As you can tell from my pictures, I’m big on solid serving pieces and plates. My everyday dishes are white and most of my serving pieces are too. I find that white doesn’t distract and keeps the focus on my food. To change things up, I add a few wooden and now some slate serving pieces, which have become my new favorites. Slate platters, like the one I have from Brooklyn Slate Company, are perfect serving pieces because they are simple, provide high contrast to light foods (like cheese), and are easy to clean (getting dried soft cheese off of a cutting board hours after a party isn’t fun – that doesn’t happen with slate). I love that you can write on slate with chalk, so no one needs to guess or ask what’s being served. Its’s also fun for a tasting, like the honey tasting I served (pictured above).
Brooklyn Slate Company’s slate platters ($25-32) are locally made (in NYS), super sturdy and they come perfect for gift giving. Each slate (choose black or red slate) comes with a burlap bag for storage and a little packet of chalk. I used the burlap bag to wrap the slate for gifting, and added a ribbon to complete the wrapping. It’s a great gift either for your own serving arsenal or for you favorite hostess.
The Hip Hostess 