Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Day 64: Corner View "Favorite Dish"

Today's Corner View was tricky!  At first I thought I'd cook or bake something.  But what is my favorite?  I couldn't decide.  So then I started looking around the house for my favorite dish.  Hmn.  I have lots of favorites, but I couldn't figure out how to make them photo worthy with the items that I had around the house.  They're pretty plain looking, and I wasn't feeling particularly imaginative in how to present them.  Not enough fruit to fill a bowl, I wasn't making french toast this morning, so the flat bottomed blue bowl that used to be grandma's and that I use often wouldn't work.  Finally, I happened across this.  This creamer set was given to Mom by my Great-Grandmother, Grace Schreiber.  We named our daughter after her, her middle name being Grace.  About three years ago, Mom was going through her things trying to downsize a bit, and asked me whether I'd like to have it.  Would I?!  Of course!

So I brought it home.  It was black with tarnish, and I just tucked it in the china cabinet for safekeeping, telling myself that I'd polish it one day.  That day was this morning.  I had read somewhere that baking soda and water worked great as silver polish, so I mixed a bit of goop together and rubbed it on.  Holy Hannah!  It was like magic!  Turns out that this set is actually copper with a silver overlay.    Pretty nice, eh?

Now I feel that I need to bake a cake and have someone over for a cuppa!  Would you like to come by?  Maybe I'll bake Jane's chocolate cake, which can be found here along with a list of other Corner View participants.

Have a lovely Wednesday!

12 comments:

Kari said...

That's a very pretty set. Love the color.

;) said...

That's a corner for king or princess... like a tale... Beautiful !

Maureen@IslandRoar said...

That is beautiful; the color is so unusual. Amazing shot.

Francesca said...

Baking soda and water? I didn't know either, thanks!

Emily said...

Oh! Gorgeous! What a wonderful discovery!

Lynn said...

Kari: Thanks! The real color isn't quite as warm as this--more silvery looking.

Otli: Maybe someday I'll have a home worthy of its use.

Maureen: I could say something like "It makes me feel like the Kennedies," but Mom always said "Once is funny, twice is silly, and thrice deserves a spanking."

Francesca: I have no idea where I read that--it was years ago. Amazing how well it works.

Emily: It was fun to take the layer of tarnish off and see what was underneath. Seriously, it was encrusted in black--looked as black, almost, as the background of the photo. You couldn't see the detail at all. Gotta love a good polish!

Joyce said...

Beautiful! xo

kathryn said...

Oh my God! You must've been so psyched when you discovered the copper!! I know I could have been!

What an amazing discovery...that set is just beautiful and of course, it's priceless...

la ninja said...

I remember my mum using bicarbonate of soda (same sort of thing, right) and I spent many an afternoon polishing stuff with that concoction. it does work.

right, I reckon what you need to do next is just rub the creamer set, wait for the genie and then just ask for a brew and a slice of choccie cake. :)

Lynn said...

Joyce: Grandma had great taste!

Kathryn: The copper makes it a little less valuable as far as real monetary value goes, but it kind of gives a neat color to the silver. More pronounced in the photo than rl, but still there. It was like uncovering a present, seeing what was under the black. :o)

La ninja: Hmn...I think I did so much rubbing trying to clean it that it put the genie to sleep! And bicarbinate of soda and baking soda are exactly the same thing. Kind of freaky that you can clean silver with it AND put it in cookies!

Cherry B said...

Lovely! What a treasure! I'll come on by for a cuppa, and I'll bring Miss Manners to guide us ;)

Toothpaste is also good for polishing silver, FYI!

likeschocolate said...

Very nice! I use to love my cookbooks too, but now I seem to migrate towards the internet to find recipes.