Ever try to peel a clementine — or any fruit — with one hand? How about with your nondominant hand (for the majority of us, that’s our left hand)?
With a young family, a house, my work here at the Gazette, and everything that needs to be done during the week, weekends are normally when I spend time in my kitchen. The menu typically includes a Sunday dessert, healthy muffins or granola for the breakfasts/snacks to come, and making meals to enjoy that day and freeze for later.
Not this past weekend, though. An accident Friday afternoon left me with a gash in my palm, stitches and a warning to limit the use of my right hand — especially my thumb — for at least the next two weeks.
Just call me Lefty.
I am right-handed of course, but spent much of the weekend being stubborn, believing I could adapt and continue on with my life as normal. So Saturday morning, into the kitchen I went with my bandaged right hand in the air ... a tentative pose, as if wanting the teacher to call on me, but not so sure I know the answer.
Coffee? Sure. I can make the coffee left-handed. A little shakey with the scoop, but that’s ok. My husband, my “right-hand man,” offers to make pancakes. Good, I’ll just sit here and try to get the mug to my lips without spilling coffee all over myself.
Buoyed by my ability to cut through a pancake and fork it into my mouth left-handed, I take on my son's lunch-time request for a sliced pear. This is when I realize that using a sharp knife is a two-handed job. Although the kitchen is my domain, I ask for and receive help from my right-hand man.
Dinner: Measuring a cup of rice — yes; chopping vegetables and anything to do with with pans on the stove — no. Can opener — no. Jars or childproof bottles — no. Opening the pretzel bag — no. Sunday dessert (apple crisp) — no. Anything involving fine motor skills — no.
Humbled, today I will be instructing my right-hand man in the fine art of making meatballs. I will temper my possessiveness regarding the kitchen and cooking, and we will reach a new level of understanding and bonding in our relationship.
As for the question I posed at the beginning of this blog: Yes, I can peel a clementine one handed, with my non-dominant hand. In fact, the peel comes off intact at the base, and it looks like a flower. My kids think it’s cool.
