Kitchen Pickin’: It’s neighborhood sale season

EAST TEXAS (KLTV/KTRE) - This week, Jeff Awtrey returns from the best of many big buys he made over the weekend. And Mama Steph has some advice on recalls and safe storage.

Christmas napkin rings

Jeff: My wife picked these up in about a set of 10 each. I don’t have any idea what they are, as a Google image search doesn’t give me a match. So they could be pretty rare. These have amazing detail.

Steph: These napkin rings are so cute. I don’t think they’re very old, as I have some ornaments that are similar from the past five to 10 years or so. I’ve never seen these, though, so I have no idea who sold them! The fact that you have 10 of each is lovely for the host or hostess who wants to set a festive table for a lot of people.

Fire King bowl

Jeff: Fire King made its debut on East Texas Kitchen Pickin’ a week ago. This is a brand Cheryl and I have a soft spot for after we found a beautiful blue speckled set of mugs when we first started our weekly journeys. Last week’s was our first time to find it since. And on Thursday I found this set of bowls and it actually is not the only Fire King I found this week. From my research on the label, it appears this is from the 1950s. I’ll let Steph describe the actual bowl.

Steph: I love using these Fire King French casseroles; I have them in white. They’re so pretty for serving desserts like warm custard with caramel sauce, or peach cobbler. Yours are the peach luster French Casseroles; they’re especially pretty, in this beehive or honeycomb pattern. I don’t see these in this color very often. I almost never see them in my favorite color, which I may have mentioned, is jadeite.

Speaking of Fire King, Here’s an image showing some of the logos over the years so that you can see about how old your pieces are, if you have some. It was shared on Pinterest by Linette Sharrow.

Starbucks Collection Series

Jeff: Watch out for these! I saw on a YouTube video that the Starbucks Collection Series is a BOLO. I believe my wife got this at our first sale on Friday. So I was pretty proud of her because she hadn’t seen that video. Starbucks sells these mugs only out of specific cities. So to get this Copenhagen mug from a Starbucks, you can only get it in Copenhagen.

Steph: These are really nice mugs! I didn’t know Starbucks did an international series of these mugs, so this was new for me. Great collectible!

Artland goblet

Jeff: Another Mrs. Awtrey special. She got these toward the end of the day Saturday and said it was one of the last sales remaining in that garage. We thought that was unusual but then I thought, “Well, maybe people aren’t in the market for a good goblet.” This is made my a company called Artland and it is hand blown. They’re a company based out of New Jersey and I think I’ll add them to my BOLO list.

Steph: I love the look of hand-blown glass. This is beautiful to me, and just in time for fall, with this gorgeous color. I have no idea the value of this particular glassware line, but it’s certainly a nice quality piece of stemware bubble glass! I like the handmade look of it. And it’s modern, so no need to worry about lead.

As for lead safety, it’s important to be careful with glassware, especially with things you will store liquids in. There are different levels of quality controls for various countries, and even in our country, the standards have gotten much stricter and safer over the years.

For example, If you happen to have a genuine lead crystal pitcher, you might think twice about storing liquids in it, as lead can leach into the liquid if it’s left in there for a lengthy period of time. If it’s just in there for a short time at breakfast and then it’s emptied, it should be safe. I like to do searches for particular items I use to make sure they’re safe before using them to store anything, including vintage items. I store things in new Pyrex glass storage bowls. I use my vintage bowls for mixing things like dough and batters, and for decorating, but not for food storage, as there is some concern that vintage items may contain lead, as well as concern that very cheap glass from other countries may contain lead or other chemicals. Just do your research.

Charlie Brown cookie tin

Jeff: I thought this was the coolest find of the week, but Mrs. Awtrey didn’t even think it should make the cut. Devyn and Steph love it, though. This is a cookie tin that was sold with cookies inside. Original Gourmet sugar cookies, in fact. There’s a button in the upper corner and if you push it, it plays the Peanuts theme and the lid lights up. Now what’s neater than that?

Steph: This is so great. We all grew up loving Peanuts holiday specials, and for me, Charlie Brown Christmas is the best of them all. This tin having lights and music is a special touch; push the button once and the music starts playing, and push it again, it stops. Someone will love filling this up with cookies or fudge for a loved one this Christmas, I’m sure! What a nice piece of nostalgia.

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