Today I went to the Tuesday Morning store and splurged on a mandoline for cutting vegetables. It was a great deal and it's going to save me so much time when I make sauerkraut or other vegetable-preserving recipes this summer. Also, I hate sauerkraut or coleslaw when the cabbage is too chunky, so I just had to have it! 
The in-laws' place, in Gloucester, Virginia
The other cool thing about having a mandoline is it will always remind me of my mother-in-law's house. The first time I visited there was one week after George and I were married. (The first time I met my in-laws was the day before the wedding, so there you know why. If you'll recall from a previous post, George and I were engaged three months after meeting each other, married six months after that, and since my in-laws live in Virginia we didn't have a chance to get out there until after the wedding.)
Anyway, I remember that first time walking into the kitchen at my in-laws' home, which is called Tree Lodge. Now, this isn't just any kitchen. It's the gathering spot. And it's the place where day after day fabulous meals are prepared by both my mother and father-in-law. Their kitchen is nothing fancy. For the longest time, the oven and fridge were harvest gold, and the dishwasher front which my FIL painted trying to match the harvest gold was more of a harvest pumpkin orange. The old vinyl floor was a sort of creamy harvest gold and peeling in spots. Not pretty. (Sorry, Betty and George if you're reading this.) But really, none of that mattered. It's a warm and cozy kitchen with lots of happy memories.
The "front" porch (back if you're not familiar with
waterfront living, like me), another gathering spot
And in my memory of that first time I visited, a group of women who were completely unknown to me were working around the kitchen table. Besides Betty my mother-in-law whom I barely knew, there was George's cousin Margie, and I can't even remember who all else. What I do remember is that Margie and the others were slicing cabbage for cole slaw. With a mandoline. A much older version of the mandoline that I now possess. And without a safety thing to put on the veggies instead of holding it with your bare hand. But a mandoline. And for some reason it made an impression on me. Maybe because I'd never seen one used before. Maybe because that whole moment made an impression on me, walking into and trying to get to know a room full of people who were now "family" to me.
They were all preparing for the wedding reception which would be held the next day. Our second one, a gift from the in-laws to us, and a way for all the East Coast family and friends to celebrate with us and meet me. I'm happy to have my own mandoline now, which serves a dual purpose of cutting my veggies thin and bringing back memories...
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