The Queen of Fifty…Crepes!

The “huge moving sale, everything goes!” on the west side of town this morning…wasn’t. Oh, I'm not disputing that the guy is moving. And what I saw might actually have been his idea of “everything.”

Huge, it was not.

Oh well.

But the estate sale not far from my house was much better. (Whew.) The lady the sale was for is 93 and moving in with her daughter. She was a wood carver and also did that Norwegian style of painting called rosemåling, which I admire but have never wanted to collect. There was a large free standing wooden cabinet with painted doors that I could have fallen in love with though, if 1) I had room for it and b) it had not been $150. 

Fortunately there were some things more in my price range.

It seemed that she had a special love for carving wooden Santas, and they were flying out the door. One lady showed me the adorable one she was getting of Santa carrying a little Noah’s ark and holding up a red umbrella. We stood there and chuckled at it. I didn’t get a Santa, but I did select this fun snowman.

I love his twig arms, though they may need replacing from time to time. But twigs should not be that hard to come by.

I picked up some tomato cages (which look exactly like every other metal tomato cage you’ve ever seen). This time of year I need something to remind me that winter will not last forever. I also got this piece of yard art,

and a little metal chickadee like the ones I always admire at garden shows.

This kitty plate is tiny, but I think it will be just right to hold a tea bag. On the bottom it says it was made in Thailand, so even though it's a black kitty, it must be a Siamese cat, right?

So, a fun morning though a short outing. But last Saturday Judy and KK and I went to a couple of sales, and I had one really great score.

The backstory starts about 4 years ago, when KK found a large round electric griddle at an estate sale. She gambled four bucks on it, hoping it still worked, and when she got it home and researched found it's actually a crepe griddle. For making the big crepes like you get in a crepe restaurant. I was suitably jealous (especially when she would tell me of some fabulous crepes they had for dinner) and told her the next one we saw had to be mine.

So imagine the thrill when she emerged from the basement of the house we were in clutching an identical crepe griddle! She handed it over with a grin as I wept in delight. (Well, almost.) I did have the presence of mind to plug the thing in to make sure it would heat up. My heart would have been broken if it hadn’t worked, but hooray, it did.

Ironically, both griddles came from estate sales run by the same company.

I have been in crepe making heaven! Lunches, dinners, desserts. Okay, yes, breakfast too. I keep a container of crepe batter in the fridge and have been playing French chef with practically every ingredient in my house. So far they’ve all been good. I don't usually pause to take a picture, but this dessert crepe that included chocolate ganache, lemon curd, brandied cherry sauce and some whipped cream was the bomb.

My posse is joining me tomorrow night for a crepe party.

Yum!