Bird by Bird

I could blog about Thanksgiving...but aren't we all tired of that, by now? I like listening to people talk about their Thanksgiving meals, though, kind of checklist fashion. Turkey? Check. Gravy? Uh-huh. Mashed Potatoes? Oh, me too. Well, no kidding, folks. Have you noticed that everyone eats essentially the SAME dinner? Except the woman in front of me at the post office. She was gabbing on her cell phone about a Persian Thanksgiving. What could that be?

But enough turkey talk. I want to tell you about my new favorite kitchen tool. Well, it's not a tool, really--it's a bird. Can you guess what it does? It's little birdie back lifts up, and you can place a slice of lemon or lime in there, then press it down, and the juice come out the bird's spout, which has little holes to catch the seeds. Genius, eh? I saw this gadget for the first time at a friend's summer home, where all the kitchen gear has that wonderful, odd, vintage beach house feel (as in, it's mostly stuff used to make cocktails or boil lobster). I'd never seen one before, but I coveted it immediately, so much so that I kind of wanted to swipe it from her house. But I didn't. No, really! I didn't.

Instead, I went to Cookin', a gem of a store here in San Francisco. The taciturn owner has a great shop filled to the rafters with finds--enamelware, molds, pot de creme cups...and though it's completely chaotic and seemingly disorganized in there, the owner knows where everything is. So when I asked, on a lark (get it! a lark! so punny!) if she had a birdie squeezer, I was only a little surprised when she walked over to a huge glass jar and retrieved one for me. There may be more there! You could go get your own birdie cocktail aid! It is, after all, the holiday season--high cocktail time. And it would make such a cute little stocking stuffer.