the well-equipped kitchen

Finding this "roast meat thermometer" should, I suppose bring back memories of home cooked meals. And I suppose that it does, at least to a limited extent. Truth be told, I can't remember that this thermometer ever got used, and frankly, although it promises to roast beef "with scientific exactness", I'm not at all convinced that it was needed. Most recipes tell us how long to leave whatever it is we're cooking in the oven, and at what heat, and keeping an eye on a thermometer stuck into something we're cooking just doesn't seem all that necessary.


A good wooden cutting board, on the other hand, most definitely can come in handy, and I have vague recollections of this being used - even if it doesn't call up clear memories, or vivid smells, of particular dishes. Although it bears clear marks of use, these marks don't act as landmarks on a map, telling us the particulars of the meals we ate, or when we ate them. Even so, the cutting board itself still calls up very distinct feelings of home and childhood.


This jar-opening tool is a riddle to me. I don't recall it being in our home while I was growing up, though it seems to be the sort of tool that's ancient enough to have been around while I was still in the house. Unlike other items from Mom's kitchen, this one is not only in perfect working condition (what could go wrong with it?) but can also be very useful even today - perhaps even more so when opening jars and other food containers has become such a difficult chore.


This particular tool is now in one of our kitchen drawers waiting to be put to use - and, in some sort of strange memory transference, to bring back childhood memories that it didn't even hold when it was first put to use. And this perhaps confirms that even after three full years, each object still tells a story, even if that story isn't its own.