My Favorite Utensil

When thinking about utensils there are three basic kinds: forks, knives, and spoons. From these three there are multiple silverware branches such as the salad fork and the butter knife. We mustn’t forget the spork, which is the result of inbreeding by the spoon and the fork. My favorite of the basic three is the spoon.

Spork

Although forks are certainly handy and knives are fun, because it’s always exciting to use a knife as your sole utensil and pretend to be a pirate, spoons are far superior. Yes, spoons are mostly used for soups, stews, and cereals, but they are also revered for the most wonderful food of all: Ice cream.

Ice Cream: No forks allowed.

My small spoon obsession came to be when I was a little girl. My family and I would go to visit my grandma in her small apartment complex in Concord, CA. There are a few things that I clearly remember about my grandma’s apartment. The first is her X Files video collection. I found it amusing that my 80 something year old grandma was obsessed with X Files. The second was her brown, spinny, recliner chair. I enjoyed spinning in it, as we did not have any spinny chairs at my house. The third was my grandma’s spoon collection.

The spoon collection was one of her prized possessions. The spoons hung on her wall on wooden spoon racks that were decorated with small paintings of birds and flowers. The spoons were not used for eating but were strictly for decorative purposes, as they were collector spoons. All of the spoons were from different places that either my grandma or her friends and relatives had traveled to.

Seattle, Italy, Puerto Vallarta, Australia

When my grandma aged, as grandmas do, she started asking family members what we all wanted of her collectables when she was no longer with us. The only thing I really wanted (besides for my grandma not to die) was the spoon collection. When she did pass on, true to her word, I inherited the spoons.

Homeless Spoons

The spoon collection has hung in all three of the kitchens I have called my own. Whenever we move, something doesn’t feel right until the spoons are up. They complete my kitchen and add the right touch of vintage décor that I love.

I like looking at all the places my grandma and family have visited. I compare where I have been to the spoons and sometimes where I would like to go. There is a very nice Paris spoon with the Eiffel Tower on top that I am rather fond of, being that Paris is my ultimate travel destination. Of note are a few spoons from Solvang California, a small Danish themed town. These spoons remind me most of my grandma because she always bragged that she was 100% Danish. This is a fact that I try to keep on the down low here in the  very Dutch town of Ripon. There are more spoons than there are racks, because I am unable to find another spoon rack that coordinates with the three that I already have.

Even the backside of the Paris Spoon is pretty

The only gold spoon in the collection: Paris

Many of the spoons are still in their original boxes. There are a few repeats, a few cheesy ones, and some are tarnished. Many are silver plated, others are made out of inexpensive metal, but to me they are as precious as gold. My spoons are much more than utensils used to eat chicken noodle soup. For me they are far off travels, sweet memories, and an essential part of my home.

Hawaii

The Happiest Place on Earth Spoon

Colorado Spoon

Notice that it is from the "Dutch American Import Co?!"

Some of the more playful spoons