Mayonnaise jars and light bulb moments.

[gcvmom]

What can I say? My mother missed teaching me this important and useful skill when we were in the kitchen discussing the finer points of sandwich making.

This morning, as I was making lunches for the kiddos, BEFORE I'd had even so much as a DROP of coffee, I had a flash of what can only be described as divine inspiration (for me, anyway). I was down to the last residual smears of mayonnaise in a 64 oz jar -- which, as some of you may know, is too small to get one's hand into without getting slimed and too large to use a butter knife to effectively reach all the way to the bottom to get at the last of the spread.

Then it hit me! I got out a rubber (okay, now they're made of silicone) spatula and VOILA! I easily scraped out nearly every last molecule of mayonnaise without slathering my hand or pulling a muscle! I am so amazed at my ingenuity. SO AMAZED. I will TRY not to let this go to my head.


And now, it's time for coffee.

 

[Hound dog]

(I'm laughing because I have never in all these years thought to do that)

 

[AnnieO]

BEFORE coffee?

 

[Mom2oddson]

I finally got husband into the habit of using the spatula, now that is all that he uses.

Way to go on being able to think before Coffee!!! I forgot to put the cup under the coffee maker this morning....I can't do anything, including making coffee without having my coffee first!

 

[tiredmommy]

You know, of course, that your day will be all downhill after that spark of brilliance, right?

 

[Lothlorien]

I guess you've been kitchen handicapped all these years. I'm speechless.

 

[busywend]

It works great for peanut butter, too.

 

[gcvmom]

HD, I think we are in GOOD company on that one!

Step, that's the part that surprised me the most

M2O -- I bow before you!

TM -- Shut your mouth! May day is going to be AWESOME because it will end with my annual WINE (Women In Need of Entertainment) group's holiday party tonight!

Loth, I put up a good front, don't I?

BW, I'm gonna remember that!

 

[InsaneCdn]

You actually use a knife to spread anything except butter?
A knife is to CUT. Spatula is to SPREAD.
Only exception is if you are seated at the table... OR spreading butter (e.g. making sandwiches).

Hmmm... guess I'm a back-country hick.

 

[gcvmom]

IC, I use a butter knife for just about everything -- it's a screwdriver, it's a scraper, it's a pry bar, it's a swizzle stick... it's not just for butter anymore!

 

[InsaneCdn]

Umm... what is a "butter knife"?
We have... butcher knives, and paring knives, and filleting knives, and table knives... butter knife?
You mean that teeny tiny bit of a thing that they use on a formal table setting?
You actually HAVE one?

Second point... I'm sending in the health inspectors.
Using the same tool for food, as for fixing stuff, HAS to be a major health risk.
I mean, really... would you use a screw-driver to spread your mayo?

<sigh>
What has this world come to?

(he he he... thanks for the laughs! and... yes... I have my OWN tool-box - separate from the guys, 'cause they don't know how to look after their stuff, and trust me, you don't want to be around a mad mama who's looking for a hammer and a saw...)

 

[AnnieO]

The little formal ones don't even work for butter!

 

[Star*]

Well I was just FLOORED - at your genius- because when you said you got out a rubber???????

I was like - WHAT THE ?????????? IS SHE KIDDING ME? US?

And then stopped cold trying to picture you working that over ----what? A few fingers, a hand????? and WHY........no gloves????? I mean A++ for being a genius


AND THEN?

I saw the word...spatula - and felt like a real........ perv......
thanks for that.

 

[HaoZi]

(I'm laughing because I have never in all these years thought to do that)

I laugh because I didn't know anyone that didn't do that (grew up watching my Dad do it, learned the value of narrow spatulas vs wide ones), yet I managed to screw up my own coffee this morning. Dumped my creamer and sweetener in the cup and promptly filled it with hot water instead of coffee. DOH!

 

[Lothlorien]

I've got every sized spatula....even this super skinny one that works on ketchup bottles! I guess I'm a spatula connoisseur! lol

 

[gcvmom]

IC, down south here in the lower 48, at least in MY little corner of suburbia, ill-mannered and uncultured urchins that we are, we call a "table knife" a "butter knife" because it's only sharp enough to cut butter, and although I DO have what is formally referred to as a "butter knife," it is buried somewhere in the deep recesses of one of the drawers -- either that or one of my kids stole it to use with Play-Doh.

So yeah.

If I can't get the lid off the frozen O.J. tube, I pull out my trusty BUTTER KNIFE and pop the lid off. And no, the knife doesn't go back in the DRAWER after that. It gets washed. Or if I can't get the screw on my stand mixer tightened with my thumb nail, out comes the BUTTER KNIFE, cuz I know I won't slip up and slice my finger off with it. And the garage is just way too far to bother with a REAL screwdriver.

Just call me MsGyver!

 

[gcvmom]

HaoZi -- at least your coffee cup was right-side-up when you poured the water in. I've tried pouring coffee into my cup without noticing it was upside down until there was a hot puddle on the counter.

 

[HaoZi]

Wait... I thought a table knife and steak knife were the same thing... but a butter knife is always a butter knife. WTH have I been using on my food?

 

[InsaneCdn]

A table knife and a steak knife and a butter knife are three entirely different things.

A table knife... is what some people around here call a butter knife - its the knife that gets put beside your plate almost every meal... unless you are having steak.
A butter knife... is the stubby little thing that comes with formal silverware and gets used for the big butter dish at turkeyfests.
A steak knife... is usually very sharp, with a serrated edge that will cut ANYTHING, including you and/or the cutting board.

(and yes, we have all three and use all three... )

 

[HaoZi]

I guess I'm more of a barbarian. Less flatware to wash that way.