Consuming
Thoughts
by
Fay Strickler
Penn State Extension Home
Economist For Berks Co.
Creative cooks would love to
peek inside their Christmas stock
ings and find shiny new tools for
their kitchens. Particularly if the
Christmas stocking hanging at
your mantel belong to people who
like to cook. Take a trip to your lo
cal kitchen shop where you’ll And
many hand utensils to speed the
cooking process and make life
easier for the chef. Here are sever
al stocking-stuffing ideas, as well
as alternate suggestions for the
utensil’s use. (Be sure to tuck in
the suggestions for using the gifts
in with the gift.)
Spread softened butter or maga
zine into rubber buttermolds, chill
until firm, and you can pop out
shapes of butter as varied as the
molds themselves. With the same
molds you can shape almost any
thing. (But be sure that you don’t
try to bake in them or mold items
so hot that they might melt the
molds.) Use them for molding
gelatin, marzipan, chocolate,
mints, or other candies. You can
also shape firm cookie doughs or
dough ornaments in the molds.
Metal egg rings with a retract
able handle aid you in frying per
fectly round eggs for use in sand
wiches or breakfast dishes such as
Eggs Benedict. Be sure to oil the
inside of the rings before adding
the egg so that the cooked egg will
release easily. In addition to frying
eggs, you can use the rounds to
cook evenly shaped pancakes and
potato patties as well as to shape
burgers or English muffin rounds.
Metal two-piece tea ball screws
together to form a ball with a cavi
ty to hold tea leaves while you
simmer tea. You can also use the
tea ball (available in several sizes)
when you simmer pieces of in
gredients such as coffee beans,
spices, or citrus rind that you
want to keep separate from the
cooking medium. Unscrew the
ball and use the rounds as a canape
or small biscuit cutter.
Shell bakers are available in se
veral sizes and were created for
baking seafood appetizers or en
trees. Rounded shapes and fluted
edges make them a great choice
for molding items, too. Try mold
ing ice cream (line shells with
plastic wrap first) or gelatin (light
ly oil the shells first) or marzipan.
You can use the shells to shape
and bake decorative pastry shells,
too.
A citrus zester is a metal imple
ment with a small grooved knife
edge to cut strips of citrus rind.
Use the zester for stripping small
pieces of rind for cooking or to
speed up making crystallized cit
rus rind. You can also cut decora-
live strips from citrus wedges to
garnish dishes or cut designs in
citrus cups or baskets. Cut long
strips of citrus and gently tie them
into bows or use them as ribbon
garnishes. You can even use the
citrus zester to cut decorative
strips in the skins of other fruits or
vegetables.
The garlic press was made to
mince and juice cloves of garlic.
Use the hand gadget also to press
pieces of soft cheese into a mass
of playful strings to garnish a
cheese or appetizer tray. When
making dough ornaments, you can
press a girl’s hair, Santa’s furry
beard, or animal fur. Or use it for
crushing fresh herbs to release fla
vor for cooking, or to crack small
nuts, such as hazelnuts.
A safety grater works like a
regular grater but doesn’t have the
protruding sharp edges of many
graters. Its knife blades are woven
into squares, so that you can press
the grater through potatoes or egg
plants and make French fry cuts.
Since it has slightly raised edges,
you can use it as a cooking rack. In
another use, you can place the
grater over a bowl, and invert the
bowl to drain liquids from solid
ingredients.
Keep Holidays Calm
Young Children
For
Sometimes it seems to par
ents that the more effort they
put into making the holidays fun
for young children, the more
they get tears and tantrums in
return. What’s going on here?
During this busy season it’s
better to do one thing calmly
than 10 things frenetically. The
pace is often what does in par
ents and children alike. Too
many new and exciting experi
ences, too much of a change in
routine can throw everyone into
a tizzy.
Slow things down so that
children can participate in holi
day activities in a satisfying,
simple way. Make preparations
in small, easily managed steps
that you can all do together.
When it comes to baking, for
example, make just one plain
kind of cookie or streamline the
process by using ready-made
cookie dough and let the chil
dren do the decorating.
Remember that from the
child’s point of view it doesn’t
matter what the cookies look
like, it’s the fun of making them
together that counts. The same
goes for holiday decorations and
making or picking out and wrap
ping presents Young children
enjoy making cards or simple
handmade gifts and in doing so,
they learn how to be givers as
well as receivers.
Another way to help make
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 18, 1999-B5
the holidays more pleasurable is
by sticking to regular routines
as much as possible Children
need consistency and sameness
in their daily lives as well as
stimulation. When this balance
gets out of whack, as it invari
ably does during the holiday
season, every can feel out of
sorts.
Maintain bedtime rituals
and, when you can, allow a little
extra time to answer the ques
tions young children will have
about all the on-going activity.
Often, in the rush of too many
activities, parents forget that
children need calm, leisurely
explanations of the customs and
rituals of their particular holi
day tradition. Since it’s often dif
ficult for young children to
accept going to bed at the end of
a big day, talking quietly, read
ing a story, or singing a song
related to the holidays can help
calm down everyone.
Paying attention to routines
goes for the adults, too. With
having a sense of control and not
being exhausted, you w'dl be
ready to enjoy the family time
together.
Young children are satisfied
by very simple things; they are
pleased and reassured by repeti
tion. So remember to keep your
holiday season simple and man
ageable for you and your little
ones.