In Praise of the Humble Spatula

Something to consider for your holiday shopping and entertaining needs

I’m at the point in my life when I have all the stuff I need or could ever use. If you are bringing something to my house, I appreciate the thought but best that whatever you are bringing be something consumable. This is a controversial take with entire social media threads devoted to the pros and cons of bringing wine and flowers to a dinner party. (I am pro both assuming the wine is meant to be consumed later and the flowers come already in some kind of vase or jar.) I won’t say no to chocolates or cocktail napkins or jarred condiments handmade from your grandma’s recipe. But please no tchotchkes or whatever else you grabbed from your regifting cupboard.

Even so, every now and then, the perfectly chosen non-consumable gift is a welcome treat. And extra points for a gift that you never knew you wanted.

So in this season of gift giving and entertaining, this is a salute to the perfect spatula, given to me by my sister: the Tovolo Flex-Core stainless steel handled jar scraper. I can’t remember whether it was a hostess or birthday gift, but no matter. Despite having a drawerful of kitchen tools, this one is truly exceptional. In fact, I rarely find it in the drawer because it’s more likely to be in the sink or dish drainer, having just been used, washed, and ready to go for its next application. As the name suggests, it does the trick in scraping jars, whether it’s peanut butter or the last dregs of salad dressing, but it also does a fine job of all your other spatula tasks. Consider that those last bits of dough clinging to the sides of your mixing bowl will make one more cookie. Now isn’t that a selling point?

I’ve got cookies to bake for a family gathering and soup to simmer for the cold nights ahead so I’m pretty sure this tool won’t be resting long this week. And you probably have plans to visit friends and relatives in the foreseeable future. Buy these spatulas in bulk and you’ll be all set and a hero to your hosts. (Plus those Black Friday/Cyber Monday specials make these a particularly good purchase right now.)

Postscript: Birthdays were a big deal in my family of origin with lots of fuss and tradition although gifts, while part of the package, were only a small part of the celebration. So even though we are all now adults — and actually old people if we are being honest — I know that my siblings still relish their birthdays as a special day. And like a Polish wedding (which apparently goes on for days), there’s no need to confine the birthday celebration to one day. So join me in sending birthday greetings to my sister Amy whose birthday was yesterday.