Napkin Rings and Finger Bowls

Not just for your fancy dinner parties.

In my reading of etiquette books, I came across a couple of items, the use of which has been relegated to fancy dinners or upper crust dining in general, but which could and should be rekindled among the common folks: napkin rings and finger bowls. I found a kindred spirit today when I pointed out some napkins and tablecloths on sale to a coworker. We got to talking about napkins and napkin rings.

Napkin rings were historically used more commonly for the everyday at home dining and not used when setting a formal table. That trend seems to be reversed now and the well-dressed table has simple to ornate matching napkin rings at every place setting. Napkins rings, it turns out, when not matched, are a great way to differentiate which napkin belongs to which diner when reusing the napkin for more than one meal. I mentioned this to my friend and she remembered her parents doing that and had just been thinking of that as she was tired of washing so many apparently clean table linens.

Finger bowls are similarly considered upper crust, but usually formal meals are created to minimize the risk of mess and one does not eat with one's hands at such. On the contrary, informal family dining is more likely the place where a finger bowl would be more useful. So, if you should come to dine at my house and notice finger bowls and mismatched napkin rings on the table, please don't assume that I'm confused about my table settings - I'm just trying to keep all our hands clean!

Pre-Clutter Clearing

So, I have always been thrifty. Frugal. But never cheap...okay, maybe sometimes cheap, but I would say that is the exception rather than the rule. Lately, having graduated and started my career and living with my partner in a lovely home, I'm starting to WANT things. It started last June when we went to a wedding - we bought the couple a really lovely wooden salad bowl that I would have loved to have for our house (though I realize in retrospect that I would probably have used it as rarely as I use the leaf shaped monkey-pod wood salad bowl I already have). It continued as we shopped through the holiday season - kitchen and tableware are my weak point and the holidays bring out all kinds of beauties. We did get a nice red tablecloth after Christmas that I love to look at, but avoided other purchases.

However, as I've been going through magazines for my vision board, I've fallen in love with a few items that I think are a deal, but really can't justify buying. So, I'm posting them here - it's 1/2 wish list and 1/2 for me to come back later and smile when I realize, like with the salad bowl above, how I didn't really need them in the first place. If I come back later and still really want them, maybe I'll buy.

I'm a sucker for certain materials - okay, pretty much all materials, but I really love glass, wood and white ceramic - and these wooden bowls really did it for me - they look shallow enough to use like a plate, but regular enough shaped to use every day. Not sure how cleaning wood dishes goes, but I have wooden spoons. Can't be too different, right?

($3 each, pacificmerchants.com)

And these mugs, I just love for the ease of having people over for coffee. I imagine them at a cabin or cottage, but I would love to be able to trade in all my mismatched cups for a cute stand of cups like this. (Cappuccino $29, Kenneth Wingard)

Yes, I'm a sucker for a pretty picture, but hey, I didn't buy yet!

What Gets Me Out of Bed

No, no, no, it's not like, "oh, I hate my life, there's nothing worth getting out of bed for." It's more like: The Things I Think About Doing Upon Rising. And it's blog-worthy, because I find the things that get me out of bed strange.

So, I was going to start describing myself and relating that to why the things that get me out of bed are strange, but being a professional doesn't have anything to do with it being strange really. If someone was a stay at home mom I would still find it strange that cutting up apples to put in the dehydrator put a zing in her first step out of bed. I would still find it strange that the thought of preparing a hot lunch of tofu and greens to be eaten hours later would be the thing that opens her eyes. I would still find it strange that she wished for a separate room near the kitchen in which to run and store her many appliances.

Yes, I am a kitchen junkie. Another negativo on the perfect house is that the kitchen is in the great room. This is what I've always wanted - my mom's kitchen is just a kitchen with a table, no formal dining room in the house, but most meals are eaten in the living or family room or with individuals strewn about the house wherever they fall - so, the thought of a kitchen where I could prepare food and still be with my family has always been very appealing. But the newest appliance to join my collection - my beloved ice cream maker - is very noisy. And it occurred to me that if I set it to run while eating dinner, it would be very noisy right next to us eating. And annoying. So I remembered another house where there was a large pantry and a laundry room nearby and got this bug in my ear that if there were a side room of the kitchen or a walk in pantry, that would solve some of those issues.

Thoughts like this get me out of bed. Thoughts about what food to prepare and how to make it, thoughts about meal planning, thoughts about the perfect kitchen. I do wake up hungry, but I also don't usually like to eat that much in the morning, so that adds to the strangeness too - that my first thoughts are about food that I'm not going to eat.