The Magic Bowl
It has finally hit, the overwhelming knowledge that my son, the boychick, is graduating from high school. He’ll soon be moving into an on-campus apartment which includes a mandatory meal plan. He’ll still need a few kitchen things for his first kitchen. His. First. Kitchen.
When I started this blog ten years ago, Jules, the aforementioned boychick, was 7. One of the first entries I wrote was about things in my kitchen that are precious to me. One was a knife my father gave me for my first kitchen in my on-campus apartment at the very same university. The amazing purple bowl, which the accompanying photo is a good example of, was purchased at a junk shop along with a rolling pin made in Yugoslavia to add to my kitchen items for my first married kitchen.
I no longer have that rolling pin, or that husband. I do have the purple bowl. Mine is now a little scratched but is still the go-to bowl for everything from making pancake batter, soaking apples in lemon infused water, to marinating chicken for the grill (whenever that happens). It’s a workhorse in our kitchen and everyone uses it. It’s bounced on the floor a couple of times and survived. It’s been knocked against the sink and stone counter tops and moved to exactly 7 other kitchens with us (yes, we’ve moved a lot in 14 years).
It’s almost time to let it go. It will get packed up with a new knife and some other basics to set up Julian’s kitchen. He won’t need it for everyday. He’ll have whatever college cafeterias serve these days to keep his belly full and his body healthy (I hope). But if he does decide to cook something, he’ll have The Magic Bowl that’s been part of preparing countless meals, loaves of bread and stacks of brownies. Like my dad’s knife, it will be a little part of home, a connection to our cooking together, and a start for all his kitchens to come – until it breaks or a replacement is needed. It is just a bowl after all. The important thing is the memory and the love of the person using it.
