Living in Southern California is all about living outside, so throwing the first outdoor spring dinner party in Los Angeles is a thrill. Once every few years – 2017 being a notable example – we get something approximating a winter. So when the evenings start to lengthen and the rain stops, it feels fantastic to get back to business as usual and invite friends over for a dinner under the stars.
And there’s the tiniest smugness about being able to do it a few weeks earlier than most of the rest of the country!
For this dinner party we paired Huddleson’s Seagram linen tablecloth – inspired by Mark Rothko’s paintings for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York – with our Shibori Indigo Japanese cotton napkins. Both have tones of the deepest indigo blue and cream accents and the huge scale of the tablecloth and tiny scale of the napkins create a beautiful contrast.
To tie the lighter colors of the linens, plates and candles on the table to the surrounding greenery and blossoming jasmine bushes – and keep with Japanese heritage of the napkins – we used simple orchids as centerpieces.
Despite the ubiquity of rose wine, for us Brits a jug of Pimm’s cocktail is yet to be toppled from prime position of summer drinks.
Half fill a jug with Pimm’s, add a generous amount of ice (a slug of gin – optional), cucumber, apple, orange, mint, fresh lemon juice and 7-Up or ginger ale.
We grilled chicken skewers and made several large varied salad bowls for the table: mixed salad greens, a wheat berries salad and a potato/waldorf salad.
To make this high protein salad: boil wheat berries – a sprouting barley we bought at the Persian market – add field mushrooms fried in butter, balsamic vinegar and red wine, steamed carrots, watercress and top with feta cheese.
As a Fawlty Towers fan I love any allusion to a Waldorf Salad. Boil fingerling potatoes cut into bite size pieces. Add scallions, apple, walnut pieces and toss in a large bowl with mayonnaise.
Add in your grilled meat of choice and fun times guaranteed!
If your napkins are this beautiful, your guests will inevitable want to wear them.
Here’s to a wonderful year of entertaining beautifully – outside with good food, good drinks and good friends. Cheers to summer.
For all your summer entertaining table linens needs, visit huddleson.com
