Olive Oil Trials and Travails

Ahhhhh, every time I look at this olive oil topper, I smile :)  First of all it's gorgeous.  Second of all, I got it in Italy.  Specifically in Assisi.  And I LOVED Assisi.  Out of all the towns I visited in Italy Assisi spoke to me.  It was a beautiful, historic, peaceful city and just a really special place.  I recommend going there for anyone who travels to Italy.  So I guess I'm a bit biased about this olive oil topper, but it elicits such good memories! (If I went back I could literally show you the exact place I purchased the topper).

The problem is that I only purchased the topper. They didn't sell empty olive oil bottle to go with the toppers.  So once I got back to the US I had to find a bottle to fit the topper.  But see that cork down at the bottom?  Yeah apparently it doesn't fit every bottle!

And apparently they don't sell that many plain olive oil bottles either.  Actually they don't really sell ANY olive oil bottles, lain or not.  This is one of the bottles we tried (we tried a few others but mom knocked those off the counter and they broke . . . ).  Isn't it gorgeous!?  I'll answer that for you.  No, it's NOT gorgeous.  It's pretty hideous actually.  But at least it worked.


 

This is actually the topper that came with the bottle.  I think my first thought when I saw this topper was "Seriously?!  What were they THINKING?! Whose kitchen does that even MATCH?!" Can you even guess what that is?

It's a peach.  A weird, cumbersome peach.  Because every time I see a peach I immediately think olive oil . . . not.

These were some of the other oil toppers from the broken bottles.  They weren't the same size as the cork one that's for sure.

Medium Well had the idea to use a balsamic vinegar bottle and that worked for a while, but the topper kept falling out.  Then I had the idea, a wine bottle!  Wine bottles use corks so the cork should fit.  Wine bottles are dark so they don't let as much sunlight in (you're supposed to keep your olive oil in a dark container but I don't think that matters for me since the quality of my olive oil isn't that spectacular . . . I mean come on I get it from the grocery store!).  And wine bottles are big and hold a lot of olive oil so I don't have to refill the bottle that often.  It pretty much was a match made in heaven and has worked perfectly :)
So if you ever find yourself with an olive oil topper from Italy and no bottle to go with it, take one for the team and drink a bottle of wine, wash the bottle out (preferably after the effects of consuming the bottle of wine have worn off), let it dry, and then fill it with olive oil, add the topper, and voila!  Perfection!