A story about gadgets

My Mom LOVED gadgets. Especially kitchen gadgets! Her kitchen drawers were filled with them. It used to crack me up - and drive me nuts. I mean if my friend Wakako can use a pair of chop sticks to do almost anything, then what do we need all these gadgets for, right?

Over the years I have tried to simplify and not get sucked into Mom's gadget craze. Though I do have a few, I'm trying to make just a simple wooden spoon my kitchen BFF.

And now there's this thing. This apple corer, peeler, slicer thingy. A while back my Mom thought I had borrowed hers. "No," I told her, "I have my own. But I don't use it, would you like to borrow it?". My theory is that she thought that it really was hers (but I found her empty box downstairs). Needless to say as we were going through her things I found this, shed a few tears with the memory, and brought the gadget home.

Flash forward to today. As I got it out I was rushed with memories of my back and forth with Mom about all her gadgets. I thought, what the hell, give the damn gadget a try. The first apple was a mess. "What a joke." I thought. Then I decided to give it another chance. Wow. Believe it or not it worked, and it worked well.

Flash forward to now. Over 6 lbs of mixed Michigan apples later - all peeled, cored, sliced and in the crockpot (and oven) turning into (what I hope to be) amazing apple butter.

The process was so much quicker, easier and less messy! Maybe there is something to this gadget thing after all.