, my sister still has Boulevard Interiors, (same name but a new shop in a new premises). I called in a few weeks ago and when I spotted this beauty in the showroom - I just had to have it!! The one on display had actually been sold so I had to wait four weeks for this baby to come from France. I didn't mind - it was worth the wait! I ADORE it!! It's actually for my living room but the fireplace has to be sorted out before it can go to it's new home so for the moment it'll have to stay here. (I also have my eye on another large white mirror for the dining room). So, to cut a long story short, I kind of ran out of time Saturday to do everything I wanted for my Easter table but it worked out ok. . .
The dining chairs are Camargue chairs which is a traditional French farmhouse style chair from the Camargue region in France. The chairs and the weathered oak table are all by Flamant, a Belgian interiors company. I went with a plain linen tablecloth (well, it's a linen/cotton mix - easier to iron!!) as it goes well with my pride and joy French dinnerware.
We set up a little drinks table to the side which looked cute . . .
I just love my French white dinnerware when it's all on the table . . . I kept it simple with all white ware, white linen napkins and Waterford crystal. For the napkins - I just tied them with string and put a little sprig of rosemary from my garden on top for a little greenery . . . frilly, frilly china . . .
To add a little sparkle I also used some pewter egg cups and candlesticks . . .
yes, the theme was kind of egg -ey!!
Niall cooked up a storm - I was too busy helping the chef to take any pictures of the starters and mains but things calmed down towards the end and here are the desserts nearly ready to go. The menu was lovely, for starters we had baked egg in parma ham nests, for the main course we had rack of lamb with a herb crust with minty potatoes and for the finale - Niall's speciality - a trio of desserts - this year it was strawberry shortcake ice-cream, ginger snaps with vanilla cream and a surprise pot!! (all homemade by Niall).
The surprise pot is a becoming a bit of a tradition now . . . take off the lid and . . .
SURPRISE!!!! a little mini egg in a nest of white chocolate shavings on top of a rich chocolate mousse - mmmmm!!!
Isn't the little egg so sweet . . .
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and enjoyed the break!
