Tuesday 22 November 2011

Napery Japery

napkinDo you say ‘serviette’ or ‘napkin’? My Mum said the former, as she considered ‘napkins’ to be connected with babies bottoms [note for US friends – Brits say ‘nappies’ not ‘diapers’]

But that’s terribly ‘non-U’ [if that sort of thing bothers you!] Consequently, my Dad had a linen serviette, kept in a shiny chrome serviette ring. Our family only had the one ring – everyone else just had their white damask square folded by their plate. And serviettes were only used for Sunday lunch.

spalt

I have just treated myself to a set of six napkin rings from IKEA. We’ve been using cloth napkins for a while now and these hold them neatly [and they don’t roll!]

They also have a neat little slit along the top, so you can tuck a name card in if you want to mark people's places at the table.

DSCF2743

This napkin is red linen – and has a crest embroidered into the weave at regular intervals. It says “Laker Airways” – which few people remember these days. They operated from 1966-1982, when the owner Sir Freddie Laker went bankrupt. His ‘no frills’ airline was the original model for EasyJet, RyanAir etc.

LakerAirways

I got a set of six napkins for £1 in 1982 in the Bankruptcy Sale! They were unused, so I don’t think they had been anywhere exotic on a plane. Serving up the evening meal by candlelight accompanied by red linen napkins certainly adds an air of sophistication to our repast [even if it is reheated leftovers from the night before!]

5 comments:

  1. I tend to call paper napkins 'serviettes' and the linen ones napkins.

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  2. I was brought up with napkins. The French call them serviettes, of course!

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  3. Napkins here.
    I think that cloth napkins make any meal (even left-overs) special.

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  4. I'm with Like sunshine in the home - paper serviettes and cloth napkins. And we don't tend to use them except on certain occasions. Paper serviettes from the £ shop (when they have the nicer ones in) get used for family occasions, especially when there are too many people to sit at table. And they are composted afterwards. Cloth ones only come out for picnics, especially for those days out when you end up eating in the car

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