For some reason that I can’t quite remember, my aunt Gladys gave me, quite a few years ago, the metal/plastic egg beater that belonged to her and my grandmother (Gladys never married, so she lived with her mother until the latter died). I don’t know how old it is, it was probably bought during one of their more recent trips to the US, in the early 1960’s, though it could be older.
It’s a simple tool, an eggbeater like most others – though this one has plastic beaters. All the other ones I’ve seen have metal ones. Of course, plastic is not as sturdy as metal, and this one has a broken piece. It also has rusting metal. Still, 50 or 60 years later, it still works perfectly.
I don’t know if I’ve used it since I got it, at least a decade ago. When I moved to this house, I put it on the top shelf of a kitchen cabinet (the one I can’t reach without standing on a chair). Whenever I’ve had to beat eggs, I’ve used an electric mixer or a whisk.
Yesterday, however, Camila and I were making flan together, and the recipe called for four beaten eggs. I didn’t want to use the stand electric mixer for that, and yet I knew we weren’t going to get far with a simple whisk (Camila now insists on doing everything, but she still doesn’t have the skills to do everything well) – so I took it out. Camila had never seen one before, and I know it would interest her.
As I said, it works perfectly. What an easy, quick way of beating eggs! After we were done, I thought I should buy a new one (though they’re about $13 at Amazon!, my friend Cynthia recommends looking for one at a thrift store, and I may still do that). I’m actually afraid of using this one – not just because it’s rusting – but because I don’t want to get it any more broken. I feel as if I had borrowed it, rather than inherited it, and I have to return it in as good condition.
It’s not as simple as that, of course. I also have my grandmother’s old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook – that book that I perused so many times as a child. And I have their recipe book, where Gladys or Granny hand wrote so many recipes. I’ve thought about cooking from those books – trying to make that delicious sponge cake with lemon frosting, the white cake with chocolate-dulce de leche frosting, or the chocolate-mint cake, which along with pies, were their signature dishes when I was growing up. I haven’t been able to do it. Granny has been dead for 30 years, Gladys died only 2 years ago, however, and I still can’t think of her without falling into a well of tears. Perhaps using their stuff, cooking their food, is too strong a reminder that they’re no longer here. I want to cook their food, but for them – and I never did, and I will never be able to do it now.
In addition to the eggbeater, I also have the kitchen timer that I grew up hearing ring at their home. I’ve started using it because all the other times I’ve had, have broken. It’s good that I use it, right? It might get stuck otherwise. It hasn’t broken in 50 years, it’s not going to break now. Right?
Check Out
-
- RESTAURANT REVIEWS
- San Leandro Eats
- New Orleans Food Tour
- Taste of Louisiana
- Notes from a New York City Foodie Trip
- MEAL SERVICES
- CookUnity
-
-
Marga’s Food
-
Recent Posts
- A Taste of the South: Notes from a Trip to Louisiana
- Louisiana Eats: Restaurant 1868!
- Louisiana Eats: Bon Temps Grill
- Louisiana Eats: Olde Tyme Grocery
- Louisiana Eats: Maison Mouton Bed & Breakfast
- Louisiana Eats: Prejean’s
- Louisiana Eats: Lasyone’s Meat Pie Restaurant
- Louisiana Eats: Judge Porter House B&B
- Fast Food Reviews: Whataburger
- Dining in Texas: Babe’s Chicken Dinner House
Recent Comments
Tags
beef Blue Apron boneless chicken breakfast burgers chain restaurants chicken Christmas closed restaurants Creole food desserts Eclipse Trip Eddie French frozen food Gobble Hello Fresh HelloFresh meal kit reviews historical restaurants Home Chef Indian Indian food Las Vegas Louisiana meal kit hacks New Orleans NYC pasta pastries pizza Plated Refrigerated Meals Reviews restaurant reviews safeway sandwiches San Leandro sauces short ribs Soup steak tacos thai vegan vegetarianCategories
- Argentina (7)
- Bar (4)
- Bread (4)
- Breakfast (2)
- Cafes, Bakeries, Ice Cream… (47)
- Cheese (15)
- Classes (5)
- Cookbooks (18)
- Deals (5)
- Destinations (3)
- Dinner (69)
- Drinks (22)
- Equipment (13)
- Events (9)
- Fairs & Festivals (8)
- Feedback (7)
- Food for Tots (18)
- Food Items (184)
- Fun with Food (3)
- Grocery Outlet (82)
- Ice Cream (12)
- Ideas (4)
- International Project (5)
- Invitations (3)
- Links (19)
- Lists (9)
- Meal Kits (106)
- Menus (65)
- Methods (12)
- Recipes (250)
- Restaurants (451)
- San Leandro Eats (7)
- Shops & Markets (40)
- Snacks (16)
- Text (61)
- Uncategorized (13)
- Wine (53)
- Wine Tasting (18)
Meal Kit Reviews
-
Posts in this blog may contain affiliate links.