Respect

This post is only half about some pieces I recently bought at the last Brimfield of the year. I want to get something out of the way first though.
It has to do with respect for the people you buy from. At last months Brimfield we met a dealer-a woman, a wife, and a mother-who seemed to be losing the magic of selling at big markets. When we first walked up to her tent she wasn’t even there…just her husband. Joe spotted some separated plates as well as Flamewear handles. He asked the husband if he would be willing to do 25 for 4 dishes and one Flamewear with handle (originally, she wanted 5 a piece of the dishes and 12 for the Flamewear)…To quote what came across the walkie-talkie, “Absolutely not! I will be RIGHT there!” So we waited…And when she showed up she saw, I believe, that we were not “pickers,” or people looking to rip her off. I pleaded our case to her. Expressing that I did not want to buy them to resell but to give them a home and put them to use once again. After a moment of thought she agreed and wrapped them up. I stayed to talk with her a while and listened to her lament about the people-the pickers-who turn her tables nearly upside down to see what she hasn’t put out and don’t respect the fact she has spent time setting up what is out already. Also, that people are treating Brimfield and other big markets like a rummage sale, only wanting to pay pennies for what cost them a few dollars to buy and even more to get to this show. She told me they drive six hours with a large box truck then have to unpack, sort, price, clean and really spend most of their time just trying to break even by weeks end. My heart was breaking the longer we talked and I finally said to her, “I really need to hug you, I think you need it.” She did, it seemed.
The conversation after that became a little more light-hearted. We chatted about Pyrex murder-a term of mine she loved and then used to describe several dishes that were picked up for her. She pulled out a small yellow 300 bowl and said, “See this? Someone left it next to something metal and it is in terrible shape. I don’t have time to clean this…If you do, its yours.” I asked if she was sure and she said, “yep, take it.” And I did…



And so the little dish came home and completed my Yellow 300 set. But this post isn’t about Pyrex really…It is about the people you are buying it from. Yes, we got some amazing pieces. According to our Pyrex book, the plates retail for 15-18 each. The Flamewear skillet goes for 20-25 and they’re so pricey because of the handles. The dishes are a dime a dozen at thrift stores but the handles were never as mass-produced. You got a set of dishes and one handle for the set…Anyway, amazing deals, yes. But to be honest it matters so little to me right now how much we “scored.” I really want to drive home with all of you that these are people with lives and need to make a living selling at these shows.
They travel for YOU.
They clean things for YOU.
They provide YOU with the things you want.
Respect them.
End rant.

Movin’ Ain’t Easy…

Moving isn’t easy for anyone and it is especially not easy when you have two collectors, their huge collections and a nearly-two-year-old…oh..and a cat. We were recently told by our landlord we could hop apartments for a bigger upstairs one that had just been emptied. To us, we thought, “Oh simple…we can be out of here in a week-week and a half tops.” So that afternoon I started to pack up things like dish towels, pictures and of course…my Pyrex.

Sorry it is so dark…the lighting was horrible in that old apartment

If that over-stuffed shelf doesn’t look a little ominous to you then maybe you need your eyes checked. The more I packed and put away then more I realized just how much I actually have. I thought I had taken pictures of the boxes I packed but apparently, I dreamed that. There were oh say…9 or 10 boxes full. In retrospect, not nearly as bad as some of the stories I’ve heard from sellers at Brimfield. One said, “When I found I could fill a 10 x 10 box truck it was time to start selling.” I don’t think I will ever get to that point though.
So, shall we have a tour of where everyone lives now?

Sort of like my personal portal into Wonderland…

Inside. Please note Joe’s Moxie bottles as well

 
First we have our built-in shelf. We had something similar to this in the old apartment but without the glass panes to see through. I decided to put the real “show” pieces in this case. My decorative pie dishes, serving dishes, saucers, plates and that likeness.

And here is the shelf. Much less cluttered and so much more organized. My dishes along with Joe’s Moxie bottles were the first things to be moved over and set up-because they seemed to be the most time-consuming. Little did we know that wasn’t the case by far…It took us nearly a full two weeks to finish moving in.
Needless to say we are still in recovery and won’t be moving again any time soon. But I am ever so thankful to have room not only for my Pyrex but for my little Niko to grow up. He alone was quickly out growing the old apartment…ah, well, maybe some day we will own a house.

Joe, Joe, The Muffin Man!

My husband doesn’t bake…In fact, I told him once that if he ever tried to move in on my baking territory I would divorce him. But I changed my tune a little when he said he wanted to try baking something for the Spencer Fair. He picked something simple: Strawberry Muffins. Well…those little muffins came home with a blue ribbon! A shock and happy surprise for all of us-but especially him!
Preheat your oven to 375 and grease or place muffin cups in your muffin tin.

In a small bowl (he used the tan Rainbow Stripe bowl) mix together 1/4 cup canola oil, 1/2 cup milk, and one egg. Blend well then add in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside.

In a separate bowl you’ll blend together your dry ingredients. 2 tablespoons baking powder, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 3/4 cups flour, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Go over to your handy-dandy cutting board and chop about a cup and half of strawberries.

Drop them into the dry mixture.
Add your wet to the dry and stir until well combined.

Then bake for about 25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes clean form the center. Then, in our case, put them on a plate and in a baggie and send them to the judges table!
Wait 48 hours…and…

Photo Credit to my mama

Shazam! Winning muffins! As I believe I said before I am happy to have won my red ribbon for the apple pie…but I am over the moon happy for my hubby taking first place.He really is one of those people who can look at something and think “I bet I can do that,” and does it near perfect the first time. A side example of that is that he is currently outside sanding down the top of an old sewing machine cabinet to make it into a butcher’s block.

What a man I’ve got.

Bacon Brownies

Last month our friends band, Severants, went on a pretty big tour and we hosted them before they left for a going away cook out. Joe said to me, “You should make them a special and super manly dessert.” So I thought bacon. And then…brownies. It was a hit and soon even my own mother was asking for the recipe. So I’m here today to bring it to you-with Pyrex, of course!
First, get out your beloved Pyrex bowl of choice. I picked my Blue Horizon bowl because I felt that it needed a little more air time. Also, set your oven to 350 for preheating.

In it you’ll want to combine 1 2/3 cups of sugar, 3/4 cups of MELTED butter, and 2 tablespoons of water.

I used my shallow Amish Butterprint Cinderella dish to melt the butter. Felt like she needed the props.

Next add in 2 large eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Mix well.

In another bowl combine 3/4 cups cocoa powder, 1 1/3 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Once well mixed, stir into the sugar mixture.

Yummy right? But not ready for baking yet!

Cook up some bacon! The first time I made this I used a thick cut maple wood smoked bacon and the difference was pretty clear this time around. I suggest finding the best cuts you can. These did the trick. Cook them until they’re pretty crispy and chop accordingly…I say accordingly because you know the people you’re baking for. If they only want little nibbles of bacon with each bite then make sure they’re finally chopped..if they’re like my neighbor and want nice chunks of bacon then leave them big.

Now…I don’t have a picture for this next step..and feel free to pass…but, I put two tablespoons of the bacon fat in the batter. It was a spur of the moment idea inspired by a bread recipe I plan to make around Christmas time.

Pour your batter into your greased 9 x 13 pan and bake!
I somehow managed to miss getting a picture of the finished brownies. But like any other baked good you’ll know they’re ready when you can stick a tooth pick in the center and they come up clean.
I have to say they’re great brownies and especially if you’ve got a bacon addict in the family. You may notice that I didn’t use a 9x 13 Pyrex dish to bake them in and I should explain..Every time I’ve made brownies in the Pyrex dishes the edges don’t come out right. I know that baking glass is much different from metal and with brownies it shows. I don’t want anyone to break a tooth on something I bake so I just went ahead and used the metal dish.
I hope the Pyrex Gods don’t punish me…

Chicken Loaf

How many people out there have or had picky children at some point? Everyone? Pretty much everyone? I thought so. Niko is going through a phase where he doesn’t want to much meat. Especially any sort of ground beef (steaks are fine, for some reason) so when a neighbor called me over to “shop” her apartment I was happy to find a pound of ground chicken! This neighbor is being kicked out so she didn’t want a bunch of frozen food hanging around with no place to go. Thats another story…Anyway, I thought to myself “Chicken Loaf! Maybe he’ll eat that…”
It is pretty easy to make with the right timing and of course…Pyrex! Let’s go!

First you’ll want your fresh stuff. I went to the store and let Niko pick out which peppers he would like. We ended up with a yellow and green, which are great because I LOVE yellow peppers. You’ll also want to use about half of an onion and a clove of garlic.

Chop them all and toss them together in your chosen Pyrex dish. For this recipe I went to my always lovely Yellow 300 Bowl. She’s just perfect for summer meals.

Throw in your pound of ground chicken. Then you’re going to add in your bread crumbs-about a cup. I used Itilian style because its what we had and I figured..hey, why not? flavor is flavor! Add in one egg WHITE-not the whole egg. Not sure why, but a recipe I found that I loosely based this off said to. Probably has a health reason. Next is a teaspooon of Worcestershire sauce followed by 1/4 cup of ketchup.
Then…the fun. Get yo hands in there and mash it all together! When everything is well combined move your loaf to your prepared loaf pan. I chose my Spring Blossom 9 x 13.

Yummy, huh? Put it in the oven at 350 for about an hour and a half. Some say to cover it with foil for the first hour and let it bake another 15/30 without the foil. I don’t use foil and it came out pretty dang nice.

But would it pass the baby test?

It did! Well, some bites did. He lost interest pretty quick…I however loved it and would recomend trying it if you’re looking for a low cal dinner that you can cram tons of veggies into!

July Brimfield

Are you ready? I mean really, really ready for this? It was a doozey of a trip to Brimfield so lets just jump right in!

We got an early start this month because it was just us and we have a child who likes waking up before 6. We were on the road (coffee in hand) before 6:30 and were parked and walking the ground by 6:45. We found the fabled END of the market! For the two years I’ve been going I have never seen the end-neither had Joe. We started by parking in them middle so that we could see his Moxie guy first thing. Our plan was to leave by 10…which didn’t exactly happen.

When Moxie-Guy opened up we found that he had something super special…not Moxie soda related.

Did your jaw drop? Mine did. We didn’t know that the care booklet was in there until today, too! When I asked the mans wife what she wanted for it she said 20…I told her we would keep poking around and I would let her know. The guy remembered Joe and gave him an old Moxie bottle for free and after finding a few more Moxie items Joe asked if he would do 20 for everything-Pyrex included. They took it! I love these folks. I get the feeling they know we really love what we buy from them.

Next we found some pie dishes. But not your normal “oh look, another Pie dish,” dish. Ready?

SEE?! A label! A tag! Whatever you call it-its gold. And on the same table…

A colored pie dish! AHHHH! Are your hearts beating? Mine stopped a little. Each were marked at five but Joe asked 8 for both and she agreed. She seemed to just sort of “have” them seeing as the rest of her table were plants and herbs.

We went a little pie crazy this time…but they were all worth the few dollars we spent. This one, especially, to me…

An engraved Pyrex Pie Dish. The woman running the stall was adorable, sweet, and I promised to stop back by her way in September. She had this marked as from the 1940s, which I think is about right. Maybe the 1930s…Either way, she had it marked at 15 but we asked for 12 (we also bought a really cute apron for 8 dollars).

The last place we bought any Pyrex from was this older gentlemen who seemed to have it just pouring out of himself. He said it was his wives and that, “all of the old cameras are mine.” I get the feeling he wasn’t too ready to part with some of those cameras. We found something that rounded out a small set.

A Cookie Jar! To go with our Cracker Barrel! I love this! We spent 3 dollars on this…a jar that normally goes for 15-18. We round out that set spending less than 10 dollars for both. I’m amazed at how lucky we got.

The last big Pyrex booth we stopped in was a woman from Worcester. She told me she had started to collect in the 70s and selling in the 90s and according to her card her company is called, “Oh, my Mom had that!” though to my generation its, “Hey, my grandma has that!” We got to talking and she gave us some great tips for buying and we did share our distaste for the current direction that SAVERS is going with their prices. Overhearing our conversation, her next door booth-neighbor said, “She is the queen of Pyrex…That makes you the Princess.”

I was tickled…It was so sweet and a title I very much want to earn. Even if I’m only the Pyrex Princess of Western Worcester County.

British Pyrex In America

Well well well….what do we have here? A little bit of England in America! Just in time for the Olympics, too. According to a collector on Pinterest this pattern is called Emily-which I find sweet. It is a sweet and loveable pattern to begin with but to couple that with one of my favorite girl names just puts it over the top. We picked this little one up at the “big” SAVERS and paid about 4 dollars for it. I was surprised to actually find some JaJ Pyrex in the states…happily, of course.

I think I’ve mentioned before how when I find certain dishes places that recipes just start to pop into my head. For this one I would want to put a simple salad in. Maybe the one my mom got me hooked on years ago-mixed greens, goat cheese, little bits of ham or turkey, grapes and a homemade vinaigrette.

Mmmm…My birthday is in two days so perhaps I’ll treat myself to such a salad!

Mothers Day

This past Sunday was my second Mothers Day and to say it was great would be an understatement. We started out the day by having a Dunkin Donuts breakfast and I got to try their new Men In Black coffee…okay its not called Men in Black Coffee but it is promoting the film. After that we headed out to look for yard sales on our way to an Antique shop Joe had seen was having a sale. We learned that people in Grafton, MA do not believe in yard sales! There were none! Not even signs for ones the day before. After a quick look at Craigslist we realized that no one for two towns was having any sort of yard sale. This, my friends, is sad. Why wouldn’t someone have a yard sale on such a beautiful day? Mothers day? Oi, what better way to spend the day…But I digress…
We finally made it to the shop in Grafton called North Main Antiques and began to look around. At first it didn’t seem like we would find much of anything. The woman was nice and didn’t give us the, “oh, they’re young and probably are just here to steal,” look which is always a good way to start a visit. When we worked our way back to the last room we started to find a few things.
First was a Gooseberry refrigerator dish…but the dealer wanted 12 dollars for the one dish. Sorry, Kimmers. Next, though, we found mugs!

There was something about the smooth sides and muted green that I just fell head over heals for.  They were two dollars each, which I felt fine with paying (this was also some left over Brimfield money). Then I found something non-Pyrex but that I absolutely loved.

I love all things old kitchen, really…mostly from the 50s and 60s so you can probably guess why I wanted this refrigerator manual. Yes, I framed it. Yes, it is on my wall. Yes, I’m that guy. Deal. My husband does.
On our way back into town we found a yard sale-which is good because we were beginning to think they had gone extinct for the weekend. It seemed to be a moving sale because part of it was “inside” a mostly empty house. We found something, of course

A beverage server! With what I would call a Christmas type design on the glass…maybe I’ll put some eggnog in it for this years Craigslist Christmas party. Even though it does have a warming candle under it cold drinks can still be put in it…just don’t light the candle.
All in all, it was an amazing Mothers Day. When we got home the boys all slept and I had time to clean up at my own pace and get the chicken slow cooking for dinner.

My not-so-little-guy

I couldn’t have dreamt of a better day.

 

Brimfield

Three times a year Christmas comes for flea market goers on the east coast. It takes over the small town of Brimfield, MA and overflows with splendor…As long as you can make it through this traffic

This year was different than last for a few reasons. First was that we had a narrowed our search from years passed. In Joe’s case he had promised to be more selective with the Moxie bottles he would buy and for me, I would look for promotional pieces of Pyrex. Last year, I was focused on collecting Butterfly Gold, Spring Blossom and Friendship patterns. I still love all three of them..but I wanted a bigger challenge if you know what I mean. Second is that we had TWO toddlers this year-my son and my niece. This presented its own host of “problems,” like potty breaks for Chloe, making sure they weren’t kicking each other in the wagon, finding a good place to change a diaper and an earlier than usual lunch break.
It was nearly noon by the time we got parked, had a bathroom break and finally started moving towards the stalls. I’ll give this disclaimer…I did not take nearly as many pictures as I meant to. There was a wagon to be pulled!

The first few stalls we wandered through didn’t have much of anything that either of us were looking for. I did find a Chip and Dip set in the Balloon pattern but the smaller bowl-the dip bowl-had been run through a dishwasher and had lost its beautiful gloss finish. Joe found something I wish upon wish upon wish we had gone back for…A complete dinner set. Cups, salad plates, bowls, and a platter! The guy was asking 25 and I asked for 20 but he refused. Sometimes being stubborn on prices kills a dream for two people. As much as I wish I had gone back for it though I am a little glad we didn’t…how would we have carried it through the market? Where would I have put it at home?

A lot over and a few tents down I met a wonderful woman named Linda who had mass amounts of plain glass Pyrex…and percolators. Lots of them. That is where I picked up this not-so-little beauty!

A Silex/Pyrex coffee maker! These were produced in the 1940s and feature a cloth filter and chain dangle through the top tube. It reminds me of a coffee barometer. According to the Pyrex collectors book they retail for 100-125 dollars…I paid 20. Score? I think so.
After a break for lunch we lost Joe. He went hunting for his favorite vendor-a pretty well known Moxie collector who has been scaling back his collection lately. After a lot of confusion as to which lot he was actually in we all met up again…but by that time we needed to head back to the cars. Both children were falling asleep sitting up and beginning to show signs of, “if I don’t get to sleep soon I’m going to throw the other kid outta the wagon.”
We said our goodbyes to my mom, brother and niece and started to leave. Because my husband is so observant he could tell I was pretty upset that we had spent our last few hours at the show simply trying to find him and not getting to look for antiques (both mom and James got a stiffed a little). He told me, “I found you presents…” So I started to unwrap newspaper covered dishes and thought, “well damn it, I can’t be mad anymore.”

Butterfly Gold napkin rings. Now I have pretty much an entire table setting in this pattern and plan to use them in the coming months.

This mug was used as an advertisement piece for a restaurant. Pyrex didn’t advertise much after these promotional pieces came out and I do not have a date for when they were put out to help. I do love this mug though!

And then…there is this. I could punch Joe I love this so much…I say punch because I was still a little mad at him when I opened it. This is called Spirograph and was put out some time in the 70s as a promotional piece. It had a 20 dollar sticker on it but Joe told me he asked for 15 and the woman took it. After doing a little poking on ebay we found one that was going for 120 dollars. Second score? Heck yeah.
We are looking forward to the July show and are thinking, since my mom doesn’t plan to come, we may find a baby sitter for Niko for the day so that we can cover more ground and he doesn’t have to get cranky in the wagon all day. But, that is still up in the air. Kim should (and by should I mean better) be coming with us. Of course, our funds for the July show may be cut down if we can actually pull off this house deal…all those funds would go to home repairs.
Though…mom did have an awesome idea about finding new door knobs at Brimfield.

May The Fourth Be With You

As many of you may be aware May fourth is International Star Wars day and you may also be aware that (if you have followed this blog for any amount of time) my husband and I love to entertain and host parties for silly “holidays.” So when May fourth rolled around this year I told Joe we had to have a party for all of our Star Wars loving friends. First, we notified guests that it would be a cook out but as the day drew nearer the rain moved in…so we moved the party inside. We needed a menu…a Star Wars themed menu.

I like to think I’m clever…please agree.
For our Jar Jar Drumsticks we picked up some value packs of chicken drumsticks and bathed them in our favorite homemade sauces. Mine, a sweet apple sauce based bbq and Joe’s Moxie bbq sauce-we set aside some plain ones just done in olive oil and some seasoning in case anyone wasn’t feeling adventurous. This is where the Pyrex comes in! Joe had the utterly brilliant idea to slow cook the chicken all afternoon (roughly 5 hours at 250) and let me tell you…it paid off.

In the large Butterfly Gold dish we have my sweet Jar-Jar Drumsticks! In Pressed Flower dish we have Joe’s Moxie Jar Jars and in the last dish-Mod Kitchen pattern-we have our plain ones.
How many Pyrex pieces can you count in that one picture?
Lastly, I made some Bantha Milk which is what is widely accepted as the blue milk that Luke Skywalker drinks in episode 4.

And of course, I put it in my Old Town Blue pitcher.
The party was a pretty big hit and the drumsticks were amazing. I wish I had gotten a picture of Jil’s Wookie Cookies but things just got away from us.
Again I apologize for the lack of posting. It’s just the times, I suppose. I do love my blog and my readers and I find that I still get a lot of hits on the day-to-day from people looking for information on baby bottles and patterns! Thank you for keeping up with me!