The dishes

Wow, I can't believe anyone is still checking my blog for posts. I have loyal readers! Yeah!

As you can see below, there aren't many dishes in the china cabinet. Most of them are still in boxes at my Grandmother's apartment. The ones we have are interesting, though. They are these little two-handled cream soup bowls. I think they sort of look like Greek kraters, or wine bowls. I will try to refrain from flinging them across the room in drinking games, like the Greeks did. There are also some tiny plates, maybe 3 inches across. I'm really not sure what they are. My Grandmother seems to have used them as ash trays. Apparently she didn't mind if people smoked at dinner. That is not going to be happening at our house. They might be butter pats, to hold a single chunk of butter (in a cute little shape, of course, like a rose.) In our house, they might be soy sauce dishes. Or maybe tiny plates for individual petits fours? Or, better yet, for chocolate truffles?

The pattern is called "Shadow Rose" and is of brown roses with gold leaves. They look sort of ... Goth, in a dark, un-cheerful way. I think they might be nice for a Halloween feast, with a black tablecloth and dried dark red roses. The little bowls looked nice with black olives in them at our Christmas dinner, though. My Grandmother remembered what year she bought them: 1957, the year my aunt was born. They lived in Germany then and the dishes are made by a German company, Rosenthal ("Valley of Roses," which seems appropriate.) I found a chocolate brown tablecloth to go with them, but they still look a little ... grim. As one friend said, "You're not supposed to like them, they're family heirlooms!" I wonder if any of my junk will ever be a family heirloom: "This was my great-grandmother's iPod. It still works!" Hmmm, maybe not.