Turn Out the Lights - The Party-Ware is Over

Oh thank goodness... I was getting a little tired of packing party-ware. Mostly because it was reminding me I need to throw more parties! There's one more little set of bowls that technically could be party-ware, but I am going to throw it in the kitchen-ware category instead or leave it for staging! whew!

The last box of party-ware I packed was the miscellaneous party-ware box. This box contains the rest of the bowls I inherited from my grandmother and my Auntie. Because I got so little from them, I am hard pressed to get rid of any of them even though they are a totally random mismatched set of bowls that I forget to use. The fun pieces in this box though are the wacky Karoff plastic leaf nut sever that is really more of a conversational piece than functional party-ware. Basically, you push the top and voila the leaves open to share their nutty goodness! The other interesting pieces that remained were the monkey pod wood pineapple bowls and pineapple toothpick/napkin server. I know I have too much stuff because I totally forgot to get these out for CollectoratorOne's Hawaiian themed birthday party last year. That's what you get when you don't have enough space and things are stuffed in every available and sometimes illogical storage space. oh well. next time.

I also packed up my cheese ball server. Yes,  have a separate dish for a cheese ball. I suppose you could also put a butter mold in there or some other round food stuff like a small wheel of brie cheese with chutney (mmmm!)  but I like to think of it as a cheese ball server. I like making cheese balls as it's great leftover party food to snack on later. My absolute favorite snacks are leftover party food. I could eat for days on that.  I haven't quite entered into the realm of making party food just to have it around, but I am not putting it past me. I use my aunt's cheese ball recipe kicked up a notch for my husband's Louisiana spicy food taste. Thought I'd share it with you since all of this talk about party-ware makes me want to serve some up. Course that'll have to wait as I've packed it all away...

CollectoratorToo's Cheese Ball

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/8 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce (I used Louisiana hot sauce)

4 ounces shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese  

Measure out 1/3 cup pecan halves (then chop them up)

1 teaspoon dried parsley

In an electric food processor or blender, combine cream cheese, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce. Pulse until well blended. Add Cheddar cheese and pulse until the Cheddar is fine, but still visible. Shape the mixture into balls or logs (I find it easier to put the sticky glob into plastic wrap first then shape it).  Whether you put it in plastic before or after you shape it into a ball make sure it’s eventually wrapped in plastic and then place in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. During this time, chop up the pecans and mix in the parsley. Put pecan mixture into a shallow bowl or plate. Remove cheese ball from freezer and roll in the pecan mixture, pressing the pecans a little into the ball. Rewrap in plastic and store for an hour or so before serving. You can freeze it as well at this point if you needed to.

I'm ready to move on now to the top of my hutch now which contains my most of my bar-ware glasses and a variety of other nifty star/snowflake-laden pieces that are non-bar related. Basically if it is black, gold or both, has stars or star like objects on it, it lives in the top of the hutch.

It's All Relative's Stuff

I don't have much from my dad's side of the family unfortunately. I have a few stray pictures, none of my grandmother or great aunt unfortunately, and just a few pieces of furniture and collectibles. In the collectibles department, I obtained one serving bowl of my grandmother's and pieces of party-ware and fruit bowls from my great aunt. The party-ware pieces are Fire King/Anchor Hocking milk glass. I have a deviled egg dish, two relish trays and a footed bowl. Now what is missing?? Plates! CollectoratorOne will probably roll her eyes at me, but I haven't used this set yet mainly because I keep thinking I need to supplement this collection with a milk glass snack set in the gold trim pattern. I mean what good is it to serve deviled eggs and crudites when you have no plate to put them on! Let's be logical here... Oh and a milk glass cake plate, preferably that one that has the slices already defined, because every party needs CAKE. Now with that you'd have a proper party. I sense a milk glass skip-bo party extravaganza party coming on here...

I wish everyone could have met my great aunt, Auntie as we called her. She totally rocked. Her husband had died from a sudden medical issue very early in their marriage and she never remarried because she said what’s the point, she had already been married to her true love, no one else would compare. That was inspiring for me to wait until I found the right one before getting married.  She lived to be 92 so she was a widow for about 70 years of her life! She was also the first one to embarrass you in front of everyone you knew with racy gifts or by proposing questionable reasons why you might not be married yet in front the whole family at Thanksgiving! Darn, I really miss that lady, except at holidays…haha! In any case, I think I need to get the milk glass snack set (AFTER I MOVE) so I can honor her memory with a party with her party ware! 

Don't Be Green With Party-Ware Envy!

My green glass party-ware was the first set of party-ware I collected so by the default of time it is the largest set I own. You'd think that I could just be happy with this set but of course you'd be wrong! Different parties call for different serving-ware as they have different atmospheres so any good party hostess knows you need to be prepared with the right serving tools for any inevitable party type!  Not to mention I long to have so many parties that I wouldn't want my guests to be bored seeing the same old party-ware time after time. haha. Of course with its green color this set lends it services most often in the holiday season, but it's made appearances at other times as well given the variety of types of pieces I have with this set.

I originally started collecting green glass party-ware because I thought I might inherit my grandma's green green drinking glass set with the raised cube pattern. Not because I had specifically asked for it, but I figured it was so mundane no one else would want it. Her set is probably the Indiana Whitehall pattern instead of the Fostoria American pattern as the Whitehall pattern was more widely available, but I did not know the difference until later in life (I call it the ice cube glass set regardless of the maker as they look like they ice cubes on the outside).

I collected this set of party-ware over time in preparation for inheriting my grandma's green glasses envisioning parties that would involve serving drinks in the glasses surrounded by mounds of retro appetizers on and in the serving-ware and bowls I was collecting. In the end, I did NOT inherit the glasses which I am ok with, but regardless I ended up with a small mountain of super functional green glass party-ware! I've come to realize that I probably would not use the glasses at a party anyway as people cannot always be trusted with glass after adult-beverages are imbibed throughout the evening. So it's probably just as well. I think I still win. After all, isn't it the say that the girl with the most party-ware in the end wins?? =) It has to be a super amazing piece for me to continue adding to this set so it's pretty much reached its limit. You'll notice that none of it really matches maker wise but that's not important in this set, the idea was just to have a fiesta of green glass.

Corn Curlies, Wheat Whippies, Peanut Pippies, and Potato Poopies!

Ahhhh the Dick Van Dyke show. My absolute favorite show. I've seen every episode countless times, but I still crack up at the wit  and physical comedy that ensues each and every time I watch an episode.  Bewitched is a close second for me as both Samantha Stevens and Laura Petire inspired me both from a fashion sense and the powerful yet homemaking female role they each play. I've also derived a lot of collectorating inspiration from the Dick Van Dyke show. There's a list floating around the internet of the most wanted props from the show and of course the ottoman Rob trips over in the opening credits is highest on the list. (Note thought some times he doesn't actually trip but manages to skirt by!) For me, the number one item I covet is their couch! I currently own a curved couch and round coffee table a la the Petrie's living room, but my couch is new and not exactly right. I'm waiting until I move to see what space I have, and then I am going on a quest for the perfect Dick Van Dyke curved couch!

Second on my list would be the neato-frito serving ware Laura has. In fact, the first time I decided I wanted a lazy susan was when I saw an episode from Season 2 called "It's a Shame She Married Me." In this episode, the Petrie's are throwing one of their numerous parties (see where I get my love for parties from too??) and in one scene Rob is setting out the lazy susan complete with yummy 50sesque sounding snacks such as Wheat Whippies and Potato Poopies... lolololol! He quips that the snacks are getting cuter ever year. =) What I'd give to throw a party with those snacks! Now I have to say, nothing against Laura or anything, but my lazy susan beats the capri pants off of her lazy susan hands down. I don't even remember where I got it, but I know I didn't pass it up for anything when I saw it,  fully imagining taking it home and serving some fun Dick Van Dyke episode party-inspired snacks! The party will have to wait as it's now all packed up, but maybe I'll throw a Dick Van Dyke show style formal dress house warming party complete with fun snacks in the lazy susan and a song and dance show in the living room!

Kromex-cess?

As promised, it's Kromex time! In my zeal of packing up extra things I think I've completely hampered my ability to have a swanky chrome-based party now! oh well, it's worth it to get a head start on packing and to show off my Kromex collection on the blog. As you can see I have a LOT of Kromex trays. My favorites are the tidbit trays especially the spacey looking two armed tray. The most amazing thing is I was able to get these ALL in on box, and probably more amazing they were all in my dining room buffet and hutch. I still don't know how I stored all of these!

My favorite memory in using these was at my wine and cheese party. My friend from Norway brought about 10 different kinds of hard cheese from Norway and Europe and we filled my kitchen island with trays of cheese, meat and fruit (turns out you can bring cheese into a foreign country as long as it's hard cheese. Who knew?!) I have to say those were some of the yummiest cheeses I've ever tasted. The best, although weirdest cheese, was a bright orange Parmesan cheese. No one wanted to try it because it was as orange as sweet potatoes which is weird because we'll eat Cheddar cheese all day long and that's orange, but this cheese was electric orange.  Everyone finally did try it after I wore them all down, and it was gone first!

Packing is going slow, and so far I haven't found anything I am ready to part with which is supposed to be part of this early packing exercise. CollectoratorOne will not be surprised to hear that! I don't think I can get rid of any of these trays, they are so handy! The best part about packing in this organized way is that for the first time in a long time like pieces are hanging out with their counterparts!  I think that's the trouble with  over-collectorating, either you have to keep reorganizing or live with things in different places. Course if I would purge as often as I collect then maybe the re-organization would not be such a chore!

Hors d'Oeuvres Anyone?

One thing I really like to do is throw parties! That is fully evidenced by the amount of party-ware I own. Now the problem is I don't actually get around to throwing as many parties as I'd like to or rather would warrant the amount of party-ware I do have. Probably among the most used set of party-ware I have this variety set of aluminum trays.

These are all different makers, and I have double of the smaller ones. I love all of these so I profess no favorite here, although I found the black and gold starburst ones last time at Warrenton for $1 so that was nice deal. Actually, I think those are the only non-sliver or glass trays I have, but I couldn't pass them up because they have stars on them, (yet another love)!  I have bunch of different Kromex trays too which are also in the most used category of party-ware, but they call for their own box and blog given the amount I have of those!  I threatened CollectoratorOne that when I move I am going to make her come over often for fancy tea sandwiches and Skip-Bo so I can justify all of these trays!

The bad thing is I packed all of these trays for the eventual move, but I will probably need them if not in October by March of next year. oh well. I can always unpack them or use some other party-ware set! hee!