Everyday Finesse: About "The Collected Tabletop"

A few weeks ago my friend and colleague Angela and I visited the beautiful Boxwoods store in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. While there she found a beautiful coffetable-sized book, The Collected Tabletop by Kathryn Crisp Greeley. Later Angela ordered the book and has mentioned several times that she really liked it.

Later, she graciously let me look through it and at first glance I thought it was pretty and the more I looked, the more I understood how Angela felt about the book.

Greeley is a decorator who often entertains and has spent a great amount of time and energy collecting some very beautiful dishes she uses for entertaining. She plans parties or get together with her collections in mind and with attention to the finest detail, she entertains beautifully.

In some cases she has spent years collecting items that fit themes. With photos, she shows how her ideas are developed from the invitations to menus, recipes and beautiful table settings that I have no doubt both show off her skills and delight her guests.

At first I thought the book might be a little pretentious, but as I turned page after lovely page I started to really "get" her message and though I doubtless will never have a martini party, wine-tasting party or Scottish Gamekeeper's Dinner. I could really see the value in her collections and I loved her beautiful decorating ideas.
I started really getting into the book with the Irish Party. My mother has some very similar dishes with green leaves surrounding each plate. Those were always my favorite dishes growing up. My mom's dishes are not quite as formal as the ones shown here, but I do love the look.

I really could picture the "High on the Hog Bar-B-Que" where she gave a thank you party for one of her friends' contractor and crew, working on their house. The party was given in the unfinished house and proved you could provide beauty and elegance when the gathering was just about anywhere.

I really loved that one and it has given me some really great ideas for my Thanksgiving meal. I really love the idea of using burlap.

Another thing I really loved was the "Fall for Football" menu. I am always looking for great tailgating ideas and she comes up with some grand ideas. I don't know if I will ever make a 'Smores Brulee but I think the idea fits the occasion perfectly.

I also love Thanksgiving ideas since we always have a huge meal on that day and I loved the ideas there, too. Some of the recipes look very good and Greeley is obviously a very accomplished cook.