Something is happening to our baking, frying and dough shaping skills! :(
we can't cut dough into round that puff up when cooked, so we need a doughnut hole baking gadget. Seriously? I learned that eggs need to be fried in circular molds in an Egg cooking gadget so they look like uniform flying saucers.
I want my fried egg to be slightly asymmetrical, with fluted wings around the perfect golden center.
fried eggs
And if you don't like the gooey middle cuts of my Brownies...well, boo you!
I don't need a rice cooker because I AM a rice cooker!
The only 'gadgets' I own and use enough to warrant having them, are my Crock-pot (God Bless it's hard-working soul), and my new BOSS (I bow to its oil-less creations).
I own the perfectly acceptable and necessary kitchen electrics... a high quality mixer, a food processor, a toaster oven, a masticating juicer, waffle maker and a powerful blender.
And who has room for all those extra Novelty Baking doodads? Do they last more than 2 years before they fall apart? Are you really still cooking with Teflon coated cookware? I threw mine out 2 years ago, and that was rather belated.
I feel it's honoring the skills my mother taught me to knead, roll, cut, stuff and crimp dough. No one is going to rob me of the pleasure I get from doing so.
My son and his cousin were 14 when we sat around our kitchen table, and I taught them how to stuff grape leaves. They did a marvelous job. In 15 years if someone decides we need a grape-leaf-stuffing-and-rolling gadget, I hope those two refuse to buy it.
I hope they remember the day we sat together joking about the juices squirting all over as they rolled each leaf, and my telling stories about helping my mother make fabulous dishes that took 2 or 3 hours to complete. I hope they remember the pride they felt when I served our family the grape leaves at dinner, and praised the boys for a job well done.
Den 0311
And when they sit around their kitchen table teaching their children how to crimp a spinach pie or stuff grape leaves, maybe they'll have a story to tell about me.