Fair City Finds

I have to admit that the charity shops here in Dublin's Fair City are not as good for homewares and kitchenware as the stores in Australia. The thrift shops here are geared more towards clothing and books and usually only have tiny bric-a-brac sections but I have still managed to find some nice things :-)

I love this pretty pair of teacups, Made in England, and plan on turning them into teacup candles for my summer table. They were €1 each.

This cute little rooster crock cost €2 and I use it to store wooden spoons.

This pair of Arcopal France teacups cost 50 cents each. I had no reason whatsoever to buy them apart from the fact that they're so pretty!

Yes I know, MORE duck-egg blue! This gorgeous Carrigaline Pottery bowl cost 50 cents.

This set of teacups and milk jug are by Johnson Bros and cost €4 in total. I absolutely love the retro pattern and am hoping to find more pieces.

This set of 6 soup cups and saucers cost €5, the brand is Tams, made by Staffordshire.

A red JAJ Pyrex Cinderella bowl for €1! This is part of the 3 piece Carnival bowl set, I have the blue bowl from the set too so am only missing the yellow.

I found this gorgeous floral platter in a vintage store in the gorgeous lakeside town of Carlingford. We had a lovely family day out there recently and I am dying to go back.

I stumbled upon a vintage store in the city on my way to an appointment last week, this pretty plate had to come home with me of course, it cost €3.

I may or may not have "found" this Denby Arabesque coffee pot on top of my mum's kitchen cupboard and nagged her until she let me have it :-)

And finally, a Nigella Lawson storage jar in cream, I already have these in blue and pink so now I have a set :-)

I have heard rumours that the best places to go for vintage kitchenware etc in Ireland are carboot markets and parish fetes, unfortunately these usually take place on Saturday mornings when we are busy with kids' activities and family gatherings but hopefully some day soon...

Pretty Utensils

Previous posts have probably alerted you to my Le Creuset and Pyrex obsessions but today I'm going to show you another of my weaknesses... pretty utensils. I just can't pass up a cute spatula or rolling pin when I see one and I believe that if something can be functional AND pretty well then why not ;-)

Here are some of my faves...

First up, my little spatula collection, I know nobody needs this many but they are so practical and look so pretty stashed together. These are a variety from Le Creuset, Cath Kidston, Wheel and Barrow and Target.

I love my Donna Hay duck egg blue silicon utensils, they are perfect for using with enamelled cast iron cookware as they don't scratch the enamel.

Yep, I love rolling pins, what can I say?

The above cream utensils and duck egg blue colander are from Nigella Lawson's enamelled range, they are so pretty :-)

I can stomach boring stainless steel as long as it's got nice blue accents.

This cute little sieve is from Jane Asher's Range and the oven glove is by Donna Hay.

Random baking supplies, even cake skewers can be pretty if you look hard enough :-)

And finally, some new baking supplies, I love baking with my boys and we're going to expand our repertoire to include cake pops and macarons :-)

Anyone else out there have a utensil obsession? I can't be the only one?!?

All mixed up

I absolutely love clattering about my kitchen, making a big mess with pots, pans and bowls everywhere. We have a dishwasher but I am "old skool" and prefer to wash by hand. In the 9 months we have lived in this house the only time the dishwasher has even been opened was the day we moved in when I checked that the last tenants hadn't left anything behind.

I've mentioned many times how much I love kitchenware and some of my favourite things to collect are mixing bowls and jugs. I have LOTS, some vintage, some brand new, all very loved :-) Here are my favourites...

I love this vintage large lotus bowl, it cost a couple of dollars as far as I remember.

Another vintage classic shaped mixing bowl, again I think I paid about $2 for this.

I got this lovely beige "Delicious" mixing bowl with spout in the Myer sale.

A classic styled blue Tala mixing bowl, from Victoria's Basement, one of my absolute favourites!

Another market find, a cute white bowl with spout.

I love this pretty pink Le Creuset mixing bowl from their "Junior" range :-)

I got this fab red snowman mixing jug from "Meadows and Byrne" in Ireland last year, can't wait to use it at Christmas :-)

This beautiful huge robin egg blue mixing jug is another Irish purchase, I got my lovely Dad to buy it for me last year then lugged it back on the plane to Australia with me :-)

I love these blue vintage "Fowler Ware" bowls, made in Australia.

Yet another buy from Ireland, I adore this Mason and Cash red strawberry bowl.

This Le Creuset teal mixing jug is from Myer.

I got this fab pink mixing jug on eBay.

I love the vintage patina on this bowl, a flea market find.

I bought this gorgeous set of Nigella Lawson blue nesting mixing bowls on Amazon, they are a gorgeous shape to hold under your arm while mixing :-)

And no bowl post would be complete without some Pyrex of course! I have never seen the pattern on this large cinderella bowl before, anyone know what it's called?

And you couldn't possibly forget my leaning tower of Pyrex could you? ;-) To see those bowls in all their glory click here.

Oh this is only the tip of the iceberg but that's all for today, I wouldn't want you getting too bowled over (sorry I couldn't resist ;-)

Nesting

Wow! I HAVE been a slack blogger so far this year but I am officially back! It's been a busy few months with D starting school, recovering from our big trip and moving house. It always takes a while to find the right place for everything when you move doesn't it? But here's a little corner of our new kitchen that I am 100% happy with :-)

You might recognise my pale blue painted shelves from a previous post on the playroom in our last house, well let's just say that "display" is not a word in my boys' vocabulary and this shelf always ended up lying empty despite my efforts to make it "all nice" so now it has a new home in the kitchen :-)

On the top shelf (left to right) a cute vintage blue flowered canister, Villeroy and Boch "Acapulco" ramekin, retro aqua and white egg cups, red and white dandelion bowls from "Meadows and Byrne" in Ireland, a Nigella Lawson ceramic blue juicer and tiny duck-egg blue tagine, I bought a set of 4 of these in TK Maxx in Ireland, they are so cute for storing spices, salt and pepper :-)

On the next shelf are a pair of birdie bowls, blue and white on top is by Marie Claire from Myer and the bottom bowl is from Target, a set of 4 dessert bowls from Kmart, 2 more of those tiny tagines and a gorgeous pair of turquoise Le Creuset hearts from TK Maxx in Ireland.

On the bottom shelf a set of Jamie Oliver blue fluted bowls, ANOTHER tagine, a tiny orange Le Creuset cast iron casserole, a pair of bowls from Anthropologie and a Fortnum and Mason tea caddy.

Up on the white built in shelves are various vintage "things" (left to right), vintage green Royal Staffordshire plate, Finel teapot, Krups white scales, made in Ireland, specials chalkboard and red Persinware scales, made in Australia.

On the lower shelf (left to right) gorgeous Gien French vintage plate, aqua berry crate from Anthropologie, Nigella Lawson cookie jar, red vintage plate, Nigella Lawson cups and saucers, white rooster platter and pair of Fowler Ware bowls, Made in Australia.

I love the sight of all these little bits and pieces brought together, they get used a lot and I love the mix of old and new. I did a LOT of shopping in Ireland actually, so I foresee a post on that in the near future as well as a heap of photos from our trip, there are just so many it will be a mammoth task going through them all!

Nigella

It's no secret to those who know me that I LOVE Nigella Lawson! I have a collection of her DVDs and watching them is the only thing that makes ironing bearable. Her recipes are so achievable (and yum) and it's so nice to watch somebody enjoy the food they make just as much as I do :-)

Nigella has a lovely collection of kitchenware, the range is called "Living Kitchen" and while her products are widely available in the UK, there is only one retailer that sells them here in Australia (at hugely inflated prices).

I refuse, on principle, to pay rip-off Australian prices on products that cost a fraction overseas (don't get me started), so even though I have been longing for a lovely Nigella bread bin for ages there was no way I was paying the Aussie RRP of $189! Then last week, one came up on eBay for pickup only in a suburb about 15 minutes away. I couldn't believe it when I won it for $51!!! It was out of the packaging but barely used!

Isn't it lovely...

Of course it's duck egg blue :-)

And I love how the lid doubles as a chopping board. Now I know I posted recently on my own little DIY bread bin, and that still has pride of place on my kitchen worktop, but in a house with three little boys who love bagels, croissants and bread so much, 2 bread bins isn't excessive is it?

Here are another couple of Nigella scores from previous posts...

A pair of cups and saucers that retail at $89 for $2 at a car boot sale.

And a lovely cookie jar that retails for $49 for $3 in Vinnie's.

Now if I could only pick up her beautiful cake dome for a few dollars somewhere ;-)