THE KITCHEN OF LIFE

Recently Anique, who is an avid cook, was cooking up a storm in the kitchen and she asked me to get down the Sunbeam Mixmaster and as I opened the pantry door I stood there in awe at the amount of kitchen appliances that we own.
The list is long we have Coffee Plungers in three different sizes, Coffee Machine, Juice Processor, Food Processor, Rice Cooker, Mixmaster (that doubles as a hand mixer), Bread Maker, Citrus Juicer, Blender, Toaster, Kettle & Microwave – not all in the pantry & yes, we do use them all most of the time!!
We asked ourselves when did this happen? We recalled that when we first started living together, we did not have much just the usual suspects – Kettle, Toaster, Microwave, Blender & Sandwich Maker.
We pondered how it came to be, did the equipment produce the extras themselves and what happens at night-time when we go to sleep – eek!!!
Do we have inter-machine sex going on? We remembered that the next appliances we bought were the Food Processor & the Juice Processor - is it possible that the Food Processor & the Juice Processor got together to create more appliances, so they would not get lonely or are they planning on taking over our kitchen !!
Scared! Now have a look in your kitchen - scary isn’t it!!
Our most recent acquision is a Mandolin; I can hear you say, what is a musical instrument doing in the kitchen? Well, nothing is sacred from appliance manufacturers. This device does not sing the vegetables into submission but nicely slices food into various sizes, julienne’s, shreds and the list is endless. Anique even has two of these, one big & one smaller - so that she can get different sized slicing & shredding etc.
I ask - what will these two appliances produce? (they are from the same family of Mandolins - hopefully not to close) Will they get up to no good at night like the Processors – what will the next appliance be & how will it make its way into our kitchen, will the Mandolins bring in another appliance under the pretence of a song !!! Watch this space ...... :)

MORTALITY – THE FINAL FRONTIER

This year I have been, either directly or indirectly involved with a few people who have passed away, one as young as 27 and another closer to my age - she was 54.
When these things happen, it makes you realise and remember that we are mere mortals on this Earth and it can be your time at anytime.
In these reflective moments, I am reminded of my own shaky start to life and wondering why I was chosen to survive and of course still live to survive – I am a cancer survivor.
At the tender age of 5 months old I was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of cancer – Neuroblastoma of the Liver! This aggressive cancer does not relegate itself to the liver only, it can attack anywhere in your body and luckily the treatment I received at the time obviously hit it on the head, as I have been in remission for 50 years.
Sadly my mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 1975 and my brother more recently in the last few years. My mother has been in remission for over 35 years and my brother for about two years – it is obviously not their turn either!!
I think my attitude, hopefully, keeps my alive – each day as I rise to go to work say a blessing that I am healthy, wealthy, wise and lucky to have my life.
I thank the goddess each day that I have a wonderful wife, my family and all my friends for without them life would be lonely.
So I guess it was not my turn way back in 1959 and I personally hope it’s not my turn for a long, long time.

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT TURNING FIFTY ….

Last year I turned Fifty & very proud of it but I felt compelled to write about all the things that happen when you turn fifty.
The vent that started this thought was cards & wrapping paper for birthdays - I used to get my presents wrapped in cool wrapping paper, now I get flowers & a similar pattern that I always associated with getting older (than I am now). Cards are the same except my friends & darling goddaughter who insisted on giving a on masse pink card (she is badly into pink)
Next was the mail turning fifty generated - I did not realise I was on so many Government databases, all of a sudden I get mail to check my internals shall we say and that vicious thing called a Mammogram & the doctors saying – now that your Fifty & list these complaints that are associated with getting older.
Mammograms - believe the hype - it hurts, our breasts were not made to be squished like that. On this occasion the boys have it easy all they need is a blood test.
To continue - there's the reading glasses, the aches & pains that seem to be more often. The mornings are not getting easier, my favorite is 'Mornings were designed to ruin a perfectly happy day'
Then there are life’s decisions - the word retirement keeps popping up, I have never been able to plan one year ahead let alone ten or more.
Oh well, life goes on & so will I be planning, planning and more planning, hoping to get it right for later in life.