Thing 1 and Thing 2

 

Thing 1 and Thing 2

 

Or, maybe I should say Thingamajig and Thingamabob?

Thank you to all of you who identified what they were !  Thing 1 was a citrus juicer!  I picked a lemon from my garden and put it to the test, today!  I rolled the lemon on the counter a couple of times and inserted the juicer on the side of the lemon and squeezed - 

Citrus Juicer

It worked well enough

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to remove the rind from the portion where I inserted the gadget, but, I left it in place and it helped to keep the seeds from coming out with the juice.  But, after a couple of squeezes, the rind and the plug of lemon pulp that was in the center of the gadget fell out and of course the seeds came out, too.  But, squeezing the whole lemon was not that easy and, after a little while, the lemon split!  Maybe I was supposed to insert the gadget at one of the ends of the lemon instead of the side?   

But, the lemon split

In the end, I decided that Thing 1 was not worth keeping.  I can just as easily juice a lemon by hand!  Thing 1 was washed and will be put aside for donating - I will write "citrus juicer" on a tag and tie it to the gadget, so that, whoever will buy it will know what it is supposed to be!

Then, my daughter and I moved on to Thing 2, which Angela said was a cucumber spiral cutter!  My daughter was a little skeptical but, she soon got the hang of it!

Cucumber Spiral Cutter

It cored the cucumber, as well!

I poured a little of the freshly squeezed lemon juice on the cucumber and sprinkled a little salt and pepper on them to make a cucumber salad.  But, as Angela said in her comment, how many cucumber spirals does a woman need?

And then, we thought to try it on a potato!

Oh, Yes!  

It actually cut the potato even more easily than the cucumber!  So, what does one do with spirals of potato, you ask?  Why, you fry them up and make spiral cut potato chips, of course!  According to my daughter, they are called tornado potatoes or tornado fries; you are supposed to put a skewer through the potato, put the potato in a special machine that spiral cuts the potato and then, deep fry it!  I had skewers, but, I used my small frying pan which wasn't big enough to accommodate skewers.  So, I fried them without the skewers and made a potato slinky instead of a tornado potato!  LOL!

Potato Slinky!

Fried Potato Spirals

My daughter spiral cut two potatoes and I deep fried them, both.  We each had a potato and my daughter really enjoyed hers, especially since she hasn't had any fries since last March!  Thing 2 is a keeper, my daughter declared!  If I didn't want it, she will take it with her when she goes back to her apartment!  Maybe we will try making the proper tornado potatoes on skewers, next time! 

In addition to playing with the gadgets, I cleaned a few more items that were stored in the china cabinet (my daughter said she can see herself using some of the items, which means I don't have to get rid of them!), and chatted with friend M when he tended to the garden.  He bought me several bags of soil amendment, the first of the fruit trees I wanted (a plum tree), some packets of vegetable seeds, and  planted more radishes for me.  Afterwards, we had a cup of tea and discussed plans for the garden.  He will pick up the rest of the fruit trees for me, this weekend.

Today, I am grateful for:

- Blog readers who were able to identify what the gadgets were

- Having fun trying them out and making my version of a tornado potato

- Friend M picking up the fruit trees and soil amendments for me

- Humming birds and bees visiting the peach tree!

- Daughter saying she can see herself using some of the items I keep in the china cabinet!

Today's joyful activity was trying out the kitchen gadgets!

Have you heard of tornado potatoes?