Stark white with a raised ridge like a well made pie crust. Tiny, pale flowers around the edges. Were they cornflowers or colored daisies? I remember when my parents were feeling comfortable enough to invest in this first real set of dinnerware. These were the plates of my childhood.
If, like me, you sit down to at least one meal a day at home, the dishes that food is presented upon have a story. We may not think of them often, may not ponder the pattern or colors chosen, or remember the millions of repasts enjoyed from them. It wasn’t until I sat down for a last meal with my mother that my eyes focused for the first time in years on her plates; then slid out of focus at the flood of memories; the tables they graced, the family and friends they had served. I was sad to realize they were not as beautiful as I remembered – glazed with tiny cracks and chips, faded flowers washed out after years of use.
There was dinnerware that epitomized the summer cottage; vintage Fiestaware from the 1950s. Everyone had their favorite colors and pieces, the oversized egg cups were prized by all. The very sight of the plates, laid out on a red & white checked table-cloth, the wobbly green wooden picnic table set on uneven ground by the lakefront, the smell of the pines – happy meals.
Meals with Gunther and Elise are well-deliniated by the set of dishes we use. Toast is served on wooden trenchers, yogurt and oatmeal in stout ceramic bowls. Lunch and dinner feature blue and white delft-ware from Tiffany. The other night as I wheeled Gunther to the table for dinner he, proclaimed, “I’ll have an egg with my yogurt.”
“Look!” Elise smiled, “Do these look like breakfast dishes?”
I have two sets of dinnerware, one from each marriage, one from each lifetime. My first marriage was the era when one chose a china pattern and registered it for guests to purchase. My few remaining place settings are delicate and chipped. It is a formal, hand-painted Longchamps design from France. Originally I could serve twelve. Unfortunately there was a mixup when Roger and I moved to Trinidad. The shipment for storage including my china, arrived at the Custom’s House in Port of Spain only to be damaged in a fire. The few surviving pieces were a welcome addition to our very social life of constant entertaining. When we moved to Asia, I carefully packed them and had them sent home. I rarely use them and never replaced what was lost.
When Jeff and I were raising the girls, we fell in love with a pattern of tableware in Arizona. It is hand thrown pottery, workmanlike with rich southwestern colors. Through many years of dishwashing and handling by kids, it has survived well beyond expectations. It is my everyday choice, warm and comfortable. Someday, perhaps my daughters will look at it as a defining character of their childhood meals.
Therapeutic Misadventures 
Archeologists are thrilled when they uncover dishes in an excavation site. Dishes are the history – what people used, liked, kept.
I have a stack of colorful vintage Fiesta in the cabinet. Mom split the set between siblings before she died as it had become collectible/valuable and she just knew these dishes would have such nice memories for us. She never knew older brother hated the stuff growing up and couldn’t wait to be an adult and have dishes “all the same color”. Somehow they meant poverty and hick to him instead of popular and trendy. All he and sister-in-law who grabbed them sees now is “worth money”.
We never registered for china as my grandmother left a huge set of Haviland white wedding china (hand painted gold trim) that was bought during one of their fashionable trips to Europe before her marriage. Mom split that set when older brother married. He/wife hated that set, too and it sat in box in basement for years. I think it’s been sold as I inquired about it recently. My daughter chose to use our set for her formal china.
But doubt she wants my Dansk Brown Mist set which I bought at discount when working store display/window designer at a store. Those was the everyday dishes everyone craved at the time – modern from Denmark, you know HA HA
I remember your multicolored pottery!
Dishes we keep tell our stories. Great post
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Thank you Phil! Yes! The Dansk Brown Mist did exist on my table too at one point. Before the AZ pottery I think. It was oh-so-trendy!!
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Apparently pretty durable. Sadly broke a saucer feeding Molly some chopped chicken yesterday. I don’t mind mixing patterns, so no problem here.
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Those are beautiful dishes!
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Thank you! All dishes that last for years tell a story and hold many memories…simple parts of everyday life…
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Reblogged this on youssefahmade.
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Beautiful…
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Thank You!
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What an insightful post! Made me think about what my children’s memories will be…
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Thank you danyadarling. I’m always amazed at how differently my daughter’s memories are for mine and even each others!
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The clink of dishes brings about my appetite, a nice part of a mealtime. 🙂
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Thank you Susan. The clink is always a signal to Alice that it’s doggie dinner time!
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When I was about 12, it was my job to do the dishes. My mother had warned me MANY times about trying to carry all of the plates from the dishwasher to the cabinet. As she predicted, one time I dropped an entire stack of plates, breaking all of them. Unable to afford a new set of matching dishes, we went to the Crazy Teepee in Milford (that place was cool). We ate off melamine for years, then corelle took its place. I still use corelle, but bought a set of melamine for Waldo.
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Thank you Laura and welcome back! I don’t think I ever had corelle but I certainly remember some melamine. Great memories.
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I remember a bowl with a raised rim from my childhood. My dad called it the dog bowl because it looked a bit like one but I had my breakfast in it. It had hey riddle diddle characters on it, the dish running away with the spoon. I wonder what happened to it?
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Yes! We had those child’s dishes also! And some had a hole where you could pour hot water with a rubber stopper to keep the dish warm!! Great memories!!
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