Nov 19, 2008
Bossy’s Favorite Things.
This wooden spoon.
Bossy has no idea where she got it or what it’s made of, just like she had no idea her standards for wooden spoons would grow to be so stringent.
Everywhere Bossy goes, she looks to buy wooden spoons to pal around with her lone wooden spoon, but inevitably she leaves the store empty-handed. Bossy doesn’t know if it’s because her wooden spoon feels so perfectly broken-in and is the perfect dimension while the new wooden spoons are so new.
And right now you’re probably shouting at your monitors, “Fer christsake, it’s just a bamboo spoon!” But actually Bossy thinks it’s too forgiving to be bamboo. But it may be olive, or beechwood, or wood.
I love my wooden spoons, too! Yes, spoonS–a special bamboo one for toffee-making, and the other one for all other stuff.
I love my wooden spoons too. I think I got them at a restaurant supply and can’t even remember how many years I’ve had them. maybe 20. such a relief after replacing broken ones from the stores all the time.
it’s maple, definitely maple
My very best wooden spoons are olive wood, and you can recognize them easily because they are……i don’t know…..they look different than most of my other wooden spoons. They are smoother and have beautiful grain. All my others are just “wood” and I have all sizes and shapes, all gotten at flea markets, You’re right – it’s hard to find just the right handle length, spoon cup-ness, and spoon size. But I actually believe I have one exactly like yours.
You’re not alone. When my grandmother passed away, my sisters and I argued (gently) over who would get which one of her wooden spoons. The most coveted one was nearly worn down to a stub, and slightly blackened at the tip. I got one that looks like yours. Not only is it perfect for scraping the bits from the cast-iron skillet, but it holds the memories of my “Oma’s” kitchen . . .
Yours looks like mine, they could have a playdate some time if you like. (that’s my life, I’m at the playdate stage…)
I also have a favorite stainless steel spoon that is worn at one edge from all the scraping. Not as good a story to it as Christina’s, though, I think we got it at a yard sale.
My dog gets my wooden spoons out of the sink and then chews them to bits. I go through a lot of wooden spoons.
I’m like you – I’ve got exactly ONE perfect wooden spoon that for all I know wandered in from the back yard and we kept it because it looked lonely; I have NO idea where we got it. But I think it’s a twin to yours – at least it looks that way from here.
Hey – do I smell garlic?
I have no spoon loyalty whatsoever. How deep is the pot and what do I have to stir? It’s all about length for me.
Yeah, that does sound dirty.
It’s because new wooden spoons are flatter. And the handles are not always round. Or long. And they’re new. It takes at least a year to break in a wooden spoon and at least five to get it to that perfect smoothness and hardness with all the rough bits worn off and enough preservative oil and, er, food, sucked in to make it impermeable and just perfect. Who knew?
I wrote my love ode to my favorite spoon on the wrong day: two days ago I think. I have loads of them, for various and sundry purposes, but I still love The Spoon best.
I do not yet have the perfect wooden spoon, but I do have the perfect wooden spatula, which is actually a wooden spoon, but the end has been flattened to a point and it sharp. It is perfect for all tasks from stirring, to breaking up bits of chocolate to helping chop up meat in the saute pan. I have had it since my college days and my husband always steals it when we are both cooking at the same time (never good.)
So last year for Christmas, I bought him his own damn wooden spatula, but it was of course, inferior to mine. Subsequently, during the Thanksgiving cooking session, where he was “assisting” me, there was a bit of a brawl in the kitchen over who got to use the good wooden spatula for their assigned duties.
i think it’s from an ancient walnut tree that grew on an island in the North Sea and it’s core contains unicorn hair and phoenix feather.
but you should maybe check that out with Mr. Olivander.
its core. not it’s core. frick.