Me, at three. Yes, that’s chocolate all over my face.

One of my mother’s fondest memories of me as a young child occurred when she was scouting for Autumn Leaf dishes. It was 1962, we lived in Ontario, California, and I was about three years old. She had loaded my two sisters and me into our big, lime green, 1954 Cadillac called Betsy, where we stood up in the backseat, and unloaded us at a place called the Salvation Army.

My mother loved dishes and had begun collecting the discontinuted pattern called “Autumn Leaf” produced by a company called Jewel Tea. As we trudged through racks crammed with clothing, towering shelves of books, and mountains of linens, my mother noticed me skulking and hanging back. When she turned to take my hand, I looked about with brows furrowed.

“Is this the Salvation Army?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, taking my hand.

“But I don’t hear any shooting,” I replied.

This is all I have from my mother’s Autumn Leaf collection. These items were actually my Grandmother’s and they were used in everyday service as my mother was growing up.

My mother told me this story every time we went to a Salvation Army store, and we went Autumn Leaf hunting regularly. She had developed an adept eye for scanning down stacks of plates to identify the wavy gold edges of an Autumn Leaf plate and other accessories. As her collection of Autumn Leaf grew, so did my sisters’ and my boredom with hanging around the dishware department.

Finally fitted out with Autumn Leaf plates and bowls and cups and spice shakers, my mother eventually moved up to fine china in the large department stores. Here she and my aunt would drool over the pristine white porcelain pieces they couldn’t yet afford, while my cousins and I roamed other departments in search of something interesting. One day I’ll write about some of the games my cousin Audrey and I played as pre-teens while burning time waiting for our mothers to finish their pilgrimage to the fine china department, but for now, I’m going to say this: Never say “Never.”

“I’ll never be able to afford it,” my mother and my aunt would croon while driving home from the mall.

“I’ll never waste my time looking at dishes,” my cousins and I would echo in the back of our station wagon.

Not only did my aunt and my mother eventually collect full sets of their favorite china patterns (my mother chose Noritake’s “Harvesting,” while my aunt went all out for Royal Albert’s “Old Country Roses”), my sisters and cousins and I can talk dish patterns and place settings all day long. We could collectively plate a banquet for visiting royalty and attendants with all of the china, silver and crystal we have accumulated through the years.

Check out the gorgeous speckling in the glaze. It reminds me of bird eggs.

I recently unboxed yet another set of dishes, which is the reason for my writing today. Currently abiding in my kitchen cabinets, china closet (I have two) and china cabinet are a total of eight sets of china, stoneware and Corelle (a class in itself). Admittedly, some of the sets have only service for two, yet others have service for 10. So when the delivery truck dropped off a box marked “fragile,” my husband carried it in and shrugged as he set it on the counter.

“Oh joy!” I said, eyeing the Stone + Lain shipping label. “My Elena dishes have arrived!”

“More dishes?”

Questions like that aren’t really questions, so I just nodded and unboxed the beautiful blue, mint, pink and yellow dishes, arranging them creatively on the counter.

Not yet satisfied, he continued, “Where are you going to put them?”

That was a legitimate question. “I’ll find a place,” I replied.

Elena complements this ginger sesame shrimp with a salad on the side.

After taking several photos and posting them to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, I loaded them into the dishwasher and prepped them for that night’s dinner service. You can see my first plating at the accompanying photo.

Now about these dishes. Produced by Stone + Lain, Elena is elegant as it is casual. Stone + Lain prides itself in bringing fashionable dishes that are priceless, not pricey. Most of their stoneware sets are less than $100, while Elena is just slightly over. The company also produces handsome dinnerware sets in porcelain and bone china at equally agreeable prices. There is no led or cadmium in the glazes and all products comply with California’s Proposition 65 safety guidelines.

Each set of Stone + Lain dinnerware includes four place settings of dinner plate, salad plate, bowl and mug. Their patterns are clean and minimalist, which is perfect for showing off the food. All products are dishwasher and microwave safe, which is required for service in modern kitchens.

What I Love About Elena

I adore the Elena pattern for its updated fiestaware mix and match, while the subtle speckles in the glaze lend a bohemian vibe. (I admit, the speckles are what endeared me to this design.) Plates are expansive (10.75 inches) and completely flat with an Asian-style lifted rim. I love plating food on a flat plate because the sauces don’t pool to the center. Bowls are wide enough for salads and soups, while noodles and pasta would do well in them also. Even the salad plate is a generous 8.25 inches with the lifted rim, large enough for a luncheon sandwich and fruit. The mugs provide a deep pour (12 oz to the rim) with wide handles for an easy grab.

With Elena’s four the different colors I can mix it up for a contemporary chic table and accessorize with any (or all) of the four colors. Or, I can give each person a single color palate to reflect their personality. I’m going to have so much fun with Elena.

In case you’re wondering, I found a perfect place for my Elena dishes in my kitchen cabinet just by rearranging some less-used dishes to a higher shelf. Do I need so many varieties of dishes? Not really. Do I use them? Absolutely. As a food writer, I frequently photograph my food to post on social media and other sites. Having a variety of dish patterns available gives my images variety. That and the food placed upon it.

Soon, I’ll be off to the Salvation Army thrift store to find some lovely pastel table accessories to make friends with Elena.

More Wishes for Dishes

These Euro Ceramica Zanzibar pasta bowls are on my wish list for either Mother’s Day or my birthday.