Setting The Table
Improvisation is the name of the game!
Last time I talked about how much I learnt from my Dutch neighbor and friend Karina about colors, textures and patterns. This week, I want to bring it all together in how I learnt to set a beautiful table.
Growing up in India, we mostly only ate out of steel plates/etc. The only downside about metal is that it never breaks ~ which means we drank and ate from the same water glasses and plates my entire childhood :) The fancy china was only pulled out when we had company and even then it was only for the adults. This is also why you see so much metalware at Pondicheri - saves on our china costs!
Along with Karina, I had another friend, Sharon, who lived down the street from our houses. She was from Chicago, married to a doctor from Morocco and some of my and my kids’ best food memories from those times came from meals at her house. Sharon had a love of cookbooks and cooking like nobody I’d ever met and she knew how to set a table. When I met her, I barely owned a single cookbook. She did not care about matching anything - just had a great eye for pulling things together. Whether it was for a simple weeknight dinner or a weekend party, her tables were gorgeous and her food just as beautiful as it was tasty.
It was with Sharon that I started a chutney business, selling to Whole Food Markets (there were only 3 in the city then) and to Rice Epicurean markets (remember those?). We dabbled in a catering business, took restaurant management classes at UH that eventually launched Indika. Sharon taught me how to make a good salad, actually a great salad ~ always good greens, fruits, vegetables and sometimes cheese. And a good vinaigrette. Oh, how I loved a good vinaigrette and still do! Hers usually had dijon mustard, dried chives or chervil…
Sharon also taught me how to cook and eat an artichoke. How to dip the leaves in a sauce and suck the ends of the leaves. This is how I eat an artichoke to this day. We spent several years going to their house for Passover, where she would usually cook an elaborate meal with Moroccan salads, tagines and so much more. I learnt that a simple meal can be elevated with a beautiful setting. These days, I set a table even when Lion and I are eating lunch together at my place. He hops on his chair and starts to bang his fork and chant “Eat! Eat!”
So, with Thanksgiving around the corner, rethink your dining table. Whether it’s a table for 2 or 10, you can use scarves, bed sheets, and even saris as tablecloths. Beautiful kitchen towels can become napkins. And flowers can go in everything from unused glasses, cups to pots to platters. When I invited Robert Del Grande and some other friends to my place for dinner back in the late nineties, I did not have a large enough table so I took the boxspring from under my mattress, flipped it over to the hard side, laid a bedsheet on it and made a makeshift table, which I then placed on the floor in my living room. Threw some pillows around it and walla! I had a large enough table to feed 14.
Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving! Cook a little, buy a little but most importantly, enjoy the holiday! And let’s say a big thanks for all the wonderful things in our life….
Warm regards,
Anita