My Holy Grail

image found here

I’ve been on a mission for the last few years to find the perfect white pasta bowl. Somehow they have eluded me and all I can find are bowls either too big or too small or too deep or too shallow. One of the worst specimens has a picture of some sort of Mario Brother’s character in the bottom of the bowl and he has a finger in the air to indicate you have just finished a big bowl of pasta. Gee thanks, I would have never known pasta is an Italian meal! Who knew!! But the most ridiculous bowls are the ones which actually have the word “Pasta” written in the bottom of the bowl. Just so I know EXACTLY what I should eat in those bowls. Better yet, the bowls tell me what I have eaten in case I didn’t realize I was eating pasta or had forgotten I had eaten pasta. Ok, given my behavior over the last day or so having a visual cue might help me a little with the whole memory thing.

The perfect bowl is a little shallow, too shallow to slurp soup or milk but not shallow it would be confused with a plate. It must be exactly soft white. Not cream, not yellow or green or puce. It must be completely free of any embellishment: no cute little olives or jaunty blue stripes or dots or squiggles in the bottom of the bowl or along the top or on the rim. Speaking of rims, the ultimate bowl possesses a lovely rim around it. A rim just big enough for a small garnish of basil or a tiny mound of grated parmesan or red pepper flakes. The rim makes the bowl easy to handle, not too hot on the hands when it’s full of yummy hot pasta.

I’ve looked everywhere for these bowls: from garage sales, Goodwill to Pottery Barn and Neimans. I finally found them last week and they have been deemed Bolognese worthy. Angels sang as I put my hands on them and picked them and examined them at eye level. Turning them around and checking for the perfect heft. They were the most perfect speciman I had found and in my price range. The only thing missing is the rim. For six bucks a bowl, I can live with that.

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket and maybe I’ll find this pair of boots under my under my pillow.