The Perfect Pasta Bowl

The search for the right crockery for The Mad House has been long and arduous. I know first world problems and all that but, as they say on Twitter,  #thestruggleisreal. Flippancy aside, trying to find a balance between the plates that I want – and then bizarrely – that HE wants too ( I know. Vexing)  that is married to a price that we both want has been tricky.

We have looked at handmade and factory made. At all shades from black and to white and back again. Then there was the deep, deep black that clashed with the black of the shelves. The white that was cold and old fashioned. The set that was £52 a plate. “But we need 12,” said The Mad Husband.

“Twelve,” I shrieked. We barely know 12 people, never mind agreeing to cook for all of them all at once.”

“You will break them,” he said. “We need spares.”

I had to concede on that one.

Then I found them. And they were the completely perfect set of plates in shades of grey. And really not a ridiculous price. But there was one tiny snag. The pasta bowls are yellow. I can’t really do yellow. It’s actually a lovely warm, golden yellow but it’s not going to work for me and my pasta. So we have quietly put those bowls to one side.

Which, I concede ( that’s twice in one post) make this set of plates rather more expensive than it might otherwise have been. But I adore the plates. And he likes them too. And the children approve. And frankly to paraphrase a well known credit card advert: Set of eight plates with bowls that can’t be used: £69. Full family approval: priceless.

So that is where we are. Except we have no pasta bowls. And this is a house that eats a lot of pasta. I say no bowls. We have the old ones. Which we don’t like. Which is what started this quest for the right crockery about two years ago.

And so the hunt is on again. And I have found these. By an Australian company called Mud and available at Bleakhouse.London in the UK. They come in milk and pink, which is the perfect colour to go with the plates – which are dark and pale grey (in case the pictures don’t show it up well). But they are £46 each. Although there’s no way we are ever going to cook pasta for 12 people at once. So we could have six? Maybe four if I promise never, ever to load the dishwasher or carry them from the table to the kitchen. That way I won’t break any. Sounds like a plan to me…