Last week we met friends for dinner and afterwards they invited us to their house for dessert.  I knew she collected Bakelite napkin rings but had never seen them lined up like this before; staged, all ready for me to photograph!  Bakelite is an early plastic and a very popular collectable; I have another friend with a similar collection.  Avid collectors look not only for napkin rings, but bangle bracelets (she has a collection of those too) and earrings, poker chips, dice and billiard balls, purses, buckles, buttons and more.  Bakelite has a wonderful warm, dense feel.  They are most often opaque, but you can see she also has a few translucent and marbleized pieces. What I love about Bakelite is that it's very user friendly.  They aren't so delicate that they can't be enjoyed and used every day.

Her two year old grandson loves the scottie dogs.

The translucent rocking horse is my favorite as it reminds me of a gummy bear.

She had the table set for dessert buffet using her napkin rings.

The beautiful lemon almond cake is gluten free.  Recipe below.

After years of not feeling well, my girlfriend discovered she was gluten intolerant and banned all wheat from her kitchen. She bought these Oxo glass food storage containers for her different flour mixes.

I cannot end this post without showing you her vintage cookie jar from Brush Pottery. originally part of McCoy Pottery, both are famous for their fanciful cookie jars.