Some people go crazy for shoes. I’m a sucker for kitchen gadgets. Each year, I treat myself to a new one—something quite different to the ones I already have. I allow myself plenty of time to traipse around a kitchenware store, browsing and marveling at all the gadgets I never knew I needed until I chanced upon them.
It juliennes vegetables
My latest acquisition is this gadget for julienning vegetables. Just slide down the carrot and you have fine, even slices.
Aren't those carrots beautiful?
Here is my julienner in action. I’m entranced with it! My husband not so much. He thought it was a vegetable peeler and scraped his fingers trying to peel potatoes with it. Maybe I should have told him about it. Maybe I didn’t want to hear him asking me did I really need it!
This year I did something I usually never do—made a repeat purchase. This nifty quiche tin was last year’s impulse purchase and I used it so often I began to fear what I would do without it.
The perforated base is the secret
The holes in the base make for wonderfully well-cooked pastry in savory or sweet tarts. When I saw one sitting on a 30 percent off table, I pounced on it. Now that I have two residing in my kitchen, I rest easier.
My favorite cheese and caramelized onion tart with thyme from the garden
Okay, so I might have left this particular cheese and caramelized onion tart in the oven a tad too long and the pastry shrank—but my lunch guests (some writer friends) did not complain. We enjoyed talking about our latest works-in-progress—and of course I showed off my tin with the holes in the base and graciously accepted all compliments.
I bought these Mickey Mouse baking measures at Disney World in Orlando some years back at the Romance Writers of America annual convention—the one that got relocated to Florida when Nashville was flooded.
Childish? Heck no!
They’re almost too cute to use! But use them I do, as they are American-sized measures, very useful for when I want to cook from American recipes. (The Australian standard measures are slightly different.)
The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree, as look what my darling teenage daughter brought home for me last week. For no reason. She just saw them and knew I’d love them. Of course I love them even more because of her thoughtfulness!
A gift from my sweetheart of a daughter
My love for kitchen gadgets is a fickle one. Sometimes the love affair is over all too soon. The favored ones live in the top drawer. Below is a drawer full of discarded toys that didn’t fulfill their potential in one disappointing way or another. Sorry, gadgets, but it’s not you, it’s me!
Oh, and by the way, I go crazy for shoes too…
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