Get the Exotic from Source (Unusual Gift Ideas)

Member Name: Plumptious

Product:	Unusual Gift Ideas
Date:	18/11/00 (543 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unlikely to be a present to be duplicated.

Disadvantages: Not in normal supermarkets.

Something which has become quite popular over the last few years is for department stores to get hold of two chinese bowls, chuck in a couple of chopsticks, and charge £12-£20 for it. This is an expensive way of obtaining these items.

These bowls are range from the highly decorated to more subdued lines for the minimalists. They make a pleasant alternative to the more readily available crockery. Besides their intrinsic decorative value, I like them because you can get nice deep bowls which I use for cereal, soups and stews for a couple of pounds. European crockery tends towards shallower bowls, and the deep bowls are more unusual and so are usually more expensive.

The bowls range from dainty cup sized objects to my favourite "2 mug volume" ones, through to larger examples suited to soup tureens or small punch bowls. Of course, also available are various cups, saucers, plates and chopsticks. The range is wide and the designs numerous. Japanese crockery has also started to appear alongside. These tend to be more delicate and include rectangular serving dishes - perfect if you want a wonderfully decorated exotic mint tray/holder for change and earrings. Complete sets of crockery in presentation packs are usually also available.

One way you can obtain such items is from a chinese supermarket. Not necessarily always available at the little chinese store in town, these items are always carried by the larger chinese stores on the outskirts of the town centre. "Wing Yip" is one such store. There are lots of others - I just can't remember their names. If there is a Chinatown near you, there should also be a store which sells them.

Should you happen to go browsing and come across some bowls with semi-transparent ovals in them, you might find it interesting to know that they are rice sized because they are real rice grains embedded in the crockery before firing. The idea of eating rice from a bowl made o
f rice appeals to the whimsy in me.

Summary: