Tabletop Decorating with Real Fruits & Vegetables

[Gifted Gourmet]

While I am fully aware that the "centerpiece" of the Thanksgiving table ought to be done with the resplendent bronzed turkey on a beautiful platter, I also enjoy decorating my harvest table with some realia .. and have, from time to time, used small pumpkins, colorful gourds, miniature Indian corn, bright fall leaves, etc. Added to those I have used small apples, citrus, walnuts in their shells, etc to add even more color.

What might one add to bring the table to life, short of the food actually being served?

I do love colors ... makes the occasion even more festive ... ideas?

I have done this type of thing which looked great Fall pears and Oak leaves

[Jennifer Iannolo]

A woman after my own heart.

I like to have fun with the table as well, since it is the first "Aha!" as everyone walks in to be seated. I typically carve out the tops of baby pumpkins or apples and put tea lights in them, and the table is generally bedecked with gourds, nuts, berries, etc.

Sometimes I get a little...er...overzealous. One year we were unable to see each other due to the multi-tiered festival of haybales with delicately perched candles. I've learned to tone it down.

We move the food itself to a sideboard, so it doesn't conflict with the "turkey as focal point."

[Gifted Gourmet]

I like to have fun with the table as well, since it is the first "Aha!" as everyone walks in to be seated. I typically carve out the tops of baby pumpkins or apples and put tea lights in them, and the table is generally bedecked with gourds, nuts, berries, etc.

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You have read my mind, Jennifer, on the reason for the decorations for this festive meal! The initial view of the table makes people even more receptive to an elegant meal ... I do use (low) candles made of beeswax among the gourds and fruits ... color being a priority! Guests have to be able to see across the table to converse.

[Jennifer Iannolo]

Guests have to be able to see across the table to converse.

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Yes, that can be damnably inconvenient. The guests, I mean.

[andiesenji]

You could always make one of these.

And fill it with fruits and etc.

I no longer use the aluminum foil as in these instructions. I form a large Silpat mat into a sort of cone shape, staple it just at the edge and stuff it with crumpled baking parchment, then roll the pastry around it. The staple holes have not seemed to do any lasting harm.

[Gifted Gourmet]

You could always make one of these.

And fill it with fruits and etc.

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Now the pastry cornucopia shown in your link looks terrific and not too difficult ... I have a straw cornucopia that I have filled and used on occasion .. this one looks much more interesting and I still have time to bake and set it up as a centerpiece. Thanks for digging up the link, Andie!

[Jennifer Iannolo]

Oh my. Would you mind making an extra, and I'll send you the postage? Heh.

It's giving me ideas, though...muahahahaha. If I build the centerpiece high enough I won't be able to see the rowdy children on the other side of the table. Earplugs, champagne and a little tryptophan will cure the rest.

Yes. I shall build a GIGANTIC cornucopia, with papier mache instead of dough (oven's not big enough), and wipe them from my field of view. There is still time.

Thank you, ladies.

[sparrowgrass]

Don't you know that children belong at a card table in the kitchen? And that particularly rowdy children may have to sit in the kitchen until they are 27?

Edited November 20, 2005 by sparrowgrass (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Don't you know that children belong at a card table in the kitchen?  And that particularly rowdy children may have to sit in the kitchen until they are 27?

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and married .. with a child of their own ...

should have thought about the topic of holiday "kids' tables" .. that would have made a neat thread ...

[dockhl]

Persimmons and pomegranates..........

[Gifted Gourmet]

Persimmons and pomegranates..........

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I love colors like this! the reds, golds, bronzes ...

[dockhl]

Persimmons and pomegranates..........

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I love colors like this! the reds, golds, bronzes ...

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this is what my persimmon tree looks like.......

Think I'll have enough for a centerpiece ?

(Free for the taking.........you just have to make it to Paso Robles !)

[Gifted Gourmet]

Think  I'll have enough for a centerpiece ? 

(Free for the taking.........you just have to make it to Paso Robles !)

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Actually, dockhl, I do visit my daughter in Santa Cruz several times each year ... the persimmons look delectable! and tres photogenic!

[ludja]

Persimmons and pomegranates..........

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Mine is going to be another autumnal California-inspired centerpiece--persimmons and lemons from a friend's tree.

[moosnsqrl]

I love the crust cornucopia idea and, as luck would have it, have the week off so I might actually do it.

We kind of have a running joke about croque em bouche with the friends who are hosting Thanksgiving this year (last Christmas Eve I constructed one from doughnut holes and canned frosting with sprinkles, to give you an idea of the depths to which we have descended). They would certainly be surprised if I showed up with something tasteful (and tasty, apparently, too).

Have any of you made these and filled them with the intent of actually consuming them? Just curious.

Oh, and GG, I would only add some herbs to the mix you've described -- rosemary and sage are (IMHO) pretty, aromatic and evocative of the flavors of the season.

[andiesenji]

If your are asking about filling and eating the cornucopia - no.

I have however made little cream horns and filled them with a savory whipped cheese mixture for appetisers, I just pulled them off the cones before they set completely and bent the pointed end a little to make it shaped more like a cornucopia.

I now use this recipe since my recipe makes 200 and it does not convert well.

For the filling I just mix cream cheese and sour cream half and half, beat until fluffy, I add a little heavy cream if it is too stiff to go through the pastry tube.

I add crumbled Stilton and fines herbs to taste. The cheese is salty enough to flavor it.

I sometimes add a little ground chile, mild to hot, depending on who is going to be eating.

There are hundreds of seasonings that will work.

alterantives are grated asiago, parmesan, etc., for those who do not like blue cheeses.

croquembosch can also be filled with savory fillings and can be formed around a styrofoam cone, covered with gold foil (or any other color- I just happen to prefer gold) so it will not collapse and even when partially gone, it still looks pretty good.

Edited November 20, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[Jennifer Iannolo]

Don't you know that children belong at a card table in the kitchen?  And that particularly rowdy children may have to sit in the kitchen until they are 27?

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I HATED the kids' table. Thankfully my siblings are much older, so their children enabled me to jump the gap more quickly.

See, the problem is that I can still SEE said table from my vantage point. Hence the wonderful cornucopia of delight.

[jgm]

In today's Wichita Eagle is a story about local women who've done a DVD entitled "What's Your Table Wearing the 4 Seasons?" Here's where to read the story.

The story doesn't say so, but it wouldn't surprise me if these are two of the women involved in the local "Holiday Tables" fundraiser for a local arts organization. Over the years, some of those tables have been breathtakingly gorgeous; even the ones that were "over the top" had great ideas to steal.

If the link above eventually expires, the name of the article in the Wichita Eagle is "Turning the Tables." And according to the article, the DVD is available on Amazon.

[Gifted Gourmet]

The table centerpiece is basically complete and the table is also set ...

[Gifted Gourmet]

(bumping this topic up again due to the season and upcoming holiday)

Are you currently contemplating what your bountiful feast will look like upon your table this Thanksgiving?

Will you opt for simplicity: two cans of jellied cranberry sauce flanking your turkey?

A cornucopia filled with seasonal fruits and vegetables?

Something avant garde?

A Hallmark popup turkey with ruffled paper feathers?

Love to hear what you plan to do! or even avoid, as your guests converge upon your home ...

[Kim Shook]

I like the combo of green and orange and purple. Mainly green and purple with the orange as accent. Pears, green apples, some gourds (not the real warty ones, they skeeve me out a little - I don't like to be reminded of skin eruptions while I'm eating ), eggplants and mini pumpkins. Around this time of year, you can sometimes find a gorgeous hydrangea that is a deep dusky olive green and purple with an almost bronze tinge to the edges - beautiful with the green and purple fruits and vegetables. Kim

[Kris]

When it comes to stuff like this, I'm not as creative as some of you are.

So I just ordered a floral arrangement with some candles. LOL

[tigerwoman]

brussel sprouts on the stem make a great fall/early winter table decoration

wish I had pictures but had a crash earlier in the year and lost alot of photos. UGGGh...

[Gifted Gourmet]

I spent far too much time constructing my centerpiece last Thanksgiving .. this year I made some floral bouquets and focused upon the food ...