CELEBRATING ROSH HASHANAH WITH MARCHESA
At sundown on October 2nd, Jewish families and friends will gather around the table to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. They'll say special holiday blessings, light candles, pour wine, break bread, and wish each other "L'Shanah Tovah", meaning, a sweet New Year! Since Rosh Hashanah is such a beautiful and meaningful holiday and one of my personal favorites, you can imagine how excited I was when Lenox asked me to create a table for the High Holidays.
Rosh Hashanah, meaning "head of the year", is one of the Highest Holidays on the Jewish Calendar. To celebrate, we serve a traditional meal filled with sweet fall foods, such as apples and honey, in hope the new year will be sweet, and we set the table fit for a celebration. There's good smells of brisket, chicken soup, matzoh balls, seasonal roasted vegetables and fruits, apple pies and honey cake coming from the kitchen. It's our annual Jewish fall feast!
This Rosh Hashanah, my table has a few new things. My daughter, Allie traveled to Italy this summer and brought me back the most beautiful hand-embroidered tablecloth and napkins from Florence. So, when Lenox asked me to create this table, I immediately thought of my new linens from Italy and the Marchesa Shades White Dinnerware that I've had my eye on, forever. The blush and pink embroidered flowers, and details of the leaves, are such a sweet pairing with the soft scalloped, gold finished edges of this pretty dinnerware collection. The best part? This gold edged collection is made of ironstone, has the feel of bone china and is dishwasher and microwave safe!
For this setting I layered the scalloped edge dinner plate, the ruffled edge accent plate and ruffled edge party plate, which can also double as a butter dish, although I have big holiday party plans for these pretty little plates. The pasta bowl is perfect for soup, because it's deep enough to keep a matzoh ball warm and after all, what's more important for Rosh Hashanah? Symbolic of the holiday, I added an apple to each placesetting and a silver honey pot (isn't it sweet?), to the table. I paired the gold edged dinnerware with Lenox Eternal Gold Stemware, lovely gold hammered Marchesa Imperial Caviar Flatware, my Reed & Barton silver candlesticks, white taper candles and added some of my favorite gold stemless glassware for splash of celebrating a holiday.
I usually set the table with fall florals this time of year, but since the embroidered flowers on the tablecloth are some of my favorite shades of pink, and these gorgeous roses were still in bloom, there was no choice. I had to go with pinks! I created a runner of simple greenery down the table and cut these beautiful blooms from the garden, because in this case, less is more.
The oval serving platter from the Marchesa Shades Collection is perfect for serving challah and depending on if I'm serving from the kitchen or at the table, I would use a second platter for the brisket. For those who have noticed, yes, challah takes on a round shape for Rosh Hashanah to represent the cycle of life, but, hey, we live in California. We take what we can get!
I hope you love this table as much as I loved setting it. Whether you're setting a table for two or for twelve this year, make it special. Pull out your chargers, use your best china, crystal, and flatware, and enjoy it. When your table is set, take a moment and say a blessing.
To our extended Jewish family everywhere and from our home to yours, I wish you all "L'Shanah Tovah", and a year full of blessings.
xx, Deborah
Photography: Stefanie Schoen | The Style Safari
Thank you to our friends at Lenox for partnering with us on this post.