When we put together a table setting, especially one for a holiday, we like it to be seasonal, but veer far from kitsch. We like simplicity and utility, a setting that doesn’t require getting out the silver polish or digging around in the attic for the plates with Christmas trees on them. And we like elegance that doesn’t come from formality, but from unique pieces of dinnerware that are marked by craftsmanship, quality, and good design.

This year’s holiday table setting was inspired by the blankets of fresh snow most of us start to hope for this time of year. We veiled the table in white linen from Libeco Home. Libeco’s tablecloths have a natural earthiness to them. They’re heavy and textured–not the kind of white tablecloth you’d eat on in a restaurant–so they were perfect for a setting that tried to pull the outdoors in.

iittala Kivi votives and tall Aalto vases ran down the center of the table

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This December, for our annual holiday dinner, we gathered at Jonathan’s house at a table inspired by the glittering veil of fresh snowfall–although we haven’t had any yet. We set chrome iittala Piano Workshop flatware and light-scattering Kosta Boda Limelight plates on slightly wrinkled white Libeco Home table linen and white Chilewich lattice placemats that sparkle like snow crystals. Like a blanket of fresh snow, the setting was simple and clean, with candlelight from iittala Kivi votives reflecting off the etched patterns in the Kosta Boda plates and the iittala Ultima highballs, with feet like beads of ice. And like the setting, the food provided by JJ Gonson of Cuisine en Locale represented a return to the essentials, with a focus of delicious ingredients and simple, hearty preparation. Continue Reading

This holiday season, the Dinner Series sat down to a table inspired by the sparkling blankets of snow we get in New England–although we haven’t seen any yet. Last year, we enjoyed a feast put on by Robert Harris of Season to Taste Catering for Dinner 7: A Farm to Table Holiday. For our second holiday dinner, we joined with JJ Gonson and Cuisine en Locale, her team of “gypsy” cooks that are a fixture in the Cambridge pop-up dining scene and operate ONCE a Week, a weekly meal delivery service that’s halfway between a CSA and a private chef. (In our opinion it’s the best of both worlds; you get fresh meals from locally sourced ingredients, without having to figure our what you’re going to do with all those beets from your CSA or have your kitchen occupied for the day by a private chef.) Continue Reading