Category: Food & Drink

Why I Have a Set of Dishes for 12

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I am starting the New Year with a confession, and yes, you read that title right! I – the one who preaches on getting rid of excess – I have set of dishes for 12 people! But let me explain:

  • This set is made by Lagostina. It has simple, yet elegant design, which is equally at home at breakfast or on our most formal tablescapes. 
  • It also coordinates well with a small set of Blue Willow I acquired a few years ago. In that way, it replaces the Royal Albert that I sold years ago.
  • It is white, so it can be used in any room, and combined with any accessory. We don’t need the matching cream and sugar, salt and pepper, or teapot. It looks just as  good with our crystal salt and pepper shakers as with our pepper grinder.
  • It is made of porcelain, not likely to chip, and is safe in the dishwasher and the microwave. Something my Royal Albert could not do.
  • We don’t have to eat off unmatched dishes.
  • It takes no more space to stack 12 dinner plates than it would to stack 6.
  • There are only two of us, yet we want to be careful with the water and electricity we use. We are always able to run the dishwasher with a full load.
  • Because we are saving for a full load, a smaller set would mean unexpected company would have to wait until we run the dishwasher. With our larger set, we always have at least six place settings in the cupboard – and we can seat six at our dining room table!

Tablecloths for Everyday

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Tomorrow is the second Monday of October, and here in Canada that means Thanksgiving. We will be driving up to spend the afternoon and early evening with my daughter and her family, but today — Sunday — our condo is filled with the aroma of turkey, stuffing, and apple pie.

Dave and I always cook a full turkey dinner on Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. It gives us a festive meal, turkey pot pies, a couple of casseroles, soup, and sandwiches for Dave to take for lunches. It also gives us a chance to package up complete turkey dinners (including dessert) to share with neighbours who are alone and unable to risk being exposed to Covid.

But I digress…

Even though it will be just the two of us for dinner, I decided to use place our harvest centrepiece on our best white tablecloth. And then I thought, why not use it every day? Our condo doesn’t have an eat-in kitchen, so we eat at the dining table with placemats and napkins. It is no extra work to wash a tablecloth than it is placemats, but what a special feeling it brings to every day meals, even breakfast!

Right now I am feeling like my grandmother, and proud of it! Are tablecloths old fashioned? Perhaps, but so am I!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Easy as Pie!

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Proverbs 31 is full of references to how our Biblical role model put extra effort into everything she did for her family. When you go the extra mile, you enjoy what you’re doing so much more.

Take baking a pie, for instance: You prepare the bottom crust, fill the pie, add the top crust, pierce, crimp and bake. It comes out steaming, aromatic and delicious! There is nothing quite like a homemade pie!

But imagine how much more creative you could be with your family’s favourite pie recipe! With the use of an embossed rolling pin, ravioli cutter and a few techniques, you could create a pie that is a work of art! The flowers are as simple as the ones we made from playdough as children!

Ice Cream Spoons?

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I have finally completed the silver flatware set I started before I was married. It coincides with the grandkids coming this weekend. So what’s the connection?

This P31 grandmother plans to have them help make ice cream, using the attachment to my KitchenAid mixer, and afterwards, enjoy it with ice cream spoons.

What, you may ask, is an ice cream spoon? I suppose in days gone by everyone knew, but today’s modern world has lost some of the customs of yesteryear.

The spoon on the right is an ice cream spoon; one the left is a regular teaspoon. The rounded shape of the ice cream spoon is designed to allow it to be more easily scooped, and to fit the mouth better. And apparently a metal spoon is the best type to eat ice cream with.

So now you know! We’ll be crushing candy canes into French Vanilla to create a minty Christmas ice cream, yum!

 

Don’t Skimp on the Water

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Water helps you lose weight. When we aren’t drinking enough water, our bodies start to store it in anticipation of a drought. This extra water weight is released when we begin to drink enough.

Water helps you think more clearly. It makes sense: if the oxygen in the blood that flows to the brain is low, the function will be also. In the same way, water keeps oxygen supplied to the muscles. After all, the oxygen is the O in H2O!

Water also helps balance your moods and emotions. Who knew?

Water surrounds and protects your joints, eyes, brain and spinal cord. Your kidneys and colon need it too; in fact, digestion depends on it.

Water prevents headaches, lightheadedness and fatigue. It even improves your immune system!

So for all these reasons, Dave and I use our new bottles daily. We keep a jug of filtered water in the fridge and we refuse to buy bottled water. All that plastic is so bad for the environment. And besides, there are parts of the world where the water is so scarce and undrinkable that we are arrogant if we complain about ours!