Mi Madre

Every year for Christmas my darling Mother asks for one thing, every year. It costs less than $10 but obtainable for less than $2. Wooden Spoons. Every year. I have learned that her need to replace wooden spoons so often is not from whacking our backsides (honestly never happened), but from repeated use and most specifically, dishwasher washing of the spoons. In my kitchen, I have two large ceramic cylinders that dutifully sit next to my stove an above our spice cabinet, full of wooden spoons & other utensils, but mostly wooden spoons. Like my mother, I have never used them or actually until now even thought of using them on a child's backside, just to make it clear, that if you are scarred from childhood on account of wooden spoons, I am sorry, but that is not even slightly my intent of the address and subtitle 'Wooden Spoon'. I am certainly more scarred each and every time I try to cook at my sister Kate's house and she has no wooden spoons. To be fair I think she has two beechwoods and a burned plastic spoon from 1990. And she cooks and bakes way more than me. Bottom line, whether you get beautiful olive wood, bamboo, or beechwood, full, flat, or slotted; wooden spoons are essential. The more the merrier. And don't be too frugal because you will certainly use, abuse by way of dishwasher, and eventually wear out all of them. Most memorably, I have this affinity for wooden spoons inherited from Mi Madre, also her Thanksgiving rolls, lasagna, chicken noodle soup, more recipes and tips, and lots of evenings at restaurants, since every cook deserves a night off. As I journey through this "all things kitchen and cooking" blog, wooden spoons are my impetus and the first thing I thought of that got me going on this silly blog.