Chanel and Dr. Shoe

I want to tell you about a shop in Columbus that you might need one day.  It is Dr. Shoe in Worthington run by two Russians, one grumpy, and one fairly pleasant.  If you are looking for warm and cozy, then don't go in to put yourself through it; but in the end you will wish you had.  I am not showing you the two Chanel purses to brag, I am showing you the work these two men can do with two frazzled, workhorse purses.  I have made over one hundred trips to London and Paris to collect and to buy antiques to sell...for a long time just for my pleasure and collections and for the research material for my books.  All of these trips were stressful, fun, disappointing, exhilararting, tiring, eventful, uneventful, stimulating, anxious, calming, dangerous,  and profitable.  But, these trips were not larks and they sound more glamours than they were. Still a lot of people would have dropped everything to be able to make these trips and make them work for them once they got home safely.

I like nice purses and I don't just keep them on the shelf.  They have to pay their way just as the antiques had to pay for their ride to America.  I found in these two purses just exactly what I needed for those trips and for the antiques shows that Andy and I did for years after I retired. These purses hung around my neck mail pouch style for several hours every day that I was away from home. The chains were still good but the leather was completely worn through the layers of black.  The zippers needed repair, one seam was slightly torn, they had lost their luster and after twenty years of use I just could not use them any more.  I went back to Chanel in Paris and they did not carry that style any more, or so they said at the time.  Fast forward to today, I got on line at a vintage store and saw one of my purses, slightly used cost $2700. I had not paid that much for the purse originally, but it was still costly and to think I can get my money back and then some; that's a good investment.  (It was the rectangular one, the one I used the most.) I decided it was worth a shot to try to get them restored and workable...the little pouch one was not as worn and needed only zipper grips and leather luster regained.

Beth found the shoe shop and we went over.  She warned me about the guys but I was desperate and put on my best smile.  The nicer man shook his head and tsked tsked and sighed and finally said he could do the work but it was going to cost me.  Now how did I know in advance that that was going to happen? It would take two weeks and stringing the leather was going to be so hard and on and on and on.  I did not care.  I did not want to have to send the purses to a place in New York (which would have cost three times as much.) I wanted it done here at home and so it was done and beautifully so.  I am now carrying my favorite and both of them look fabulous. Thank you Dr. Shoes.

Winter's hearty meals

Andy and I went to Carfagna's yesterday and I never get out of there with two or three items.  We left yesterday with a load, so today so far, I have two meals ready to go.  One is a hearty winter soup with Bob Evans zesty sausage and a meatloaf with Carfagna's ground chuck which was only $1.99 a pound yesterday.  A real bargain for quality meat. I have a lovely meatloaf in the oven with fresh herbs from the conservatory.  How they have made it in this cold snap is beyond me, but they seem to like it.  Note the new offering in the copper loaf pan with drain holes keeping the loaf from stewing in the fat.  I also bought two bags of unusual dried pasta.  You can see it in the soup.  I used that rather than beans this time.  My husband calls them my concoctions and we never know how they are going to turn out.  That's the fun of winter cooking.

It is too bad I did not write down the recipe (that I made up) for this soup.  It is one of the best I have ever done.  Not humble, but true just the same.  I just threw things in the pot with the chuck and the zesty Bob Evans sausage and so many other things that I wish I had noted.  Oh well, it is a big pot of soup to enjoy. Andy will love it when he comes home from class today.

Now I see yeast.  I'm inspired to use it.  It is too cold to stir outside and the snow is beautiful and undisturbed...I, for one, will keep it like that.