This is a last minute effort to post here at Across the Way before October is gone as it's been almost two months since I've been here.
The pretty pumpkin placemats that I only use in October, and only for non-messy meals were perfect to illustrate a point that's dear to my heart from one of my favorite books, No Trumpet Before Him by Nelia Gardner White.
I have ten other posts here with White's label and I even posted about this book here in 2019 when we discussed reading depressing books. I pulled out this book once again this month when I needed a book to comfort me.
Every time I read one of her books I get something different from it and this time it meant even more to me than before. This time I needed the Methodist bishop's wife, needed her positive but not Pollyanna personality.
Maisie Fellowes, an author as well as Bishop Fellowes' wife, puts her husband's apple on a pretty blue dish before taking it to him. It's important to her. Beauty is important to her, in her garden and her home. This one little detail about Maisie has stuck in my mind for a decade or more since I first read it.
I had a post planned for this with pictures of my table set prettily for a plebeian supper of Tuna Fish Casserole and spinach. I took the first picture above but then put my phone on to charge and used RH's phone for pictures of the meal on the table. Little did I realize that RH's iCloud was full and when I went to send them to my phone later there were no pictures.
So without Maisie's touch of beauty, here is my meal, in the kitchen, on the stove, not on a pretty autumn table.
There, how inspiring is that?
But I did manage to change my current post from Back To School clothes, so there's that.
Maybe, just maybe, the plainer the meal, the more important beauty is.
It's wonderful to see you posting again! I have missed your posts here. Like I always say, you always set such a beautiful table. I bet your meals taste even better when they're on pretty dishes. Your tuna casserole looks mighty good. That's something I haven't made in years. I tend to favor tuna salad, and I put it on toast for an open face sandwich. Perhaps I'll have to try a healthy-ish tuna casserole recipe again soon.
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with Nelia Gardner White. I love some of those old books with the beautiful prose.
Thank you so much, Melanie, I am so thankful to be able to post again without all the tech problems. You cook such beautiful healthy meals and I admit that tuna casseroles aren't that! I do give into the craving every once in a while. Our oldest son has requested chicken tetrazzini for his birthday gift coming up, along with a dessert. They request food instead of gifts now and I do that along with a copy of the recipe for the time when mom won't be here to cook it for them.
DeleteI think that Nelia Gardner White is my favorite American novelist of the midcentury. I call her my autumn author because that's when I'm drawn to reread them!
What a pretty table you set, with candles and fall-themed placemats and decor. You might not have arranged the tuna casserole as you wished, but it looks very appetizing with the crumb topping. I always think that's the best part!
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with Nelia Gardner White, but I can nod my head to Maisie's feeling that beauty is important to her. It is to me, too.
Thank you so much, Lorrie! And I must confess that I always top my tuna fish casseroles with a bag of crushed dill pickle potato chips that give it an unexpected tang, but I agree about loving a crumb topping on casseroles!
DeleteYou always set such a beautifully inviting table, Dewena. Blue, orange and white amid the glowing candlelight, must have been such a lovely dining experience.
ReplyDelete'The plainer the meal, the more important beauty is'... Yes! Look at the fabulous green of that spinach! Mediterranean dishes depend on the freshest, simplest, seasonal ingredients - these qualities are actually what make them so scrumptious! Dewena, I know that you have researched the Mediterranean diet, cooked so many of its healthy and tasty recipes and have such an appreciation for it.
As I get older, I'm finding that I seek more simplicity in almost every facet of my life, and when I find sights, tastes and scents of it, I sigh with gratitude!
Happy November, dear friend!
Poppy
Thank you so much, Poppy! I do love touches of orange with blue and think it goes really well with Blue Willow china. Poppy, I deprived myself of fresh spinach for two years when my potassium levels went into a high range but was delighted to add it back again to our meals when lab results showed the levels had gone low. I do use my Mediterranean cookbooks all the time and smiled when Zack told me that he had just ordered one from Amazon, determined to get more vegetables into his cooking. I'm sure you cook Mediterranean by instinct, living in one of the birthplaces of it! Not to mention taking your walks alongside the olive groves. I love picturing you on those walks, up in the hills! Happy November to you too!
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