# When do you use your "good silverware?"



## dragnlaw (May 28, 2017)

The older generations have always had "good silverware" so to speak. The younger generation not so much.  If they do have it as an inheritance or otherwise, it seems they rarely use it. 

I try to use mine as much as possible. As well as my dinnerware. When I have friends over for supper - out it comes!  

My silverware does tarnish. So... I wrap each setting in plastic cling wrap. No matter how many people come over I can grab the appropriate number of settings.  Sometimes they are a little taken aback when they see all the silver ware out although I try to put out just the pieces that they need, I do get carried away. 

The common statement from them "Oh, oh, don't go to all that trouble!" and my reply is "No problem, if I can't use them with and for my friends, why do I have them?"

Hey, I have no problem, if it is a spur of the moment meal, telling them the forks and knives are in the top drawer beside the sink. Just grab any plate you like from the cupboard.  Help yourself!  But if I have planned the meal and invited them, I believe they deserve a bit of pampering and some fancier stuff. 

In other words, what I'm saying is I don't get the "good stuff" out for just Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter.

What do you do?


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## roadfix (May 28, 2017)

When we bought our house some 27 years ago we had to furnish the dining room so with a new dining table and china cabinet we purchased a set of fine dinnerware and silverware.    We rarely use them, in fact, I remember using them once or twice.   The silverware are still kept in the dining table drawers.......well, I hope they're still there...


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## dragnlaw (May 28, 2017)

*Q*

LOL, cute roadfix!  Well, go and find out!  Get that stuff out of the drawer and use it!  ahem... I'm not saying to use it for a BBQ.  

Don't wait for Thanksgiving!  Get it out and surprise the guests/family!









q


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## Dawgluver (May 28, 2017)

*When do you use your &quot;good silverware?&quot;*

I use everydayware I got from Jacques Pennai.  Has served me well for many years.  Same with the Noritake stoneware I found on sale.


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## buckytom (May 28, 2017)

We've never had any. My wife's family nor my own were ever wealthy enough to actually have silverware.
To add, our families couldn't even produce a full set of fancy dishes, some of that being from lots of children about, but, you know.

I think I'll pass the idea by DW, about looking into maybe buying a set from an estate, or something like that. It would be nice to have something for family get togethers since my house seems to be where we try to get together anually nowadays, although that is getting increasingly difficult to accomplish.


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## dragnlaw (May 28, 2017)

*Dawg*... but do you have a different set of silverware?  or a separate china set?
Wow, Noritake has some gorgeous stuff. 

Just going to look up Jacque Penai, 'fraid I've never heard of this,

My good "china" is a set of Denby Stoneware and not 'fine' china like some.  My mother's was a beautiful Limoges Greek Key of black and gold. One of my sisters' inherited that (LOL, we figured she was the only one who could afford to buy replacement pieces) my other sister got the crystal of Cross & Olive design, and I got the silverware.  We were all happy.

At one time the common Christmas, Birthday, special occasion present was a piece (or setting) of silverware.  I don't even remember what mine was. Do still have them wrapped up some where. But that sort of fell out of favour during the 60's. Guess girls started to become and wanted more control over their futures!


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## dragnlaw (May 28, 2017)

buckytom said:


> some of that being from lots of children about, but, you know.
> 
> I think I'll pass the idea by DW, about looking into maybe buying a set from an estate, or something like that. It would be nice to have something for family get togethers since my house seems to be where we try to get together anually nowadays, although that is getting increasingly difficult to accomplish.



LOL...  lots of children I fully understand!

And yes! check out estate sales, before they get into the hands of the "professionals". That would be a fantastic find.


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## Andy M. (May 28, 2017)

We don't have "silverware"  we have a nicer set of stainless steel table ware we bring out when we have guests for dinner.


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## dragnlaw (May 28, 2017)

*Dawg* this is too funny.  I can only find Jacque Pennai - as an Australian  cricket player, or a panna cotta recipe, and a few other sites I was a little afraid to go to!!


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## dragnlaw (May 28, 2017)

*Andy* nothing wrong with that!  My sister has a set of everyday stainless that I'm sure rivals her silverware. Really nice stuff! I'd love to have a set.


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## Dawgluver (May 28, 2017)

*When do you use your &quot;good silverware?&quot;*



dragnlaw said:


> *Dawg* this is too funny.  I can only find Jacque Pennai - as an Australian  cricket player, or a panna cotta recipe, and a few other sites I was a little afraid to go to!!




(Psst, dragn, it's from JC Penney.  Tarjai (Target) also has good stuff.)

My stoneware has nary a chip or a crack, even after 30+ years.  Not elegant, but functional.  And discontinued.  But I've not had to replace anything.


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## Andy M. (May 28, 2017)

dragnlaw said:


> *Andy* nothing wrong with that!  My sister has a set of everyday stainless that I'm sure rivals her silverware. Really nice stuff! I'd love to have a set.



Yeah, the ex got the china and silver.  I'm ok with that.  I'm not a china and silver kind of person.


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## bakechef (May 28, 2017)

I think that my mom's generation was the last to really have that.  My everyday stuff is good quality and can run through the dishwasher.  For me it wouldn't be practical to have a hutch full of fine dinnerware.  We had one growing up, but the stuff just sat there because mom didn't want to ruin any of it!


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## dragnlaw (May 28, 2017)

*bakechef * actually I think that is why my mom only used it for special occasions. Gold on china and dishwashers don't exactly go together. But for the few occasions that it was used, a dishwasher was OK.

*Dawg*  Well, Tarjai bombed in Canada, or at least Quebec. Pulled up their skirts and ran home...  what a shame. I really liked it.  But I'm on a budget now so my indulgences run to what I have, ugly mismatched kitchen ware! LOL.  But that's OK. I have (with my nose up in the air) good silverware to sooth me.


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## Kayelle (May 28, 2017)

My Mom had lovely china and it's safely stored in the hutch hardly used. With two sons, I don't know who would want it when I'm gone.  Sigh. Mom loved to set a pretty table with that and her "silver plated tableware" and at least the "silver plated" lasted her lifetime, but not mine, so it's gone, and that's fine.

When SC and I married he had sterling tableware from his marriage then, and I didn't like the pattern at all so he gave it to one of his sons. Why would I want to use silverware I don't like?


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## Kayelle (May 28, 2017)

buckytom said:


> We've never had any. My wife's family nor my own were ever wealthy enough to actually have silverware.
> To add, our families couldn't even produce a full set of fancy dishes, some of that being from lots of children about, but, you know.
> 
> *I think I'll pass the idea by DW, about looking into maybe buying a set from an estate, or something like that. It would be nice to have something for family get togethers since my house seems to be where we try to get together anually nowadays, although that is getting increasingly difficult to accomplish.*



Bucky, for someone at your stage of life that would be *GREAT*!! 
I hope you talk to your DW about just that. There's just nothing like sitting down to a beautifully set table to make everyone there feel really special.


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## Steve Kroll (May 28, 2017)

MY ex and I had a nice set of silverware and china that was given to her by her grandmother. We tried to use it every year, but after a while decided it was kind of pretentious and didn't really match anything else we owned. We ended up selling it.


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## buckytom (May 28, 2017)

Hey, I prefer to hang on to immaturity, thank you very much.


Lol, K-L, my wife has impeccable taste. But also, having worked hard all her life (from a teenager until we had a baby at 39} she is just one of those people that throw a pillow on a couch and it makes the room look better.

Not pretentious, but smart and beautiful. Much like she is.

BTW, she has excellent taste in husbands, don't ya know.


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## Andy M. (May 28, 2017)

"Good china" and silver are trappings of a more formal time. They way our parents entertained is no longer the norm. I have a set of good China but haven't used it for a number of years. 

My intention when entertaining is to impress with the food I serve rather than what I serve it on. Typically, the people we entertain don't care about place settings.


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## Dawgluver (May 28, 2017)

*When do you use your &quot;good silverware?&quot;*

DH's brother and his wife bought their parents a whole set of Royal Dalton Christmas china, along with the accompanying flatware.  Guess how many times it was used?

My basic stuff works just fine for us.  I sold all my mom's good stuff in the auction after she died.  It wasn't used very often either.


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## Souschef (May 28, 2017)

Kayelle said:


> When SC and I married he had sterling tableware from his marriage then, and I didn't like the pattern at all so he gave it to one of his sons. Why would I want to use silverware I don't like?


I gave the sterling silverware to my son and DIL who were absolutely thrilled with it. They polished it all up and tossed their stainless flatware.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 29, 2017)

I use Mom's china almost daily, my MIL's silverplate the same.  Both Mom's gave them to me because they knew I appreciated them and would use them.  I have a handmade stoneware set from Ireland, that is MY good dinnerware, use it monthly.


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## taxlady (May 29, 2017)

My mum bought two sets of Georg Jensen stirling silver cutlery at an estate sale and never used them. She bought it for me and my sister. We use it for supper all the time. We don't have any "good" china. One of these days we will buy something that we like and we will use it every day. The stuff we have is okay, but there isn't enough of it left to use when we have a supper party, so it's some of each of two sets.


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## Cooking Goddess (May 29, 2017)

Our good silverware is actually silver plate flatware that my Dad earned over the period of a few years as safe driving awards. I always bring it out when Himself's sis and BIL roll down the hill to come over for a meal, whether it's one of the BIG holidays or just a bite to eat. I mean to use it more often, but I'm lazy and can pop my stainless steel into the dishwasher. I don't have to polish the silver often, since I got a nice silverware chest from e-Bay back when I had a habit of acquiring "stuff". I don't go there anymore since I'm moving the "stuff" in the other direction. Don't want to fuss with being a seller on e-Bay; it's so much easier donating things to worthy causes around me.

The good china is actually Pfaltzgraff stoneware. My Mom bought us a full set of *everything* when she found out she was going to be a grandma. We took them on vacation to York when the factory was there and the store was right in the factory. Mom went bonkers (pedestal mugs AND cup-and-saucers? soup plate AND bowl? on and on...). I would use my MIL's Franciscan Desert Rose china if Himself would let me, but he's afraid of breaking something. instead, I bought four dinner plates (e-bay again) that we rotate to at dinner time.


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## CWS4322 (May 29, 2017)

I have four sets of sterling. My great grandma's, both my grandmas' sets, and my great aunt's. I use my maternal grandma's everyday. I do, however, count the pieces before I put it away in the silver chest to make sure one hasn't gone in the garbage or out to the compost heap.

I do prefer sterling for stirring coffee and eating creamed soups. May just be me, but I think it improves the taste. If you use it daily, you don't need to polish it.


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## cjmmytunes (May 29, 2017)

We have a set of plastic-like dishes that we use for everyday (paper plates it on them wonderfully so you don't have to was the plate of you're just having the sandwich and chips for a lunch).  We have a stoneware set that we use whenever we have someone over for lunch and on holidays.  Our silverware is mix-and-match all in 1 drawer.


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## Katie H (May 29, 2017)

Our good silver is a very, very old Rogers Bros. pattern than has long been discontinued and is now over 100-years-old and we love it.  It wears its age well and we use it.  It speaks of times long gone and that always makes me smile when the table is set with it.

Similarly, our china is an old Homer Laughlin pattern, also discontinued, and also old.  Not quite a century but getting there. It's a gentle, lovely pattern and also speaks of a different era.

I'm in the process of planning a monthly "date" dinner for Glenn and me and will go all out with the table when I finalize my plan.

The silver and china are supplemented with antique crystal, cut glass and assorted silver pieces, along with bits and pieces of Depression glass I use to draw out the colors in the china pattern. 

When the table is fully set, even a hamburger becomes special.

You can see some of the pieces in the attached Thanksgiving picture Buck and I enjoyed eons ago.


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## dragnlaw (May 29, 2017)

Beautiful setting Katie.  not to mention it also looks delish! Is that a lime jello and cottage cheese mold?


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## Katie H (May 29, 2017)

dragnlaw said:


> Beautiful setting Katie.  not to mention it also looks delish! Is that a* lime jello and cottage cheese* mold?




Sort of.  It's lime jello, crushed pineapple, marshmallows, chopped nuts and cream cheese  No cottage cheese.  Been made on major holidays in my family since before I was born and I'm looking at 70.  My children affectionately call it "green salad" and I'd be shot if I even considered NOT preparing it for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  It's more like dessert to me than a salad.


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## Katie H (May 29, 2017)

It took me nearly 20 years to accumulate a service for 18 of everything but it was a fun treasure hunt.

I also supplement our table with beautiful pieces of old discontinued glass serving pieces and other goodies.  Our china cabinet is full to overflowing and there is a separate closet in the den chock full of bowls, platters, pitchers, etc. that I've discovered over the years.  Some pieces I paid pennies for, others probably a bit more than I should have but those were scarce and I bought them when I saw them.  Nearly everything is pristine.

The china has a silver border that adds a little shimmer and is complemented by all the glassware and silver when the table is fully set.


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## HeidiCooksSupper (May 29, 2017)

I never intended to have a separate set of "the good" flatware but I got them as a wedding present that had us all rolling on the floor.  The flatware I bought myself (as opposed to the stuff my parents got me at an outlet for my first apartment) is pretty funny in and of itself.  It's "Pisces" by Reed Barton.  The handles are stylized fish.

What could be funnier than that, you ask, for people who neither fish nor live near the beach?  Well, when we got married at age 54, we asked people to forego presents because we were combining two full houses.  My sister-in-law had to break the rules, though.  She found a GOLD PLATED service for 8 of my fish flatware at a Reed Barton outlet for less than $50!  It's a hoot!

It was par for the course, I suppose.  Many years ago I won Greg Lougainis's bathing suit at a charity auction and gave it to her for Christmas.


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## Just Cooking (May 29, 2017)

My first wife and I were given a fine sterling set of flatware when we married.. It didn't come from a family member so there was not a lot of sentimental value attached to it.. 

About 20 years into our marriage, we decided to let it go when the value of silver went sky high.. We had dragged it along through many moves and seldom used it.. Neither our son or daughter cared for it so we financed a very memorable trip to Acapulco with the proceeds of the sale.. 

The memory of that trip is priceless.. The silverware, not so much..

Ross


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## Vinylhanger (May 29, 2017)

Our good silverware is whatever is clean.  No fancy dinnerware or dishes for us.  I think I have talked my wife into spending maybe 20-30 bucks on a utensil set.  Most of ours are hand me downs or wally world 1.99 for 4 pieces.  I did spend .99 cents each on a couple Goodwill teaspoons the other day.


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## CWS4322 (May 29, 2017)

Forgot my folks' sterling. Trying to find the "bad" silverware...might be in the box in the basement marked "old" flatware ... older than my great grandmas' "flatware"????


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## CWS4322 (May 29, 2017)

If you use it all the time, you don't have to polish it. My bro and I grew up counting it to make sure a piece didn't go in the garbage. I still count it.


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## Cooking Goddess (May 29, 2017)

Katie H said:


> ...Similarly, our china is an old Homer Laughlin pattern...


Lovely dinnerware set, *Katie*! I bet most people nowadays think "Fiesta Ware" when they hear Homer Laughlin, but they made some very pretty floral patterns back in the day. I have an oval serving platter and serving bowl that were my MIL's. I love to use them, but am very careful to keep them intact. I also have (most of) an oval dish that I picked up cheap in a 2nd hand store, but chipped one edge when a cup bounced off of it. Hmm, pretty sturdy stuff, too!


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## Katie H (May 29, 2017)

Cooking Goddess said:


> Lovely dinnerware set, *Katie*! I bet most people nowadays think "Fiesta Ware" when they hear Homer Laughlin, but they made some very pretty floral patterns back in the day. I have an oval serving platter and serving bowl that were my MIL's. I love to use them, but am very careful to keep them intact. I also have (most of) an oval dish that I picked up cheap in a 2nd hand store, but chipped one edge when a cup bounced off of it. Hmm, pretty sturdy stuff, too!



Yes, Homer Laughlin made many varieties of tableware and is still producing beautiful things today, Fiesta dinnerware most likely being the most recognizable.


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## HeidiCooksSupper (May 29, 2017)

I went through a spate of collecting late-19th/early-20th century covered vegetable dishes made in the Ohio River Valley, which was the capital of tableware in that era.  Homer Laughlin was one of the more productive firms, producing hundreds of different patterns and designs.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 29, 2017)

I do have a 5 place setting of Fiestaware (buy 4 get one free)...5 different colors, the purple are mine...all mine.  A 2 place setting of Mikasa "Berries" pattern. Various odds and ends of rice bowls, soup bowls.  Let's face it I have lots of dishes, all of which get used regularly depending on what I am serving.  All the flatware, silver and stainless, get used, too.


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## Cooking Goddess (May 30, 2017)

*PF*, we must be soul sisters. Or soup bowl sisters. I have various collections in my cupboards, too. In addition to the two sets mentioned earlier, one cupboard has a real mish-mash of plates and bowls. some we bought, and some were my Mom's from when I was a kid. I also have a habit of picking up hand-thrown bowls from our travels. I can pull out the one from Blue Ridge Pottery and remember our week around Charlottesville, VA. The shallow one with blueberries painted on the bottom is from a day trip my SIL and I took in central MA. I picked that one up at a little shop called the Blue Cupboard. Memories, all of them


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## dragnlaw (May 30, 2017)

CWS4322 said:


> My bro and I grew up counting it to make sure a piece didn't go in the garbage. I still count it.



We had to do the same!  And it pays off. A kitchen helper accidentally scraped a salad fork into the garbage. We would not even have looked for it if it wasn't for the counting - we found it!


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## bakechef (May 30, 2017)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I do have a 5 place setting of Fiestaware (buy 4 get one free)...5 different colors, the purple are mine...all mine.  A 2 place setting of Mikasa "Berries" pattern. Various odds and ends of rice bowls, soup bowls.  Let's face it I have lots of dishes, all of which get used regularly depending on what I am serving.  All the flatware, silver and stainless, get used, too.



Over the past two Christmas, my mom has bought us Fiesta service for 8.  If It were me, I'd have picked maybe two colors, but we now have 8 different colors, which Rob loves, he's a bit more colorful than me!  I love the set, and I love that she bought it for us!

A couple years ago we went to the Fiesta plant the day after their big annual seconds sale, there were still like 20 pallets of stuff, that was so much fun!  My friend bought himself all new dinnerware and some other pieces and spent less than $100!

I have a really nice set of simple white dinnerware from Crate and Barrel that I refuse to part with, it was my first "grown up" set and has proven to be super durable. 

Our flatware was on clearance at Target, and we've gotten so many compliments on it, it's simple but nicely weighted and the metal is very smooth.  This stuff we'll likely have for a lifetime.


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## bakechef (May 30, 2017)

Dawgluver said:


> DH's brother and his wife bought their parents a whole set of Royal Dalton Christmas china, along with the accompanying flatware.  Guess how many times it was used?
> 
> My basic stuff works just fine for us.  I sold all my mom's good stuff in the auction after she died.  It wasn't used very often either.



Maybe they would have preferred a set with hand painted periwinkles?  
(hope you get the reference)


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## HeidiCooksSupper (May 30, 2017)

*I would have needed a beaker/mug, too.*



bakechef said:


> Maybe they would have preferred a set with hand painted periwinkles?
> (hope you get the reference)



Surely, Hyacinth wouldn't have been comfortable with me touching the good stuff!


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## Dawgluver (May 31, 2017)

*When do you use your &quot;good silverware?&quot;*



HeidiCooksSupper said:


> Surely, Hyacinth wouldn't have been comfortable with me touching the good stuff!




  Now I get it!

Forgive me, Bakechef, I had no idea what you were talking about!


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## bakechef (May 31, 2017)

Dawgluver said:


> Now I get it!
> 
> Forgive me, Bakechef, I had no idea what you were talking about!



I've watched that entire series at least three times, I laugh just as much each time.  Hyacinth reminds me of my grandmother, always trying to portray the family in the very best light, always finding ways to bring up her travels, usually in vain, much like Hyacinth.


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## dragnlaw (May 31, 2017)

I have one sister I refer to as Hyacinth, another who "lives up the hill" and I won't tell you which one I am...


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## roadfix (Jun 1, 2017)

Our fine china are stacked in the china cabinet now.   Over the years it has been turned into a curio cabinet with lots of stuff in it.


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## Katie H (Jun 1, 2017)

bakechef said:


> I've watched that entire series at least three times, I laugh just as much each time.  Hyacinth reminds me of my grandmother, always trying to portray the family in the very best light, always finding ways to bring up her travels, usually in vain, much like Hyacinth.




Guess I live on another planet because I still have no clue what you folks are referring to.  Lots of clues but, so far, no idea what "series" is referenced.


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## Dawgluver (Jun 1, 2017)

*When do you use your &quot;good silverware?&quot;*



Katie H said:


> Guess I live on another planet because I still have no clue what you folks are referring to.  Lots of clues but, so far, no idea what "series" is referenced.




Keeping Up Appearances, a BBC comedy series I watched on PBS.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_Up_Appearances

One of Mom's favorite shows.


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## Katie H (Jun 1, 2017)

Dawgluver said:


> Keeping Up Appearances, a BBC comedy series I watched on PBS.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeping_Up_Appearances
> 
> One of Mom's favorite shows.



Thanks, Dawg.  I've never heard of it but I'm not a huge fan of British anything so it wouldn't even be on my radar.


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## GotGarlic (Jun 1, 2017)

I only pull out the "good" tableware for holidays or when we have guests. When I had my dad, then-stepmother, sister, grandmother and aunt and uncle here for Christmas years ago, I bought a 12-piece place setting, which is in our china hutch (which is actually filled mostly with cut glass lol). I like our everyday set better, but the larger set has matching serving utensils, etc., that are generally only needed when serving a lot of people.


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