Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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dpack
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sticks and tings  
as i have a wok that works, i got some cooking sticks and some eating sticks, nice ones.
considering that juggling a matchbox between a pair in each hand was a party trick a long while back, trying to use them to grab anything was funny for the first few mins.
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Mistress Rose
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I am sure they make perfect sense in the far east, but I have never understood why anyone would use chopsticks. In the west we went from just knives to knives and spoons and then finally forks. I must admit that trying to catch things like peas 'politely' on the end of a fork is rather counter intuitive, but even worse with chopsticks. 
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dpack
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peas and sticks works, lift the bowl 
for ages they were a normal utensil, the old muscle memory will return
big uns are ace for stir frying and grilling, non scratch in a wok and ideal for a quick flip
for eating little uns work well, with no knife they can be improvised if needs be, if you have a knife cut food before cooking and use less fuel
they make more sense than"fish knives" or "cake forks" with an alleged single purpose
ps sycamore would be a nice wood for cooking size, my new ones are bamboo but etc
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Mistress Rose
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Sycamore is ideal for most cooking and eating utensils. It is non staining, non tainting and has some antiseptic properties. It used to be used extensively in the dairy, the laundry and the kitchen. If we ever come up that way again, I will try to bring you a log or two as a present.
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dpack
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thank you.
it is common in west yorkshire as it is ace for making rollers, as used in the early water powered textile machines, and even into the early steam age
not many in york, the maples are well represented in similar niches here
maple might work for kitchen tools, it has good grain and works ok
have you ever tried it?
i had a couple of dry fallen ones for fire wood in derbyshire, it did split into disposable plates easily, at the time we considered utensils but never tried it.
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Mistress Rose
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I have made spoons out of field maple, and that works all right. I think most hardwoods have some antiseptic properties, and probably some softwoods too. At least, I have been using a pine chopping board for 40 odd years that was off the end of the stairs we installed in our first house, and none of us have got food poisoning yet.
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dpack
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