date night ~ estate sale & dinner out
the loot 😉 …
after a fun couple hours treasure hunting…we decided on Fiesta Mexicana for dinner…
I had the tamale, enchilada, chilie rellanos combo…
and Jeff had the Carne Asada…
This week for date night we were out for an evening walk and happened to see an estate sale sign. We discovered this treasure trove on the last day, and usually that means everything is pretty well picked over…but in this case it was perfect. There were still plenty of great finds and everything was 50% off! Kismet!
I took home 4 fine English bone china teacups in pristine condition (Royal Albert, Elizabethan and 2 Queen Anne! The little one in the second picture is a hand painted china Nippon. ) I also lucked out by finding an RS Prussia bowl in perfect condition, a pile of vintage linens, some more vintage valentines and greeting cards for my collection, a recipe clippings book PACKED with old recipes, newspaper and magazine clippings and cooking journal entries. (Time travel by way of recipes is my favorite!) We found a handsome slide projector in great condition (so now we have a way to watch all of the hubby’s slides…I’m thinking a slide show on Christmas Eve will be just the thing. Just like Clark Griswald. hee hee…) Jeff got the tape measure and a huge canvas bag full of tools. He was so excited!
The yards and yards of antique lace pictured above was actually given to me by my friend Clare (the sewing/quilting/designing goddess.) When I saw it I almost…well, no, I did. I screamed.) 🙂 I kind of have a thing for lace.
What did you do for date night this week?
XO
~Melissa
Hi Melissa, It’s fun to see all your finds! They’re just as you described….love the knives, forks, and teaspoon linens. It was probably good that I didn’t stop in there! Thanks for sharing, Clare
I had a little too much fun shopping 🙂 Did you notice the lace? Oh my gosh. I love it so much. LOL
xo,
Melissa
GIRL! This is soooo my idea of heaven: your sweetie, treasures and decadent Mexican with cold beer…. I wouldn’t trade that for a night at the Ritz!
It was a a really great evening. 🙂 I’m glad that we still enjoy “date night” after being married for 16 years. Always looking for new, fun things to experience together. That’s what it’s all about, right? 😉
Love those little napkins, and the tablecloth / runner type thing is really pretty too. Nice finds – wish they had something like that here 🙁
Wait. You do live in Paris, right? I’ve dreamed of being able to go to Paris flea markets and shops and buying antiques and linens. Please tell me they exist 🙂
Ehm, well… I guess the exist 🙁 And yes, I do indeed ^^ I found a few markets, including a huge one which fills a whole road on Sundays, which sell pretty much everything like this – linens, silverware, glassware etc. Only problem was, it was all so expensive (It was on Rue Lecourbe, in case you ever find yourself over here). I’m used to flea-markets and such in England where you can literally buy awesome, old stuff for really cheap, unlike here where they seem to treat anything as a priceless antique, even if it’s some bashed up old saucer. Maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places though 😉
Oh, I see. Well, maybe when we go I’ll have to buy myself a French fork, just to say I did it 🙂 hee hee. Where are you from in England? I can’t wait to visit…It’s also on the top of my list of places to see. We have friends in the Yorkshire Dales.
I worked in tea rooms for about 10 years, and I love everything English…but mostly everything having to do with afternoon tea 😉
I’m from the south-west, near Bristol and Salisbury – the countryside is nice down there, though I never went up north much. Regarding afternoon tea – I’ve been meaning to make a post dedicated to “Cream Tea” for a long time (OMG!!!), but you can’t buy clotted cream in France so I might need to wait a bit for that, or find a way of making my own!
Oh my gosh! I LOVE cream tea. And Devon is hard to find here too. You can buy jars of it, but it’s kind of spendy for just a few ounces. We didn’t make it at the tea room because of the whole pasteurized milk thing. We substituted a mixture of whipped cream and cream cheese. Light and fluffy compared to clotted cream, but good flavor and yummy on flaky, black currant scones with blackberry jam (my favorite!)
Would creme fraiche be anywhere near what you’re use to? It just occured to me, but I don’t know if that would work or not.
Can’t wait for your tea post! And, if you’d ever like to talk tea on my blog, I would be honored if you’d do a guest post for one of my Teatime Tuesdays 😉
Oh, I’d LOVE to do a guest post for you! I drink tea less now than I used to – my poison of choice these days is coffee – but I’ve still got a lot to say on the subject, and could hopefully come up with a fun post for you 😀
If I wait until I’ve made my cream tea, and tested out the clotted cream (I found some recipes which say you just need to “bake it in the oven, covered, for 10 hours!) then hopefully I can combine the two elements for you!
Crème fraiche isn’t really the same consistency… not fatty enough and kind of goopy. It needs to be yellowy and crusty (sounds disgusting but it’s so not. Crack open a scone, spread on strawberry jam (none of this blackberry nonsense! :D), and then a huge spoon of clotted cream….. drooooool.
YAY!!! You made my day. I can’t wait to feature your post. 😀
Your description of the scone with the cream and jam has made me hungry. I need to go make some scones!
Have an awesome day!
Ohhhhh you lucky girl!!! What an awesome lucky date night!!! I am itching for more estate sales or a trip to the thrift stores again. It’s funny now, when I find things I’m always thinking of you and how you’d like this or that!!!
We’ll have to go antiquing/thrifting together sometime! 🙂 xo