Toolin’ up in the kitchen

As I’m kind of shy and diffident when it comes to cooking - quick to remind people that I’m no creative cook, a mere babe in the woods without a clearly written recipe - it usually takes a lot of time and fretting before I can bring myself to purchase kitchen equipment. For example, I waited a long time after having ruined one cast iron skillet before finally acquiring another (that’s a story yet to be recounted here). Fortunately, my supportive wife constantly reminds me that I’m good enough, smart enough, and deserving of proper tools.

A few months back, I had made soft whimpering noises about how great it would be to have a oil atomizer, something with which I could lightly spray olive oil rather relying on my heavy hand and a tablespoon. During the holiday season, M found herself in possession of a gift card from Crate & Barrel. M loves her some Crate & Barrel, and when she announced that it was time to burn up the card, I assumed we’d be picking up some stylish knick-knack or other. But instead, and to my delight, M said something along the lines of “Let’s go get that oil sprayer thingie.”

As it turned out, we spent all of the card’s value (plus a tad more) on the sprayer and two other tools.

The oil aerosol stands tall and ready for use. As most of you already know and the rest can guess, the clear cap is attached to a tube that acts as a plunger/pressurizer. You open the sprayer, fill it with extra-virginy goodness (or any other kind of oil), close the sprayer and use the cap to build up pressure inside. Then you’re set to spray. I use it to spritz food directly and to apply a trace of oil to a pan when a light touch is desired.

The two-stage knife sharpener on the left has two crossed carbide blades to set the blade’s edge, and two ceramic rods with which to finish the edge. No, I’d never heard of “setting” or “finishing” knife edges before. There’s also a component for sharpening scissors.

The star of the show, however, is the Microplane grater/zester. Greatly have I desired one of these gizmos. Just holding it makes me feel like a real chef. Romano and parmesan cheese shavings are light and fluffy as clouds with this thing, and I can get lemon zest without grating down to the rind as I often did using a cheese grater.

Just looking at these tools makes me happy.

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And now, for a change of pace…