Friday, January 16, 2015

Well, crap! I forgot to publish this!

Considering I have this day job around here, it takes about a week or ten days to research, write and edit a new post. And then what? I forget to hit the PUBLISH button? For real? I just found this in my drafts folder and I'm furious with myself for not sending it out sooner!

It concerns proper table settings, meant to be posted right before the holidays in case your parents or in-laws were coming and you might have needed a little help in knowing exactly where to put what on the dining room table.

It was inspired by my sister's recent visit to England. She stopped by Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and sent a photo of a wedding party setup in the main dining room. To pay the taxes on such an enormous estate the Palace apparently hires itself out for weddings, anniversaries, and other questionable occasions like that.

Anyhow, at first glance the picture was dazzling. Enough tables to seat fifty or sixty guests with fine china, crystal wine goblets, and sterling silverware up and down the line. But on closer examination when you enlarge the photo, the tables were so hastily set that I almost croaked.

I understand that busy caterers threw it all together and that it was just a wedding party after all, not a state dinner with Regina and Prince Phillip showing up. But the silverware was all crooked, not parallel, and not properly measured from the edge of the table. While there were two wine glasses at each setting for the red and white wines, the third goblet for water was missing. And not to get down in the mud, but the napkins were simply rolled up beside the plate, instead of all the fancy options out there.

I could understand this more easily if the wedding was in Buttzville, New Jersey in the United States. But in England, the very source and mother-load of propriety and manners? Maybe the British are a little less uptight than the upstart new-rich here in America. Who knows?
  
In any case here's a link to some really beautiful table settings, from casual to formal. And here's a link to the diagrams you might need.

Don't freak out! They all make sense according to what menu you're serving for the evening. If soup is not the first course then you wouldn't put out a bowl or soup spoon, right? Tables are set according to the menu.

Once you have a basic informal layout in mind, then you can always expand it - all the way up to a more formal table, complete with a white tablecloth and white linen napkins.

It's actually all pretty simple: knives and spoons on the right of the plate, forks on the left, and the drinking goblets go directly above the dinner knife. One important rule is that the blade of the knife is always turned toward the plate, not toward the spoons. (You don't want your guests cutting their fingers when they pick up the tea or soup spoon, right?)

Now don't be alarmed, but if you're serving an eight-or-ten course dinner then there's going to be a lot more eating utensils on the right and left of the plate than just the basic five. But that's a whole different topic, coming up next.

Again, I hope you'll forgive my lameness for not sending this out before the holidays. But there's always some kind of idiotic special occasion or formal affair to deal with all throughout the year, isn't there? So this might come in handy anyway from time to time.

Happy dining!

Andrew

8 comments:

  1. LOL! I was in a panic right before Christmas about a semi-formal table I was trying to set, but not to worry Andrew. That link to the charts will come in handy from now on! So thanks for that! Cynthia

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    1. Thanks for letting me off the hook, Cynthia. I'm feeling better already! There's lots of articles on the web about dining etiquette, and in the bookstores too. But a quick glance at those diagrams are more or less self explanatory, w/o all the reading. Andrew

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  2. Ugh - been trying to convince hubby for years about the knife facing in. Then again, he puts them face IP in the dishwasher too, where I grab them by the handful. Hmmm.. maybe he's trying to kill me?

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    1. Good gosh, Debbie, lets hope not!!! Maybe it's time to switch household chores for a while and let him unpack the dishwasher. After a few pokes and jabs, and the occasional broken glass, it doesn't take long to learn how to be careful, right? Good luck, and let us know. Andrew

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  3. As usual you have given us a Laugh and some Good information ! Thank You ! KEK

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    1. I'm so glad you got a chuckle, KEK. Thanks as always for stopping by.

      Andrew

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  4. Great piece, Andrew! This also comes in handy for formal Valentine's day plans that are looming ha!

    I'd like to zoom in on a different vantage point, however. I really enjoyed that peek we got on your insight on the behavior and profile of the old rich of Europe and the new old rich of America. I wonder if you could discuss this a bit further seeing as you've spent plenty of time with the rich all over the world. I've always wondered what the differences are among the rich among different cultures. For instance, just polar US coasts would already bring a stark contrast--the rich on the east coast value maintaining tradition and propriety over multiple generations whereas I think the rich on the west coast value keeping up with trends and vanity just a tad more. Being from a Latin-type culture, in contrast to the US, the rich here give value to a bit of a colonial mentality where foreigners (especially white ones) are looked up to, admired, and emulated.

    Anyway, so sorry for rambling on and I do hope you can share your musings and opinions about this more.

    Regards,
    B

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    1. Thanks so much for your inquiry, B. The answer would be too long for a comment, but would make an interesting article someday. I'm not sure I can speak with authority on the differences among the rich in other cultures, but I can certainly share my limited observations.

      It seems to me your own observations about the east and west coast rich in the U.S. are spot on. That's my general opinion as well, although the lines are blurred and broad generalizations can be misleading, since there are new rich on the east coast, and old on the west. In any case, it will be a fun challenge to address this topic.Thanks for your suggestion. Andrew

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