I have a long personal history with wooden spoons - going all the way back to my childhood. That's when I first took real notice of them, as my mother was swatting me on the bottom with one. My punishment for doing something I shouldn't have. There were five of us kids, and we all remember the wooden spoon whippings. More than a few of those spoons sustained broken handles over the years! You'd think I'd want nothing to do with them ever again after the spoon whipping years, but me and my bottom somehow survived all that and those memories eventually got replaced with better ones.
My mother used wooden spoons... lots of them.... when she cooked. I have two of her spoons, and am so happy to have them now that she is no longer living. Little things make me happy! I think of her every time I see them, and sometimes, when I'm cooking a dish that was hers, just the way she used to cook it, I use one of her spoons. Here they are. I mark them with a M for Mama so I will always know which ones they are.
I also have lots of wooden spoons from far away places. Most recently, my son and his wife went to Germany and while they were at it, toured Spain, Amsterdam, France, and Switzerland. Before they left, they wanted to know what I wanted from Germany. " Just get me a few wooden spoons", I said. They came back with thirteen, some from every country they visited. What a treat! I was so excited. I haven't used any of them yet. I keep thinking I need to make some specialty dish each country is known for as I use them the first time. Sheeeeeesh. That will probably never happen, so I may as well just go ahead and use them. Here they are:
and these little ones, none of which are more than 5 inches long..... oh, and that non-spoon thing there, that's an olive pick. I allow it to mingle with my spoons just because I like it so much. Naturally, it's made of olive wood, as are quite a few of my spoons.
and finally, well almost finally... here is one of two HUGE ones. I stuck it in with my regular ones so you can see how big it is. No, I don't use them. I've had them for almost 30 years. One of these days, who knows? I might happen upon a really big pot of something that needs to be stirred!
And this, which I lovingly refer to as "the ugly spoonling", because, let's face it.... it IS! I use it for pickling because the pickling spices stain wooden spoons, so therefore, a designated one. I never use it for anything else. Hey... I need to post about my homemade Jalapeno Garlic Dill Pickles one of these days!
I even want to make my own wooden spoons. I know I can do it..... I'm sure I can, so one of these days, I just might get around to it. I've only watched a gazillion Youtube videos on the subject. I'm just slightly concerned about all those really sharp hand tools and keeping all my fingers intact during the process. I need all my fingers to get a good grip on my wooden spoons while I'm stirring stuff....
So there you have it, you have officially been introduced to all the spoons of Spoon City Kitchen!
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