I finally surrender

Aye, surrendered. Namely, to the lure of a new food processor. The old one burned out a couple of years ago and we've been honing everyone's knife skills ever since.

Why did I go do such an uncharacteristic thing? It isn't as if I can't live without a food processor. It's not as though I have all kinds of counter space or storage room for more kitchen goodies. It isn't even a wonder processor from Europe that does everything but wash itself (although I sure would like one of those.)

I finally got the unit because, regardless of medical science's best efforts, my hands are just not working well enough to use a knife correctly. Not for more than 5 minutes at a time, at least. Carpal tunnel, due to a lifetime of piano and 20+ years in IT, is a daily problem. Arthritis in my thumbs, due to some cruel trick of the kitchen gods, has become bad enough that I simply can't hold a knife correctly. The up-and-down motion sends my hands into spasm and gripping the handle of the knife at all is simply impossible some days.

So, here I am, faced with making the nosh for our driver friend's party tomorrow and I can't hold a knife to do the prep work. This presents me with a couple of choices: draft DS3 to do all the prep work or buy a new processor. Since my trusty assistant kid will be leaving for culinary school this summer, leaving me to me own devices, I bought the food processor.

To tell the truth, I had forgotten how handy the things really are. The filling for one of the appetizers whipped up in about a quarter of the time it would have taken without the processor. For another dish, I will grind the bread crumbs, chop the onion, mix the meats and seasonings, all in one unit. This will save me a lot of time and a very sore arm because those meats must be mixed until smooth. That takes some doing.

While I was spending hard earned cash, I also replaced my mini-prep machine with a 3-cup model that has two speeds. I've lost track of how many of those little wonders I have gone through but it's several. The duxelles will be done in record time using the mini-prep. Chopping small amounts of the trinity will be much faster, too. We do a fair amount of Cajun and Creole food and the dicing and chopping gets darned tedious for large batches of etouffe or creole.

So, here I am, the proud owner of 2 brand-spankin' new toys.

Now, just need to figure out where to keep them.