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Savannah Style: Summer Breakfast Party
By Paula DeenSome say it’s so hot this time of year in Savannah that by ten o’clock in the morning, the chickens are laying hard boiled eggs!
Y’all, just because it’s burning up outside, I don’t want to be held hostage in my house all day and miss out on spending time outdoors with my family and friends. I just have to be smart about it. So, this past week I decided to host an early morning breakfast on the side porch of my guest cottage. I knew I couldn’t beat the heat, but I thought I might be able to outsmart it for a couple of hours. I did all the decorating the night before –after the sun went down and the sand gnats had gone to bed. In the morning, I only had to set out the flowers and place settings and make us a good ole’ Southern breakfast of Biscuits with Sausage and Bacon Gravy, Fresh Fruit Salad with Creamy Custard, The Lady’s Perfect Scrambled Eggs and Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice. Since Michael is my coffee maestro, I had him whip us up a batch of Mama’s Iced Mochas. It was a perfect summer morning and we all had the best time relaxin’ in the shade before the sun got too hot and the biscuits too cold.
Here’s what I did:
Décor: I had Michael move a table that lives in my niece, Corrie’s room out to the porch. Y’all it is so old, but I think the older it gets the better it looks. We just keep painting it blue. I bet it has 6 coats of blue paint on it by now. I have a collection of old wicker chairs that live out on the cottage porch, so I just pulled them up to the table. I think what made the space were these adorable vintage fabric pennants that came from Etsy.com. The sweet girl that makes them is from Idaho and she sews them out of vintage fabrics. I just love them and ever since I got them, I’ve been hanging them up all over the place. I think they make the porch festive don’t you!
Place Settings: Don’t you just love the way blue and yellow go so perfectly together, especially for breakfast! I sat a simple table using a bright yellow charger with one of my white everyday plates on top of it. I have this colored flatware in so many colors, but the blue is perfect. It’s the same kind of flatware my mother used when we had picnics. The napkins are a simple solid navy, but I made them extra special by using these cute fabric pennant napkin rings. They mirror the pennant banner hanging above the table. I always think it’s good to tie one thing on the table together with the décor around the table don’t you? The juice glasses aren’t old, they just look like it and that’s what I loved about them. And finally, who doesn’t like to drink out of an old-fashioned paper straw!
Here’s how to make your own Fabric Pennant Napkin Rings.
Centerpiece: I looked all over the house and couldn’t find a vase I liked for the table, so I decided to make my own out of a brown kraft paper bag! I just rolled down the sides and placed a clear vase filled with water inside to hold the flowers. The flowers were all picked from my yard (and a few stolen from planted pots –don’t tell Brandon). I used ornamental cabbage, yellow lilies, yellow snapdragons and blue delphiniums. I think it’s perfect for a breakfast table!