It's free Fires of Nuala chapter day --

So if you've been waiting to read a chunk, now's your chance!

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Katharine-Eliska-Kimbriel/Novels/Fires-of-Nuala-1

Affordable Luxuries Time....

True story.

I like wooden spoons. They always have felt right to me, and were my mixing tools of choice (even though I snapped a couple with stiff doughs.) Then I became so ill, the arthritis advanced like wildfire, and I could not hold my spoons anymore. So -- off to buy a new one. I had to go to Sur La Table to find one with a thick enough handle that I could use it. It was OXO, believe it or not, and other OXO outlets didn't have it.

It lasted a month. Split in the bowl -- the biggest OXO failure I've ever had. I felt silly returning it, so boiled the sucker regularly and used it for rice dishes and such. But also baking. Now, with The Gluten Question, I have to at least separate the utensils.

In the meantime, my sister gave me a wooden spatula from http://whetstonewoodenware.com/. It is gorgeous. It fits my hand well. It was made a few miles from where my sister lived, from American kiln-dried, hard maple. I used it carefully, and the mineral oil sealant kept it from absorbing food of any kind.

I priced spoons -- and found they are the same price or cheaper than the one from OXO that fell apart immediately. So I gave a bunch for the holidays one year, and can now report that mine look as good as when I bought them.

They have never broken, or even chipped.

And the new Amazon Wish List button for other sites works with their site just fine.

So this year, I'm asking for American-made hard maple utensils and probably a new cutting board. There are things I buy from China, because they do those things well, and the rest of the world needs to eat, too.

But from now on, all wooden spoons come from Whetstone Woodenware. Just as soon as I am earning a living again. In the meantime, my wish list will keep track for me!