Hop On Your Broom and Come For Dinner! Tablescape Thursday

     I had fun setting my table this week. Not only is it my new table, I'm actually having friends for dinner this weekend and we will be using this tablescape. I really planned to set a fall table, but somehow it took an unexpected twist. Maybe someone cast a spell on me...

     I love to add touches of green and purple to traditional Halloween colors. I decided to mix and match the place settings. Some start with a green placemat, others have black. Some of the settings use a black dinner plate (WalMart) and a large Halloween salad plate (Cracker Barrel). Others are a simple black and white combination (both plates WalMart). I think using the round dinner plate with the square salad plate and reversing it to a square dinner plate and round salad plate, every other placement add a bit of interest to the table.

     Spooky orange and purple berries run the length of the table runner. I kept the centerpiece low so my guests could see each other during dinner. The sparkly orange mosaic candles are a recent Kohl's purchase.

The black and white plates jump out

more in the pictures than in person.

Stemware in clear and black finish the look.

     The center of the table starts with a spooky spider web runner. It actually has a large bat in the middle and spiders throughout. Obviously our resident witch took a fall into her caldron (Cracker Barrel), as only her feet are visable.

It appears she lost her hat before falling into her "brew".

Small glittery bats float among the twigs and berries.

I'm not sure what he is...but I wouldn't

want him knocking at my door.

Simple candy corn ribbon tied around black napkins.

The flatware I've had for years, I liked the

gold with the colors of this tablescape.

Another spider crept from top of my china cabinet onto the table.

A closer look at the runner.

By candlelight the table took on a  dark glow.

Look closely, you can see the witch's legs shadowed onto the blinds.

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GIVEAWAY!

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I am linking today with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

for Tablescape Thursday. Please stop to visit her.

The tables are always wonderful, but they

are really fun this time of year.

Shrimp Harvest in Illinois and a Giveaway!

     Let's start with the exciting news first...I'm having another GIVEAWAY! I was pleasantly surprised when Jamie from CSN Stores contacted me to do another review or giveaway. I recently did my first review for the company and decided that a GIVEAWAY was in order this time. CSN Stores are becoming quite popular in Blogland. They carry so many different types of things. I was recently looking at an ottoman coffee table for my son's apartment. I have been using my new Le Creuset bakeware frequently and I've picked out some holiday dishes that I would love to have.

     One lucky follower will be receiving a $55 gift code to use on any of csnstores.com sites. The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. To enter:

1) Leave a comment letting me know you are a follower of my blog

2) Leave a second comment after visiting csnstores.com and tell me what you might buy if you win for a second entry.

This giveaway runs until October 17th.

     On Saturday we attended a shrimp harvest. For those of you that live near the ocean, this might not seem like a big deal...but, when you live in Central Illinois it is a bit unusual. This is our second year to visit Stan and Kay Zumbahlen's Dairy Farm in rural Newton, IL. For the past 9 years, they have also raised shrimp. They purchase the baby shrimp in Southern Illinois, where they have been nurtured for around 45 days, originally coming from the Texas Gulf Coast. The shrimp live in the Zumbahlen's pond for about 3 months and 1 day a year the pond is drained and the shrimp are harvested. People line up to buy the huge beauties for $8 a pound.

     This year the pond had already been drained when we arrived. You can see the people who are working picking up the shrimp from the bottom of the pond.

It was a cool, cloudy day and these people

are walking around in the muck to find the shrimp.

     I know they aren't pretty and I don't know why they have blue legs. This is one of the large vats where the shrimp are kept before being carried to the barn for purchase. At this point, they are still alive.

     Above you can see how most of the shrimp are harvested. The pond drains into this pipe and the shrimp come out the pipe and are caught in the netting. They are huge!

     We bought 10 pounds (you get a pound free with 10) and I cleaned all of them when we got home. My husband and father had shrimp cocktail for dinner and both of them were almost purring they were so good and fresh. I always have to wait a little while after watching them swim and cleaning them before I'm ready to eat them! It really is amazing to see this in the Midwest. They harvested around 1000 pounds this year and they always sell out. I froze ours in 2 pound packages and I'm sure we will be going back again next year.

I am linking today with Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer

for Outdoor Wednesday. Please take time to visit her

and thank her for hosting this fun event.

A Little Table Magic and I Don't Mean Halloween!

     One of the things that we loved when we bought this house 7 years ago, was the open floor plan. Our kitchen, dining room and living/family room are all one large open space. They are divided only by the flooring. The kitchen is tile, the dining room is hardwood and the living room is carpeted. The table that we had in our "dining room" was actually a Crate and Barrel set that was in our kitchen in our prior home. You have seen it many times in my tablescapes. I have had a new dining table on my wish list for quite a while.

     On Friday, my dad and I visited our area upscale furniture store for their tent sale. As we walked into the building next to the tent, I spotted a table that was exactly the size and shape that I wanted for my dining room. It was definitely a "scratch and dent" piece. There were several scratches in the finish, but the real problem was a white circle the size of a dessert plate on one corner. It wasn't a thin water mark, it was a thick, cloudy white, very obvious problem. I said something to the salesperson about wishing it didn't have the mark and she said it would be $1500 without it. As it was, I talked her down to $125 for my table. I decided that I would clean it up and use a diagonal table runner to hide the "ugly". At least I could now seat more than 4 people at my table and I finally had a table that matched my other furniture. With the leaf, the table is 78 inches long.

     My dad went to work right away oiling, buffing and waxing the table. The grain of the wood was beautiful when it was cleaned up and even the white area looked a little better, but it was certainly an eyesore. I bought a new long runner and decided rather than stripping the beautiful finish off the table, I would just cover up the stain. I also googled water stains and decided that my table actually had a heat stain, not a water stain. Several people had posted that as a last resort, they had ironed away a heat stain on their furniture. It was suggested that you use a steam iron and a clean white towel. Place the towel on the stain, hold the steam iron over the spot and send a blast of steam, gently and quickly press the iron onto the towel and lift the iron and towel and wipe the area. My dad said he wanted to try it, I couldn't watch. Within seconds, the stain was gone. It disappeared completely. We couldn't believe our eyes.

    I won't pretend that my table is perfect. There are still some scratches that show if the light hits it a certain way. I don't care! I have 2 grandsons under 4, they run little cars on every piece of furniture we have anyway! The matching chairs are $300 each, needless to say...we will be using the Crate and Barrel chairs until we find a deal somewhere!

This is where the large white stain was.

I kept the runner...it wasn't a bargain, but I do love it!

I am joining Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday

I'm also joining Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrify Tuesday

Desk Makeover-Met Monday

     My dad left yesterday to head back to Florida. I did want to show you one of his projects while he was at my house. You may remember the $15 garage sale desk that I posted a few days ago. It had good "bones" but was certainly dated. My dad had never done a Shabby project, but I think he did a great job.

     He started by removing the wooded knobs and sanding the entire desk. Next came 3 coats of white paint.

     It went a bit against his instincts to then sand off some spots in the paint, but he did it. A clear glaze was applied after the rough spots were added.

     I ordered new glass knobs from Anthropologie. My four knobs with shipping cost twice as much as the desk, but they really gave it the look I wanted. The desk is in my daughter's room, which is gradually becoming my office since she is so rarely home.

The knobs are a sea glass color (mint) 

and perfect with the coverlet for the daybed.

     I also wanted to share my new to me bookends. Dad and I went to an area furniture store for their tent sale on Friday. The birds had come unglued from the birdbaths, so I got these for $1. A drop of glue and they are perfect for the corner of my "new" desk. My real bargain (the best I've ever gotten) I will post tomorrow...stay tuned!

I am linking today with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

 for Met Monday. There are so many great projects listed each week.

I only wish I had time to read them all! Make sure you visit her!

I'm also joining Mary @ Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

I hope you will pop in and say hello to her!

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel

     Yesterday's post was about my sister's birthday celebration on Sunday. I mentioned that we came back to my house for dessert after dinner. I posted the Caramel Apple Strata recipe earlier this week. Our second dessert was a wonderful flourless chocolate cake with a salted caramel sauce. I was so busy cooking that I forgot to take pictures as I made this recipe, luckily I did remember to take them as I served it.

     This recipe is a little more complicated than most of my recipes. It is worth the extra effort. The caramel sauce is truly the best I've ever made and would be wonderful to make for a delicious ice cream topping or to use for other desserts.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel

Ingredients:

Cake

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate broken into pieces (I used Ghirardelli)

12 T. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 T. cornstarch

pinch of salt

5 whole eggs-separated

3/4 cup sugar-separated into 2 equal portions

powdered sugar to decorate

Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 T. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/4 tsp. sea salt or fleur de sel

     Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 8 inch square pan with Pam, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Over a double boiler (I don't have one, I put a metal bowl over a pan of boiling water) melt the chopped chocolate and the 12 T. of butter. Once melted, whisk in the cornstarch and salt, set aside in a warm spot.

     In mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half of the sugar. It is best to do this over the double boiler to melt the sugar as you whisk. (I set my mixing bowl over the boiling water that I used for melting the chocolate). After they are whisked together, use a mixer to whip the egg yolk mixture until pale yellow (4 to 5 minutes). Fold the egg yolk mixture into the chocolate mixture with a spatula.

     In a clean bowl whip egg whites at medium speed until the whites have doubled or tripled in size. Add the remaining half of the sugar slowly while still beating. Turn the mixer to high and whip until soft and shiny (1-2 minutes). Whisk half of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold the remaining half into the mixture with a spatula.

     Pour into prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes (until soft but still springy).

     Cool on rack for 2 to 3 hours. Turn out onto serving plate and remove parchment. Cut into small servings and dust with powdered sugar before serving. To serve, pour a little of the caramel sauce onto a plate, add a slice of the cake, a small dip of vanilla or coffee ice cream and a tiny pinch of sea salt into the caramel sauce.

To Make the Caramel Sauce

     Heat the heavy cream in a small sauce pan until warm and set aside. Do not boil.

     In a separate heavy bottomed sauce pan add a little of the sugar and melt over medium heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula. After the first of the sugar is melted, add a little more and keep stirring until it melts. Do this in small amounts until all the sugar is melted (it will be turning a caramel color). After all the sugar is melted, cook it for 1 minute more until it gets a little bubbly around the edges. Remove from heat.

     Slowly (I was too fast on this step) stir in the hot heavy cream a little bit at a time. The sugar with react to the cream, so keep stirring and be careful this is a very hot mixture. Continue to add the cream until it is fully incorporated. Whisk in the butter and the sea salt. Pour into heat resistant container and cool at room temperature. Once cooled store in the refrigerator.

     When I made the caramel sauce my cream wasn't warm enough and I poured it in too quickly. It created a few "sugar lumps" that I had to melt back over the heat. I actually strained my sauce to make sure that there were no "tooth breaking" sugar pieces left in it.

I am joining Michael @ Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

It is the place to go for the best recipes on in all of Blogland.