Blue bowls… what a find!

All of a sudden, whenever I need a bowl I find myself reaching for one of these little blue ones.
And every time I put something in one,  I want to take a picture.
And several times I have.  Perhaps you’ve noticed these little beauties in recent posts.
I really like these bowls.
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Today was no different.  Not only are they the perfect size, I’m loving how food looks in them.
It’s a color thing.
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Do you want to hear something funny about me and hard boiled eggs?
Earlier this year I set out to come up with a Potato Salad that I love.  Well, we all know that potato salads need hard boiled eggs.  For years I’ve tried to get my hard boiled eggs to be perfect, without the ugly greenish-gray color in the yolk, without any cracks, and so forth, but perfection always eluded me.

Until this summer.  One day I put a bunch of eggs on the stove to cook, and then promptly forgot about setting my timer and went to do other things until suddenly I remembered the eggs.  I figured they must be done so I removed them from the heat and placed them in ice water.

They were the most perfect hard boiled eggs ever!  The funny thing is that this has happened to me every time I’ve cooked eggs since.  Now I’m at the point that I don’t know if I dare to actually pay attention to how long they’re cooking for because I’m just sure I’ll ruin them.  Today was no different.   And the eggs were perfect.

But I digress.  We were talking about my blue bowls.
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Let me just say here that I bought these bowls over a month ago, and have stored them stacked like this in my pantry since then.  Every time I look at them I have to smile because they’re so pretty!  And every time I’ve looked at them I want to take a picture.

So today I gave in and did it.  Some a pale blue and some are a deeper aqua color.  I like them together.
Here’s the best part of all:  I got them at the dollar store!  That’s right, Dollar Tree.
Like I said, I found them about a month ago and bought a nice, tall stack of them (remember dishes need to come in sets of at least ten at my house).  This morning I was there looking for something else and they had a few more.

I bought them all.  Okay, it was only five of them.  I couldn’t help it!  They were so cute!
And, I must say they’re a pretty amazing find for $1.
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Did I mention that I love the colors?  Wow, I’m such a sucker for blue.

Blue and white dishes

Do you ever find yourself shopping, and here and there you pick something up for a song, only to discover down the road that everything you bought goes together?

I love the color blue, but live in an area where blue isn’t nearly as popular as other colors, such as brown and black and darker jewel tones.  But for me, it’s all about the gorgeous shades of blue.  This, of course, means that I don’t see nearly as much of blue as I’d like to, but it also means that the colors I like often get marked down to ridiculously low prices.

I also happen to really, really love dishes.  I mean that I love them a lot.  Give me a store that houses both women’s fashions and housewares, and I’m all over the housewares department without a backward glance at the fashions.  I love the simple beauty of dishes, and their inherent usefulness.  They seem to hold such potential, like they’re just waiting to be filled or covered with goodness to nourish someone.  I guess, in many ways, dishes are artful symbols of abundance to me.

So, I just discovered that I’ve managed to collect 3 platters, a bowl, a baking dish, and 12 plates that all look really cool together.  And the most expensive item was $3.50.  I like that a lot.

Don’t you think this dish is just baking for something wonderful to bake in it?
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The bowl and platters have been used multiple times already.  The platters are the perfect size for bringing in meat from the barbecue or covering with sandwiches or wedges of watermelon.
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The plates were a happy accident.  I love their white rims.
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and the fact that they’re so simple.
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And blue.
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I love that life is so full of simple gifts.  Simple pleasures to enjoy.

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