My New Best Friend

The holidays are over and a new year is upon us. Time to think new thoughts and so it is that I kick off this year's postings with an admission. Regular readers know that I have prided myself on doing things the old-fashioned way. Let the other — read lesser — cooks rely on fancy schmancy gadgets that dice in seconds and knead dough in minutes. I remained true to the cooks of yesteryear who made the food the old-fashioned way. Like the Smith Barney commercial, they earned it.

So I eschewed the cadillac Cuisinarts and pasta makers and ice cream makers and felt ever-so-slightly superior when my pie or bread or soup came out tasting just dandy without all those geegaws. Obviously, my thinking went, my food was superior if for no other reason than it was made sans gadgets.

I clearly was not only wrong but delusional.

Over the year as Rachel and I have written this blog and she touted the wonders of her machines or made a recipe in half the time it might take me, I began wondering whether or not I was just being pig-headed. So I asked Santa for a small Cuisinart for Christmas and I am here to tell you, I was an idiot. After only one use, I fell totally, thoroughly in love. It chops, it dices, it minces, all of it in seconds and without a mess. What was I thinking?????



The downside, of course, is that I am now in full lust mode for every kitchen gadget ever made. Sur La Table catalogs are like porn, with just about every page turned down for the next must-have item. Where will it all stop? Who knows? But now I'm just enjoying being in love.

What's your favorite kitchen utensil or gadget? If your kitchen was on fire, what item would you grab and run?