Timothy
Head Chef
My Food Processor. I use it for almost every meal I prepare. It saves me countless hours of prep work.
I have a very old butcher's knife that is all but destroyed. The blade is jagged and gnarled, and it is the BEST knife for cutting tomatoes ever.
My great-grandfather was a butcher and was visiting my grandmother when she was a new bride. My grandfather had bought a pig that had been culled from the farmer down the road. My great-grandfather did not have his tools but butchered the pig using a knife that came with the set my grandparents bought. When he came to the kitchen with the knife, he apologized for ruining the knife. My grandmother kept it for tomatoes and I felt really blessed to get it when she passed.
Kathleen
It's really hard to choose just one. I am old enough that I have had time to collect most of the tools I really want. I tried thinking of which one would I hate to give up and I still get a long list.
I think I would most hate to give up having a refrigerator.
I agree totally. I've lived "In the field" while in the Army, for extended periods of time. Having no electricity and no refrigeration makes for an entirely different type of living. My Grandparents grew up during the mid-1800's, and I remember the stories my Grammy used to tell me about their life. Everything was much, much harder to do then.
A simple trip to the nearest town might take three days, so things at home had to be set for being away for that much time, you had to pack a horse drawn wagon for the trip, and plan for eating on the road for three days each way. She told me of raids by bandits, and even what she referred to as "Wild Indians". What a life that must have been.
I lived in a log cabin for a few years. We had electricity and a fridge, but there was an old, log spring house. We never got a chance to use it because it collapsed.
We had a similar contraption in the corner of our barn when I was a kid. It was a tank made of concrete where cans of milk were placed to cool until they were taken to the creamery. The cold spring water flowed in the top of the tank through a pipe and another pipe carried the surplus water outside to a large watering trough. It really did keep things cold. My father always hid his stash of beer in it!
We had a spring house when I was a child. On very hot summer days, us kids would go in there and put our feet in the water. It was ice cold and felt just fabulous. Mom would yell at us and tell up to get our nasty feet out of our drinking water!
my skimmers are the most important thing in my bag of tricks. I bought them in San Francisco and use them to skim the scum off my stocks and sauces.
Being only 4'8" tall, and living alone. I have everything down where I can reach it. I do have two stools. But there are cabinets that are empty and will stay that way. One is over the fridge and the other is over the stove and hood. Whoever designed these apartments didn't take into account that the elderly shrink when they get older.
Maybe some would sympathize with me; I feel all kitchens are too short for me. I'm not extraordinarily tall (I'm 5'9", I think about the height of the average American man), but wish my counters were about 6" higher. I can really feel for Julia Child (over 6') and see how she got so hunched. If I'm having any back pain, I sit at my kitchen table so I'm not quite so hunched over.
Claire said:Maybe some would sympathize with me; I feel all kitchens are too short for me. I'm not extraordinarily tall (I'm 5'9", I think about the height of the average American man), but wish my counters were about 6" higher. I can really feel for Julia Child (over 6') and see how she got so hunched. If I'm having any back pain, I sit at my kitchen table so I'm not quite so hunched over.