Fully Stocked Kitchen

I shop at thrift stores a lot. Really, a lot. Clothes, books, decor items, cookware, raw materials for my shop; most of the goods I buy come from second hand shops. This is partly because I am cheap and refuse to pay full price for new when perfectly serviceable things are available used.  Mostly, however, I shop at thrift stores because they can offer some hidden gems found nowhere else.

Sometimes these gems are beautiful and unique vintage clothing, or delightfully nerdy bits of whimsy, and sometimes I find really high quality kitchenware for a bargain:

I once read an AirBnB review where the person jokingly docked points for the "fully stocked kitchen" not containing an egg slicer. It occurred to me some time later that I didn't have an egg slicer, and thus could not consider my kitchen to be Fully Stocked. My local thrift store had my back, though, with a super fancy German one that slices eggs into perfect wedges.  It's really a shame that this IKEA cheese grater is discontinued, because it is the single most useful and convenient grater I have ever used. 

I've had a love affair with cheesecake ever since I was a kid, and my mom has made me one for my birthday every year since. We've had a lot of fun trying out lots of different recipes. She also helped me hunt down octagon shaped dishes from thrift stores until I had full sets of the quirky and unconventional dishes. This springform pan I found for a few bucks is not only really high quality and in great shape, it also lets me make octagon cheesecakes to fit on my octagon plates!

Despite the fact that I have (and adore) shiny black geometric dishes, I also have a weakness for elegant porcelain with little purple flowers. I walked back and forth in front of this display for several minutes trying to decide whether to buy this set.  One the one hand, gorgeous! On the other, limited counter space and clashing style. I asked my mom and my hubby to talk me out of them (I don't know why I thought that would work, they are both such enablers...) and both told me to stop dithering and just get them. Mom even said she would store them for me until I found space! Long story short, I bought them. I'm determined to use them, though, not just let them be decoration, so they are all filled, though not necessarily with what the labels say.