Things ain't cooking in my kitchen

[venta]

Nicked from bopeepsheep's LJ:
Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.

I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese knives, crepe makers, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, pie funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, stand mixers, mincers, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, gratin dishes, apple corers, mango stoners and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards.

I think the short version is: I've got quite a lot of crap in the kitchen, but I do use most of it. The mincer is a recent[*] acquisition which I expect to use, but have not used yet. Get back to me next week. The juicer is a close call; it probably gets used about once a year. Used to be much more often when I lived in a house with an apple tree.

I'm bewildered by some of these things, though. What is a jam funnel? I don't own one, so it clearly isn't necessary for making jam. Mind you, I had a boiled egg for breakfast on Thursday and I don't own an egg boiler, either. How does a gravy strainer differ from any other kind of strainer (or is it one of those slanty jug things)? I have flat, ceramic dishes which I use, but I'm not sure if they're legally gratin dishes or not. I have made gratin in them. I counted my Kenwood as both a stand mixer and an electric whisk (I use it for both).

[*] Hmm. Not as recent as I think, though. Must get on with it!

Comments

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

Well done, BPS, a kudo from me. venta seemed to forget to give you a kudo this time, and if you hadn't been playing, I would have failed to be given a kudo instead. Or something.

Now, to the question for venta. I saw this on another LJ and wondered what on earth a "banana stand" might be. I see that venta not only has one, but uses it too! So, at the risk of ounding like a bad music-hall act, I say, I say, I say, what is a banana stand?

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I have quite a collection of kudos now.

[venta.livejournal.com]

A completely irrelevant comment.

I saw a picture yesterday I thought you'd appreciate. A colleague of mine showed me a photo of his son, who's about 6, wearing a charity t-shirt. The t-shirt was sold in aid of the premature baby charity that was set up by Clint Boon after his (premature) daughter died.

It reads "This is how it feels to be small". It's got a squiggly cow on it and everything.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Awwww! Inspiral cows!

I knew his son had cut his hair off to raise money, but I didn't know they'd set up a formal charity. I might try to locate a tshirt or two.

[venta.livejournal.com]

M'colleague bought it at Ramsbottom festival and said they were being sold there in aid of this charity. A quick google (by me) earlier, though, failed to turn up much evidence of a formal charity - I reckon it might have just been raising money for the baby ICU in Manchester hospital. Also failed to find much in the way of available t-shirts online, but your google-fu may be stronger than mine.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I have assumed it to be what I'd call a banana hook (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Banana-Tree-Natural-Hevea-Wood/dp/B00022M3GA). You hang your bananas on it rather than putting them in the fruit bowl, as putting bananas in with your other fruit causes other fruit to ripen (and hence go off) quicker.

Technically, I have a fruitbowl-banana-hook-combo which looks like this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Premier-Housewares-Banana-Hanger-Chrome/dp/B0038JJOM0).

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

I usually call mine a banana gibbet, and until now hadn't quite realised how ... strange that might seem to other people. I thought this was common but Google denies the phrase exists in its entire corpus.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, in the interests of you not sounding strange to other people and not sounding as if you keep fairly specialised sex toys in your kitchen[*], I shall begin referring to mine as a banana gibbet forthwith.


[*] Unless, of course, that's an image you're keen to project.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I think. Nice to be not the only person who keeps fairly specialised sex toys in their kitchen.

[lnr]

I just have two fruit bowls, and keep the bananas separate - but sometimes add in something which is refusing to do the ripen-at-home thing. I think hanging is also supposed to help the bananananas themselves ripen more evenly or something too - but I've never had any obvious problems.

[venta.livejournal.com]

No, I've never really had problems with them either.

While I don't object to its presence, I was not the motivating force in the household behind the purchase of the banana gibbet :)