OF SHOEHORNS AND PASTRY BLENDERS.....

So, I was putting on my shoes this morning and, as I pulled my shiny shoehorn from the drawer, I wondered if anyone else OWNS a shoehorn, let alone USES one. Then I realized that, in this world of new-fangled gadgets and toys, there are still some old school tools for which there has been no adequate improvement, at least in my book. The shoehorn is one of those. Mine is metal, stamped with the GallenKamp’s name, a Santa Cruz shoe store where my brother, Greg, worked in high school. The shoe horns would gravitate home in his shirt pocket -- remember shoe stores with clerks?! I’m sure they gave them away to customers or I wouldn’t think they’d bother to have them engraved with the store name. Anyway, I have one pair of shoes that have a tall back that I’d rather not smash down quite yet so the shoehorn is used for that one pair of shoes. If I didn’t have it, I’d probably steal a serving spoon from the kitchen but it wouldn’t work as well.

My other old school favorite….my mom’s pastry blender. For those of you who don’t bake, it’s the other option for making pie crusts that isn’t a food processor or two forks. It’s used for blending butter cubes into flour in the first stage of making a pie crust or biscuits. When my mom passed away in 2004 (damn you, Alzheimer's!), my sister cleared out the kitchen and randomly divvied things between the siblings. I feel fortunate to have received mom’s pastry blender. Its red handle worn by my mom’s hands and wire "blades" tweaked just a little from years of use (and probably abuse by us kids).

I like to bake but never had much luck with pie crusts – they were always flakey and tasty but not particularly attractive. I’m sure I added too much or too little of something, or maybe I rolled it out too much or too little, overworked or underworked. I never cared much for a food processor either. One Thanksgiving, my mom called while I was making a crust for pumpkin pie. Because I was distracted, or perhaps because mom was sending good vibes, I mixed the crust absent-mindedly with the phone tucked between my shoulder and my ear. That was the first crust that ever turned out PERFECT. Once I inherited mom’s pastry blender, I feel Mom pitching in every time I use it.

So, what old school devise to YOU prefer, even in light of modern upgrades? Maybe you’re a straight razor guy who sharpens with a leather strap? Or you use a rotary lawn mower? Anyone?