My cousin, Kristine, from California was in town last week for a family reunion. We spent the week together reminiscing about childhood days and celebrating holidays at grandma's house. At nighttime our parents would put us in the basement together with several other cousins sprawled on a couple of mattresses spread across the floor. I loved sleeping downstairs with handfuls of cousins and curling up in one of grandma's over-sized, handmade quilts.
Somehow our conversation turned to cooking and making meals for many. My grandma could make a farm meal for thirty look easy. Kristine and I joked about the fancy kitchen gadgets we now have to make cooking easier–the items every kitchen thinks it must have stored somewhere in a deep drawer. We now have invented tools for every necessity (the mango peeler and the corncob butter holder.) But, as my cousin pointed out, one only uses the item once before going back to the old and more convenient way of just using a paring knife.
On her last day in Minneapolis, Kristine left me a hostess gift: an avocado slicer, a strawberry huller and a melon ball scooper. She promised me that I would only test each item once before losing them somewhere in the back of my utensils drawer.
I know the truth–I may never end up using these kitchen gismos, but every time I see one, I will laugh like I did as a child, giggling at bedtime on an old beat-up mattress in the basement of grandmother's house when we were supposed to be fast asleep.
(PS. Join the fun today and tell me about your favorite kitchen gadget!)
