Seasonal Plates?

So today I put my brown-edged plates away and started bringing out the blue/yellow/red flowered plates. It must be spring!

Anyone else change plates with the seasons?

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Nope, but I kind of like the thought. Iā€™m just in ā€œless is moreā€ phase of life, and keep winnowing down.

I have white porcelain and a stack of multi colored plates with a terracotta colored rim.

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Absolutely I do! I have bowls for winter fruit (apples, oranges, bananas) and I have spring/summer bowls for lemons, strawberries, peaches, etc. . And vases, and kitchen linens.

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Some kaiseki restaurants or ryokans do. Kaiseki emphasize cooking according to the season. The kaiseki chefs balance flavors and appearance of food and some change tablewares to match the season as well.

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Nope.

We have the white ā€œbestā€ for Saturday night and the hotch potch of stuff (mainly IKEA and local supermarket) for the other days.

Oh, absolutely. I collect ā€œplaceā€ plates from the fleatiques and those come out for summer. The only hitch is I have to have visited the place, otherwise things could get out of hand. Little known fact: The Ohio plate features an interstate toll booth and a firestone tire. ;-); I use that one for olives.
Am told that no one wants bone china anymore, and possibly this is true because my neighbor gave me her motherā€™s 18 place settings of Wedgewood Litchfield because she couldnā€™t shed it to the next gen. I said sure Iā€™ll take it, why not? Egad. Now thatā€™s the fall stuff.
I donā€™t change out glassware or the silver or buy figurines or such. Linens come from the fleas as well. However spouse prefers simple white caterers plates.
Storage is a problem, Iā€™ll grant you.

Often I do think about how the food looks though. Summer fruits and veg look great on the place plates. But there can be clashes and then the white ones come out.

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Should I be embarrassed to admit I have a dedicated olive dish/jar? It has a lid and slotted spoon so you get the olive without the juice :confounded:

Iā€™m sure youā€™re right about the bone china. I got my own set of Royal Dalton (18 + lots of serving pieces) ridiculously cheap about 20 years ago from a consignment shop. So momā€™s china (formerly dadā€™s momā€™s china) went to my sister. But AFAIK she has never used it and I canā€™t imagine my nieces or nephews wanting anything that canā€™t be thrown in the dishwasher.

Iā€™m mortified by the amount of linens I have. But I did enjoy removing the green tablecloth and belleek this weekend and replacing it with the white cloth with floral trim and the Easter-themed dishes.

Iā€™m afraid buying a house with a large kitchen full of cabinets, a breakfast room in which I installed a linen chest and a dining room with built-ins as well as my buffet and hutch has only worsened my pre-existing condition :cry:

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Not seasonal, but I like the idea of ā€œbest!ā€

Well in the great scheme of things, considering what you can buy for pennies at the fleatiques, it seems innocent and fun. And thereā€™s a preservation aspect. Iā€™ve found amazing linens in a pile, things that are works of art, made before the first war, in countries that no longer exist. At least when I pop off, thereā€™s hope that someone will say wow, Iā€™ll take that.
Any presentation that slows down the eating of food that took time (hours, sometimes, over days!) to make is a plus. Who wants to see food inhaled? Itā€™s a pet peeve.

We never had Christmas plates and no one in the family had them. But one Christmas we joined friends, who pulled out all the table-scape stops. It felt like a sugar-rush. I was thinking, eh. But then the seventeen year old daughter said, ā€˜She promised Iā€™d get all this when she dies. Cool, huh?ā€™

That qualifies as intergenerational bonding. Doesnā€™t it? ;-0

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I prefer plain white tableware, but I do have a decent collection of colorful tablecloths, runners, napkins, etc. I also have a number of accent pieces (bowls, platters, etc), but many of those are on display as wall hangings.

My mother was surprised when we got married that I didnā€™t want china as a wedding gift, but itā€™s really just not my thing. However, my parents are now downsizing so I inherited hers. Itā€™s plain white with a very thin silver rim - so I guess I know where I got my simple tastes in tableware!

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I know. Sometimes it makes me sad that these items arenā€™t valued by the families. Then, one day at a neighborhood yard sale last year I find a beautiful golden tablecloth hand-embroidered along the edge for $1 and I think how nice someone who appreciates the work found it :slight_smile:

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