Wife is making salsa today. It's one of her signature recipes that most people love. She usually makes it at Christmas as gifts for people, and occasionally during other times of the year just to have on hand. Our entire family loves chips and salsa, so there are never any objections when she decides to make a batch.
She has been making some to take to friends and neighbors during this quarantine/isolation time. We'll ring their doorbell and stand back or, in some cases, we'll just leave it on their front porch and send them a text to let them know it's there.
Anyway, Wife keeps her blender in a cabinet in the laundry room. She asked me to get it out for her earlier today, to use as she was making salsa, and I marveled at the age of this device. We have been married 36 years this July, and she brought it into our marriage. She estimates she had had it for at least five years at that time, so this blender is more than 40 years old.
It runs like a top. It's dependable, and she loves it. About ten years ago, her parents gave her a new one for Christmas. She received it graciously, but I could tell she wasn't all that excited about it. Kind of those "if it's not broke, don't fix it" things.
And the new blender wasn't worth a flip. It didn't satisfy her blending needs near as much as the one she already had.
I can't remember if that one played out, or what, but today we are back to the 40-plus year-old blender and Wife is as happy as can be with it.
So is it true? They don't make 'em like they used to? Anyone else have a valued old machine/device/appliance they won't part with?
10 comments:
I use to have that exact blender!!! I ended up replacing it a few years ago when my older daughter gave me a gift card that I needed to use. There are some things about my new blender that I prefer, but that old one sure was good. I tend to use my food processor more than my blender. I have the same model you gave my younger daughter when she married and we've both loved them!
Wife probably also uses a food processor more than a blender now, but for some reason she always uses a blender for her salsa.
I can't think of anything in the kitchen that we have that is very old. We did have an old blender (a bit newer than that one) and we were happy with it until we had a chance to use a Vitamix one someplace else. It was much faster and more powerful and so we got one ourselves. I'm guessing the oldest things we have in the kitchen is a set of cast iron pans I liberated at various auctions over the years. After derusting them and seasoning them, I use them fairly regularly. I'm guessing a few of those might be over 40 years old but it is hard to tell. I do know they will last the rest of my life.
We are a salsa family too however we can our salsa in late summer with excess garden veggies so when we want to fill a craving, we just pop a top and start eating. We don't have to blend anything first.
I had a blender like that one, but then I got married at 35 and like a lot of my kitchen stuff, it was replaced. Or maybe it died or was dropped and cracked. I don't remember.
Where does your wife get tomatoes for salsa this time of the year? I'll have salsa in about four or five weeks, as there are blooms on the tomatoes.
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Jeff, she makes salsa using canned tomatoes.
It never occurred to me that you COULD make salsa from canned tomatoes. Boy, does this open up a whole new world for me!
I don't think they do make anything to last anymore. My parents had their refrigerator for 30 years. It was one of the old fashioned round topped ones. I remember their washer lasting probably 20 years. Tim and I have replaced our washers 3 times in 20 years.
I love old stuff and have a lot of it. I buy it old because it is better made.
Debby I’ll send you the recipe by email.
Thank you, Bob! I would enjoy looking at it.
I'm too young to have much insight here, but the first-generation iPods and cell phones were in general hardier and more durable than the newer variants. Engineered obsolescence seems like the name of the game, and it's really kind of remarkable to imagine that there was a time when things were made to actually, you know, WORK.
That’s pretty keen insight, BB, and I love the term “engineered obsolescence!” I’m on year 3 of my iPhone that is slower and slower to charge! I know what’s in my future!
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