COOK! STYLE! UNBOX! ♥️ Italian Wedding Soup | Elegant Table Styling | Pretty New Plates! #lifestyle

Hello, my darlings! 💕 Welcome to another fabulous episode – our special time together, which I truly treasure! 😘

Today I’m in the kitchen making Italian Wedding Soup—such an easy recipe and an absolute taste bomb! From there, I’ll take you through some of my favourite tabletop pieces – plates, dishes, placemats, napkins, and more – to show how I’ve built a “wardrobe” of beautiful wares. This lets me set a table for any occasion in a way that feels both creative and organised.

Whether it’s a casual lunch with girlfriends (like today’s soup and catch-up!), a relaxed backyard barbecue, or a glamorous dinner for ten, I can always create a table that celebrates in style. And to finish, I’ll be unboxing some gorgeous new plates that have just arrived -perfect for inspiring fresh ideas at the table!

I hope you enjoy this time together as much as I do. Please leave me a comment to let me know how you’re going – I love hearing from you and will reply back.

With love always,

Sarah xo 🌸

Director of Photography 🎥 @1sttakemedia (film/edit/produced)

Hi friends, it’s Sarah Foster at Country Style and Life and welcome to the kitchen today. You know, after the success of House Tour, everybody said, “Let’s have a time in the kitchen.” And I thought making some Italian wedding soup, a real family favorite, was just the recipe. And I love to have your company. So, come and pull up a chair. Then, we’re actually going to set the table for lunch. I’ve got a few girlfriends coming around, so that’ll be nice. And as a little something extra, I’ve got some beautiful table wear to share with you because again, you girls said we want to see more detail. So, a gorgeous episode coming up. Come and plop yourself here at the kitchen bistro bench. Let’s make Italian wedding soup. [Music] I am so happy to have your company, my darlings. Thank you for joining me today here at the Kitchen Bisto Bench. And if you’ve been following me on Instagram, you know that I just love being in this space. And of course, when we did house two and I I showed you the kitchen and I really was trying to convey to you and I I think you received it. Well, this is just my little happy place. You know, I’m really quite a homebody. So, in actual fact, having people over and cooking here is my happy place these days. So, it’s wonderful for you to be here. And I thought, what can we make that’s nice and easy? You know, we’re still, it’s August, so we’re still officially in winter here in Australia. So, it’s still soup time, but of course, spring only a few weeks away. And one of my favorites is Italian wedding soup because it’s just got that lovely healthy uh fine kind of soup texture to it. Beautiful chicken broth of course and all the you know the usual suspects the mirror pua which of course is a fancy pants French term for literally just celery, carrots and onion and sweating them. Uh is that lovely soup base which of course it’s the base for so many good dishes. And then the secret is in the meatballs which I love to make. Been making meatballs and spaghetti for the kids for forever. So these ones are a little smaller than the usual meatballs and spaghetti and just a really happy simple lunch. So let me show you what’s involved. What are our ingredients first off? So it’s interesting. The hero of this dish is escarole, which is the beautiful um chory family end dive here in Australia. Um that we put in at the very end once our soup is all ready to go. The other gorgeous thing is there’s pasta as well. So just a little fine, a little pasta that we put in at the end. So this soup has everything. a little bit of meatball, which is beautifully flavored, of course, pasta, and then just the soupy goodness. It’s a real It’s a real winner. Now, the most important thing, in fact, to start off with, I must say to you, oh, here, let’s take the jewels off. We don’t need to be wearing these while we’re cooking. Uh, the most important thing is to say, look, I’m not saying come and follow me because I’m a cook. I’m not. I’m following lots of other people here on YouTube and I wanted to actually share two of my absolute favorites with you where I follow this recipe from and I think like everybody the whole wide world during co we were watching so many cooking shows on YouTube weren’t we? Two of my favorites not another cooking show which I think is actually a very clever name. gorgeous young Steve. He is an Italian New Yorker and he’s got a fantastic channel. I mean, you know, a million plus viewers. I think he’s really um he looks like a terrific young bloke, young family man. And he seems to be really teaching, you know, young I would actually say a lot of young men his age how to cook and to have that beautiful appreciation for cooking and good food, which I think is really admirable. And so I rather like old Steve. And then my other favorite is Nonina who is also uh in the US. So Nonagena’s got born at Petiti and she is from New Jersey originally from Italy. So what Nonagena says to do we do and what Steve says to do we do. They are Italian. They know. The other important thing to start off with is Italian wedding suit. You might be thinking, “Oh, that sounds nice, Sarah. Do they serve that at Italian weddings?” And the funny thing is actually no. What the term wedding refers to in this recipe is in fact the marriage between our meat and I’ve got um some beautiful pork and beef and in fact some sausage meat here as well which the butcher said to me you know add in um strictly speaking Steve and nonena don’t add the sausage meat but Steve said you could so I’m I’m going to um and The sausage meat’s already got preflavorings in it. So, it actually really adds a, you know, a little kind of punch to the meatball itself. So, I’m loving that. And then, of course, it’s just all the basics of um, as I said, the Mala. So, I’m actually going to wash the um the escarol. And rather than just uh running it under the tap, I actually fill it up in this very big uh lovely bowl of water and immerse it fully because what comes out of it is something else. And particularly do this when you bringing in something from literally the kitchen garden. I’ve just gone and picked this beautiful kale. Look at that. Isn’t that gorgeous? So just going to immerse them in water. I’m actually going to do this three times because what comes out is something else. And if you just run them under the tap, uh you just don’t you might not capture absolutely all the little bits and pieces. There’s always sand and grit and yeah, like you should see what came out just then. So that’s just a little tip. So that’s what we’re doing here first. Okay. So then I’m, you know, you’re just cutting that up roughly because this is all going in the soup at the end. And you might think, gee, that looks like a lot. But you watch and wait. It just whiffles down to, you know, absolutely nothing. And it just becomes ribbons of beautiful, fresh, lovely. I mean, that just looks healthy, doesn’t it? Now, the other thing is I’ve actually just got my laptop here because I was just keeping an eye on Nana Gina. She’s so beautiful. I think she’s had five children and she’s got lots of lovely grandchildren. So, go and follow, please. I’ve got the links there um on the screen. And Steve, they’re both incredible. And you know, both of them uh Steve does an annual book um for his um you know, people who subscribe. And Nona’s got a book on Amazon, which is actually on my next Amazon shop. So, there you go. All right. There’s our beautiful escar for the soup. Just looks good. So, let’s get into this. So, I’ll just quickly again mention this. So, your mirror pua, which is the French term for the carrot, celery, and onion combination, and just gently sweating them, which we do as the first uh basis of the soup. We don’t want any color in that. So, that’s the beautiful little trio there. And there’s some garlic in that, of course. And then for the meatballs, we’ve got some cream. We’ve got some lovely Italian breadrumbs. They’re already pre flavored from the Italian groceryer. We’ve got a great Italian groceryer here on the Morningington Peninsula. Oo, who, you know, is is my favorite shop. Um, beautiful. Oh, Pecarino Romano. So, not Parmesan. Both mama and Steve insist on the Pecarino Romano. Apparently, it flavors the meat. You know, it gives it much more um flavor there. Salt and pepper. That’s obvious. We need a little egg to, you know, bind everything together. We’re about to plunk everything into my big mixing bowl. Fresh parsley. Always have that in the garden, of course. Uh some minced garlic here. And some beautiful stock is for our soup. So Steve and Nana tend to make their own. I mean, I have made my own stock, chicken stock, in the past if I’ve had like an entire Saturday at home with nothing else to do. Otherwise, I buy just a very well-known Australian chef’s version, which is at our local supermarket. Salt and pepper. I’ve said all of that. So, voila. Let’s get going. Okay, you’re going to want a nice big bowl for this. And I thought that I’d just bring my beautiful new. Isn’t it adorable? Um it’s just a cute bright yellow with the bumblebees on it. So lovely big bowl because in goes your meat. And as I said, the sausage meat, uh Steve references it as saying you can have it, but in his particular demonstration, he doesn’t actually use it. But I’ve started to use it and I actually really like it. I think it adds Yeah. some kind of punch. Then we’re to make a little sludge. So we’ve got which is not an especially um I don’t think that’s a technical term. So we’ve got some cream. So I’ll just open that. So little bit of cream. Now obviously for all of the recipes you go to their page because all the details are there for you laid out beautifully. Now, the cream’s for keeping these meatballs lovely and moist. So, we’ve got a beautiful got an egg. We’re adding our cheese. We’re adding our bread crumbs. We’re adding our parsley. Lovely fresh chopped parsley. We’re just microplaning a lovely big fat. Bit of garlic there. Oh, yum. And this is so Yeah, you’ve just got the nice, you know, it’s all smooshy when you microplane it. Immediately have to go and wash the hands, of course. Yeah. Oh, yum. Just smell it. Beautiful. Lots of salt. Lots of salt. With that amount of meat can take the salt and pepper. I love lots of pepper. Well, for a sludge, as Steve refers to it, it smells really, really good. And literally that’s our egg into the cream, the cheese, the bread crumbs, that garlic. Oh, anytime you’ve got garlic, it’s a good day, don’t you think? And then all of that into and all of that into our meat. And there’s a lot of flavor in there, which is just, you know, simple. And the thing I actually like about this dish, too, is, you know, it’s really budget friendly. It’s family friendly. It’s it’s, you know, it’s easy. It’s it’s nice. So, let’s just mix this around. I noticed Steve put in a fraction more cream. I’m just going to see how I go. The first thing I’m going to do is using Cook’s best clean hands, best tools as everybody says. And the thing I learned, um, the other person I love who does this is Rachel Ray. So, you know, aa does it. Obviously, Martha does this recipe. Giata does it, Lydia does it, you know, Nigella does it or everybody does it and Rachel Ray is also another favorite cook. Remember 30inut meals that she used to have on? I used to love that. And Olympia and I would watch that in the afternoon. And um yeah, that’s and Olympia loves to cook too, which is really fun. And she always said, “Keep one hand free and just see if you can do it with uh with one hand.” And so I’m just going to do that now. And even with my my left hand, not my right hand. And so you just getting in there, mixing that all up. And slightly messy job, but you know, someone’s got to do do it. And the end result is really nice. Yes, these are going to be lovely and moist. I can feel that. So there you go. That’s just mixed in beautifully. One hand. So I could chat on the phone if I wanted to or put my lippy on while while I’m doing this. But I think I’ll just focus on the job at hand. This smells fantastic. And look at that. Just, you know, really I smell just everything in there. So, we want small little meatballs for this. So, you can just take a teaspoon. And you know, yeah, that’s about the size you want. Just little ones. And the point of that is, oh, you know what? Before I do that, I’m going to show you a little trick that, you know, again, I saw someone do online. So, I’ve just got some rice uh brand spray and just to keep my hands moist. So now, as I said, not not the big ones from like you do with spaghetti. So just, you know, nice little ones because the whole point of that is get them on the spoon. So, and the other thing is I actually put these in the fridge just while I’m preparing the soup. And I think neither Nona or uh Steve mentioned that, but that is something I’ve been doing with meatballs since oh, you know, I mean, as I said, I’ve been making them, you know, 20 plus years or something, even more. The kids, it’s a real favorite with the kids. I used to do it on a Sunday. Um, a Sunday night was always spaghetti and meatballs. So, what am I saying about that? So yes, in the Nigella recipe, which I is where I do her meatball in spaghetti sauce, which is really beautiful. Um, she says to refrigerate the meatballs for about an hour. And I think what it does it I mean it obviously it just firms them up. It’s just, you know, kind of gives them u a little structure. So that’s what I’m going to do here as well. We’re going to just fill this tray up and it’s quite, you know, it’s quite meditative. Just you can just think about, you know, anything you like really. Say your prayers, think about people, think about things you got to do or think of nothing at all. [Music] So, just for lunch today, this is all I need. So, these will go into the fridge, as I said, just for maybe the half hour or so, just while I’m getting the soup ready. I’ve actually got some leftover meat mixture there. So, I’m actually then just going to, you know, I’ll freeze this because I have enough meatballs. So, yeah, I’ll just freeze this and that can easily be brought out. Um, you know, might make a meatloaf. Ooh, nice. Yes, I do the inaug meatloaf. Let’s do that another time. And she does the beautiful puts the tomato sauce on top of it. And oh, that’s really good, too. Anyhow, one dish at a time. Hey, so time for the soup. So, nice big heavy based pot. I’ve had that old girl for a very long time. Olive oil and then your beautiful onions, carrots, and [Music] celery. [Music] So this is very easy process for 10 15 minutes just very gently we’re sweating the onions, carrots and the celery together. Maybe a bit of salt at this time is good. And the reason that we’re sweating is, yeah, we just do not want any color. So, as Steve says, just take your time with it and just, you know, give it a little stir and leave it be. Uh, it’s interesting. Steve doesn’t add any garlic to his butina does and I would too in thinking if I were an actual cook doing that recipe which I’m not but I do like to have garlic in this as well. It seems like a natural fit doesn’t it. So not a Gina is putting hers in at the same time. But I actually think I like with garlic I don’t know maybe my stove runs fast or something. I like to just add it in just at the end and then once I can smell the fragrance of the garlic um that’s when I will put in the chicken broth. Now there’s a lot more broth to come in this. There’s three quarts which is oh six cups or something you know you know for our measurements. So, as I said, for any of the, you know, the full description, the full measurements and everything, uh, you know, check out Not Another Cooking Show and Appetite. [Music] So, I put that garlic just in minute or two ago, and now I can really smell it, which is gorgeous. Best fragrance ever in the kitchen. So, it’s time for some some of the chicken broth. Now, there’s three quarts in uh Gina and Steve’s measurements. So, that is in one quart. It’s four cups. So, we need 12 cups of chicken stock is the is the point there. So, yeah, let’s get that in. So, there’s a lot. Uh in actual fact, Steve puts in less stock and then he adds some water whereas Nonina doesn’t. So, you know, I might just go um might do 10 cups of broth and two cups of water. How about that? I’ll work it out. So, I’ve ended up doing eight cups of chicken stock and then I’ll do four cups of water to bring it up to a total of 3 quarts of liquid. Yeah, it gets a little confusing, doesn’t it, between all the different measurements, but we managed. So, I’m just going to let this go for a few more minutes and then let’s get those meatballs from the fridge into the soup. So, at this point, been going for about 10 minutes or so. So, let’s just do a little taste test. Just check that. [Music] Does it need any more salt or pepper? I don’t think it will. before we put the meatballs in. That’s the key. Lovely. No, it doesn’t eat anything. Perfect. So, the soup’s smelling gorgeous. It’s tasting perfect. And now it’s time for our meatballs to go in. And look, certainly putting them Oh, putting them into There’s our greenery ready to go in into the fridge, as I said, has just set them a little bit. So, just being very, very careful. And you want to just gently roll them in. And the funny thing is I actually started off with the perfect little size, but as I went on, they they got a little bigger. So, we’re just gently popping these in one by one, [Music] and they’re going to cook for about 10 15 minutes. U Some people bake them or or even fry them. Aa likes to bake them. I think Lydia fries hers and then some people just put them in as is. And as I said, Gina and Steve are the boss today. So that’s what I’m going to do. And in cooking them for, you know, 10 15 minutes on a very gentle gentle heat because that’ll give them the time to cook through. Um, you don’t want to be boiling the soup because you don’t want to be breaking apart the meatball. But certainly, I can feel that time in the fridge has really helped. So, that’s good. So, gentle, gentle, gentle simmer for 15 minutes. Then, I’m just taking one of these guys and just very gently, just gentle, gentle, giving that a little stir. And then leaving them bean. Yeah. To cook. Greenery is ready to go. Putting my pasta on. That’s next. [Music] Okay, we’re at the very last step now, my darlings. Time for our beautiful leafy greens, our beautiful escarol. And uh or as I said here in Australia, end dive, chory, and kale andor spinach. Um you can use any of those, you know, because they’ve all got a little bit of structure to them. So, as I said, beautiful kale from the garden. Now, that looks like a whole lot, doesn’t it? And it is, but of course, as you can well imagine, and I’ve left room in, you know, my soup has just, you know, reduces ever so slightly, so there’s room in the pot. But watch this. All All of that is going to just reduce to ribbons of beautiful leafy green goodness. Oh, last handful. There we go. Absolutely gorgeous. So, I’m just going to give this a gentle pat down and just allow it to simmer. continue simmering uh just for a little bit and that’s going to be ready soon. So, we serve this with some parmesan and um Steve likes to drizzle a little olive oil on his so I’ll go and get all of that ready but I can hardly wait for this. Okay, so time for our pasta, which is a really important and fabulous uh ingredient in the soup. As I said at the very beginning, you’ve got all that lovely soupy goodness. Then that bite and yum, the cheesy, you know, lovely meatball and then a little bit of pasta. Now, you just want a little just a little pasta, you know, just a little macaroni here. Datali number 61 it is. you don’t want, but then again, look, please, you know, everybody does whatever it is they like to do. But you want the little pastas, not the big um, you know, tubular pasta that you’d use for a ragu or something. So, this is what we need. So, and we’re only going to cook this about halfway because then the rest, you guessed it, is going in the soup to finish off. Well, who’s in the mood for some soup? some delicious Italian wedding soup. Let’s Let’s serve this up. And I can smell the goodness. And the broth has just that beautiful clear, you know, clearness, is that a word to it? The leafy greens have just reduced to barely anything as I knew they would. Okay. Smells so good. I’ll just put that aside. So, that is going to be a really lovely, lovely, lovely lunch for my girls when they arrive. [Music] I I just want to enjoy the fragrance of this because it is so good. So, let’s get a spoon and Oh, yes. So, a little parmesan at this point, which is nice. So, on your soup. Oh, lovely. And as I said, Steve actually had some he had did a little drizzle or just a little drizzle of olive oil. [Music] La. And you know the little This is it. It’s It’s a bite size. It’s perfect. Look. Little meatball with the little bit of pasta. It’s very hot though. Let me just I might have to cool down. Oh, so good. It’s very hot. Okay, let’s get the little meatball. [Music] M. [Music] I’m sorry. Can’t talk with my mouth full. Do you know what it is? That sausage meat really does add some punch. It’s I can taste the beautiful cheese. I can taste lovely just everything. The herbs. The broth is do you can feel it doing you good. [Music] Perfect little pasta. Perfect little surface pasta there. M [Music] perfecto. I wish I could talk Italian so I could say and all those good words and congratulate myself for making this sweeties. You’re going to really enjoy this. And as I said, you know, I’m the recipe follower. There are loads of different versions of this out there on YouTube, but as I said, Steve, and thank you to Steve and to Nona for their instruction because I think they’ve done such a beautiful job of uh teaching us how to do this. And it’s just, as I said, it’s a very it’s the best of Italian kind of peasant rustic food, which I personally really like. As I mentioned earlier, in terms of cooking, I don’t regard myself as a good cook. The kids are sweet and they always say, “No, mom, you’re a really nice cook.” And I think it’s more that um I’m not an adventurous cook. I stick to things that I really know and like. and French and Italian are kind of my my faded um styles of or you know kind of food to eat and just to do something that you really enjoy that your friends then enjoy and offer it in such a way so that you’re gathering people around your table. I think that that’s what’s tasty. That’s what’s real in life and that’s what people you know the people you love enjoy. This is just beautiful. A beautiful plate of love. Enjoy. [Music] [Music] So, do you know what came out of house tour? You girls really enjoyed seeing all the little pretty things that I’ve got here at home. My collection of cutlery, crockery, and glassear. And quite a few comments were, can we see more of it? So, I thought today, let’s have a big grownup girly show and tell with all the lovely things. And of course, you know, these are things that I’ve been collecting for over 30 years when I look at them. You know, this gorgeous little gingham napkin, the green and white, such a classic. That’s an old, some of you might recognize this Laura Ashley, 30 years old. Same with this little the lemon one. I’ve got lots of lemon cushions and things. So, I got all of this when Alex was just a baby. So, some things collected over a very, very long time. And then, of course, there are some new little things like this mad little um little pretty penny. The napkin ring just came in during the week. Something a bit silly there. And the whole idea in sharing this with you girls is to say uh how I put a table together. Of course, we’ve made our soup. We’re now going to set the table for just a casual lunch. And I just want to share with you what my philosophy is in how I put a table together. So yeah, let’s have a little look. So the first thing to really say about this is do you remember in our first video uh where we set a table for spring lunch, our very first video. Uh and I did refer to the fact that I approached setting the table in the way that I do when I go to get dressed. And of course if you’ve watched our last video, makes it sound like I’ve got this huge repertoire of videos for you. Do you know this is only our sixth video? But look, we’re loving loving loving having all this gorgeous time together. So, thank you for being here. Uh the last video we did from fashion to flowers where I shared the story of my early years as a fashion consultant here in Melbourne, wardrobe stylist where and then I went to the farm. But in those days, I actually my whole life was about helping women find the clothes, get the clothes, get dressed, style the clothes in their wardrobe so that they looked and felt great. And for me, it was always about a really good collection of things. I’m not one of those people, and nor did I sort of advocate for it. For most women, I think most women want sort of a down to earth, easygoing wardrobe of pieces that they can then just select, dress, get dressed quickly, go from occasion to occasion, from weather to weather, that kind of thing, which I think you can do when you’ve got pieces that come together. But, you know, look, I’ve got girlfriends who are clothes horses with incredible fashion pieces, the latest thing, and they always look gorgeous. My philosophy is just a little more um all simplified I guess. So the same idea comes when I look at all my home wares and all the the things that I have to set the table. Have I got the basics? Yes, I do. Have I got a color scheme? For sure. Am I then adding interest and texture and color and with print and pattern? Yes. And at any given day or time of the year or occasion, I’ve got all the little things that work together. It’s like a big gorgeous colorful jigsaw piece. So, the number one thing to start with for me is to then look around and say, “Well, how does my table then reflect my decorating style? How does it reflect the house?” And I think at a at a glance you can see florals color green is my number one color. Then pink, pops of orange. Um oh purple, our lavenders. We love we love our purple and lavender. So I’ve got my color palette and then I’ve got lots of lovely little prints and textures and details and things that then work. And that goes in four plates, the napkins, the napkin rings, you know, dinner wear set, everything. So, I’m going to start with my number one um dishes. Beautiful green dishes that I’ve had for about 10 years now. So, plain dishes first, I think. So, beautiful. Love this. This is from Provincial Home Living, which is a a great Australian retailer. beautiful plate in the green, Britannia green that’s referred to. It’s also I think still available uh also in white. So the green to me I mean particularly when you see how you know the house is entirely green with the green walls that to me is a neutral. So green as a neutral then allows me to kind of you know bring in other colors and prints and whatnot. So, and then also in green we’ve got our beautiful cabbage wear that we’re all loving. Um, you know, I love this little um style and then just the classic round. So, even then doing you know things together sort of layering your pieces as well is a really big part of it. So, having basics first and foremost I think is the way to go. Got to have a lovely white beautiful white set. Now, this is oh my goodness, this is this is about 20 years old. So, classic white. And again, also, you’ll notice straight away, what is our theme? Well, it’s sort of French provincial. It’s certainly a very feminine aesthetic. Um, I’m not into anything modern or sharp or, you know, modern edges and that kind of thing. Everything’s got a little bit of kind of girly glam to it. So pretty little detail is always a nice thing to have. So my pieces are completely reflecting my whole styling and decorating ethos. I love these. Look at these. Because of course too, you know, I love a pop of orange and you know, I’ve got my two beautiful orange topiaries there. So always bringing in things that work together. you know, there’s lots of pops of orange around. It might be in a cushion. It’s there in a throw. It’s there in a picture. It’s there in a teacup. So, there’s always a story. Always working together. Again, old. Now, this is from House uh another great Australian retailer. And I saw these that entire pile there. They were displayed outside in outside their store on a main road. Now, that would have been about 2007. And I can’t tell you, I fairly, you know, pulled up, you know, with the parking, saw them, ran to get them, and there were about 20 plates, and they were about $9 each, and I snafooed the lot of them. You cannot ever see a plate like that around. Of course, over the years, I think I’m down to about a dozen now. The kids have managed, you know, they slam the dishwasher door on you and the next thing you know. So, orange with the green, oh, white. And then, of course, oh, my favorites. And I did show you these in our setting the table. Oh, my beautiful [Music] from Anna Weatherly. Now, they’re a charger, so strictly speaking, they not meant to be used as a dinner plate, but every once in a blue moon, I will use them as a dinner plate. And so, Anna Wely is of course uh based in in Washington, I think, and she has um the most incredible collection, beautiful florals, very expensive, and so all I could afford was the plain charger. But I love these. These are hand decorated and yeah, Anna Wely designs hand decorated. Thank you, Anna. And can I just say getting them into the country, I think I’ve got a dozen. Um, cost more. Oh, the tax, the import tax was more than the actual plate, but I love this so much. And of course, that’s a real signature color for me, isn’t it? So you can see straight away, my darlings, they’re my plains. White, green, and various styles of green. I don’t just have one. I’ve got, you know, three of them, orange, our lavender, and that for anybody. What’s missing? Yeah, it’ be great if I had a hot pink hot pink plate. Not to worry, we’ve got hot pink napkins that will work. So, next, let’s look at my favorite favorite pattern of all time, Port Marian. So, anyone who’s been following me for any length of time knows that I am bonkers. I admit it for the gorgeous Port Marian. Specifically, the design beautiful gardens designed by Susan Williams Ellis and it’s Port Marian is of course a town in North Wales u but the company is based in England. And you know, I’m so admiring the artwork. You know, I look at I look at it and I’m just literally drawn into this incredible world of flowers and nature and bees and butterflies and beauty. And of course, look at the color scheme. It’s just got my name all over it. So, the Botanic Garden series is exquisite. So, that’s the sweet P. I mean, I won’t go through all of them with you. We’ll be here all day. Fox glove. And this to me was worth every penny. And I bought this. I had a very funny I’ll tell you a funny story. The clemetus. Look at that. Well, I’m growing that out in the courtyard. And we will be seeing my beautiful purple clemetus in the summertime when it blooms. Look at the tulips. How could I not have that? Look at this. So exquisite. As I said, the colors, the artwork, the cleverness. pink parrot chils which I’m also growing. But I did actually buy this collection um when I found out that I was no longer my services as a wife were no longer required and I was being sumearily dismissed and divorced without so much as a buy or leave. I had always wanted this but it was very expensive. Well, forget about it. The second I found out about all that. You can imagine like many wives in that position, I went out and I just bought every bit of Port Mir that I could find. Now that’s 18 years ago. And you know what? Worth every penny because I’ve loved it and I’ve used it and enjoyed it. And look at this, the sunflowers. Perfection. So my darlings, obviously what works here is the incredible and I’ve got then the dinner plates. I think I’ve got about 14 there. We’ve got soup bowls. Probably be using those today. Teapot, the teacups, the little ramicans, uh side plates, butter plates, even the gorgeous napkin with the little dragonfly there. So, you know, I can put Port Mirian on Port Marian little vase. I’ve got huge vase. I’ve got all sorts of Oh, look at this. Look, look, look, look. Even my little bell. My little come to dinner bell. I found that that’s the lilac. I found that in a little little bricker bra store. Um and of course, you know, saw it in a cabinet and had to have it. So, investing in a dinner wear piece that’s perhaps your signature. And of course, I’ve got Amma as well, which is the incredible um you know, classic design that al was actually given as a wedding present. So, I got to keep the dinner set. I got to keep Emma Polola. And to me, it’s I think it’s really nice for you to have, you know, maybe you’ve got something that’s a signature um you know, dinner wear set in your home. If you do, tell me in the comments. I’d love to know. And of course, how does Port Miring and match back with all the green? I mean, it’s absolute perfection here. Let me just look at that. the panties with my charger. So, can you see the story that we’re building? So, everything has a purpose, everything has a place, everything is practical, and everything’s pretty. And then another gorgeous floral design that I absolutely love is the beautiful Chelsea collection. So look at this just exquisite um available at the Royal Collection Shop. So beautiful dinner plate there. And I do believe that this was designed is it for the queen mother? I think. and um to represent cuz of course you know always loving the little cup of tea. So I’ve got the little teacup. This is sweet. The little cake plate. And again, you know, you can see at a glance, can’t you? How easy then to just have a little, you know, a little green napkin there, a little lilac one, you know. So, I’ve always got, you know, the opportunity to play around and create something, you know, really special and pretty for for my guests. I’ve got the placements. These are fabulous, too, from Yeah. the Royal Collection Trust, uh, also on the Highrove website as well to me. I mean, I’ll be handing all of this down to Olympia and Alex and their, you know, to their partners and their households and hopefully, you know, some grandchildren will be along one day. I mean, look at this. This is just going to go on for time immemorial. And, you know, the beautiful That’s the lilac portion. Look at this. So, whenever, you know, I can bring in and you can just see the mixing and matching potential that sort of dressy. But this this could be, you know, that works too, doesn’t it? Something more just a little bit more casual with the gingham. So, that’s the whole idea in a nutshell, my darlings. It’s not, you know, it’s not rocket science. It’s pretty easy to put together. Oh, look. These are beautiful, too. I did show you this in house, too. That’s a little sandwich plate. So, if we’re just having, you know, a little cup of tea, a little chicken sandwich, that that is our setting. And look here, we could go we could just bring in a little green napkin. It’s pretty. Or we could do picking up on that beautiful bright pink. As I said, these are a bit flamboyant, aren’t they? The little penny. But, um, look, I could put her with the penny here. How divine. So mixing and matching. What is your occasion? Casual, dressy. In fact, this Friday night I’ve got um girls dinner on. So yeah, I’m really going to be able to glam the table up. Is it just a bowl of soup, which is what we’re going to set the table for in a moment. And also, oh here, let’s talk um collector’s item. I just want to show you these. These are gorgeous, too. Oh my heavens. Look, it’s so beautiful. These little plates, I have to tell you, I actually bought as a treat for myself for Christmas. These are from, and I’m sure many of you girls in the UK would recognize this Colin Newman’s Country Panorama, a beautiful series that uh done he did, an English artist, I do believe, from 1987. And the plates are actually numbered. I’ll show you these a little more close up. Meadows and Wheatfields is this is um is this one in particular. And again, I found that at our local little brick op shop. We call them opportunity shops here in Australia. So, I found that little one then went down a whole rabbit hole as you do, you know, once I sort of got online and had a little look around and realized that this is a whole collector’s series. the meandering stream. And again, looking looking into the incredible detail. And we’ll share these with you close up. Look, ducks, birds, an otter, liies, bees, butterflies, cows, meadows. Just incredible. So, all scenes of the English countryside. And look at this. rolling hills and grasslands. Isn’t that just wonderful? And I have to tell you that of course again just referencing our last video from fashion to flowers if you were watching that. Oh, look at this. His little otter sticking his nose up. Dragonflies, birds, bluebirds. It’s called the lakeside. Just abs. And the plate as I said, yeah, plate number 81900. So there you go. So again, special pieces, collector’s pieces, things you can hand down. The farm cottage. Oh, look. I might as well go through them all now that we’re here. The farm cottage. Just like a scene out of a fairy tale. Bunnies, rabbits, cats, everybody on the farm, geese, birds. Just superb. And that’s a horse, the hayfield. There you go. The owl, delphiniums, swallows, bees, and beautiful horse in the field. Two more. Oh, this is gorgeous. Look at this. Called the beachwood and bambi. So, beautiful little deer and fox in the background. Birds, you know. Yeah. All the little critters on the ground of the forest, the squirrels. So, in my mind, oh, and this is why, sorry, I’ll finish that thought that I had a moment ago, which was when I saw this, it reminded me of where my farm used to be. And in our last video from fashion to flowers, where I take you out to where I lived in West Gibsland, which was rich dairy country, and literally the soil was chocolate gold. It was just absolutely exquisite. And I had a property that had the most incredible, you know, views just for miles and miles and it was just exquisite. And I loved seeing, you know, what was happening in the fields beyond and, you know, the tractors going and, you know, when they would round up all the hay in the summertime. And it was just really most incredible experience. And this is called the village in the valley. So friends, as you could well imagine, [Music] you know, look, gorgeous little yellow pop of yellow there or here, little pop of orange. So again, when you have Oh, that’s nice. Look, back to our picking up on the purple. So you can see at a glance, can’t you? [Music] Little pop of orange here. Is it pretty? So, I I think it’s nice to have just a few special things that are family heirlooms. Uh this these weren’t massively expensive or anything, but they they are collector’s items on eBay. So, you’re welcome to go down that rabbit hole and see how you go. Just a quick mention, the beautiful pink, you know, the beautiful cabbage wear, the bordello pinhero, the pink. These were a gorgeous gift from my friend Sam. So, loving those is a little bread and butter plate. And of course, you know, any any little napkin’s going to work there, you know, just doing your different colors and things together. So, oh, sorry. One more set. Hang on. You might have seen the video where I did the unboxing of these plates, my darlings. Do you remember that? That was last year. And these are, of course, many of you would recognize this William Sonoma. And uh I love the store replacements in North Carolina. And I know I’ve got lots of you gorgeous girls over in that nick of the woods. If you ever go to replacements, would you please say to them, “Hey, you got a big fan in Sarah down under because I think they do a really fantastic job.” Uh William Sonoma. Um we did have a store here in Victoria in Melbourne, one of the big shopping centers, but it closed down unfortunately. So have to buy online. Now this story is the famili rose story which is absolutely gorgeous. Love, love, love this plate. So again, you know, sort of shinazery style, you know, and I’ve got every napkin, every color under the rainbow to work with this. Love it with the green. Love it with the orange. Look how nice that is. So that’s the the second little plate that belongs there. I mean, look at this. You could do How fabulous is that? So you can see, right? It’s just all mix and match, which is which is easy to do and fun to do. And you know, look at this. So that’s a classic white with the pink plate. And I’m actually waiting. This This is pretty. It’s a nice little floral napkin. And in fact, I’m actually waiting on a delivery. Come on, FedEx. Hurry up. From Replacements because I’ve actually bought the dinner plates that work with the salad plates. So, that will be fun. Let’s talk about some some place mats because of course they also have a huge impact on how you set your table. And sometimes I’ll use a placemat, sometimes I won’t. Again, you know, you’ve seen these before. These are the Rebecca Udal from London or England, I should say, the UK. Absolutely gorgeous. I love these so much. And of course, anytime you’re just putting the whole, you know, green story together, it just gorgeous. So, the beautiful woven napkins there. And then same with these just the waxed and just with the lovely detail I’ve actually got. Oh, let’s do a big stretch the matching napkins there. Pretty. Then I fairly pounced as you can well imagine when I saw these. Gorgeous. Look at the color. Absolutely. I can hardly wait to set that table using the beautiful lilac and lavender, which really is my signature color. So, I wish someone would do a whole thing in in this sort of color. And then if it’s just a super casual, you know, I love to have just the basic, you know, just the nice sort of woven kind of rustic kind of cash, you know, they look great together. Just if you’re doing more of a a farmhouse type arrangement, you know, napkin there. And we could do our orange plate. How about that? Oh, manage that, Sarah. Nice. Cute. And of course, all of them then being accessorized with the gorgeous little napkin rings. You know, something just cheap and cheerful from Amazon, something a little fancy pants, a little dressier, something old. I’ve had these little, look at this, the cicada and on the twile, the beautiful flirty from Provence. What are they 10 years old? So all sorts of different and then just a classic, you know, nice just to have the gold band as it were. So sweeties, there you go. There’s something there’s something for everyone. As the kids really do tease me, they’re like, “Mom, why don’t you open the front door and just put stickers on everything and pretend you’re a shop, but as I like to say to them, you know, I actually don’t go out much. It’s um I’m actually really quite a homebody, which I’m sure you’re kind of picking up on now. So, in actual fact, I prefer to have my friends over. I prefer to make a fuss of them. I prefer to cook. And um you know, as I’ve mentioned when we were doing the soup, I’m not a fancy pants cook, but you know, I can do a good cheese sule. I can do a beautiful um chicken pot pie. I can do a great steak and mashed potato and green beans, great roast, good spaghetti. I do the classics and I do them well. Uh, and I like to then have everything that I need to create, you know, a glamorous, stylish, elegant, happy vibe here at home. Whether we’re having cups of tea, you know, there’s the Port Miriam and the Chelsea collection and a little piece of cake or if I’ve got eight girls for a Sunday lunch, couple of girls at the brow bench. This is in fact my happy place. And yeah, I hope you’ve enjoyed show and tell. So the finishing touches to a table are of course then your glassear and your cutlery. Now in terms of glasses, look behind me. You can see again it’s a color story. We’ve got our purple. We’ve got our purple wine glasses and purple water glasses. We’ve got lots of different green glasses, champagne, wine, uh little water glasses. Some are expensive, some are just little cheap and cheerful, you know, purchases from, you know, the brick store again. So again, you know, when you’re looking at everything, you know, this is not all high-end. As I’ve, you know, mentioned, a lot of things coming in have also, you know, been found on little travels here and there to country towns and I’ll find some napkins or I’ll find some, you know, cutlery or a little glass. But I did just want to show you some of the cutlery. So, I love this beautiful classic black. Isn’t that just gorgeous? Um, lovely. There was a beautiful store here in Melbourne years ago with the silver. So if I’m doing silver, that’s a nice look. See that? So silver little napkin ring and then silver cutlery works in there beautifully on the green napkin. Wonderful. Love that. So yeah, really gorgeous. Um Villaison store doesn’t exist anymore. A lot of girls here in Melbourne who are crying over there. And again, I’m buying classics and then I’ll buy some sort of fun little, you know, fashion trendy kind of um little piece that might work in. So, with your cutlery, I mean, I’ve got drawers and drawers full of, you know, classic basic uh silverware, which my everyday use that I have in the kitchen. Uh, in fact, you know, beautiful set that was given to me as a wedding gift. So you know that would have been 33 years or something mad this year. So 32 years I think. So um that’s for everyday use. So I have silverware. That’s the point on that then. And of course you know we’ve all noticed then that you know lovely gold has really come in in the last few years. So I’ve got a very nice classic basic set of uh simple gold cutlery which is lovely. and that just works in, you know, beautifully everywhere. And then I’ve got a little sort of more of a fancy pants set that’s got the lovely filigree detail on it. That’s very pretty. So, you know, if I’m doing something dressier, um, that’s the kind of cutlery I’ll set out. So again, it’s it’s having these pieces, you know, are we a rustic barbecue lunch, you know, therefore it’s the you know, it’s the woven placemats with, you know, maybe the bright yellow check or the Laura Ashley check and then for example loving all the bamboo. Now, of course, this is in fact very much on trend and you can see it across all sorts of price points in all sorts of stores, but it really in fact uh is a really classic design that’s been around a very very long time. So one of those things of you know suddenly it was out for many many years and then you know it’s come back in and had a big uh resurgence and is there at every price point and then of course beautiful classic silver as I said. You know these have all I love the patina on these. These are about oh 20 years old now and they’ve kind of you know just all looking a bit chipped away at but you know I kind of actually quite like that. So I might use them out in the garden room you know if I’m doing more of a gardening type you know vibe and and look. So sweeties the whole point yeah black classics. Oh, and then of course my beautiful, which I love. And I did show you this when we were setting the spring table video. That’s the beautiful Rebecca oodle, the beautiful tortoise shell. So super chic, super classic, lovely here with the the green cabbage wear look. So as you can see, call me up. Tell me you’re coming over. I’ll set the table for you and I can do it in 5 minutes flat and it would be a pleasure and a joy to do so. So enjoy everything that you have my darlings. Use it every day. Don’t keep things for good which you know I think maybe was you know thinking that perhaps our mothers had um you know things were good and they were kept away you know high in a cupboard only brought out for special occasions. As we well know, the world being what it is, every day is that special occasion. Enjoy all your beautiful things. Have your friends and family over and dress your table with love. Enjoy. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Okay, my darling’s table is set and it’s just got a lovely super casual but still very pretty vibe to it. I’ve got to talk quickly cuz I’ve brought the suit to the table and you know what? Not everybody wants to be on camera. So, my guests are here looking at me going, “Hurry up.” I wanted to tell you though what was here. The old tablecloth. You know, I bought this in 2014 in Provence. I love the colors here. The green that’s got that lovely little bit of lavender in there. The olive oil kind of vibe which gives it a really, you know, that proven style feeling. picking up on the green in everything. We’ve used our plain green plates just as sort of the uh foundational plate. I might I’ve got a little salad that we can serve on this in a moment. There’s our port miran looking very at home. And I didn’t actually show you these, but look quickly. The port miran um what’s that called? That would be called a placemat. So, I literally There you go. Little story little side for bread and butter. And I’ve just used a little smaller little delicate knife that’s got a pretty little tortois shell um print to it. The breadboard. There’s our Port Marian salt and pepper. Now, look, cheap and cheerful. Not everything’s expensive. I got this jug at our version of sort of, you know, the $2 shop. it’s called the reject shop, which is like sort of, you know, Michaels or Lowe’s or Hobby Lobby type store. And same with the glasses. I think they were $2. This was $10. But look how fabulous it is. There’s our gorgeous plain green napkin, which I really love the color. Look how well that’s working in there with the little white rick rack. The other thing is importantly, and I’ll finish on this. When there’s only three, I don’t like the empty seat at the at the end of the table. It kind of looks sad and lonely. So, I just create a little pretty story for down the end of the table. So, please come on, soups on, let’s have back, so I think it’s nice. Oh my goodness. just to have a little cushion um for the back on our seats as well. And oh my darlings, this smells so good. Bong appetite. Enjoy. [Music] Speechless doesn’t happen very often. Quick, call CNN. Call Reuters. I’m speechless at the good luck that we’ve just just happened. Look what’s just arrived. Sorry, I’m being a bit silly. I literally was just on my way out the door, you know, hence my scruffy um my gardening shirt. And remember, I just said I referred to how there was a parcel coming in from FedEx and the wonderful people at Replacements in is North Carolina, I do believe. Just look, I’m actually just a bit excited. I’m sorry. I’m I’m I’m I’m just a bit excited for myself. So, literally, I love hearing, you know, the FedEx truck turn up and from replacements, I had gone back to order the dinner plate cuz I didn’t have them. I had tried to exercise um some moderate um you know, control if you like. But look, it’s almost pointless to have some of the pieces and not the full kind of dining experience. So you will remember um when we did an unboxing I think back in spring of last year and I had bought these beautiful these are the uh entree plates from it’s originally a William Sonoma story and the print or the story is called uh Famil Rose and William Sonoma when you ordered it from them on their website, they decided what went into the collection that you then had to buy as a full kind of set. But replacements, which I really like because I’ve bought things from them when I’ve needed to replace things like a broken teapot from a particular set like Amipola or something like that. And they their website, which I actually really like. I mean, that’s a rabbit hole. You can go down for hours and hours to enjoy. They allow you to actually then buy whatever piece you want individually. If you want to buy one plate, great. You want to buy, you know, 20, have at it. Or it’s just better for the choice. So, I then got the dinner plate. So, I think that’s 23 cm dinner plate in the green. I mean, look at this. Just Am I holding that up? Oh, must be very careful. Look at that. Just gorgeous. So, we have the green. Oh, I I need to just run and get something. Can you hang on a minute? So, I had these three plates. So, there was this gorgeous green. And I know I’ve well I’ve literally just said to you when I look at the incredible artwork I’m really sort of transfixed and transported and you know I think it’s just so pretty beautiful colors things that are inspiring from nature birds bees butterflies. So I’ve got the green and the pink and then this gorgeous one here that I’ve just shared with you. So here look at this. Oh, perfection. So, now I’ve got the beautiful matching plate. So, to me, look, as I’ve said, you know, my whole thing is to really be more of a homebody these days. So, I’d rather have all my beautiful things here at home than go to any fancy pants restaurant anywhere. Look at this. Sorry, I’m being silly. I know many of you will share my enthusiasm for this kind of thing. I mean, I don’t buy jewelry anymore. I don’t buy clothes or shoes or bags. So, this is how I’m spending the children’s inheritance money. How funny. So, yes. And beautifully wrapped. I mean, look, this has come all the way from from the US. So, you know, beautifully wrapped and boxed and so credit to them. Then I had to just finish off the collection with and this really I am going to I am going to put put um put a pin in it and just you know stop stop all this madness. But as I say to the kids, well you know look this is what your mother likes and enjoys and you’ll all be getting it anyway. So you know stop um oh now I’ve got to go and get something else. Hang on a minute. So, of course, as always, my darlings, are you following me on Instagram? I know many of you are, which I’m loving. So, I’m loving having time with you here, and I’m loving having time with you on Instagram as well. And just um I had had a little dinner party just for some gorgeous girlfriends uh the other day and these beautiful little napkin rings came in. Isn’t that just that’s a bit of, you know, bit of silliness if ever I saw it. the peie napkin ring and I was using those and you all said how much you liked them and so now look at this I’ve got the beautiful oh napkins for this set as well look at this so divine so pretty so lovely and of course oh here I’ll just show you that as a big as again it’s it’s the artwork that interests me so much. Beautiful. Look at that. Beautiful size. Just wonderful. William Sonoma. Do you know I had actually been to the William Sonoma store in the Napa Valley when I went on a trip there when I was married back in gee 1998. Long time ago. And yeah, I remember the store and just you know how beautiful it was. love the Nappa Valley. So, who knows? We might get there again one day. And then the tablecloth. I mean, this is just Let’s just quickly have a have a look. Lovely. Lovely big one. So, that’s going to be for my outdoor setting. So, oh my goodness, look at this. Superb. Gorgeous. I’m absolutely so excited. So, I think I found the topic for our next video, my darings. This is perfect for a spring table setting. So, let’s get together again soon and do that. And look, I just wanted to say, you know, to continue to thank you all. just so much love and support and encouragement and kindness and all the good things that you’re sharing with me my friends which I really appreciate and value all of you and your comments. Please continue with your comments even YouTube cuz I’m only a new little channel as you know and you know I’ve had a really wonderful couple well a wonderful sort of month since house tour certainly house tour really you know um put me forward and you know we’ve all found each other and we’re building this gorgeous community which I’m very excited about and even YouTube sends me little notes to say well done Sarah you know congratulations you’re doing well keep up the good work. So, I love that we’re together and we’re enjoying we’re enjoying life together and for the things that bring us pleasure and the things that we can share and learn from each other and be inspired uh by each other. Let’s keep at it. And I will say if you are writing a comment, please let me know your Christian name because you know I like to write back to everybody and you know I like to call everyone by their name. So, I love to know that I’m talking with Gail and Diane and Fran and Rosalind up in Quebec and Jean in Scotland and beautiful, you know, Marina down in, you know, Mexico. It’s just it’s wonderful. It’s very special for me. So, my sweets, there you go. Lots of good things coming up. We are heading into spring here in Australia in just 3 weeks time. I’m so excited. We are going to get out to those gardens, those courtyard gardens. Lots of great things to to look forward to together. So, for right now, let me unpack all of this and get it away wherever you are in the whole wide world, whatever you’re doing, whoever you’re with. I hope that you’re well and happy. Take good care and I look forward to seeing you very soon. Until then, lots of love, my darlings. Take care. God bless. Bye now. [Music] Ding. [Music]