Picture it: Vidalia, 1999. Two sassy, young, bargain loving mamas visit a local church's annual rummage sale. Much to the delight of one of them, is a set of china...REAL china.. Almost complete service for eight. One tea cup, one salad plate missing. Set included a platter and two serving bowls. All for the ridiculously low price of $40! The one so delighted was yours truly and those dishes came home with me. I was stunned that someone would sell their china. I thought you kept your china. Not that I wasn't glad that their previous owned decided to sell them, but it boggled my mind. Good china! Hold it up to the light and the light passes through it. Best yard sale find for me...EVER! My friend could find the cozy reading chair that just needed to be reupholstered...for $15. She could find the brand new Tumi suitcase for $20. I seemed to miss those things. But on this particular day, I was rummage sale victorious!
If you read the previous entry about my very first set of dishes, you'll see a similarity between the two. White, simple white detail...but this one was made fancier by the gold trim. I felt so grown up, so sophisticated, so proper when I added these to our household inventory. They became what we used for our "special" meals. Holidays, birthdays, Sunday dinners. Shoot...a humble bologna and cheese sandwich was somewhat elevated when served on my pretty yard sale china! This is going to sound silly to some of you and it probably has a tincture of silliness to it. It's associated with me, after all. I cannot properly laud the versatility of a white plate. It can be casual, it can be formal. It can be the binding element of a complicated table settlement. The thing that brings all of the other things together. It goes with everything and provides a neutral backdrop for whatever you are serving.
Again...silliness, but in this world where EVERYTHING seems to be just waiting for the strike of the flint, perhaps a little silliness is a welcome thing.
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