Has it really been that long since I wrote in my blog? But I have had so many ideas going through my mind, how can that be? I know the answer---I never have the writing tools when the creative juices are flowing and when I get to where I have the time, the pencil and paper, or the computer, I can't figure out why I thought that idea was so worthy of a write. Oh well, I will still keep working on it, it is good for my soul. No wonder I have such few readers, and even fewer who comment on what I write!
I have so many helpful gadgets, appliances in my kitchen. I have had to learn how to use some of them, when to use them, maybe even why to use them. I was not raised with most of these in my mother's kitchen domain. Now I am going to mentally travel around my current kitchen.
A dishwasher, an item that most likely would have been looked upon with some amount of scorn. Too lazy to wash a few dishes? A disposal, one fed most table scraps to pets and local scavengers, or a pig if one was on the premises. Such things as peelings, etc went into a compost pile, or the pig, or goat.
Mom's stove was one that burned coal. In my later years we had an electric toaster, but early bread was toasted in the stove's oven. Toasters have improved a great deal. Those electric ones of my early memory had doors that opened down either side and one placed the slice of bread between the doors and the grate that held it away from the fiery red wires. Then you tended it so it didn't burn black. It is a bit hard to describe, maybe you have seen one in a museum. We did have an electric oven/roaster. Marvelous food was produced in that item.
Mixers were two beaters in a contraption that connected to a gear setup that the operator turned by hand. It made lovely whipped cream and such. Eventually a mixmaster entered our lives and simplified the effort of making baked goods and candy that required lots of beating with a big spoon. The idea that a person needs a machine to produce a loaf of homemade bread would bring amusement to the home cook of a generation past. Producing it by hand was a skill learned early on by most of the female population of the time.
A microwave oven was totally beyond imagination, and what a boon it is to the kitchens of today. I think I would include food processors and electric juicers in that category. I have an electric grinder, but there are times I am grateful for the wind-by-hand variety I inherited from my mother-in-law. It is just like the one I grew up with and can tackle some jobs too difficult for the electric variety.
Still it is surprising how some of the tools of the past are now rediscovered. Those little gadgets that remove strawberry hulls. The apple peeler, with a little different style perhaps, but they certainly beat peeling apples with a paring knife at canning time. Mandolin slicers, aren't they lovely! Apple corers, those corncob trimmers. Graters have been in existence for a good long time. I say 'good' because think how hard it would be to produce the same product without that tool.
There are many small appliances that I don't own today. An electric peeler. I have an electric knife but cannot claim that I use it too often. Old habits die hard. It isn't too many years since I have acquired an electric can opener. No complaints, but there are still instances when I am glad I have the crank variety in my kitchen drawer when the can is just too big to handle or whatever.
One of my favorite appliances is the crockpot or slow cooker. The idea isn't new, I am sure food has been cooked in this fashion for centuries, just not so easily, or in a method that does not heat up the house for hours. That is one of the best features to my way of thinking. I love being able to have an entire meal in one pot. A pot that is removable and easy to clean with a little soaking is a real bonus.
Refrigerators have been around a long time, but I think a couple of generations ago they would be surprised to see ice and ice water dispensed from a small cave in the front. Even cube or crushed ice, take your choice, there at the fingertips.
I know that I could provide meals with fewer helpers than I have. However, I enjoy anything that makes the task easier, quicker, so that I can have time to write my stories or a blog.
