Spiralized R Us

Ordinarily, I'm not one of the first people to acquire a new thing on the market. We waited for a couple of years before getting microwave, VCR, cable TV, etc., and I think I was the last person on the face of the earth to get a cell phone. We just don't feel the urgency when these new things happen. And on the few occasions that we did acquire early, we were less excited about the purchase than we thought we'd be, once the transaction was complete. I had to have that red quesadilla maker and I used in a whole half dozen times before it went to the shelf for a couple of years and then to the rummage sale. And there was some gizmo back in the Palm Pilot days, a gizmo that would allow handwritten notes to show up on the device. Never did get the hang of it.

But this time -- oh, THIS time -- I'm the first person I know to have taken the bait, and I am enchanted.

I bought my Spiralizer a couple of weeks ago. The super deluxe four-blade model from Williams Sonoma. I didn't buy the cookbook they pushed on me, and I've not regretted that a bit. Pinterest has been my friend, along with my own imagination.

They day I brought it home, I spiralized cooked beets and made a gorgeous salad with them, some arugula, walnuts and nice white goat cheese crumbles. Spiralized pears and zucchini made a bed for a sliced strawberry salad (light poppyseed dressing). Even Himself got into the act, spiralizing sweet potato fries one night. Remember the classic carrot/raisin/crushed pineapple salad? It's gorgeous with spiralized carrots.

The darned thing is well-designed, compact, has four blades, is easy to clean, dishwasher friendly, and takes up only a little space. My understanding that the idea is to make "noodles" from zucchini and use them in place of pasta. I haven't done that. I don't foresee doing that. But I'm so glad I got this gadget. I laugh with delight each time I use it.