after dinner sneeze

t says: Flabbergasted?  Could it be that something as simple as a grater/zester could hold the title as most interesting/important piece of equipment?  Well, to be honest, this is our most used piece of equipment in the kitchen.  More than pans.  More than knives.  More than our fire extinguisher (which, for the record, has never been called into duty).  But how can that be?  It’s because of all the lemons, limes, oranges, and cheese (but mostly cheese)!  We just can’t help but finish a lot of our meals (meats and pastas) with a quick grating of parmesan or pecorino cheese – and this includes meals where we simply re-heat a dish or don’t really have to do any prep work for (e.g. kimchi pizza) (which is why it edged out knives in terms of utility).

I realize that a lot of people already know about Microplane graters – but because there is a possibility that there is at least one person who does not, we needed to make sure it got the attention it so rightfully deserves.  We got ours through a kitchen gadget of the month club (thanks to g’s tofu-hating sis!).  Ever since it arrived in the mail, we’ve all but thrown away our rotary grater (it’s in storage just in case our microplane brakes due to overuse).

But what makes it “interesting”?  There’s something about the feel of grating that’s kind of addictive.  This wand of perforated metal effortlessly pulls the cheese in as you grate – it’s so smooth and actually seems like it wants to grate for you!  And it makes super-thin shavings of cheese that look so pretty on food.

If only this cheese knew the fate that awaits it ...

Are there any drawbacks?  I can think of one.  Sometimes, I get so “in the zone” that I start grating as fast as I can (it really is a lot of fun).  But, when this happens, I become a little more careless.  The result?  Well, if you thought it’s good at grating cheese … imagine what it does to thumbs …  Moral of the story: grate with caution.  Microplane makes a safer version of their graters … probably for people like me.