New Kitchen Hero

I have a new spatula, and it’s one I have been seeking for several years. It is one of my essential, day-in, day-out kitchen tools. It is so simple and classic a design, you might think it could be found in any old store, but not so, not so. It took me more than 3 years to come across it, and when I finally found it, I was not at all surprised that it was in Brown and Roberts Hardware, in Brattleboro, Vermont, (where I happened to grow up). That is a great store.

This new spatula has been doing hard duty from day one. It is sturdy, great for scraping encrusted pans of old scrambled egg residue, or burnt white beans, or crumby cutting boards. It has a sharp leading edge, so that you can actually slice things in the pan (like a spinach and goat cheese omelette), or separate a drumstick from the thigh, or remove that old paint spill from the floor. And it is small, so that you can sneak under a slender portion of fish for plating-up, without disturbing the other portions. In other words, it does all one could ask of a spatula beyond just turning your potatoes. (My other spatula is bigger, and was inclined to push a few potatoes out of the pan, which was the original impetus for finding the new spatula. Three years, three years, I tell you!)

So I’ve got my new spatula, and I’ll never let it go. Please don’t ask to borrow it. Just knowing it is there makes me happier, even when I am not actually in my kitchen. And next time I go to Brattleboro, I’m going to pick up another one or perhaps two, just in case. Maybe you can borrow one of those. -- Caleb