Sunday 6. So what’s on that top cabinet shelf? The one you can’t reach…

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mariadnoca

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Marie kondo says take all like items out and pile them up to shock you into paring down. So my double wide dish cabinet is currently empty and scrubbed clean. I had decided margarita glasses are the devil, so should be moved to that top shelf. However…turns out that top shelf is taller than the others (my shelves are not adjustable). Humm. This means I might have to put things back the same, or if I move those seldom uses plates somewhere else…what should go there? What do you have up there? In my house it requires a stool, and if it’s heavy, like a stack of plates, at least a knee on the counter, if not outright standing on it to get to items on that shelf.

And here is where I confess my love of dish ware. I have far too much of it, though most sets, yes you heard me, that’s plural, I own were given to me. So in a fit of autumn cleaning/organizing/decluttering I’m pulling it all out into the light of day and…oh my. I’ve lost count as to how many dishwasher loads I’ve done in the past several days. Because I’ve unloaded the hutch as well. I have several oddball vintage plates I like to mix n match, from when you had to buy that stuff at the flea market and there was no Internet to find additional pieces. Then I have my every day set of eight. Then my neighbor decided she didn’t want her wedding dishes, a set of 8 Johnson Brothers, friendly village (a good winter/autumn pattern!). She also gave me her original dishes that had been handed down to her when she was just starting out on her own. I think that’s a set of eight with lots of random pieces that the Internet tells me is from the mid 1800s. Then there is the wedding china from my friend who didn’t want to take it into her next marriage. That’s a beautiful cream set of 12. Oh, then my mom brought my aunt’s set of dishes and left them here. It’s either a set of six or eight with lots of additional parts. And then there’s seasonal dishes, I have a set of eight of Spode Christmas tree. Eight vintage red plates that I use for both summer holidays and Christmas. I like to change dish ware seasonally, can you tell? I’m piling all this stuff up in one room against one wall and it’s seriously looking like Macy’s in here! Now I understand why Marie Kondo says you’ll be shocked into getting rid of stuff once you see how much you have. Lawds yes! And I still have a second smaller hutch to go through. And we haven’t spoken about the platters. Hangs head in vintage collectible dish ware shame.

But I am trying to put back what I do use/keep into the cabinets, and those margarita glasses are too short to earn that taller top shelf, but what’s in yours???
 
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For me, it's So Many Glasses. One or two wine glasses remaining from each of many sets bought, because 'oh, they're so pretty', or 'the first wine glasses I ever bought', or they were gifts from someone close. And the crystal/glass bowls and platters. I can't resist them and I still buy them - I really need a big low salad bowl, but where I'll keep it I don't know. I did manage to give two to elder DD recently, and two more that I'd forgotten I had went to Goodwill. But they all spark joy. :)
 
You must have huge cupboards.

Margarita glasses, sake sets, a complete barware set, Cinzano glasses, Ricard glasses, balloon wine glasses, esspresso set. (and a set of funnels).

But honest Mom, I hardly ever drink.

And I've recently lost 2" in height and at 5'4" now, and short arms, the stepstool gets out occasionally.
 
I sometimes forget that I even have cabinets up there, and I have the tiniest kitchen ever. I have a box of cake decorating supplies, some cake pans that I rarely use (during my decade of not being able to eat eggs, mercifully over). There are little molds for aspics and rings for crumpets, the spritz gun, and a fancy gravy boat that matches my every day china pattern but since it’s just me, I never pull out the gravy boat for myself. Maybe I should? I did a clean out a while back and gave away some crazy glassware that I never used like the glass footed bowls that hold crushed ice and they have another glass bowl that fits on top to serve iced soup or something - I gave those away to a bartender friend who used them at an event with wild success. I don’t remember if I kept the margarita glasses. I have the top shelf of my china hutch with my fancy barware, martini, coupes, glencairn, flutes, and nick and noras, a lot of them were given to me by a close friend who had a friend who knew my father. When she passed away, my friend scooped them up from her kitchen. We were talking about old family memories, and I mentioned where my father worked and she mentioned this woman’s name and I remembered her! Wild coincidence, so now I have my dad‘s friend barware, it’s beautifully etched and the old-fashioned tiny size which I love, where you can actually have 2 or 3 martinis and not expire. You have reminded me that I need to pull out the stepstool and put back my mini loaf pans that I pulled out last year around this time and have been cluttering up my dish drainer.
 
i have a wooden step stool that has lived in this kitchen all my life. Just used it to clean the pesky cabinet over the fridge. The mid century version that nobody can reach as it’s shallow like the upper cabinets. Everything in that, vases, teapots, and empty jars, are currently in the dishwasher.

The margarita glasses did a stint in the dark bottom of my hutch, where one glass broke. so moved them to the kitchen cabinet where they just take up too much valuable real estate. Honestly, I’d toss them all except vitamix margaritas are delicious. Today I learned nobody makes storage boxes for them, which of all glassware needs one the most imho. So, I’m going to have to make my own because these need to get out of the kitchen!
 
Can you imagine the yard sale we could all have together??!!

And...............oh dear, do I really want to know what a Vitamix margarita is? It sounds justifiably healthful.
 
Everyone would think we are lushes, lol!

Whole Fruit Margarita, from vitamix.com, these are sooo good.


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Servings: 8 c ( 1.9 l )
Ingredients
    • 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
    • 6 ounces (180 ml) tequila
    • 2 ounces (60 ml) Grand Marnier or Triple Sec
    • 1 orange, peeled, halved
    • 1 lime, peeled, halved
    • 1 lemon, peeled, halved
    • 6 Tablespoons (75 g) granulated sugar
    • 6 cups (1.4 l) ice cubes
Steps
    • Place all ingredients into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.
    • Select Variable 1.
    • Turn machine on and slowly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High.
    • Blend for 45 seconds, using the tamper to press the ingredients into the blades.
    • Pour into salt-rimmed margarita glasses.
 
Remember the Pineapple Margahooties? They are so fantastic, and lethal. That was one of the recipes I found in my basket of printed off treasures from here and there.

On one of the many fun times I got together with Susan from Kentfield, she had marinated the pineapple and made a pitcher of them, I barely remember getting home!
 
I don't even know what 50% of the glass types are that you've mentioned.

For my situation, getting divorced and moving from a 2,000 sq foot house with 14 cabinets to 950 sq foot with 2 cabinets for dishes/glasses meant A LOT of down-sizing & donating. In face, wine glasses are sharing space in a tiny bookcase and these guys below have been sitting on the table for two weeks now since there is no shelf place for them.

But they only cost $0.75 each at the thrift store, so how could I not buy them!

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I do remember those!!!

Love those blue martini glasses! My martini glasses live on top of a buffet I use for additional storage in the living area and the top is set up as a bar.

Why did it take me so long to figure out the margarita glasses should go in the dead zone over refrigerator cabinet? And also, just reline all the shelves in the kitchen while I’m at this?

Duh. Because why not make a big job bigger? The shelf liner paper should be here tomorrow, but why is it only 20” not 24“ depth for lower cabinets? That’s weird.
 
I am at the moment when I need to get rid of everything. My diningroom contains so much that the younger generation is not interested in using for elegant entertaining.

Having said all this, I think I need to do some more entertaining. Sigh.
 
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Well, THAT just goes to show what a philistine I am: Had to google…

Royal Crown Derby, Blue Mikado cream soup

…because who knew cream soup bowls were a thing?

What a beauty that is!! It truly deserves an elegant meal…or, you know, you just enjoying a really good scoop of ice cream while curled up on the couch watching Random Harvest.

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that was it, and here it is in the other pattern.......which I still have. Most of the soups I make are cream-based but my kitchen set that I use for casual guests has only the soup plates. What is a casual guest?
 

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Yes, I’ve been tempted by those double handle soup bowls too! Swoon! Kids today! They only think of grandma very formal table settings, but fine China on a rustic table or using place mats is a divine way to meet in the middle, imho! And nothing beats a styled China hutch. I restyle my cabinets every season, then light it and bask in the glory of the sparkling look. It’s my favorite view when reading a book and adds to the coziness. I find fun paper plates because the grove to hold plates upright only holds one plate, so I stack fun paper salad size in front. I’ve had a set of Spode Christmas tree ones I used every year stacked against my red plates, then I can put all my real Spode tree plate into usable rotation. Right now I have fun vintage style Halloween plates in front of my plain China to turn my October version spooky. Costs pennies and creates a whole new look.
 
I finally, after many starts and stops, got that cabinet over the fridge cleaned out, relined, including the sides which I had to thumbtack in place, and all the margarita glasses are in the back row behind all this. Those canisters are not my every day so they’re sitting there empty wondering what should be put in them for long-term storage, and the orange, blue, and yellow teapots and the blue/white platter they are sitting on are something I couldn’t resist last week at the thrift store. It’s not fancy, kind of a cluttered jumble, but it’s clean, lol. And yes, I do love me a teapot! Especially in autumn. Everything you see was either thrifted or given to me.

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heather_in_sf said:
Remember the Pineapple Margahooties? They are so fantastic, and lethal. That was one of the recipes I found in my basket of printed off treasures from here and there.

On one of the many fun times I got together with Susan from Kentfield, she had marinated the pineapple and made a pitcher of them, I barely remember getting home!
Click to expand...
Remember them? I still have a container with pineapple and tequila in it, along with cinnamon stick and some brown sugar. Can I recall when I last had a Margahootie? Nope, but I'm guessing that the alcohol has preserved that fruit.
 
marilynfl said:
I think your margarita glasses should live in the empty top shelf of your new freezer. That way they are ready when YOU are.
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Hummm, that’s an idea! 🧐 But the top shelf is reserved for sheet pans for flash freezing and cakes/icings in progress. If I move those to the freezer, then I could put all the mugs/saucers I don’t use from my everyday dishes back there. Future project!
 
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