MY KITCHEN DRAWER.

Do you, like me, have a kitchen drawer filled with a collection of utensils you hardly ever use, although they all seemed a great idea at the time?

Take, for example, my falafel spoon. I love falafel and always wanted to make my own. All I needed was the right spoon.  Many years ago, we hunted through supermarkets in Tel Aviv for a falafel spoon with a little metal cup on the end.  You fill it with the mix and when released it forms the perfect ball. We finally found it and I was overjoyed. Have I ever used it? No. It has languished at the back of the drawer from that day to this.

What would you call a collection of chopsticks?  A Chinese of chopsticks? A handling of chopsticks. Or how about a sticky of chopsticks?  We have an abundance of these, bought over the years in various China towns. They bring back memories of messy meals in noisy, crowded cafes in London, San Francisco, New York, Taipei and Beijing.

How about my three rolling pins. Why three you ask? A good question. There are four if you count the tiny wooden one I used myself as a child. I was about five when someone gave me a little baking set of which now only the rolling pin remains, beloved of each of our six grandchildren. They have all rolled pastry with it, cut out shapes of stars and gingerbread men. And as they roll we sing, “rolling rolling rolling” – the old TV theme tune from Rawhide. All families make their own traditions. And that’s one of ours! Of the other three rolling pins – one was my mum’s, one my mother in law’s and the other has always been mine. I wouldn’t be without it. Except when it, together with the others, gets stuck and I have to spend half an hour trying to ease the drawer open.

Here’s a small cellophane bag filled with brightly coloured plastic handles each with a sharp metal prong. These are for daintily holding your corn on the cob, one at each end.  The idea is to stop your fingers getting all greasy and buttery. But that’s part of the fun, so consequently they remain in the drawer.

What in my drawer gets used the most? My collection of battered wooden spoons which sometimes get thrown out and replaced. So, yes, they are actually useful. Probably the most used utensil I own.  Contrary to manufacturers’ advice they get put in the dishwasher so they seldom last long.

I once spent a fascinating half an hour with a friend who took me through every item in her kitchen drawer.  And then, just like me, she put them all back because you never know when they might come in useful!

© Andrea Neidle, My Life in Poems