Well, actually, I baked these pumpkin-carrot cupcakes for my parents' birthdays. But today I also want to acknowledge our beautiful and wonderful Mother Earth for sustaining us.
The brown 1970s Pyrex dish represents the earth's soil and the mini pansy flowers (also known as Johnny Jump Ups) were grown in my garden in my veggie patch, especially for eating. I love how the colors all go so well together.
Thank you Mother Earth for bringing me the wonderful ingredients that allowed me to make these yummy birthday cupcakes.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Re-USE
I'm drawn to vintage kitchen wares because of their unique, colorful and retro designs. I justify the purchases because I believe that by RE-USING old stuff, it's a way of recycling. Ha! Good one, huh? Plus buying this old "junk" from garage sales and thrift shops is often inexpensive.
One of the things I like to collect is vintage Pyrex glass. Not only do they make the table fun and bright, but they are immensely useful for baking, storing leftovers, preparing food and many other uses! Bringing food in these dishes to parties is always a hit.
Check out all of the fun and wonderful ways people use their vintage Pyrex in this Flickr group called Pyrex in Action. It's really inspiring! Do click on the link, I think you'll enjoy it.
It's a sad reality that we need to keep manufacturing new stuff that people buy to keep our economy going. But I also imagine a world where we can re-use as much old stuff as we can before sending them to our landfills. I'm so glad the retro design movement is popular right now... I know I'm not the only one acquiring old junk. :-)
One of the things I like to collect is vintage Pyrex glass. Not only do they make the table fun and bright, but they are immensely useful for baking, storing leftovers, preparing food and many other uses! Bringing food in these dishes to parties is always a hit.
Check out all of the fun and wonderful ways people use their vintage Pyrex in this Flickr group called Pyrex in Action. It's really inspiring! Do click on the link, I think you'll enjoy it.
It's a sad reality that we need to keep manufacturing new stuff that people buy to keep our economy going. But I also imagine a world where we can re-use as much old stuff as we can before sending them to our landfills. I'm so glad the retro design movement is popular right now... I know I'm not the only one acquiring old junk. :-)
Monday, March 23, 2009
Fondue platter 1970s
Feeling a little guilty about my stuff is an underlying theme in this blog, but this particular piece makes me feel more so.
You see, my Mom bought this beautiful piece in the 70s (made in Los Angeles) and she never used it. She stored it for decades in her cluttered closet and then it moved to my cluttered cupboard and when I couldn't stand the clutter anymore, I sold it on eBay.
I feel guilty because this piece is so unique and I think my Mom would have liked to have seen me put it in use. But this set is just not that practical and in fact, I haven't served fondue at a dinner party in several years.
I think part of the guilt is because it has a tiny bit of sentimental value. It's a piece that epitomizes my mother's wonderful taste and eye for the unique and interesting. But then I have to remind myself... it's just stuff. And at least I still have the photo and blogging about it is like putting it in a digital memory book. :-)
You see, my Mom bought this beautiful piece in the 70s (made in Los Angeles) and she never used it. She stored it for decades in her cluttered closet and then it moved to my cluttered cupboard and when I couldn't stand the clutter anymore, I sold it on eBay.
I feel guilty because this piece is so unique and I think my Mom would have liked to have seen me put it in use. But this set is just not that practical and in fact, I haven't served fondue at a dinner party in several years.
I think part of the guilt is because it has a tiny bit of sentimental value. It's a piece that epitomizes my mother's wonderful taste and eye for the unique and interesting. But then I have to remind myself... it's just stuff. And at least I still have the photo and blogging about it is like putting it in a digital memory book. :-)
Sunday, March 15, 2009
I can prove it!
See... here's proof that I actually do use some of this crap... ha! And no, I didn't stage this to justify my having them.
I had just thrown a double birthday party for my husband and 5-yr old nephew so my fridge was extra full this day. Those dishes really do come in handy for leftovers, especially the ones with lids because it makes it easy to stack other stuff on top.
Plus it kind of makes the inside of fridge fun... like the party is continuing inside there. :-)
Those colorful dishes you see on the bottom shelf (in front and toward the back) and also the top shelf are vintage Pyrex dishes, mostly from the 60s & 70s.
I had just thrown a double birthday party for my husband and 5-yr old nephew so my fridge was extra full this day. Those dishes really do come in handy for leftovers, especially the ones with lids because it makes it easy to stack other stuff on top.
Plus it kind of makes the inside of fridge fun... like the party is continuing inside there. :-)
Those colorful dishes you see on the bottom shelf (in front and toward the back) and also the top shelf are vintage Pyrex dishes, mostly from the 60s & 70s.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Pyrex shelf
Originally uploaded by love_yellow
NO, I don't have a collecting disease (or maybe I do but I'm just in denial)... it's just that these colors and patterns are so pretty and happy and they were produced in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Isn't it cool that they made these kitchen wares with fun designs way back then?
YES, I do use some of them, but to be honest, it's kind of hard to use all of them.
So what do I do? Should I just keep the ones I'm using and get rid of the rest? What to do... with all my crap.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
How it started
This is the piece that started the vintage Pyrex obsession... the 4-quart casserole, pattern called Butterfly Gold, that was sitting in the cupboards in my parents' garage.I was helping my Mom clean out and came across 3 of these puppies in different patterns... mint, with lids. My Mom was apparently saving them for me and my 2 sisters so I ended up with this pattern. She bought them ~30 years prior and just never used them.
I remembered as a kid we used various Pyrex and Corelle dishes and found those hidden in boxes in the garage and took them home. From that point I started a little obsession of collecting a few more pieces and a year later, I ended up with more than 50 pieces - yikes! All this crap I don't have room to store and there's no way I could use every single piece. So now I'm on a mission to use them all to justify the collection. What I don't end up using will have to be gifted, sold or donated... it's really silly to have crap that just sits in boxes in the garage.
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