Through my teen years I will always remember a wooden bowl that sat on the dining room table, especially during all holidays, that was loaded with a variety of nuts! My mother would even name each of the different varieties and we soon learned our favorites to consume. It was allowed for us to pick up the nutcracker and break any one open and then pick out the inside meats. There was a hard pedestal in the middle of the bowl, and a hammer too that could be used if the cracker wouldn't open one with the first try. The bowl was in the shape of a log with bark and the middle was the nut storage place. I have no idea today whatever happen to it. Well just look! I found one very similar on the internet! This is from the 1950's.
Most interesting to me though, are the nutcracker and picks that were always available next to that bowl! After some research I found that the silver plate vintage nutcracker I have, has been passed down through the generations is marked Wallace Bros. It dates back to the early 1800s to the early 1900s! I only found two picks and believe several have been lost in the past. What started all of this was my hunt for a good tool to crack open the king crab legs and claws that I was having for Christmas day dinner. I have never prepared these at home before and was planning to use pliers, scissors and a fork! Then my memory kicked in and I recalled seeing the nutcracker at the back and bottom of a kitchen drawer!
As you can see, they worked well and my dinner was a success.
The little cup in the back of this image had Baileys Irish Cream and the cup with the drawn butter is back in the refrigerator as I still have six more frozen legs. I only ate three today so I can share with my daughter when she visits tomorrow.
In case you're wondering, I ordered these legs from Schwan's Home Delivery early in November and they were finally in stock and delivered last week. 1.75 lbs. cost was not near the prices you are seeing on TV or in your markets!
Don't forget to tap on photo to see a real nutcracker
Happy Boxing Day!
ReplyDeleteDelightful memory.
We have those crackers to use with lobster and crab!
And dinner sounds yummy!!!!!
We have little snow, but it is cold...
So it is the beginning of Deep Winter, to me.
And yes, I welcome it. -smile-
🌲 ⛄ 🌲 ⛄ 🌲 ⛄ 🌲 ⛄ 🌲
Glad you found the nut bowl. The king crab sounds wonderful. It’s very hard to find as the price when we found it was very very high.
ReplyDeleteOnly found the bowl on the internet - don't know what happened to Mother's. Glad to have the cracker though!
ReplyDelete