November 26 - A Whisk

I do Spanish every day - some days more than others.  Some days, I get a little obsessed.  The last couple of days probably fit into that category.  There is just so much to learn and every time I learn something, I realize that I don't know ten more things - and each of those things that I chase down uncover ten more things.  I have come to realize that the attraction for me is not only wanting to be able to have conversations in Spanish but to really understand the language  - why certain prepositions are used instead of others, how verbs are related to each other, how the origin of a word affects its spelling and gender, and on and on.  It is so fun to have the time to really study.  And, like every time I have studied another language - I just keep discovering and recognizing new things in the English language as well.

Much like mathematics for me, there is as much beauty in the relationships and structure as in the use.

Of course I am not totally disconnected from the application, I do get a small thrill whenever I can have a successful real life interaction in Spanish.

In other news, I bought a whisk.  Ok, I know, this is also not exciting for most of you, but I have been designing workarounds for all of my normal kitchen staples:  like using a water bottle for a rolling pen, upside down roasting pan for a cookie sheet, two forks for a pastry blender, serious elbow grease for a mixer, terra cotta baking dish for a pie plate, a serated knife for a cheese grater, a nalgene bottle for a measuring cup, and don't even get me started on ingredient substitutions.  But last week, I realized that I just couldn't work around - no mater how much I tried - not having a whisk for some dishes.  I mean, I don't need multiple whisks (like I have at home) or even one really nice whisk (like my favorite one from pampered chef), but I admit defeat in making due with no whisk at all.  So....

I am now the proud "owner" (I am sure we will not bring it home with us to Walla Walla) of an orange silicone whisk.  Now I can make whipped cream, meringue, better sauces and gravy, ....