Plate Craze by Keren

Chi Chaser Keren Amihud

I have always been drawn to kitchen gear… I don’t even cook so it’s a little strange that I live to furnish the only room in the house that I don’t use. About 10 years ago, I was eating cookies with my mom straight out of the plastic bag we just picked up from our favorite neighborhood shop, D’lites. I kept pulling a few out, putting them in my hand and eating them one by one. My mom, on the other hand, put a few on a small beautifully hand-painted ceramic plate. I remember her taking a bite and saying “these always taste sooo much better on a cute plate.” I laughed and teased her slightly but now in retrospect, that was the sheer moment that triggered the plate craze that has taken over my adult life.

Since then I have been really drawn to plates. Every store, every flea market, every trip I go on, I must buy a plate. I probably have over 50 different plates that are displayed beautifully on a shelf in my kitchen. Through the years, my friends and family have also added to my collection, including my mom who sends “plate packages” to New York. Each one is for a certain mood and certain food. They have become this road map to memories, triggering stories of all my adventures and the people in my life. While this collection definitely adds life to my kitchen, they also, as my mom claimed, have an absolute magical way of making food taste better! Big shocker, mom was right. Everything does taste better on a pretty plate.

SOME OF MY PLATES:
- SQUARE (bottom left): my favorite one in the collection, found in Montreal, my most favorite city
- PRETTY (middle left): always use when I eat sushi, makes me think of my sister
- MOM (middle right): use every week when I have my Saturday "everything" bagel
- BITE (center): what I now eat my D’Lites cookies on (Diane Keaton’s line for Bed Bath and Beyond)
- FLOWER POWER (top right): found on my road trip from San Francisco to LA
- OLD SCHOOL: found in Cold Springs, NY at a huge garage flea market
- BIRD (top & bottom center): received this from my mom when I moved to NYC symbolizing “flying away”
- COYOTE BLOOD (top left): My boyfriend Ryan made this for me at Make Meaning http://www.makemeaning.com/