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| Snow crocus |
I
stood in the housewares department of a local mart and asked myself, “When did
things change?” I was looking for plastic freezer containers – the cheapy kind
that we used for the last 50 years. Has anyone else noticed that they’ve
disappeared? Even “quality” plastic refrigerator containers (like Rubbermaid) are different or
missing, seemingly replaced by glass. Then it dawned on me – this must be on
account of BPA.
Well,
things change. In the ‘50s, my parents froze food in reusable waxed cardboard
boxes lined with plastic sacks. It was my job to open a sack and slip it into
the box. A special funnel allowed for ease in pouring the food into the sack.
The contents were written on the flap of the box in pencil so that it could be
erased the next time the box was used. Perhaps there was something to be said
for this system.
Oh,
well. Methods change according to “progress.” Perhaps the glass storage containers offer advantages, give or take some breakage.
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| My Cornflower roaster is still intact. |
And
break they will! Sadly, last weekend I lost my 40-year-old Corning Cornflower
8-inch square pan. I was making raspberry pretzel salad – hurrying it along, of
course, because it was late in the day – and I put the pretzel base (baked in
the Corning pan) on the woodpile to cool. There’s not much left of the pile –
and I thought about the dogs – but I left the pan there anyway. About ten minutes later I heard a crash and looked out the kitchen window
to see Bess trying to retrieve what she could of the sweet treat from among the
shards of pottery. Nellie was standing at the slider looking innocent, but she might
well have been in on the initial mischief and jumped quickly to the door when the
dish slipped.
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| Chris' Cornflower bread pans (lovely!) |
I tossed dish -- dessert and all -- into the garbage can and let Mike handle the “bad dog!” stuff. They had to know it was wrong, but I also
made it plain that I set them up and they were not to be ostracized.
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| Bess & Nellie |
“Cornflower”
has been discontinued but is available online. (Isn’t everything?) I can
replace that pan, and eventually I might. The pan itself is actually quite
affordable on Etsy -- about $15 – but then the shipping and handling is
another $15, and I’m just not going to do that – not yet. Of course, square
glass pans are available at the local marts, and, you know, they work just as well. KW
2 comments:
When we moved into this house, a box must have been dropped because when I opened it, three bowls were broken including two favorites. They were each one of a kind and I've never been able to replace them. Sixteen and a half years later, I still miss them. And while you can replace your broken one, it won't be the one with all the memories. (And yes, I know they're just dishes, but still...)
Well-- if I replace it with the same dish, I'll just pretend there was no breakage. I'll say, "See? -- didn't happen." But if it's a different model, so to speak, then yes, I'll be starting all over.
Frankly, I'm not terribly nostalgic over it. A few years ago I thought to get rid of all "Cornflower" -- never cared much for it. Then somehow I saw it as cool and began to enjoy it. I do think it deserves to be replaced with something special. Yes, that's it -- let's see it as an opportunity rather than mourning a loss.
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