Saturday, June 1, 2013

Faced With Difficult Decisions.

At the time of the breakup I was fortunate to claim ownership of a handsome, abstract pattern, service for 12, set of dishes by Mikasa. I bid good riddance to the fine china as it went to its new home.  I also took possession of a set of 12 Mikasa cut crystal wine glasses, suitable for white or reds.

Now, unfortunately, over the years I have broken several dishes and glasses, so I am down to around a service for 8, give or take 1 or 2. A few months ago I found wine glasses that were hand-blown, feather light and simple elegance. Purchased a set of 4 (more than enough for my present life) Luigi Bormioli glasses (image at right) and gave the others away.

Last night, I broke another dinner plate and a salad plate.  I believe this was a sign.  My thumbs are so unpredictable that I cannot trust my hands to hold even a salad plate without it falling to the floor, or into the sink. This is very depressing, though I suppose I always knew it would come to this.  I have at least 8 of every piece and I plan to give it to someone who needs, and will enjoy it. The truth is I eat most of my food from Dixie paper plates

Checked a few arthritis self help sites and discovered that Corelle is the tableware of choice.  Light, thin, and hardy.  Doesn't chip or break easily.  Well, then...hunted on Amazon to get an idea of the styles and patterns and found a few I like.

There is a Corning/Corelle store in the nearby outlet center so I will check that out on my day off for variety and value. I cannot deal with the old Corelle look: the plain white, or the green, blue, or yellow flowered rims. I don't know if they still have that awful pattern available, but it isn't for me.

Friend Peter's (Tippin the Scales) balsamic Salmon is tonight's main course, along with rice, asparagus and salad. Nice change.

I smell olives!

And so it goes.
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7 comments:

  1. cheeses! I have some plain white corelle that I bought before I met the spouse. these days the cats use the corelle bowls for their food and we use fiestaware.

    and how was your day, honey?

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  2. I am known to be a bit clumsy so Correlle was the right choice for us.
    Having said that, not a week went by with the new dish set when my nephew dropped one of my new Correlle plates and smashed it on the floor. lol
    I have the pattern "Rola". They are fun but I see they are now discontinued so I need to get to a Correlle outlet and pick up some spares and quickly.
    Italian Garden design looks nice....I was thinking about trying a new pattern and they are square plates for a change.

    The only thing we don't care for with the Correlle is the size of the coffee cup. Waaaay too small. ;-)

    Have fun picking out something!

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  3. Alas, I still use the plain white Correlle ware. Since I always eat by myself (not complaining) I have no use for the "fine china" which was given to me as a gift lo these many years ago by my First Love, Jim (yes, there was someone before Bill). That china (settings for 12, what was he thinking?) now resides in my dining cabinets, waiting for it eventual home in one of the thrift store after my demise. Maybe someone else will have more use for it that I have had the past 50 years. Get a nice pattern and post photos to your blog.

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  4. I grew in Corning, NY where Corelle is manufactured. It has all kinds of different styles these days.

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  5. I bought a service for 8 Corelle when I moved to Wilmington 21 years ago this month. My son and I have used them daily as our everyday dishes. In all that time, only one salad plate has broken. I bought 8 large Corelle soup bowls to accompany them, and one of the bowls has a chip on the rim so small as to not be noticeable.

    Because they are thin, they fit in the dishwasher well, and always comes perfectly clean even with sticky eggs and gravies.

    I probably have a pattern than you don't like. They are beige with orange mango flowers on them. They remind me of when I lived in Florida, so I like them a lot.

    David

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  6. Tonight, I put a pork tenderloin in a pyrex dish, with two shiitake mushrooms, small red potatoes, and one large Vidalia onion cut in slices to go on top. I used salt, coarse ground pepper, garlic powder, and herbs de provence. Beforehand, I had rubbed the meat, mushrooms, and potatoes with olive oil. Added 6 oz of Merlot, and covered the dish with Reynolds wrap. Baked on 325 in the oven for an hour. IT WAS SO GOOD, and I think the best part were the mushrooms that soaked up all the flavors.

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  7. Sorry that your arthirtis prevents you from enjoying the decorative art of china for your cooking. Alas, you appear to be learning a lesson from our heterosexual brothers - for many years Corelle ware was (maybe still is) the dinnerware of choice for newly divorced men.

    ReplyDelete

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