Count the Silverware! or Mother Knows Best
23-Jan-2007
When I was younger my Mom would drive me crazy when, after any big dinner, we had to count all the silverware to make sure we still had it all. Not because we thought someone had walked out with it – although I once had an aunt-in-law, that my former mother-in-law swore pocketed a few things – but because she was worried it would get accidentally tossed in the trash. I don’t remember ever losing anything but I can’t say for sure that we didn’t.
Anyway, I continue this "tradition" even into my adult life – the habit is just too ingrained to actually change it! And it’s not like it takes a lot out of me to do it.
This last weekend I had twenty for a sit down dinner. Although I normally use linen or cotton napkins for most meals, for a dinner of this size I decided to use paper napkins instead. As we were cleaning up I had been thinking how funny it was to see napkins piled on the plates, since people don’t do that with cloth napkins.
After I had finished doing all the dishwasher loads with silverware spread across all the loads I realized I was missing two pieces from one of the sets I’d used. I looked all around to make sure they hadn’t been stashed in the wrong place or were hidden behind something on the counterop or something but to no avail. Finally, I donned surgical gloves and sorted through the day’s garbage. Sure enough, there were the missing two pieces! They’d probably been caught in a napkin that was scraped into the trash. Thanks, Mom!
Culinary Fool 
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