If you were cast on a desert island, what six pieces of music would you choose, and which book, beside the Bible and Shakespeare? This question has been posed weekly on a BBC radio program since 1942.  Well-known personalities come up with assorted answers like Beethoven and the Beatles, George Strait and Georges Bizet, Louis Armstrong…. Pavarotti….

Let’s change the question and ask, ‘If you had to select six items from your kitchen, just a single one that demanded electricity, which would you choose?’  Skip the desert island requirement because it raises too many questions, and come up with a list.

Here’s mine:

• Blender for smoothies, soup, banana bread ingredients, grating cheese, etc. Any other task can be managed without a small appliance, with a caveat for cheese graters which are tough on the knuckles!
• 4 or 5-inch blade serrated knife No other knife multi-tasks so satisfactorily.
• Garlic press idiosyncratic, I admit.
• 8 or 9-inch cast iron skillet as they are invariably practical.
• Ice-cube tray for accidentally cracked eggs, orange juice, pureed strawberries, and so on.
• Can opener …. Optional!

© 2009 Jane Manaster. All Rights Reserved.