Gourmet Trio

I have completed the set of Gourmet casseroles, I believe.  Does anybody know if they were made in any other colors?  According the Pyrex Love, the bottom piece was a Winter 1961 promotional piece.  It is delphite blue with white paint fired on with a gold leaf design.  In the middle is an opal white casserole with black print, and on top is an opal piece with a butterscotch fired on paint and gold leaf design.  All three are the 2.5 quart size, and I love the way they look stacked on top of each other in this picture!

Mayer Platter

I picked up this great atomic patterned Mayer China platter for 75 cents at a flea market recently.  It was quite the experience going to that place (I felt like I needed to shower after I left) but they did have a couple of vendors with some great vintage glassware for excellent prices.  I picked up this platter and another Pyrex opal white 401 mixing bowl (it was 50 cents).  I will probably return to this place occasionally, but it won't be on my regular list of places to shop.

Anyway, from what I can find by looking at Mayer China on the big auction site, it looks like they made restaurant ware (which would explain why this piece is so heavy).  I found a lot of pieces that they made for airlines.

I have a small collection of vintage platters that I have picked up for very reasonable prices.  I like to use them on the Sunday's that my Sunday School class is required to take snacks for church fellowship.  This one will look great piled up with chocolate chip cookies!

Have a great Thursday!

Weekend Finds!

Imagine my great surprise when I found this vintage revolving artificial Christmas tree stand in it's original box at an antique store over the weekend for only $5!

The box is a little worse for wear, but thankfully the stand shows no signs of damage at all, and it works beautifully.  Now, I just need to find a 6' aluminum Christmas tree to put in it for next Christmas!

I found this beautiful blue pitcher in a flea market in a little town of a little under 1,000 people.  It was a tiny flea market, but I was happy to find this pitcher, which matches the glasses I already have.  Actually, I have a set of the matching glasses in both blue and green.  This was $4.

Finally, I found this set of 4 glasses for $1.25 at yet another flea market in another small town.  The pattern on these molded glasses matches the Kimberly pattern on my Fire King mugs... I believe these are part of the Kimberly family.  Can anyone confirm this?

Have a great Tuesday!  I've shared some of my recent Pyrex finds over at The Pyrex Collective today.  Why not check them out?

RIP Etta

As I am sure many of you have heard, the amazing Etta James passed away today.  Such an amazing voice!  She will be missed.

BLACKOUT

CLICK HERE.

Minny's Chocolate Pie

Anybody who has either read the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett, or watched the movie made from the book, knows that the whole thing hinges on a chocolate pie made by a maid named Minny.

A quick search on the internet turned up the recipe used to make all of the 53 different pies baked for the filming of the movie.  You can see it here.

So, having never baked a pie in my life, I set out for the store yesterday afternoon to gather the required ingredients (what single guy keeps unsalted butter and evaporated milk in his house?)

Anyway, it gave me a chance to give my pink Pyrex pie plate a feature role in this production, with supporting roles played by primary green, red, and blue bowls.

The end result was absolutely incredible.  We always make chocolate pudding pies in my family (which I love) but this was so different.  The scent of the pie filled up the house and waiting for it to cool so we could cut into it was nothing short of torture.  I give this recipe 5 stars (if I can make it and have it turn out so well, surely anybody can!).  Be sure to check it out through the link above.

Weekend Thrifty Find

I picked up these Maple Leaf pattern stoneware plates at a thrift store Saturday, after the estate sale I visited.  They are stoneware and have a great texture on them.  The cashier at the thrift store felt them and said "you're not going to eat off these are you?"  I told her that of course I was.  They are food and dishwasher safe.  In fact, I picked them up mostly because my grandma has a set of them, and I love the style.  The ones I have found online are marked Harmony House (Sears) which is a different marking than on the back than these.   I looked all over the store for more pieces to the set, but all I found were the six dinner plates and the solitary saucer.  I use mismatched saucers like this for spoon rests when I am cooking.  I'm not a big fan of spoon rests.  With a saucer, I can just toss it in the dishwasher and not worry about it.

Anyway, does anybody recognize this maker's mark?  It looks like a stylized SR to me.  The ones I have found online with the Harmony House marking are apparently from 1971.  I'm just trying to figure out if these are also from 1971 with a different marking or if they might be a little newer.

Have a great Monday!

Turquoise Riddle

I found this large bowl at an estate sale this morning.  When I first saw it, I thought it was plastic, but was puzzled why a plastic bowl would have such a price.  When I picked it up, I quickly discovered it was glass.  High quality milk glass like Pyrex.  Unfortunately it is unmarked on the bottom.

The bowl is 4 inches tall and 10 inches wide.  It has a high quality fired on paint finish like you would find on a piece of Pyrex.  The only difference is that the fired-on finish is on the inside as well (reminds me of a piece of Hazel Atlas).  The white splatter paint on it is raised and easily felt when touched.

It is my hope that one of my readers will be able to identify this mysterious piece.  Any help at all is appreciated!

Thrifting With Mick and Pat!

This past Friday, I traveled to Kansas City, or more specifically, Independence, to meet up with Mick (of Everyone Goes to Mick's) and his girlfriend Patricia.  We spent the day hitting up every thrift shop we could find (probably somewhere around 8 or 9 of them) as well as an antique place.  I also introduced Mick and Pat to one of my favorite places to shop for new stuff - Gordmans!  When I found out that neither of them had been to Gordmans before, we had to stop.

But firstly, when we met up, we exchanged vintage goodies that we had found for each other.  Mick got me this great Pyrex Zodiac casserole complete with it's original lid.  According to Pyrex Love, this was manufactured for the holidays in 1961.

Once we hit the road, we spent between 5 and 6 hours thrifting.  Here are the deals I found!

Of course, Pyrex was on the must-find list.  Here are the pieces that I collected.  A mug and a cup.  The cup looks to be a pattern called Tiburon - 49 cents for the one with gold print, 24 cents for the mug with the black print.  A Butterfly Gold fridgie for $1.99.  Next, one of my two favorite finds of the day - an unmarked Opal Pyrex bowl in the 1 1/2 pint (401) size for $1.99.  Lastly, a Compass divided dish, which I already have, but it was on sale - original price was $4.98, but it was orange tag week, so I picked it up for 98 cents!

This great piece of depression glass was 99 cents.

This serving platter was made by Stetson and was $2.98.

My other favorite find of the day was this Franciscan Madeira platter.  It was the most expensive piece I bought all day, but felt that at $6.98, I was still doing okay.  It looks like it is brand new.  And, although my pictures don't do it justice, this pattern looks to me like it is a lot newer than it really is.

This stainless tray with walnut handles was a great find at $2.98.  This beautiful mid-century piece needs just a bit of polishing up.  The back is marked "Scanli Stainless Steel 18-8 Denmark."

I love those plastic tumblers you find in restaurants.  Now, I have one of my own.  It was a quarter.

Another Pyrex piece that seems to evade me quite often is the "Bake a Round".  It was half off as well, so I was able to pick it up for $2.49.

This poor little sugar canister was $1.50.  It needs a good bath, then it will be repurposed.  I see it in the bathroom holding all those little soaps and shampoos that I pick up at hotels when I travel and then use when I go camping and on the week-long mission trip with my church each summer.

Of course, it was a great time to pick through Christmas remnants for a big discount.  The above piece (anybody know what to call it?) is one of those things that is so retro-tacky that I just couldn't pass it up.  It will now go into Christmas decoration rotation - hopefully to see some use next year.  On sale, I got it for $1.50.

My grandma used to have one of these wreathes that she made many years ago.  This one had been priced at $6.98, but the store had all Christmas items reduced to 98 cents each - no matter what (they sold a lot of Christmas trees that way).  This will go into rotation as well.

One last find will wrap up Friday's finds.  I love old lithographs like this.  They make me feel so happy and relaxed.  Can't you just imagine yourself sitting under that big tree on a warm spring day, watching and listening to the water going through the mill?  Sounds like heaven to me!  Anyway, this piece, titled "The Old Mill," is a nice 16" by 20" piece that was half off, so I got it for 49 cents.

After a full day, we left Independence to go to Legends Mall across the state line in Kansas for dinner at Outback, after which I split up from Mick and Pat to return to my little house in southwest Missouri, and Mick and Pat went back with his family on their vacation.

The thrifting bug still had me on Saturday, so I traveled to a town about 25 miles from here and hit up their thrift shops and flea markets.  Here are my Saturday finds:

A set of four spaghetti glasses for $2.00.  One of them has been a little hot and the rubber melted a little, but not badly.  I have wanted some of these for a long time, but I never find them in my budget.

This little Pyrex Spring Blossom butter tub was on sale for 75 cents at a flea market.  I think that it might just be perfect for putting a cheese ball in the next time I go to a party.

Lastly, I picked up this great tidbit tray / server.  A little research reveals that it was made by Kromex, although this piece isn't marked as such.  The handle on it is a golden color.  It is in amazing condition and since it was half off, I picked it up for $1.50.

Thanks for sticking through such a long post.  I haven't done one of these "look what I found" posts in ages.  I hope you all had a great New Year's weekend!  Happy 2012!