Thursday, February 12, 2009 ;
2:46 PM
My ayi broke her wooden potato/ carrot peeler. It had been with her since her days long ago in Northern Heilongjiang (near border of Russia and China). She said she cannot find it here at all. Everything is made of plastic now and she says the plastic ones are not as good because they slip easily and are not sturdy.
So the other day, she came to my house very downcast and sad, saying that she was on the way to my house, and passed by her sis' apt block. With her bike, she didn't want to lock it up and bring the battery all the way upstairs so she was calling to her sister, who lives on the 6th floor, to pass her the peeler from upstairs. She had lent it to her sis earlier. She thought her sis will wrap it in some newspapers or plastic then throw it down to her on the ground floor.
But her sis threw the thing down and it smashed on the ground and cracked in one area. She showed me the old peeler with the crack. She said she had already travelled to a bicycle shop and asked the bicycle mechanic if he can fix it. All he did was nail in a few more nails in the cracked area to strengthen it. So ayi was still sad cos it's got a lot of sentimental value.
I am guessing maybe she prepared her son's baby meals with it. Anyway...
I didn't promise her anything but I told her to leave it with me and I can ask Dh about it. After all, Dh works with wood and he is very good with his hands.
At night, when Dh was back from work, I told him the whole story and he agreed to try.
The next day, he came home from work late, saying he was working on the peeler. It was not easy using the tools he had to carve the hole out for the potato peels to come out. Also, he said the nails were all so rusted that he had a lot of difficulty getting the metal peeler part out of the old wooden piece.
But finally it is done!
See the new peeler, with the new wooden board, old metal piece. The wood's the same wood used for making violins, so this is a peeler that's a cut above the rest. haha.
The hole at the back for the peels to come down, which is sloped.
Ayi was overjoyed when she saw it. She said the workmanship is even better and smoother than the previous one. I know she was extremely grateful cos she came with goodies for the kids the next day. They always try to return favours here by rewarding the young ones in the family.
And she gave us some kimchi. This is the white kind, called "Pak Kim Chi" in Korean. It smelt really fragrant and looked very good, but unfortunately our family couldn't appreciate it. I took out some to go with our dinner that night, and the boys and Dh just wouldn't even touch it. I did, of course, how can I let others' effort go to waste, but in the end, I still couldn't take the strong vinegar taste. Too much for me. More than half of it is still sitting in my fridge. Any kimchi lovers wanting to take it from me?
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
____________________________________________________________
The hole at the back for the peels to come down, which is sloped.
Ayi was overjoyed when she saw it. She said the workmanship is even better and smoother than the previous one. I know she was extremely grateful cos she came with goodies for the kids the next day. They always try to return favours here by rewarding the young ones in the family.
