All Excited about Cutlery!

Not the Christmas season, not 24 hours of non-stop eating and drinking, but my new cutlery. The sort of things that excite me. Ahem. After an early morning excursion the other day, Plumbaby and I were wandering around in South Melbourne with not much to do. We'd had a peek at the South Melbourne Markets and shared a smoothie. I was going over my Christmas list in my head and all thoughts soon turned to cutlery.

You see, I don't know about you, but Figman and I have a motley collection of spoons and forks. Odds and ends collected from when we moved in together years ago. The odd family heirloom and items nicked from work. The only ones which now match are the remants of a 24 piece set I bought from Target and I can't even scrape together a matching set of four if we have people over for dinner. As guests are sitting down, I am opening the dishwasher and hastily rinsing forks with egg batter stuck to them. But we struggle through and really, it's not that big a deal.

Until I realise that six people are coming for breakfast on Christmas Day. And at last count, I had four table knives. And maybe five forks. Unless I tell someone to eat with their fingers, it was definitely time to get some new cutlery. I've been keeping an eye on the sales of big sets but there's nothing I've fancied. Some of the Villeroy & Boch cutlery is beautiful but it's obscenely expensive and really, does this kind of thing belong in the hands of someone who loses a teaspoon a month? I think not.

I'd been wanting to check out Chef's Hat on Cecil Street for a while, and so I stuck my head in the door on the elusive cutlery search. They had some Stanley Rogers sets and a few others but it wasn't what I wanted. I loathe soup spoons so why should I pay for six of those? And a set of entree knives?? What planet do these people entertain on? But at the back of the store I had a revelation - boxes and boxes of loose cutlery - a couple of dollars by the piece and even cheaper by the dozen. I chose the sturdy and utilitarian Luxor range and then had fun putting together my own selection. A dozen table knives, spoons and forks. 12 tea spoons (soda and coffee also available). 4 matching serving spoons and 2 salad spoons for $3.50 apiece. These usually cost $20 for a pair, so it's an offical BARGAIN. And the boxed dozens cost me from $8.15 for the teaspoons to $21.55 for the knife. All up, my chosen settings for 12 cost just over 60 bucks.

So I'm happy, SO VERY HAPPY!! Now I just have to wash them and put them away. And come Christmas Day, I won't be fishing around under the vegetable peelings for that last knife, because I'll still have another ten!!