Wednesday, May 9, 2018

On the Homefront: Seeing Spots (and Donkeys!) Cinco de Mayo Celebration Table

Pier 1 Fiesta Donkey Salad Plate Set of 4

Originally my Cinco de Mayo table was going to be all about seeing spots, but then I found the Pier 1 Fiesta Donkey Salad Plates shown above, so of course donkeys had to be added to the mix!  While unfortunately no longer available online, you may still be able to find this super cute dinnerware at your local Pier 1 as I did.  My table already had a lot of color, and these plates just added to the fun.  The result is a happy, chaotic, and cheerful setting for a colorful fiesta celebration.  (Unfortunately my limited photography skills resulted in unusually dark images for some reason, but you get the idea.)


Blue cotton placemat; spotted dinner plate (made in Portugal; from HomeGoods a couple of years ago); Pier 1 Fiesta Donkey Salad Plate; brown bowl with multi-colored spots rim (set of 4 found in a local secondhand store); medium blue dessert plate (from Publix years ago); colorful spotted napkin; Tripoli Sand Flatware by Cambridge Silversmiths (from HomeGoods a few years ago); Color Dots Wine Glass (from Pier 1 a few years ago); clear water glass.

The other three settings:





At the head of the table sits my colorful donkey piñata cookie jar (found
many years ago at Target, I think), surrounded by green glass cactus
candlestick holders (from Pier 1 ages ago) and Dalmatians Cinco and
Mayo in colorful sombreros and serapes.

A colorfully striped tray (from Pier 1 last year) will hold the fixings for
sangria, my drink of choice with Mexican food.

A big red bowl for tortilla chips, and two smaller yellow bowls for
lots of guacamole!


Years ago when I lived on St. John, some friends and I would occasionally take in a movie at the theater on St. Thomas.  We would have dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant first (the eponymous parrot is probably long gone, but I wonder if El Papagayo is still there?).  We always ordered the same meal - plates of cheese nachos with bowls of guacamole, and pitchers of the best sangria ever!  I know most people think of beer as the beverage of choice with Mexican food, but for me it will always be sangria.  My menu was inspired by this fond memory of fun with friends, but with the addition of main dish tacos and a dessert to round out the fiesta feast.

For the sangria, I always use a bottled version and add a little orange juice, plus some fruit (berries and citrus slices are good) and possibly seltzer (my husband found an unsweetened lemon-lime seltzer from Kroger that would be perfect).  I like Cruz Garcia Real Sangria Red from Spain because it is relatively easy to find and tastes quite good.  For the dessert, I buy refrigerated individual flan servings because I am terrible at caramelizing sugar so I don't even try to make my own, but if you have better luck than I do then by all means serve homemade!

Colorful Cinco de Mayo Menu:

Sangria (or Beer)
Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
Caramel Flan

🌵🐴🎉🌵🐴🎉🌵🐴🎉🌵🐴🎉🌵🐴🎉🌵🐴🎉🌵🐴🎉🌵🐴🎉

Diego the Dalmatian wins the prize for silliest costume ever!

The past couple of weeks have been unusually busy around here, so as usual I am a little late getting this tablescape posted, but I hope everyone enjoyed a great Cinco de Mayo and/or Kentucky Derby day celebration!
             

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