Estate sales and eBay

I had always known sourcing from estate sales was profitable but those types of sales used to be few and far between. I have been able to attend 3 estate sales, with the last one being the estate of a book collecting naval historian. 

The Mr., who has no interest in thrift shops, said he would be interested in going to estate sales when we retire. 

I have been selling on eBay since 2002. It took awhile to find my niche and I have settled in. I did try my hand selling vintage clothing on Etsy but wasn't very successful at it. 

English Birds' Nests Soup

The nests used for this soup are those of the tropical swallow, and their shape somewhat resembles that of a rind of a quartered, dry orange. 

In the first place, prepare a chicken consomme containing a large proportion of nutritious ingredients. Set three nests to soak in cold water for twenty-four hours, the object being to swell the glutinous elements of which they are composed and to make them transparent. 

When they have soaked sufficiently remove any pieces of feather which may have remained in them, using for this purpose the point of a needle, and, when the nests are quite clean, drain them and put them into the consomme. At this stage set the consomme to boil, gently, for 30 or 35 minutes without interruption. During this time the gummy portions of the nests will melt into the consomme, giving the latter its characteristic sticky consistency, and there will only remain visible those portions which, in the natural state, constitute the framework of the nests; little threads not unlike superfine transparent vermicelli.

The Escoffier Cook Book