Pampered Chef

I love Pampered Chef. I have most of the tools they offer. I buy them with the intention of using them and making new recipes. It probably works for about a week, then I go back to the same old stuff. I do think they make great tools though. My favorite is the can opener. I would die without my can opener. I'd almost bet that is also the safest tool they make. You can open cans and NOT get cut. You can run your fingers along the edge of the can and the lid when you are done and nothing. Safe as anything.

The food slicer (or, what we call the finger slicer) is a whole different ballgame. I have the first version, the finger slicer version. I should probably get the newest one on the market. It would probably save a few fingertips in the future.

I bought our "finger slicer" back when we lived in Memphis. I remember it vividly. I can't remember who sold it to me; however. Anyway, I remember when it was brand new and how SHARP it was and how awesome we thought it was. Scott and I were making supper and he was using the "finger slicer" to slice potatoes. He was slicing away and all of a sudden, yelled some profanity. He sliced the end of his finger clean off! No kidding! It was so sharp, that there wasn't even any blood. It took the tip of his finger right off. We looked all over for his fingertip and couldn't find it anywhere. I guess we must have figured that it went down the drain in the sink or something? Since there was no blood and we couldn't find the tip of Scott's finger, we went ahead and finished making our side dish of potatoes, which we called "Tony Potatoes" because of the seasoning we used on it. The next day, when Scott was at work, he was in the lunchroom eating with Steve Adair, I believe. I think Steve almost puked his entire lunch up when Scott yelled out, "Hey, there's my finger!" and proceeded to show everyone his fingertip, which had been cooked in the potatoes. Nice...........I know.

I would bet, that ALMOST EVERY SINGLE TIME I use the "finger slicer", I get injured. You would think I would get rid of the stupid thing, but it works so well at slicing potatoes (and fingers!). Tonight I made scalloped potatoes and ham for supper. Yes, I'm sure you know right where this is headed. You'll be happy to know there were no body parts in our supper tonight; however, I sliced my damn finger! Actually, my thumb. It hurt like hell. It's obviously not as sharp as it used to be. When I yelled, the kids came running to see what happened. "It's okay guys! I just sliced my finger, that's all!" Now, you are probably wondering why Pampered Chef would sell such a dangerous piece of equipment? Believe it or not, it comes with a safety guard. Do you think we use it? NO! And why, you ask? I guess it's just plain stupidity. You have to slice the potato in half first, then stick it into the guard and it just makes it awkward to use and takes more time. My plan, typically, is to slice the potato using my hand, without the guard, until it gets small enough that I can't do it safely anymore, without cutting myself, then I stick the potato in the guard and finish. I seriously had just said to myself, in my head, that I should probably get the safety guard, then it happened. I sliced my thumb. AARGH! I'm thinking that maybe we should take up a donation so we can buy the newest version of the "finger slicer"? What do you think?