The Notable Blogger

Archive for the ‘Welcome to our Kitchen!’ Category

Only two days ago I sang to my little corner of cyberworld the praises of the KitchenAid stand mixer. It is the busy mother’s right hand. It frees the hands to work and hold babies and correct math problems and give hugs while batters and doughs and dips and spreads are mixed. It is the modern kitchen’s servant, and a valued one at that.

This morning my right hand gave out.

Gone is the dependable mixing of doughs and dips.

Gone is the simple bread kneading.

Gone is the rapid whipping of creams and meringues.

Gone is the 10-minute ice cream.

Gone is the freshly pressed pasta.

Gone is the freshly ground wheat and oat flour.

Gone are the rapidly sliced sweet potato chips and the two minute veggie shreds.

All gone.

Back is the wooden spoon.

Back is the hand-kneaded bread dough.

Back is the whipped cream made with the single remaining beater of the hand mixer.

Back is the 45 minute ice cream.

Back is the hand cranked pasta.

Back is the hand ground wheat.

Back is the slow hand slicing of sweet potatoes and knuckle grating of vegetables.

If I were a poet, I would pen a fitting tribute to this fine family servant, dependable, hard-working, fashionable. But alas, a poet I am not, so I will merely say that we will miss you my friend. Your versatility was unmatched by any other kitchen servant we have ever known, and we shall miss you. I could go on, but my time is needed in the kitchen.

Photo: Elisabeth hand-grinding wheat for today’s second loaf of bread.

galleta de la fortuna

A strange irony:

After our pseudo-Chinese dinner we indulged in some made-in American fortune cookies. The fortunes, ironically, were written in Spanish.

Only in America.

Next time you indulge in galletas de fortuna , spruce them up a bit. Set a small child to the task of dipping half the cookie in chocolate (dark is a strong favorite of many at our house) and sprinkling with non-pareills, crushed nuts, or white chocolate. This is certainly not authentic, but really…how authentic are fortune cookies at a Chinese meal anyway?  According to the secret history of the fortune cookie and this UK version of the history of fortune cookies, not very!