The late Mr. O-P had a darling set of demitasse cups. It seemed
strange that a guy like him would have had something so delicate, when he
generally drank his coffee out of a rather hefty mug. But, I suppose he found
these somewhere, they pleased him, and he bought them. They are China, very
delicate, each cup with the name of a foreign hotel. One of these days I'm
going to get them out and share them with you, but for the moment they are on a
high shelf in the far back of a cabinet because we never used them, what's
more, I'm not so sure that he ever used them. So, in my mind, that
wasn't a good purchase. It's not that we didn't drink espresso, we did, and
these cups would have been perfect, but the handles were small, and they just
felt rather awkward in hand.
With this in mind, it would probably seem strange then that I bought a set of
demitasse cups on my own. Hold on, I'll explain. I am crazy about Bordallo
Pinheiro cabbage plates, and have long wanted a set of cups and saucers,
because I'm one of those people who isn't particularly fond of a mug for
morning coffee. It just seems so much more civilized to me first thing in the
morning drinking out of a cup.
When I spotted this set, I ran them by friend and tablescape
blogger, Marigene
Purcell, to see what she thought. A big collector
of Bordallo, she told me that she had a set of these, but warned me that they
were very tiny. Obviously I bought them anyway because I just love cuteness.
I am very
happy with my purchase because I can see a lot of uses for these. I can
envision them filled with cold soup, or, perhaps fruit salad, or a pea salad.
They might look lovely filled with tiny, seasonal blossoms, one at each place
setting for a ladies luncheon or tea.
How would you
use these if you had a set? I'm open for ideas, although I seem to keep coming
up with my own. Wouldn't chocolate mousse be grand served in something like
this (rather than my usual of just dipping it straight from the mixing bowl)?
Give me your thoughts. You may see your idea in a future blog post.
(People always ask me where I store everything. My answer is generally,
"Everywhere!" and this proves it. Here are four of these cups perched
on top of a desk in my office.)
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