Ch...chh..chh..CHANGES!

OK, so, this may be a silly part of my move, but it is a huge decision to me...the changing of my dinnerware. I have used the same style of dinnerware, the "Elizabeth" pattern from Pier 1, for about 5 years now. I have loved this pattern for a long time, because it is bright and colorful and has my favorite bright colors in it--primarily green and yellow. Also, all of my friends and family in CA contributed toward this purchase with numerous gift cards to Pier 1 for Christmas and Birthdays several years back. So this pattern has sentimental value to me as well, because I think of all of them when I use my dishes.



Well, having worked for a while at Williams-Sonoma while in Kentucky, I have been brain-washed a bit about plating up food--but in a good way. As my adoptive Mom, Shirley, has always told me, food looks better plated up on white dishes (hence she has cabinets full of white dishes). There is truth to this. When you put my tomato-cream spinach pasta dish on my Pier 1 plates, it looks a little like someone spun you around on the tilta-whirl right before you eat. Lots of mixed up colors. On a solid white plate, however, you would be able to notice that I like using the spinach pasta because of its green color as well as healthful properties, and the rose-colored cream tomato sauce offsets the green quite nicely. So, as I've become more interested in cooking, I've also become more interested in the overall presentation. My Pier 1 dishes were gorgeous to look at, but not when food was on them.

So, that brings me to my new decision to make a change as part of my move, retiring my old style and moving onto a new one (while I still get my lovely Williams-Sonoma associate discount). The pattern I have selected is the Apilco French white porcelain "Tuileries" pattern.



I like this pattern best because it can function as casual dinnerware, yet you can still dress it up by changing out the salad plates. So, out with the old and in with the new on my move! I'm only able to afford 4 place settings to start with, but my plan is to get hired back on at a Williams-Sonoma here in Orange County and add to my collection over time. It will become one of the MANY wishlist items I have toward my ultimate dream kitchen being stocked fully from Williams-Sonoma. Which means that I will likely have a part-time job there during most of my adult life, LOL.