Posts by Bart Janssen
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Here are three of our knives, a global, that we routinely fight over who gets to use, the middle one is usually our sharpest and used for slicing roasts or raw salmon and the left one is the first real knife I ever bought. It's over 25 years old, not quite as nice in the hand as the global but it has served me very well for decades now.
The cutting boards were bought in Davis, California, on Earth Day 1996. Earth day is when all the hippies come out and play in Davis, selling all sorts of crafts and home made foods, all sold on comletely recyclable plates, with wooden cutlery. The food is all vegetarian, which I didn't realise untill I tried a hot dog - it is not a food that should ever be vegetarian. The cutting boards had to come home with us to NZ, they are both beautiful and practical.
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These may look simple but there is nothing simple about a tool made by a laser! These microplanes (badly) photographed on my workbench are very very sharp, laser cut metal makes for very sharp cutting surfaces. They excell at grating parmesan and knuckles. The one on the left is used for rough shaping wood - hence the photo on my workbench.
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As far as gadgets go it's hard to get simpler than a bit of wood, but over the years we've tried lots of different wooden spoons, untill we discovered these. The shape is perfect for stirring and getting into the corners of pots and pans. It also is just somehow "right" in the way that some objects just have the right proportions. We have three in the drawer at the moment :).
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We decided we needed a proper thermometer after becoming addicted to "Good Eats". Alton Brown showed us why knowing the internal temperature of the meat is the best way to avoid dry roasts. It's made a huge difference the ease of making a juicy pork roast.
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In the same vein as the teapot was this small copper pot. I know I really won't use it that much but it makes me happy to have it. The copper ladle is a souvenir from our visit to Hampton Court Palace. It can be used but it's mostly about the memory.
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OK so here are a few of our favourite things:
First is this teapot, it’s a recent addition, like the steam/convection/microwave oven underneath (which BTW does and amazing job defrosting). We don’t drink much tea but it was too pretty to walk past. -
Hard News: Tooled Up for Food, in reply to Lucy Stewart,
We had to get rid of all our kitchen stuff when we moved to the US, unless it met the criteria of “I will be overjoyed to get this back in five years”.
We had the same problem. We stored some things but when we got to the US we had to set up a new kitchen. It was shocking to discover how cheap small appliances were - $10 toaster? And then we discovered that outside every city in the US is an outlet mall. It might actually just be one outlet mall that moves from city to city as you move. There seems to be only one set of shops, but the kitchen shop is great.
We needed new pots anyway and the multi layered 18/10 stainless steel set was soooo reasonably priced ... and yes they even gave us a free set of steak knives. We carried that set through the US as we moved and brought it back to NZ with us. It now occupies two drawers in our new kitchen and I fully expect to be using it for decades to come.
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While I do appreciate the lovely old kitchen tools I also love gadgets. We have a gunmetal grey kitchenaid mixer that is both a joy to use and a joy to look at. It just exudes a sense of engineering and strength of any really good power tool.
For my 50th we went to Melbourne for lots of eating out with four of my very best friends and while browsing through a kitchen shop I decided to buy the pasta making attachment. Now I really do appreciate the skill displayed by an expert with a manual pasta machine and even more so the skill of those who make pasta with a rolling pin (nonna length or otherwise) – but man the ease with which we can now make pasta. Yes it was expensive and heavy but it’s been a revelation for us to quickly and easily make homemade pasta without requiring any real talent.
So snicker all you like I love that gadget!
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Notes & Queries: The Rejected Selfie, in reply to David Herkt,
Yep, to both Islander and Dave.
To derail, as usual.
If you want something about yourself that really is a product of the modern world, it is the sound of your own voice. It is pretty much impossible to hear your own voice as others hear it without technology, because you hear a lot of your own voice through the bones in your head. But recording devices changed that. I still cannot hear my recorded voice without thinking it is my brother and not me.
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Hard News: A different kind of country, in reply to Luke Williamson,
JohnKey sees himself as CEO of NZ Corp
There are a lot of people who firmly believe that running our country as if it was a "proper business" would be best for all.
Setting aside the sheer ignorance of such a view, given the appalling performance of using business methods for public good worldwide. The thing that bugs me most about this view is - if you actually believe running the country like a business is a good idea then why would you vote for this bunch of hopeless clowns.
Surely if you believed we need a CEO and not a statesman you'd want someone competant in that role. Instead we have this bunch of plonkers who clearly couldn't run a business to save their own lives let alone ours. Every single negotiation they've been involved in they've been completely ripped off, not personally of course, it's just our money they've lost.
