May
03
I often play the “desert island game” with different variations. Food is usually the theme and more often than not it usually goes something like this: Pretend you’re stranded on a desert island and you can only eat 3 cheeses ….what would they be (today?Brie de Meaux, Quebec 5-yr. raw milk cheddar and Beemster) …..or you can only have one meal/main entree the rest of your life, it would be “blank” (soup, no, no stew). Chocolate or vanilla? (vanilla) Beef or pork (pig rules) or you can only take 5 kitchen tools with you….. (MAC knife, Dutch oven, rasp, wooden spoon, vegetable peeler) …… etc, etc….
Well, I have a new favourite tool….the can opener. Nothing fancy – not an electric one or even a pretty colourful one – but the twist kind that has the puncture thingy on one end and a bottle opener on the other.
And I love it because I found a new use for it! I’ve always struggled to open the lids on homemade jams, pickles, whatever is tightly sealed in those mason jars. It’s the flat lid that’s suctioned on so tightly which gives me grief – usually the first time I try to open it. In the past, before my great discovery, I’d take a paring knife to it. Not very wise or safe to say the least – have broken the tips of knives on several occasions and probably narrowly escaped death many others. Now I use the bottle-opening end to pop up the lid. Easy peasy as they say. But if all I can eat on the Island is toast and jam…..what would be my top 3 jam picks? Hmmmmm….
