I've always loved going to charity shops. I think at this stage, roughly 70% - 80%
of the clothes I own (apart from my underwear) are pre loved, and at
least 90% of our furniture is either pre-loved, or re-loved, so rescued from the side of the street...or out of a skip and fixed up.
I love
charity shops for so many reasons; the main ones are easy to tick off; it’s
great helping the charity out, prices are so much more reasonable, I love that
I’m helping recycle clothes, I won’t get into the sheer volume of power
consumed in order to make a single white shirt (this is apart from the mostly, gross exploitation of the people making the clothes) and this “wear it once and
throw away” attitude some people have drives me nuts! To me, there’s nothing
better than finding a “hidden gem” in a charity shop or in a skip, for example....
My
ceramic baking hen
I first
spotted ceramic baking hens in Habitat in Dublin about ten years ago. If you’re not familiar with Habitat, it was one of my favourite stores, until I
realised that while the products are lovely, it’s very much a life style brand
and although it has such beautiful “retro” cups and plates etc, they are mass produced and they’re all
sold at modern, expensive prices. So
I would browse in Habitat, never actually buy anything, just sigh over the
lovely faux vintage tea sets. I spotted a terracotta baking/roasting hen
there one day that I fell in love with, although I couldn't afford at the time
(being a poor art student and everything) and so I just filed it away in the “things
I’d like to have some day” section of my mind....
Then in 2011, myself and M were still living in Perth and while walking
around Fremantle one day, (don’t ask me why) but I was trying to describe this
terracotta baking hen to M, without much success... “you see, it’s a hen shaped
baking dish that you take apart and put a chicken inside and roast it and....it’s
amazing”.... anyway, we headed into Vintage Vinnie’s (Australian version of St
Vincent de Paul’s) and there on a shelf, just inside the door, was a white ceramic
baking hen....Which I took as fate, although how my fate is entwined
with a ceramic baking hen, I really couldn't say at this stage....so, I pounced on it and managed to get it for the fantastic price of $20, and both of us (ok, mostly me) were just thrilled by the oddly timed coincidence of my trying (and failing) to describe a baking hen I'd seen, some ten years earlier in Dublin and then finding an even more beautiful, vintage version literally minutes after I'd been talking about it.
This gorgeous ceramic hen has surpassed all my expectations, it’s (obviously) perfect
for roasting chickens; the bird doesn't need basting or even checking during cooking,
as the glazed ceramic inside keeps the chicken beautiful and moist while it’s
in the oven; “fall off the bone” tender is the best description of the meat after an hour and a half in the ceramic hen; it
even helps the chicken skin turn a nice golden brown during cooking, with the
lid still firmly sealed in place (which must be some kind of voodoo) and it is
just fantastic for any kind of slow cooking; casseroles, roast lamb, I've even
roasted pumpkin and squash in it, which was delicious and stayed really juicy!
I suppose
the point I’m trying to make is, I get so much more out of finding something in a charity shop, or even on the street and
fixing/remaking it than I ever do just buying it in a regular shop or online. Even if it means waiting a while, it's usually well worth the wait...
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