Cutting

May 23, 2020

I have owned one of these cutting tools for most of my adult life.  I am not sure when I got my first one, but I have transferred them through each of the various moves I made.  I am sure the one we own now is not my original.  More likely it came with the house.  When we moved into the house it was fully equipped with most of the cooking utensils, as well as sets of pots, pans and small cooking appliances.  When Melissa moved to Kansas to be with me she left all of her cooking items at the house.  Clearing out the duplicates in the Arkansas house was a full time job as I prepared for Melissa’s arrival.

When we moved we brought a whole new set of cookware from our Kansas house and we got to make decisions about what to keep all over again.  Melissa’s mom and dad had lived with her for seventeen years before she married me.  Both liked to cook and had their own specialties.  Ann liked to make talrina (ground beef and noodles) and key lime pie.   Jerry made pinto beans and biscuits and gravy.  I do not recall every coming to visit when we were not served all four of these dishes.

Even though I have owned one of these tools, I had never used one until today.  I was not even sure what it was or why to use it.  I have mentioned I rarely use recipes, and this item was not in my list of “go to” utensils.   I decided to make an apple crisp for dinner tonight.   I love apple crisp and have been craving one for months.  As much as I like this desert, I cannot recall ever making one.  I usually get it at the big buffet restaurants.  I read the directions and got to the point where it said to cut the butter, flour and brown sugar together.  So that is what this is!

THOUGHTS:   I tend to keep items I own just in case.  When we moved from Kansas I donated 42 boxes of books valued at over $17,000 to the local library (I only moved 15 boxes).    Most of these were stored and I had not unpacked them since the last move.  This move I decided to downsize and spent a month going through our clothes and belongings and donating things to Goodwill.  Most of these items had seemed essential at some point in my life, but after I retired they no longer were.  When life and circumstances change what we define as essential change as well.  I hope you can find what is essential in your life during these trying times and hold onto it.  You might want to get rid of the rest.  If you venture out, stay safe.