New plates
Ah heck, who am I kidding? Fact is, what I do best is buy stuff. I went with Tricia and and a chartered bus full of women on a shopping trip to Shenzhen early last month. We bypassed the Lowu shopping mall and headed straight for 3 other buildings full of “household stuff.” Yes, I am fully aware of the image a gaggle of women on a shopping expedition in a foreign land presents but heck, I have no shame when given the opportunity to buy cool stuff really cheaply.
No, I did not know what to expect. No, I did not have a budget or a battle plan. So even though I fully intended to buy Christmas presents for other people, my resolve dissolved into thin air as soon as we entered our first store. Porcelain dishes. Dishes. Who knew they could put me in such a frenzy? Who even knew white came in so many different shapes? Square! Round! Teardrop! Oh Lord, can you put square and round in the same setting? Do the serving dishes have to match? Who cares? If they’re all white, they all go together!
I spent a good hour putting my dream set together. Never mind that I never really thought of dishes before that moment. The peanut gallery and I decided that a place setting composed of a large square plate, two round saucers and a teardrop-shaped bowl looked fantastic. We also decided that 8 place settings was a reasonable number. Next we decided that three serving platters and two serving bowls were necessary to round out the set. What magnificent dinner parties I could now have (never mind that the thought of organizing a dinner party makes me break out into a cold sweat)!
Thankfully this was China, so my temporary insanity cost all of 770 Hong Kong dollars. Plus shipping. Now shipping is another story entirely that needed Cantonese-speaking assistance to sort out and cost me more than I expected, but there’s another time for that rant. For now, here’s a gander at what a hundred US dollars gets you:
And to fully appreciate the creativity that went into composing that oddly-shaped set:
“Jesus,” I told Tricia. “And these are just the retailers. I’ll bet if we looked hard enough we’ll find a place where the stuff costs zero.”
“Yup, and all you have to do is pay for shipping,” agreed the wise one.