Cinco De Mayo is around the corner, so I thought I would do a write up along those lines.
When closing out our parents house, I acquired vintage serape like linens from my Mom. They had come from her cousin who used to live in Albuquerque. I have used these linens in the past and regularly try to use them in table settings.
But recently, as I was going through a tub of old pictures, I found a menu that Mom had created when she had one of her gourmet parties. Mind you, this was in the early sixties before the internet. Planning parties was so different. Mom took me to the library to borrow Mexican music albums, to the costume shop to find some Mexican costumes and then, she made her own menu.
Lets go to this March when I set the table for my youngest daughter's 18th birthday. I was making fajitas anyway, so I thought, let's get out the linens.
But, before I show you, I want to show you the menu for that evening long ago. She had typed out each menu insert. She carefully traced the image of the serape coaster man as her template. I helped her cut them out and she filled the inside with the menu. How clever, I thought. Today, with the ease of purchasing any type of invitation, this was one of the first times anyone had created their own.
Looking at the items on the menu might not seem like a big deal. I tell you, in Peoria, Illinois in the 60's, grocery stores didn't carry these products to even make these dishes. We would drive down to the South side of Peoria to an International store called Ciota's. There we would find the ingredients to pull off making this dinner. It was a whole new world to me. I loved going with Mom to be on the hunt for her exotic new ingredients.
Today, all of these foods could be picked up at your normal grocery store. We have come a long way!
Preparing for the dinner consisted of hanging up Mexican travel posters, getting the record player ready and assigning 3 of her children to dress in costume and help serve in a limited capacity. How fun this was for me and there began my interest in inviting people over for dinner and adding an aspect of entertainment to our meals.
And now for the inspiration for this vintage menu.
Isn't this coaster set unique? Let's look at the simple table setting. Nothing fancy, but oh so colorful.
Nothing really fancy, but we had some amazing fajitas that night!( Sorry for the blurriness!)
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