Laughable Moments: Portuguese Dishes

So I have been attacking projects in my house, and one of the latest has been going through unopened boxes in the basement. It has turned into a stroll down memory lane. I have found cassette tapes with random mixes of music from my teenage years, photos of old friends and adventures, and memorabilia from my travels. One of the funnest boxes to uncover contained treasures from my mission.

When I opened up the box and unwrapped the first item, I was so excited. A bowl.... the dishes I bought in Portugal! One of my areas, Caldas da Rainha, was famous for its ceramic and pottery dishes. So when I had finished serving my mission and was touring with my parents, we went back there and I bought some. The ideas was that I would have these dishes rather than investing in china. I returned home, made sure things hadn't broken, and then the box was stored.... and basically disappeared.

Ten years later and I finally have a place and opportunity to use them. I had thought about those dishes, and wondered where they were. My parents sent some boxes to me about a year ago... but I never got around to unpacking them. Amazing what you can find when you go through things! :)

So... as I started unwrapping the dishes I wondered what size of service I had purchased. What size had I thought my family would be, and how many extras did I buy for entertaining, that sort of thing.

I pulled out two bowls and two plates and a gorgeous soup tureen complete with lid and ladle, (the Portuguese are famous for their soups) then the real fun began. I uncovered two more bowls, (the bowls are flat like plates with a dip in the center) then two more, then two more. Ah, a new stack of dishes, these must be the rest of the plates. A bowl, another bowl, another bowl....

Total? 2 plates and 16 bowls. What in the world?! Who packed this box! When I told Drummer Man about my discovery, he, of course, laughed! (And so did I.) He asked if I was going to call up the store where I had purchased the dishes and ask them to resend the correct grouping of dinnerware. Can you imagine? "Hi (in Portuguese), I bought some dishes there about ten years ago... and somehow the clerk put the wrong number of plates and bowls into the box that was shipped. Would you correct the error?" Right.

Well, we certainly won't be using the set to entertain. At least Drummer Man and I can have a complete dinner. The whole things was so sad.... and hilarious at the same time. Sixteen bowls? Really!