I mentioned in a previous post that when my son and daughter-in-law came to stay a couple of weeks ago, my daughter-in-law  remarked on my egg beater and said she remembered her grandmother having one. Now I consider an egg beater to be about as unusual as a toothbrush so, of course, I went looking for one to give her as a thank you gift. I didn’t find one locally (thanks for the suggestions) but I had friends going to Lehman’s while on a visit to Ohio and they offered to pick one up for me. I got it yesterday and I am a bit disappointed. They had two options. A fabulous, made-in-American model was $60.00 and a made-in-China beater was $20.00. As they were spending my money and I had not given them a price range, they went for the less expensive one. It’s just okay. It’s very shiny and feels nice in my hand but it’s a bit clattery. It doesn’t have the smooth gear work that I like in my old beater. The thing is, in their shoes, I would have probably gotten the same one. $60.00 is a LOT of money and who knows how much use it will get. But it seems there should be a middle ground. It should be possible to support our economy and still get a decent tool at a price most people can afford to pay. An egg beater isn’t a luxury. It’s not as though you have to pay for the research and development of new technology. It’s the same basic design of something that has been around for over a hundred years. I will be keeping my eyes peeled at tag sales this spring for a couple of good egg beaters, just in case something happens to the one I have now. I don’t ever want to be without an essential kitchen tool.

Bruce and I joined our favorite couples for dinner last night. It was so much fun. The  meal was really simple. We had two kinds of rice balls, a fabulous carrot salad and some breads and pickles. I brought our dandelion wine which has aged up very nicely and for dessert, we had the most outrageously delicious home-made cream puffs. Bruce ate three of them and he typically goes very easy on sweets. What made the dinner so lovely was the good conversation and the shared laughter.

I want to reciprocate ASAP as I took another cooking class and want to try making tyropitas and butternut squash turnovers. I came away with a recipe for pear crepes too and I am making those for my family this week.  The teacher of this class is a vegetarian and perhaps the most valuable thing I come away with is another bunch of ideas for meatless main deals that still feel indulgent.

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