tablescape or dessert

Today and tomorrow will round out the posts from Easter. The problem is, I can’t decide which to do first, the dessert or the tablescape. So while I’m thinking about it – I’ll begin with this, the last entry from my Austin trip.

First, there was our boat cruise on Lady Bird Lake to watch the bats, then we got on the lake once again. This time on WaterBikes.

It’s an easy and fun way to cruise down the river and you’re just about guaranteed to stay dry. It would take some real effort to tip one of these over or fall off. I like staying dry! Plus, look at that gorgeous view of downtown Austin. Totally worth it!

We had a good variety of meals while I was there. I already told you about the Gospel Brunch at Stubb’s BBQ. We also enjoyed wonderful seafood at the very cute and quaint Clark’s Oyster Bar where we, of course, had oysters.

Our high-end night out was at Lenoir Restaurant, a farm-to-table – prix-fixe menu, sort of place.

What I enjoyed most about Lenoir was that they let you choose your three prix-fixe items from any part of the menu you wish. Generally, you must pick one dish from each category; let’s say one from Field, one from Sea, one from Land, and/or a dish from Dream. Here, you can have all three of your selections from Sea if that’s what you want to do. Nice!

Clockwise from the Top we had: Tuna Crudo, Cashew Ginger Soup, Braised Pork, Smoked Duck, Herb Stozzapreti, and Almond Crusted Snapper. I think this was Marissa’s favorite meal of the weekend.

My favorite was at a place much more casual, El Alma, which is within walking distance from the kids’ apartment. Marissa had the vegetarian Enchiladas Placeras, while Jeff and I had the Shrimp and Crab Relleno. The best Relleno I’ve had in a very long time! I’ll be dreaming about it until I get my fix the next time I visit!

That wraps up Austin. And posting that helped me decide that today it would be best to share the Easter tablescape with you. The dessert, a cake, has so many photos to go along with it, that I’ll save that for tomorrow when I have no more travel photos to share.

I started building my tablescape with three bunches of soft spring-colored flowers from Costco. I cut most of the stems to medium or short lengths and put them in a mishmash of bottles and jars that I’ve collected. I did the flower arranging the day before and held them in a couple of baskets until right before dinner. Since we were eating outside and it was a rather warm day, this was a must or they would have been a wilted pitiful mess by dinnertime.

There were only four of us, so the round 60-inch table under the covered patio was the place to be. Instead of a tablecloth, I let the natural wood shine and used coconut twig placemats from World Market.  I bought eight of them years ago and a couple is a bit beat up, so I’ll be heading over to pick up more soon.

On top of the placemats, I set wood chargers, then the dinner plate,  salad plate, and a crisp white napkin and topped it off with a bird’s nest. Inside the nest and resting in egg cups to the side was my Silk Transfer Easter Eggs.

Mixed flatware and recycled green glasses finished off each place setting.

The centerpiece consisted of the moss runner I made five years ago. Atop that, I placed three wood slabs and a couple of wood pillar candle holders.

To finish it off – the mix of flower-filled bottles and jars and a few more eggs were added here and there on the runner and the Easter tablescape was done!