I want to make a potato casserole for Thanksgiving dinner this week. Potatoes, garlic, and leeks in cream sauce. There will probably be between 15 and 20 people at dinner. My family is scattered, working. Thanksgiving will be with dear friends.
I walked away from most of my pots and pans seven years ago, and didn't have a large casserole dish. I've been thinking I should acquire one, hadn't noticed one in the second-hand shops. Hadn't ventured into the handmade pottery shops.
Today I searched my favorite Maine adventure store. One never knows what one will find there. It's a rotating panoply. There were baking dishes, but none had lids. Except the bean pots. There were bean pots with lids. That was a possibility. Twenty dollars each.
The posh kitchen store down the street was next on my search list. The pots and pans there were several hundred dollars each. Appliances too. Small pretty bowl $8 expensive. I found a bright orange ceramic casserole dish with cover for $85. I would have to want, need, and admire a casserole dish very much to spend $85. I said to the clerk, "I found a covered casserole dish for $85. Do you have any that cost less?"
She replied, "We have many colors. What color did you want?"
I said, stomping on my small twinge of shame, "The color is beautiful. I wanted a cheaper one. Do you have any cheaper ones?"
She stopped to fondle the $85 casserole dish: stroking it and lifting the lid; she pretended to think, wandered for a few moments, and then proceeded straight to a low shelf in the back. "Well, there's this," she said disdainfully. "Anchor Hocking, $10." It was a large glass casserole dish with a lid.
"Perfect! I'll take it, thanks."
There will be potato casserole.
I walked away from most of my pots and pans seven years ago, and didn't have a large casserole dish. I've been thinking I should acquire one, hadn't noticed one in the second-hand shops. Hadn't ventured into the handmade pottery shops.
Today I searched my favorite Maine adventure store. One never knows what one will find there. It's a rotating panoply. There were baking dishes, but none had lids. Except the bean pots. There were bean pots with lids. That was a possibility. Twenty dollars each.
The posh kitchen store down the street was next on my search list. The pots and pans there were several hundred dollars each. Appliances too. Small pretty bowl $8 expensive. I found a bright orange ceramic casserole dish with cover for $85. I would have to want, need, and admire a casserole dish very much to spend $85. I said to the clerk, "I found a covered casserole dish for $85. Do you have any that cost less?"
She replied, "We have many colors. What color did you want?"
I said, stomping on my small twinge of shame, "The color is beautiful. I wanted a cheaper one. Do you have any cheaper ones?"
She stopped to fondle the $85 casserole dish: stroking it and lifting the lid; she pretended to think, wandered for a few moments, and then proceeded straight to a low shelf in the back. "Well, there's this," she said disdainfully. "Anchor Hocking, $10." It was a large glass casserole dish with a lid.
"Perfect! I'll take it, thanks."
There will be potato casserole.
