Cinco de Mayo Tablescape

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday!

Today I am having a Cinco de Mayo party --- would you like to come amigos?

Before we eat, you may want to enter my giveaway.  Click on GIVEAWAY or click on the kiwi Le Creuset baking dishes in the top left of my blog.

This is your placesetting set with storied ruby glasses.  My Aunt Ionia always set the adult table at Christmas Eve with her ruby glasses that she stored in her beautiful bowed hutch.  Many years later after those wonderful Christmas Eves, my sisters presented me with a set of eight ruby glasses.  Then I bought another set to make 16.  My sisters also have their own sets.  You can see that my Aunt's glasses really made an impression on us!

Another view of the glasses with the light streaming in.

I love these very versatile red plates I bought at Wal-Mart years ago.  I use them for everything.  The little salad plates were bought this year at Smith's grocery store and the green bowls were bought at the Dollar Store several months ago.

You may have seen these pretty napkins before at my table; I love them!  They were a gift from a sister-in law.  I recently acquired the placemats; they are at Wal-Mart and I think they add so much.

I love how the floral arrangement gives a pop of color.  It usually resides on the coffee table in my red couch room.  I also love the yellow candles with the red floral centerpiece.

Thanks for dropping by my Cinco de Mayo Tablescape.  Come take a gander at the rest of the tablescapes hosted by Susan at Tablescape Thursday Between Naps at the Porch.

Parmesan Herb Pizzelles

How do you pronounce pizelles?  Some prounce them as "pitts-sell-lays" and some pronounce them as "peez-els" (almost like gazelles), but no matter how you pronounce them, I pronounce them delicious!   Please let me know how YOU pronounce pizzelles in the comment section of my blog.  "P" is for Pizzelles!  Come join the fun at Alphabe-Thursday.

Please don't forget to enter my giveaway where you can win a PIZZELLE MAKER or four other great kitchen gifts.  Please click GIVEAWAY or click on the kiwi-colored Le Creuset baking pans on the left-hand corner of my blog.

 If I were Italian, I would, in the future, be one of those Italian grandmothers makings scads of pizelles for my loved ones.  They are easy, pretty, and fun to make.  Just think of pizelle making as the embossing craft of cooking! 














Years ago I walked into a Ross store and they were selling Toastmaster Pizelle Makers for a really low price.  I bought about five of them and gave them as gifts.  I have made pizelle cookies and have enjoyed them, but I really like these savory pizelles.  Pair them with any dish, I think a tomato basil soup or some pork from the grill would be smashing! 



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I am submitting this recipe to the following:

Alphabe-Thursday where the letter of the day is "P"

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Tasty Tuesday

Tuesdays at the Table

Talented Tuesday

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design

Parmesan Herb Pizelles 

I found this recipe on the web before I became a blog mistress and realized how important it is to note your source.

3 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated -- See note below.
1 teaspoons baking powder
Fresh herbs -- See note below.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
In medium bowl, whisk eggs until smooth and then add cooled, melted butter.  Stir in the remaining ingredients until blended.  You will end up with a dough that resembles thick cake batter.  Drop batter on pizzelle iron and cook according to manufacturer's instructions.  It takes a little bit of experimenting to find out how much dough to use; each pizzelle maker is different.  My pizzelle baker takes about a little more than 2 tablespoons of dough for each pizzelle.  It takes less than 2 minutes to bake two pizzelles.  Place on racks to cool.  Eat them hot!  Yield:  This recipe makes 10 pizzelles in my pizzelle baker; pizelle bakers vary.

Notes:  For a stronger flavor, try using a stronger flavored cheese.  I have used both grated and canned parmesan and they both work fine in this recipe.   For mild flavored herbs, like chives, use up to 3 tablespoons; for strong-flavored herbs, like rosemary, use about 1 tablespoon.  I used rosemary.

Sweet 16/Birthday Candy Tower

Don't forget to enter my giveaway.  You can click on giveaway or just click the picture of the Le Creuset dishes at the top left of my blog.

Happy Birthday to my son Skyler who turned Sweet 16 on Saturday!  We surprised him with this candy tower at school on Friday.  By the end of school, of course, there was no candy on the tower!  This is a spin-off of something we did at my high school in Wisconsin.  When you turned 16 your friends would bring you "candy ribbons" for you to wear.  They would basically attach candy with tape to ribbons, the 1/2-inch sized wrapping paper ribbon,  and attach a bow to the top.  They would pin it on you and all day long people would pull candy off your ribbons.  If you had a lot of friends, you would be wearing a lot of ribbons!  It was a fun tradition!

I found this candy tower idea on  Cheap Chic Home's Web Site.  I am a follower of her web site; she has a lot of great ideas.  As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make one for my son's 16th.





















Directions for Candy Tower:
It is very simple to make. 
1.  You need some oasis or styrofoam blocks. I used 4 larger oasis blocks for the bottom part and two smaller oasis blocks for the top part.  The bottom oasis came in a package of two, shrink  wrapped.  I kept the shrink wrap on the oasis.

2.  Hot glue the two bottom pieces together (4 blocks) and then glue the two smaller pieces together.  Glue the smaller pieces on the top of the bottom pieces. 

3.  Using a low-heat hot glue gun, glue on the candy.  My daughter Talley helped me!

4.  Finished it off by gluing some candles...no, we didn't light them, curling ribbon, and a balloon weight-- the kind that looks like fireworks --- from the Dollar Store.
















What I really like about this is that we took it to school and all the kids ate the candy --- and not me!

I have posted this with the following:

Just Something I Whipped Up at the Girl Creative

Made it Monday at the Persimmon Porch

Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou
Making the World Cuter
It's So Very Creative
Talented Tuesday