Essential? Probably Not.

Every once in a while I come across some type of kitchen utensil that I think would be neat to have. Neat, as in it would be a handy thing to have around once a year while the other 364 days a year I would be cussing at it because it is hogging cherished drawer space. It is rare that I purchase such as item because I know that I will loathe it or never use it. Such is the donut pan I had my mother purchase for me when she was in Vermont. I don't know why I originally wanted it, but obviously I didn't want it enough to pay shipping on it. I've had it for 2 years now and it has never seen the inside of my oven. Because really now, if you're going to eat a donut you might as well go for it and eat the real, fried-in-fat, version.

My zester, on the other hand, holds a very high position in my kitchen. His only other drawer mate is my melon baller. It was years ago when I discovered that a zester even existed. A friend had received one as a wedding shower gift and couldn't fathom why anyone would want such an item. With my jaw agape I was drooling as I spewed forth at least 101 reasons. That someone had invented such a tool was beyond most of my wildest dreams. I received one for my own wedding from that very same friend and only now have I thought to ponder if it was re-gifted.

Unfortunately, useless kitchen utensils aren't something you can buy for yourself. You kind of just have to hope that someone you know and that owes you a gift might think that you can use a flower shaped bread pan tube (?!). (Never been used and mine gets in the way every time I open the drawer to retrieve the cookie sheets.) Luckily, I have a husband that does not do well in the gift purchasing category and would never consider such a pan, so I usually shop for myself on gift giving occasions. I figure I deserve something and why not an item I really want as opposed to something that can be found at the local ACE Hardware. Not that I don't love the hardware store, but my Christmas gift is purchased there every year 10 minutes before they close on Christmas Eve. On second thought, I do have a very nice retractable clothes line that is the envy of every housewife on the block and a washboard to keep our clothes clean if the end of the world should come.

Today, as I was blog-hopping, I found an ice cream scooper that creates a scoop so appealing I can't even write about it. I don't think I would like the mound on a cone but somehow I can imagine that pushing my spoon into that perfectly shaped cylinder would create shivers down my spine. You can see the texture of the ice cream, I can almost feel it it is so real. And for someone with an almost summer birthday, where it is pretty much a guarantee to be warm on cake day, I think an ice cream stack maker would be delectable.