Friday, March 4, 2011

Tools

What's your favorite tool? I have a few favorites, in each area of life I work in. In the kitchen, I am having a love affair with an awesome tool from Pampered Chef. It's a star shaped masher that works wonders when you are cooking ground meat. I also couldn't do without my Rada knives. My mom used to sell them for fundraisers with the AT&T Pioneers. They are just plain jane great tools.
In my beadwork, I couldn't live without my Ott lamp. I have read several blogs about other brands, and if I ever need another lamp, I'll certainly try a more economic brand. As my eyeballs age (not the rest of me, of course) I simply can't do the fine detail without that light.  My beading needle of preference is a Big Eye. In most cases, it will go through the beads just fine, and I love the ease of threading it!
In my homeschooling journey, I simply couldn't do my job without teacher manuals. Ya'll really thought I was that smart? Not a chance! And I don't have a bit of problem telling the kids I need to look it up in the teacher book.  My goal is not to fool my kids into thinking I'm the smartest person around, but in teaching them a love of learning. To be a lifetime student.
And, living in the U.S. anyway, my vehicle is a tool of necessity. At least, where I live. My current vehicle is a lifestyle choice, not a "I love that one" choice. So, with three kids, what is it? Yep, a van.
I've had lots of cool vehicles over the years. This is not one of them. But it does the basic job, which is to get me from point A to point B.
Last, but certainly not least, in my bread baking journey, my favorite new tool is my dough mixer. What is that, you ask? Let me find a pic for your viewing pleasure:
DLX Electrolux Mixer MATT Black and MATT White This bad boy can mix up to 5 loaves of whole wheat dough at a time. That's a whopping 20-25 cups of flour, plus the rest of the ingredients. I could just kiss it, couldn't you? No? That's just because you haven't tasted the product of its labors, my friend! 
My panel of experts are........my kids, of course! Cause who else do you know that will tell you the flat out truth about how something tastes? Yeah, you know it. My oldest son's favorite is the cinnamon buns with Devonshire cream frosting.  My youngest boy just loves the garlic knots. And my daughter's is, naturally, the cheese bread!  See, ya'll thought it was just plain 'ole loaf bread, didn'tcha? Wanna see some?
Pumpkin Bread

Braided Cheese Bread

Garlic Knots

Science project: Make your own pizza!

Yummy Whole Wheat loaf
Ok, so now that I've made you hungry, tell me what your favorite tools are, and why!
Blessings,
Shirley



3 comments:

  1. If only she'd sent me some amazing bread with that soup... :)

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  2. Oh wow that bread looks delicious!!! My favorit tools...hmmm....Ok, in the kitchen it is my new VitaMixer I got for Christmas. It takes the place of 5 other appliances, and you can make hot fresh soup right in the mixer! For beading, ummm, I haven't been beading that long, but my favorit tool is metal bead scoop. It looks like a metal thing that waiters clear crumbs of the table with, but it scoops up the beads on my mat and lets me put it back in the tube! For cleaning, undoubtedly my Dyson Animal vaccuum. On for just a cool thing, I love my adapter in my (older) car that allows me to listen to my internet radio shows from my IPhone through the speakers in my car! I love that, I can listen to Hay House radio which I love and is aired over the internet.

    Cool question Shirley! And send me some bread too! LOL

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  3. Okay, now I want a midnight snack looking at those yummy loaves of bread!!
    I'm glad you showed your dough mixer...wow, they looks so sleek and powerful. I'll have to look in to one some day as we are such big bread eaters in this house! :-)

    My favorite tool is by far my Lortone tumbler...the best thing since sliced bread (how'd ya like how I threw that in??). It is my secret weapon when working with wire and metal...everything is smooth as silk when you take them out after a proper tumble. :-)

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I'm thrilled you stopped by! Thanks for your words of wisdom.