What Fussy Wants

Today is International Buy Nothing Day. It’s a great idea. Sadly, I have to decline. No, I’m not taking part of the Black Friday madness. I’ll be avoiding Walmart and the malls.

But my family does things differently, and we have our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. That means today I’ll be picking up delicious treats to bring down to Connecticut. I’ll be making the rounds to find delicacies that aren’t widely available. Hopefully, The Cheese Traveler can help in that regard. Part of me is also seriously considering a bottle of Hederberg Meadworks to replace one of the bottles of wine I’d typically bring. I’d even be open to some special beers. Anyhow, my plan is to go shopping and see how the spirits move me, so to speak.

Most people see today though as the start of the holiday shopping season. The Christmas shoppers have much more time than the Chanukah shoppers. But that’s pretty much always the case. Regardless, I thought I’d share some of the things that are on my wish list, just in case it might be helpful for the food lover on your list.

The Impossible Dream
My mother said she wants to blow my socks off. Well, if she could score one of these, that would do the trick. As far as I can tell, they aren’t available in the U.S. And it only popped up on my radar thanks to chef Ellie Markovitch. It’s a Botini hand-cranked coffee grinder. Isn’t it gorgeous? Not only will it last more than a lifetime but it has no plastic parts.

The Gimmie Coffee
You know that Mrs. Fussy loves me because even though my coffee making gear takes up a shocking amount of space in the house, she’s willing to get me even more. Long before it was cool for coffee shops to brew cups of pour over coffee, I was using a Melitta cone filter. Then I became concerned about pouring boiling water over plastic, so I gave it up. There are a lot of ceramic cone filters out there, but the Bonmac is the one I want. Mostly, because it’s idiot proof. Really, it’s the same technique I’m used to using for the Melitta, but with a ceramic cone.

The Bang Up Slicer
Did I mention the watermelon radishes? We have more than I could possibly eat. And I’m not going to eat any of them if I have to slice them thinly with a chef’s knife. And I’m not going to bust out the cuisinart to slice one radish. I need a mandoline. And one that doesn’t take up much space. Ideally, one I can abuse and put in the dishwasher. Cook’s Illustrated loves the Kyocera, and that’s good enough for me. It may not last forever, but that’s okay.

The Pressure Test
Given the foods I like to cook, it seems like a crime that I don’t have a pressure cooker. It exists to make bean dishes and what would once have been long simmered stews and stocks. Mostly I’ve been resistant because I like to cook slow and I resist change. But in addition to speeding up the cooking times, this will reduce our energy consumption. That’s two good things in one. Plus it can go in the dishwasher. This is a good starter one just to see how much I use this crazy contraption.

The Indian Grind
We’ve been without a blender for far too long. Our old one was on its last legs when we were headed down to New Jersey, so it got dumped. I want a high power blender, but I’m not thrilled that they all come with plastic jars. Well, it turns out that in India they make high powered blenders with stainless steel jars. However, they’ve just recently started making US versions of these and now they are even available on Amazon. Man, I love this modern world. Sure, the Preethi Eco may not be the top of the line. But it seems solid enough for starters. And it comes with a separate chutney jar. My coconut chutney brings all the girls to the yard.

What is it that normal people want? I have no idea.