My First Chopsticks (Sort Of)

When I first moved to Maryland last September, I rented a room in a communal house. My incredibly sweet landlady allowed me to use all the fully-furnished common areas, including the kitchen. There was no need for me to bring my own cookware or utensils since they were all provided.

Well, this past April, I spread my little wings and moved into my first real apartment. (Okay, technically it's a condo I split with the new landlord's in-laws...but it is a big change from living in a communal house, since the kitchen is the only shared room here, and we even have our own garbage cans in there.)

Because of the communal house situation, I had almost no kitchen supplies when I moved into my new place. And while I've acquired some pots, pans, cups, bowls and other kitchen tools, I never got around to getting real utensils or plates. I'm moving again in the fall and don't really want to invest in real stuff. It's just more to pack up and move. And part of me, perhaps in a strange way, wants to wait to buy utensils and plates for the day when I can stock them on the shelves of a real 'home'...not like where I live now, which, in spite of its good points, is merely a place where I'm living short-term.

So, I've been using paper plates and plastic utensils. Yep....a bit embarrassing, since I love to cook, do it quite frequently, and then serve my food on all these disposable things! Like I said, I have some bowls, I have some sharp knives for cutting, two miso soup spoons, big plastic spoons and spatulas...and yesterday, I added chopsticks to the mix.

I cook quite a bit of Asian-inspired food and was running low on disposal wooden chopsticks (waribashi) I'd gotten along with meals various take-out places. I picked up a package of Korean metal chopsticks and then I spotted this set:

So pretty! With their own plastic case! Only $5!

Now, these are far from the first chopsticks I've ever used or had in my possession. In fact, my mom has at least a few pairs of attractive, reusable chopsticks in the home where I grew up. But these are the first chopsticks that are mine, all mine! And since they have a case they will be easy to store flat, instead of ending up shoved with pens and pencils in some mug on my desk. (I don't have any drawers allocated for my use in the kitchen...)

Plus, I feel like they add a little bit of beauty in my life, albeit in plastic, mass-produced form. :)