Want to hear a dirty lil’ food bloggers secret?
One of the challenges I face as a food blogger is setting a nice table.
Yikes, there goes my food street cred, flying right out the window.
As Moms we all know that supper time is a crazy time of day for our families, especially during the week. Kids and husbands are starving, dogs are running around underfoot trying to trip you as you make your way to the table and all you’re trying to do is get the darn food on the table while its still hot. Sometimes it’s all we can manage just to feed the family and make sure we are all sitting at the same table when we do it.
While my family and I always eat the kitchen table – save the rare Friday we have pizza in front of a movie on our TV – and always eat together as a family, I don’t put much effort into my table. Again, there goes my cred as a food blogger. I keep digging this hole further and further…
The day that I did my Breakfast TV Blogger in Residence stint saw me set a simple, pretty table almost by accident that evening.
As a food blogger I have a large amount of dishes for not only eating off of but for props as well. I also might have been shopping a bit lately…well…perhaps more than a bit and leaning towards a “lot” of shopping. I’m not admitting anything in writing.
I used my new soup bowls with plates and platters that I already had and a tablecloth that I bought on a whim because I fell in love with the beachy color. When I set the food down, I looked at it and went “huh” to myself.
Huh indeed. That’s kinda purty.
So I took the requisite photo, Instagrammed it and the rusty wheels in my head started turning. The wheels started racing when my daughter exclaimed “Ohhh Mommy! The table is soooo beautiful!”
Oh that precious girl of mine, she is so easy to please.
Other than the requisite holiday table settings I don’t usually make the effort. I know, oh I just know for sure my dears that this is because by the time I am done setting up a photo shoot for my recipes I am done with setting a table.
It can take forever to take the picture you want for a recipe and by the time you are done with the camera settings, finding the right colour of plate, linens, any accompanying cutlery or background objects….
…setting a pretty table can be about as appealing as day old dog food for supper.
Maybe that’s not the best nor most appealing analogy, but you get my drift.
Then my friends, I sat down at that lovely table.
It was worth the effort.
It just seemed….nicer.
More relaxed.
Homey.
Oh, it was just so very nice.
So my newest challenge for myself to grow as a food blogger is to set a nice table once a week, no matter how tired I am from recipe shooting and props and more. To take the time to relax and enjoy it.
I will be posting it on Sundays but the table setting itself will happen any time during the week before that. I will be posting where I bought what, if it’s old or new and will be trying to use up what I have in my cupboards and glass collections already.
My tables are not going to be fancy, or unattainable for the average person, it’s going to be my real table, every week. How we really eat and not just setting up for a cookbook photo shoot or copying a Martha Stewart magazine layout.
Real food. Real dishes. Real ways to set a pretty, simple table for your family.
1. I fell in love with these PC Brand soup bowls available at Superstore for $5 each. I only bought four, I will be going back for another 4 to complete a set. Hello gorgeous winter entertaining! These make me squeee with soup excitement, lame I know.
2. Target Melamine dinner plate ($4) and matching bread plate, ($3). Love their Melamine, it’s gorgeous and the kids can’t break it!
3. Dutch Wax hand painted ceramic platter, from HomeSense. $12
4. Cynthia Rowley tablecloth, from HomeSense. $19.99
There we have it folks, The very first My Sunday Table! Oh, I think we are going to have fun with this one! It means I get to be creative in a completely different way, that I get to challenge myself like I’ve never challenged myself before.
Oh and there might be a little bit of shopping involved.
Thanks for stopping by and reading!
Love,
Karlynn
ACanadianFoodie says
Love Super Store for trendy dishware. What a bunch of memories you have elicited from me. Mom ALWAYS set the table every night of the week. Proper cutlery, dishware, paper napkins, salt and pepper were the center pieces. Water glasses to the right above the knife and spoon. Knife blade faces in, spoon and knife align at the bottom. I won the grade 2 writing project by writing instructions on how to set the perfect table. When my kids were young, I was a single parent, but still set that table, just for the two of them. Then, for the three of us. Now we eat at the island. I provide the placemat, the cutlery, the matching napkin (in paper) nice individual s&p shakers (all in front of me in the drawer) and the fun large individual water bottles. Easy to set. Easy to clean up and put away…. but the PRETTY TABLE? Only for company, and on holidays. I think, if I was married with young children, I would be so motivated to make Sundays special. Mom often did. Not always, but often we would eat in the dining room on a Sunday, with the white linen – probably so she could torture us by teaching us those impeccable table manners. But, somehow, it was still “fun”. We would get little glasses of tomato juice when the dining room table was set up for the dinner and had to use company manners. That didn’t mean we got to join in on the conversation, though.
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Valerie
Sheri Wilhauk Schatschneider says
Mmmmm….looks delicious as usual! :). I love your dishes too!