One of my favorite kitchen tools – an oldie, but a goodie . . .

Sometimes that saying “They sure don’t make them like they used to” rings true. I think a lot of kitchen tools made out of cheap plastic in high output factories just don’t hold up like some of the old gadgets and tools made years ago. I had been wanting some sort of whisk milk frother type thing after seeing one in a cooking video. I didn’t know the correct name for one, but managed to find a milk frother AKA hand whisk on Amazon and even added it to my shopping cart to come back to later so I wouldn’t forget about it. I wanted it for making frothy cream to add to my coffee or tea. I didn’t really want to spend a bunch of money or have to deal with something that would need plugged in or batteries replaced. I just wanted something simple like a whisk, but with more power so I wouldn’t pull something in my arm just trying to froth up some cream for my morning coffee. I don’t make coffee every day at home, so when I do, I like to savor it and enjoy it for hours turning it back on after the auto shut off has kicked in. I’m not done yet and two hours just isn’t quite enough time for this coffee lover to linger and enjoy those cups and long mornings when I get the chance. It’s not always cuddling and jammies on the couch, some days I just have time to brew it and pour it into a travel mug and head out the door with a breakfast bar of some sort shoved in my mouth. So I also wanted a little frother type gadget that would be quick and easy to get out and use, clean up and put away.

I found just what I was envisioning in my mind and I’m sharing my secret with you so you can go scour yard sales, antique stores and maybe your grandma’s kitchen for one of my favorite kitchen tools- the hand whisk. I had seen plenty of the crank kind with two beaters. That wasn’t really what I wanted. I wanted something more dainty and delicate. This summer, I was home for a few days visiting my family and my mom and I were browsing some antique and resale shops. The day or so earlier I had already found another item on my wish list – a nice flat topped trunk to serve dual purpose as a side table, but more importantly a safe storage place for throw pillows. If the pillows are not put away when we leave the house, we come home to wet chewed corners on the pillows and a few little piles of stuffing around the house. Not that I’m blaming any four-legged family member. So I had already found the trunk, shopped around and found one for a great price that was clean and nicely painted, although I may repaint it some day. So my search focus on this day was for this hand whisk, egg beater, milk frother type thing. Every time I type frother, my computer wants to change it to brother and just goes ahead and does it without my approval. I change it back and it seems to stay frother, but it has that annoying red line under it like it thinks I don’t know what I’m talking about. So if in this post, you see brother in place of where frother is supposed to be, I apologize.

We had scoured the main floor of this cute little shop in Washington IL and I found an old black metal lunch box that I had to have. My great grandpa Ralph carried one like it to work on the railroad. I grabbed an old glass canister or candy jar with lid to use as a dog treat holder. I also found a wooden box with a file spring type thing in it that reminded me of what the librarian would store the stamped card of the book you just checked out. I thought it would be great for recipes and it was already painted a nice bright red. Sadly just the other day my oldest daughter asked me what I was going to do with that red box and I explained I was going to write down all my recipes on cards and put them in there. I told her that I liked it because it reminded me of a librarian’s box and had to explain how it was when I was in school. She looked at me like I was nuts. I told her we didn’t have a machine that electronically scanned the chipped tag on the book. Our librarian had to change the date on the stamp and stamp each book that was checked in or out of the library. She made me feel so old! Ha. After I placed my first floor finds from the shop at the cash register for the lady to look after, we made our way to the basement. It’s just a basement, nothing pretty, kinda messy and unorganized, but that’s where you find the best deals sometimes! In those piles of stuff, I find it so fascinating to try to make sense of the collection a person has. Sometimes they have a definite theme, sometimes it’s just totally random. I can usually quickly pass by a booth that is definitely not my cup of tea. But when I see a booth that has all sorts of genres, time periods and ones I could picture in my own home, I stop and just try to go over the booth – looking for something that can be re purposed, used again, given a home to stand out and be seen – instead of just hidden among the piles of stuff or buried in a basement of an old antique store. When I spotted the little hand whisk with the red wooden handle and saw its definite potential – I was so excited! I can’t remember the exact price, but it was less than $4.00 and seemed to be in solid working order.It was just what I had wanted!

I snatched it up and couldn’t wait to try to froth up some cream for my coffee once I got home! Sometimes with little ones holding or refusing to hold onto my hand and making me a nervous wreck around breakable items, I lose all patience and focus of what I was looking at or for and just say throw in the towel and call it quits. Sometimes there aren’t enough M&M’s in the world to bribe that little one to be good for just ten more minutes, but sometimes the little ones see something that catches their eye too and hopefully they begin to appreciate re using, repurposing and bringing honor to items of the past. But that day my little one did cooperate for he most part and it was a successful venture! I had found my little hand whisk!

Here’s how I use it – I pour a little cream and sugar into a coffee mug (one that I don’t care if I scratch the bottom of) and I just whisk away.

My whisk moves by you pressing down on the wooden handle. This makes the spring engage which turns the whisk and creates air and froth into the liquid.