23 December 2010

Weird Stuff from the Kitchen Drawers

Once every ten years or so, I get brave enough to explore the contents of the kitchen drawers. We seem to have two large drawers dedicated to what I would call "kitchen utensils", but you'd be hard-pressed to find much of use in there. Now I think I've figured out why: The drawers are full of Weird Stuff.


I recently got the crazy idea to dump out all the contents and see what I could find. After sorting through everything, I filled two 1-gallon Ziplock bags with items that I would consider 1) unidentifiable or 2) no longer useful and moved the bags to a shelf in the basement.

Click on the picture and follow along with me to see a sampling of just a FEW of the items in my kitchen drawers:

1) This "expanding spatula" actually came with Spouse. It's intended for lifting a cake to transport it from one flat spot to another. While I think it's a pretty nifty tool (it's kind of fun to press the button and see the side spatulas fly out), I can't say that I've actually used it in the kitchen. But I'm keeping it handy because I think it could be used for moving cats around.

2) This white spoon with a somewhat creepy cat face is for scooping out canned cat food. Our kitties don't eat canned cat food enough to warrant a space in the drawer. I'll keep it, though, because you never know...As they get older, they may need to go on a soft diet.

3) Don't spew your coffee but yes, this is a baby bottle scrubber. And yes, I only had one baby. She's a freshman at Indiana University this year, so I think I could probably safely put this away now.

4) Continuing along the same lines, this is a baby airplane spoon. She no longer eats with an airplane spoon, so I think I'll take it out of the drawer.

5) We have a few chopsticks in the drawer, including my lucky black chopsticks with embedded (plastic) gemstones, which I got in third grade when we went out for Chinese food in Omaha one time with my grandpa. Don't worry: I put the chopsticks back in the drawer for safe-keeping.

6) I'll award three gold stars to anyone who can identify this white contraption with holes. In fact, since I've got two of them, so I'd be happy to share one with the winner.

7) This metal tool with four spiky prongs and a carrying handle is for making baked potatoes. At least I THINK that's correct. It folds for easy storage. (The folding part is its best feature.) Does anybody know if this thing is to be used in an oven or over a campfire? Not that I'm going to be using it anytime soon...

8) THREE - COUNT 'EM - metal nutcrackers. I ask you: How many nutcrackers does one household need? Strangely, I have only a SINGLE set of matching nut picks.

9) This next item is a holdover from my Girl Scout days: A jar opener in the shape of a FOOT. I left this one in the drawer. You never know when you might encounter a stubborn jar of pickles.

10) A fierce-looking bottle opener with a chain. Should I attach this to my belt? I didn't even know we had such a thing.

11) A very handy toothpick holder which dispenses a single toothpick at a time. This item was no doubt acquired at the Iowa State Fair, so I kept in the drawer for sentimental reasons. Plus, it's kind of fun to watch the toothpick come out.

12) A sampling of novelty straws: Of note here is the Mickey Mouse straw from Disney World (KEEPING IT!), a monkey straw, and especially the EYEBALL straw which belongs to Spouse, the optometrist. I don't know why he doesn't have this straw at his office. There's an eyeball right on it.

So as you can see, I've now freed up a little bit of room in the drawers -- not that what's left is any more useful than what I packed away.

Next stop: The Corner Cupboard...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is quite the assortment of tools. No winner here. I have no idea what that white tool is for, except you could use it to trace circles. The bottle opener on the key chain is popular with guys for opening beer quickly. Our baby brush cleaner has been gone for many years. I love the airplane spoon. Much more fun to say "here comes the airplane" with that than with a regular spoon. I threw away all the weird things in my kitchen drawer when we moved. So far, I haven't missed any of them. :)

Sharon said...

And how about that....I forgot to put my name in the proper box. I am Anonymous.

Anonymous said...

I think the white things with the holes are used for making pasta. Not that I've ever made pasta, but I think the holes determine the thickness of the noodles.

Connie said...

Now I'm anonymous

Fonda said...

There are some very clever tools here Janet. Love that eye-ball straw. Looks like something I will eventually end up in my drawer!
I think those white things are for measuring spaghetti portions, best guess anyway.

Sharon said...

Since I never measure pasta, I didn't have a clue what the white thingy was for. It's a good guess. I think that you have two winners. Now, Connie and Fonda can measure their pasta. LOL

Jill said...

I'm pretty good about culling the kitchen drawers & cabinets on a regular basis, but I actually had to buy a new baby bottle brush, because it was the best way I can think of to clean the water bottle I use for work. Funny on the spatula!!!!!!

Anonymous - I think you're right about the hole thing being for noodles. They're probably different serving sizes for spaghetti.

Debbie's World said...

The white things are definitely for measuring serving amounts for spaghetti. I've never found them to be particularly accurate for my family. You probably got them with plastic storage containers.

The spiky thing is for the oven. The theory is that by heating the inside of the potato as well as the outside they will cook faster. I tried it once, they make this hard crusty thing in the center.

I use nutcrackers for eating crab and lobster (I live on the east coast). I also use them to help open smaller jar and paint tube lids. Hmmm. wonder why they're called "nut" crackers. LOL

Really enjoyed your post. Thanks.