What do you need that you can't find anywhere else? If you live in the area or are just passing through, stop in at Placerville Hardware and I'll bet you find it. This isn't just a nails-and-tools hardware store, although there is a section for such mundane materials. The store has been in existence since 1907, and I doubt it has changed much. Wooden floors and jam-packed aisles, with excess hanging from the ceiling, it's like a trip back in time. There is a whole section devoted to cast iron skillets and cookware. I got a cast iron spider (cook pot) there.
When I had milking goats, I got it in my head that not only could I make cheese (which I did for years), I could make butter. As a kid, during the war years my mother would make butter by filling a huge glass jar with whole milk and we would spend what seemed like hours rolling it across the floor to one another. Don't laugh, margarine (all we could get) was called Oleo and it was white...yellow coloring came later and you had to add it yourself, and butter was rationed and hard to find. Where did I go to find a butter churn? Placerville Hardware. They had just one and it had a small chip in the top edge, so it cost me all of five dollars. That was a short-lived project because goat milk is 'pre-homogenized' and two quarts of milk yielded a little over a tablespoon of butter...not worth the effort. Another time, I decided I wanted to make homemade pasta, but I needed a pasta machine. I had one, but had used it to roll out polymer clay (another craft I got involved in) and it couldn't be used for real food. Off to Placerville Hardware. Yep, just what I needed, and I felt like Lidia Bastianich as I rolled out spaghetti, tagliatelle, and fettuchine. That was when I had people to cook for and it was fun to get guests involved in the rolling process for their dinner.
It's been a long, long time since I've been to Old Placerville, but it wouldn't be a trip there without stopping in at the hardware store. Who knows what I might find that I couldn't do without.
Stay safe. Be well.
1 comment:
I have been awol and so enjoyed catching up just now. Reason? I have moved...only 3 miles and only temporary digs but holy moly how does one have so much stuff neatly packed in drawers and cupboards and furniture with drawers and cupboards and closets with high ceilings??? I don't wish that on ANYONE...unless they live a life of simplicity! Step 2 is to move again and join forces with #2 son and wife and grands...living on the same property...but independently. Not sure when that will happen but I DO know that all the "stuff" that came with me, will be sorted again and I hope lots won't make the cut! Once burned twice shy? Or...did I learn my lesson the first time? Only problem...new place...which is downsized...has boxes and bags ALL OVER THE PLACE and I don't exactly know where to start...so wish me luck! Strange that I'm not the only matriarch in the family with a big move...and they aren't related!
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