Have some soup and poppers at the Friendly Village

It is certainly not uncommon to have unusually warm weather during the winter in central Mississippi. We’ve had rain for days on end, but it’s a sunny day today with a pleasant 75 degrees outside. However, the rain is supposed to start up again tonight and will continue for several days with cooler temps coming in at the first of the week.  To give you a reason that there are so many sick folks right now, today’s high was 76, and Monday’s high will be 36. Yep, rather drastic changes.

As I’ve mentioned before, we love soups and stews during the fall and winter seasons. That being said, I still felt a little silly today when I set the dining room table for soup. It’s way too hot for it, but I’ll be glad of it on Monday!

As most of you know, I love The Friendly Village by Johnson Brothers. When I first started tablescaping, I found many, many patterns of china that I love. However, I kept going back to The Friendly Village. I like the look of transferware a lot, and I love the muted browns, red, and greens of this pattern. To keep tablescaping costs down (not to mention having fun mixing and matching), I often just buy odd pieces of china that I find online or in antique malls. However, with The Friendly Village, I was completely, totally in love with it. It really is pretty common and not hard to find pieces of it.

So in late 2011, I started searching for it at the absolute cheapest price that I could get. I finally found it on Amazon, with one of their secondary sellers. The 24 piece set was really cheap (I don’t remember exactly how much now), and it came with the square salad plates that I really like.

One day it arrived. When I lifted the box to bring it inside, I heard it. The sound was unmistakable. I knew what it was. Before I went any further, I grabbed the camera. As I carefully unpacked the box, I snapped pictures at every point. After I got it unloaded, I actually felt fairly lucky. None of the dinner plates, salad plates, or mugs were broken. This particular set had three sizes of bowls, and I don’t remember how many of them were broken. But it was at least one of each size, and I think one of the sizes had either two or three broken. The box was not packed well at all. I could not believe how little packing material was in the box.

I emailed the seller and sent a few of the pics, telling him that I had more if he needed to see them.  I had figured out how much of a refund I wanted for those broken dishes because I still wanted to keep those that were whole (I did mention that I love this pattern, right?). Very quickly, he refunded that amount, and I was satisfied. I filled in the broken pieces with some eBay purchases in the next few weeks, so I was happy to finally have my Friendly Village set.

I hope you agree that this was a good move for me when you see this table. I started with these round taupe placemats that my mother-in-law gave me recently. Then I added the dinner plate.

Since I was setting the table for  soup, I added the soup bowl.  Because I was wanting to evoke a cold-weather feel (even though it is 75 outside), I used the mug. I really like the size of the mugs and use them often.

You probably remember these napkins from previous ‘scapes. I purchased them from The Napkin Lady, and I really like how they look. I used a simple gold napkin ring and my Hampton Forge soup spoon.

But the more important reason that I chose to use The Friendly Village in today’s tablescape is my new purchase. I was so excited to find this teapot online at a good price. I have mentioned several times that I like pitchers, and I also have a few tea and coffee pots in my collection. I elevated the teapot on a candle holder so that it would be more noticeable. I am looking for the creamer and sugar, and have been outbid a few times on eBay. I’m not worried because I am in no hurry and will get them sooner or later.

I thought that I needed another teapot for some balance on the table, so I chose this vintage brown one. It was part of an inheritance and it is stamped Japan on the bottom. Other than that, I know nothing about its origin. I thought it needed some elevation and used a candle holder for it as well.

The centerpiece is my “work horse” one from Wal-Mart. The black tray holds some wicker balls and a black candle holder. You have seen me use this tray in many different ways, and I will continue to do so. I really like decorative items that can be used in multiple ways.

So now on to the poppers. I’ve been wanting to try some for a while, and finally did so today. I used the basic recipe from The Pioneer Woman. The only thing that I did differently was to not use the chopped green onion. I just couldn’t buy a whole bunch of green onions to use only one. You remember that I’m cheap, right? Her basic recipe says to brush with your favorite bottled or homemade BBQ sauce and that jellies or chutney work as well.

This is what I had in the cabinet. It is called Captain Rodney’s Boucan Glaze. David got it at the store Christmas party. I decided that if I used it, I would not have to buy any BBQ sauce or jelly. I think I may have mentioned in the past that I am cheap.

This is how they looked coming out of the oven. We loved them! They weren’t hard to make, just time consuming. But they were worth every second that we spent on them and then some. Now that we have mastered the basic recipe, I will experiment with different spices, cheeses, and flavors in the future. This recipe can really be adjusted to any taste. Enjoy!

For 36 poppers, you need 18 jalapenos, halved and seeded. Then stuff each half with a mixture of 8 oz. cream cheese and 1/2 cup sharp cheddar. {Her recipe adds one chopped green onion to the mixture.} Wrap each pepper with a half slice of bacon and secure with toothpicks. Because I did not want my peppers sitting in bacon drippings, I put them on the rack in my roasting pan. Brush with BBQ sauce or whatever you want. I think that they would also be good with no glaze at all. Her instructions said to bake at 275 for one hour. However, a little over half way through the cooking, I turned the oven up to 400 because of the other things that I was cooking today. I left them in and just watched them. They still took about an hour.   By the way, for my husband the diabetic, these were a great low-carb recipe. Enjoy!

I am joining: A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday (vignettes, tabletops, tablescapes), Home and Garden Thursday at A Delightsome Life (decorating, gardening, recipes, collecting), Vintage Thingie Thursday at Colorado Lady,   Sunny Simple Life (decorating, projects), Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday (tablescapes) and Metamorphosis Monday, Masterpiece Monday at Boogieboard Cottage (crafts, home decor, thrifty finds),  Cozy Little House for Tweak it Tuesday (deocrating, garden, projects), Treasure Hunt Thursday at From My Front Porch to Yours,  Under the Table and Dreaming for Sunday Showcase (any project or idea made by you this week), Gratitude Sunday at A La Carte, The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home (home & garden), Cuisine Kathleen for Let’s Dish (tablescapes), Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill (home decor, projects, recipes), Cottage Style at Lavender Garden,   The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday (tablescapes),The Thrifty Groove for Thrifty Things Friday (thrifty decorating, tablescapes),Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now (recipes, crafts, home décor), Meet Me Monday at You Are Talking Too Much (projects, decorating, recipes),  Spotlight Saturday at Classy Clutter (recipes, crafts, home décor), Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage (decorating, crafts), Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound (anything pink),You’re Gonna Love It Tuesdays at Kathe with an E (recipes, crafts, home décor), Mop it Up Monday at I Should Be Mopping the Floor (projects, decor, recipes), Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style (recipes, crafts, home décor),  Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House (decor, projects),Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style,  Creative Things at The Vintage Farmhouse,  Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring (decor, projects, recipes),  Tuesday’s Treasures at Uncommon Suburbia (projects, decorating, recipes),  Return to Loveliness at A Delightsome Life (home decor, projects), Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters (centerpieces),Open House Party at No Minimalist Here (crafts, home décor), Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage (memories, projects), Tips and Tidbits at The Stone Gable(projects, home décor, recipes),Thursday Favorite Things at Katherine’s Corner (projects, home décor, recipes), Sizzle into Summer at DIY by Design (home décor, projects)