A Few of My Favorite Things

  I didn't mean to let this posting slide in September or October but hit a busy spell of time and poof! there it went.  However, I do have a few things I'd like to share that are new to me or which are old things but favorites.

For one thing, I splurged a bit in late August and bought these from Amazon because they were pretty and I really wanted them.  There are two sizes in the set.  I absolutely love this color.  You'll find it in nearly every room in my home and often find it in my wardrobe as well!

I didn't need mixing bowls but I had need of salad bowls and since these are a little shallow in my opinion for a mixing bowl I thought they'd be nice to use at table.  I haven't regretted the expense even once.  They do very nicely for a lovely serving bowl for fruit or salad either one.

In September, when the electricity went out after Hurricane Irma's visit, I used my old thrift store purchased aluminum percolator to make coffee on the top of the stove.  One of my guests is a coffee drinker like myself and a little bit of a coffee snob.  When we took our first sips of coffee that first morning we both looked at one another and said "Ooh!  This is good!" at the same moment.   I was so impressed by the end of my four days of perking coffee that  John and I decided it would be nice to have percolated coffee on all but work mornings.  It takes a little time to come to a boil and then 9 minutes of perking before it's ready, but it's worth every minute it takes.   We find the perked coffee smooth and less acidic for whatever reason, even though we didn't change brands just at first.



I did not want to continue to use that old aluminum pot.  If the stem and basket had fit the little vintage enamel pot that an online acquaintance sent me a year or so ago, I'd have happily used that pot.  But alas, my percolator stem and basket were about an inch and a half too tall.  I spent days and days researching on Amazon, reading customer reviews and looking at price lines.  As with anything, you can pay at any price point you choose.  I opted for this pot...

I did not pay quite what is listed  for mine.  However, I will tell you it performs beautifully. 

The wood handle stays cool so I can easily pick up the pot and pour once the perking is done.  It's not too heavy even when filled.   It says it will make nine cups and on mornings when John is coming in from work, I often will pour the perked coffee into my coffeemaker pot and set on the warming burner to stay hot until he arrives.  When I do this, it fills the pot up to the 10 cup mark on that pot.  I paid attention to the reviews and knew not to tighten the glass knob too tightly.   And that's another thing, I specifically wanted the glass knob on my pot, not plastic.

It comes in the 9 cup version like I bought but also a 2-3 cup size, a 6 cup size and a 12 cup size, so you can choose the one that best suits your household.

There are coffee filters available made by Melita that fit a percolator.  Being the thrifty person I am I decided I could use the ones I have on hand.  We bought something like 500 a few years ago and then switched to those permanent filters for the drip pot.  I just altered mine to work with my pot, though I will say if you use the right grind of coffee, no filter is really necessary.

One of my favorite casserole dishes to use is one I picked up at Grandmama's and brought home.  I did so because I knew Granny had several in various sizes that she used often in her kitchen and had for years upon years.   She could make the BEST oven pot roast baked in it's own gravy in that casserole dish.  I used mine to make a most excellent roast this weekend.  These are still available on Amazon but do look for the vintage ones not the newer ones which have poor reviews.  Amazon and eBay both have the vintage ones, but you can still find these old casseroles at estate sales and in thrift stores if you look hard.

I've seen these in vintage ads often enough and the smart thing about them in my opinion is that the lid is also a pie plate or a second baking dish if you don't need it to cover the casserole dish! They also have a flat top which means you can stack them in the fridge or cabinet. I think that is a clever bit of marketing.  And yes, I have used the lid as a smaller dish on occasion.

I bought these shoes at Target last month after reading on another blog that someone had purchased them and found them incredibly comfortable.  They are a lovely deep gray suede.

I found they fit very nicely.   Even though mine had not yet been broken in  I spent a full day wearing them.  I recently put them on again to wear and they were quite comfortable.  I like them a lot.  They are so cute with a pair of skinny legged jeans and will do just as nicely for a dress or skirt or with a wider legged pant,  if I choose to use them in that way.

They cost less than some of the other shoes I've purchased this autumn and feel just as well on my foot.  They were slightly less in the store than the price online by the way.  I noted in my search for the image these come in a smooth black finish, as well as a maroon suede and the same gray in a wider width.

I squealed when I saw the Winternacht Spekulatis cookies in stock at Aldi early last month.

This is a 21.9 ounce BAG.   They do have  Winternacht Almond Spekulatius in a box too, but I am especially fond of the ones in the bag.  They are quite crisp, firm enough to dunk in a cup of tea or coffee and they smell wonderfully of spices.   They are not a gingerbread cookie, though I'd feel safe in saying they do have ginger in them.  Most refreshing of all, the cookies are made in Germany.  The ingredients list on the side of the package reads like an old fashioned honest to goodness recipe: butter, (or shortening), flour, sugar, spices.  Nothing you can't pronounce or that sounds like an answer to a question on a chemistry test.

Alas they were OUT this past week when we shopped but since they tend to carry them through Christmas I am hopeful they will have more the next time I go into the store.  The expiration dates on all the packages, both Almond and the plain ones is July 2019.  I plan to buy a few packages to have over winter but I won't try to stock them up too much because frankly when spring arrives I do not have as much interest in deep spiced cookies or cakes.   To me they are supremely suited to chilly weather though and I'd like enough this year to see me through the cold days ahead.

I still haven't figured out an Amazon affiliate link for my blog so I'm going to suggest that you do something crazy.  Go look at these items and if you're interested, order from a blogger who DOES have an affiliate link.  Spread a little blog love around to others, won't you?