Eleanor Leftwich, a nomme de guerre of sorts, manages her family’s farm business with her husband while raising 4 children outside of Minneapolis. Most recently, she launched a clothing line in April 2023 after years of being an avid shopper and growing frustrated at the lack of high quality pieces at affordable prices. During the day, she’s wrangling children and managing the farm. Late nights, she’s packing orders, chatting with customers, and encouraging women to own their confidence one uniform at a time via Instagram!
How do you like to entertain? What is the vibe (where, feeling, how)? How I entertain has changed significantly since having 4 children. Where I once table-scaped like my life depended on it, I now want to entertain with ease and relaxation. Our kitchen has glass cabinets so guests can see where everything is and we very much want people to instantly make themselves at home. There are no pretenses or stuffiness. Our screen porch has an accordion door, so it’s an indoor-outdoor vibe. We also cook on the open hearth on the screen porch, so people are always milling between the kitchen - dining - screen porch since they’re all connected.
What are you serving? It depends on the season! For summer, it’s often steaks or beer can chicken on the grill, sweet corn from our farm, a cucumber and dill side, and a caprese salad – all from either the farm or the garden.
What are you sipping? Most often, I’m drinking a dirty Vesper martini with blue cheese stuffed olives no matter the time of year. That, or you can’t go wrong with a Blanc de Blanc champagne (that really sounds stuffy, but I promise it’s still casual at our house!).
What are you wearing? An Eleanor shirt dress sans belt (so more of a caftan feel) with flats, my favorite gold hoops from Filigree Jewelers, and a long necklace from Lauren Fox.
What are you listening to? Big Head Todd and the Monsters Spotify playlist
How do you make your guests feel special? How do you make them feel at home? My husband loves to cook and we show our affection through making sure everyone is well fed and has a beverage in hand! There is nothing fragile or off limits in our home and that is deliberate. When a guest walks in, we offer a myriad of beverage options and ensure to have some type of appetizer ready. I also specify to help themselves – from opening up another bottle of wine to grabbing a picky eater goldfish crackers from the pantry. Our kids also love to be waiters so they’re often running around (and attempting to start tabs!) asking people if they need a refill. We’re also firm believers that when a guest asks if they can pitch in, the answer is yes if we need it! Nothing makes someone feel more at home than helping chop up some veggies. It’s lively (and casual!) at our house to say the least.
If you are hosting a dinner, what is your go-to centerpiece? I love low candles and in season flowers. Lately, it’s been peonies from the garden but now that we’re in the height of summer, we’ll switch over to lilies. The stargazers are my favorite - they smell divine!
How do you end a celebration? Generally with my husband falling asleep sitting up - he’s infamous for this! All jokes aside, I feel like there is a natural wind down – especially with guests often there with children, that we don’t have anything too specific to end a celebration.
What would be your favorite Half Past Seven product to entertain with? I recently saw the Original Lettuce Leaf Vase in person at Fox and Willow in Wayzata, MN and instantly fell in love. They’re the perfect height for any flower! I also love all of the olive wood bowls and trays for appetizers.
Let’s play this or that…
- Charger OR Placemat: Charger
- Stemmed OR Stem-less: Stemmed
- Red OR White: white for summer, red for winter!
- Tablecloth OR Bare: tablecloth
- Votives OR Taper Candle: votives
- Formal OR Informal: informal
