04.04.22 Everybody Needs A Spoonula

My GIR collection and USVI tea towel

Two years ago, when Covid took me away from the jewelry bench, I refocused my creative energy in the kitchen...

this time last year, I went through cabinets and drawers, cleaned out the cheap stuff I'd had since grad school, and found myself in need of replacements...so I went to Wirecutter (if you are unaware of this resource, I highly recommend you subscribe to their newsletters) for their reviews of kitchen utensils.  

The top rated choices included several from a brand I'd never heard of - GIR - which stands for "Get It Right"...so I clicked through and discovered not only did they have a great selection of tools, but they came in BRIGHT COLORS!

I started searching for them and discovered that Nordstrom had the full set in a rainbow of colors on sale - which (of course) I took as a sign that I had to have them!

I don't regret for a minute purchasing all 10 pieces, but there was one - the spoonula - that I found myself reaching for over and over (and often finding it in the dishwasher), so I bought two more of those.

This shouldn't come as surprise to anyone who has read the blog for a while - I love a good tool!

As spring started to roll around things were looking up outside the confines of my four walls.  I was vaccinated, and so were many of my family and friends, which meant we could see each other again.

As it warmed up, I started making in person, outdoor, plans with people I hadn't seen - and whose birthdays I'd missed - for a whole year.  It was at this point it occurred to me - EVERYBODY needs a spoonula!

Honey + Hank towels to send to the Ciao Bellas

So, over the course of 2021 - and now well into 2022 - I have gifted a couple dozen, along with coordinating tea towels for pretty much every occasion you can imagine.

Dallas-based and woman owned Honey + Hank became one of my very favorite sources for towels. Her designs are, as the creator puts it, "designed with a wink ;)". The visual play with the shapes of states and hobbies definitely appeals to my love of puns!

I'd much rather create gifts than receive them (although I am always appreciative), and perhaps the best part about these was soon after I started sending them out...I started getting pictures and messages from folks about how much they loved them!

Obviously, it's not the same as being able to make someone a piece of custom jewelry, but I had so much fun finding just the right tea towel for every person, and then picking a spoonula color to match. 

Turns out, my friends and family think they make pretty good gifts, too - and have reported buying them for other folks, and maybe adding a second one for themselves.

Spoonulas (and other GIR items)
at Berkeley Bowl

I sent our daughter back to California (after her visit here in December) with a few more of my favorite items, including a mini spoonula, plus large and mini spoons.  Not too long after that, she sent me a picture when she was grocery shopping - a whole wall full of bright colored spoonulas! She said she didn't any more utensils, but they made her think of me.

It's warming up here, and we're getting out a little more, but I think I'll continue cooking and baking for most of our meals...so I'm glad to have all my colorful utensils, and I'll keep sharing them with my friends.

Until next time.

03.15.21 Quarantinewhile* - The Kitchen

I'm pretty sure I've spent more time in my kitchen over the last year than in the previous seven (when our youngest child went away to college, and I started this blog).

Early on in the pandemic I realized I needed to clean out the pantry. I'll spare you the list of things with "best by" dates from the late 00's to the early 10's that went straight to the compost (and their containers to the recycling)...let's just say it reinforced how little cooking I'd done in that period.

It also rapidly became obvious that a lot of things in the kitchen were worn out. It wasn't long before kitchen appliances - large and small - started failing. 

We replaced the mixer, toaster oven, microwave, a refrigerator and two hot water heaters over the course of the spring and summer...just a couple of weeks ago, we had to have the "pilotless ignition" on the stove replaced...and this morning, as soon as I get this post up, I'm shopping for a new dishwasher (the panel on ours is now blinking like a pinball machine).

Despite all of that, I realized I was enjoying cooking and baking again...but, like my office, the contents of the kitchen needed to be sorted, purged and updated.

I started with baking pans.  Instead of sourdough, I baked muffins...but the pan I had dated to my days as a student. It was flimsy and rusty, and needed to be replaced.  I also bought some really nice (and just plain fun) odd sized measuring cups and spoons.  I think it's worth noting, that I am still baking several times a week, so these were good purchases.

From there, I moved on to cabinets and drawers...that was almost as big an undertaking as the office.  For years I'd just shoved things in where I could find space for them. There were threadbare linens that should have been tossed on the rag pile a decade ago, cheap bakeware with dented bottoms (metal) or chipped glaze, as well as sippy cups and plastic juice boxes (did I mention that my youngest child - referenced above - is in the third year of her PhD?). 

One of the most satisfying outcomes of this process is that now, when I open the cabinet that contains plastic storage containers, not only does nothing fall out...but I know every piece has a matching lid.

Last, there were the bookshelves...like the cabinets and drawers...they were overloaded.  I pulled everything off, and gave it all - the books, the tchotchkes, and the shelves themselves - a thorough dusting and wiping down.

I recycled years' worth of magazines that I had kept - for reasons I could no longer remember (or, because they contained a recipe that is now online) - which freed up a whole lot of shelf space, and made it possible to line the books up properly, with nothing stacked on top of them.

I don't think it's much of a leap to guess what I did with some of the newly available space...

...I upgraded!

Dented baking pans and cheap plastic utensils (from the same era, with melted spots on the handles) were replaced with deep ceramic pans and silicone untensils.  I traded frayed, faded linens for new, bright colored ones...and all those new tea towels (both the ones sent by friends, and those I purchased) fit in the drawers.

I'm really glad to have gotten rid of things I wasn't using, and not feeling any buyer's remorse about the new stuff. I'm going to be serving up three meals a day at home for the foreseable future.  This is the new normal - at least as far as dining goes - and it's nice to have things that are pretty and functional.

Now, you'll excuse me while I go whip up a marble pound cake.

Until next time.

*again, the disclaimer that I totally stole this term from Stephen Colbert.