Having birthdays 7 months in the year my ice cream scoop gets a work out. I have tried so many different types of them that failed me by coming apart. I finally found one at a thrift store for a quarter that hasn't broken. When I think back on all those times it was probably how I was using them by not letting the ice cream soften some.
I've upgraded a number of my housewares in thrift stores. I'll buy something better than the one I already own, then take the old one back and donate it. Regarding ice cream scoops...I know you didn't ask for advice, but after all, this is the internet I would run my scoop under hot water so it would cut through that frozen block just a little bit easier. The problem is you gotta reheat it often, since the ice cream cools it down.
Von's story reminded my of my can opener travails. For a while I struggled with trying to get cans opened. I could not get the lids completely cut away using my hand-crank opener. It seemed that there were always 3 spots the opener skipped over. Since there were still 3 places the lid remained affixed rather than 2, I could not rock it back & forth to leverage metal fatigue. This especially sucked when I would do quantities of beans or tomato products for large church events. I uttered some pretty unholy things... Since I owned a nice Oxo can opener, I swore that for some reason some cheap ba$tard had universally changed the can design to save money. Beating it to death as I am wont to do, I went on line and read reviews. It seemed that no one was happy with their can opener, no matter the price. This went on for quite a while. So one day I was in Dollar General and on impulse purchased the cheapest one they had, thinking perhaps the combination of the Oxo and the D.G. openers might be able to get a purchase on the entire circumference. I went home, and when I tried it on the first can, it went through the lid like butter. No problem at all. The entire lid came away cleanly. I haven't had a lid-removal problem since. I guess my Oxo had just worn out.
Understood. There's just no winning. It makes one wonder how ice cream shops manage this, because we all experience the same "impossible to scoop" issue.
I've given up on scoops, now resort to a large, tough, old spoon. Sometime I dip in in water or under runnimng water. I tired of wrestling with scoops and like Von, wore out several, mainly because I didn't do it right. And then, come to think of it, it seems we went for several years and didn't buy any ice cream. Not sure why.
Isn't that the truth. Our water heater is in the attic, so by the time hot water gets down to the kitchen I have wasted an obscene amount of water. (But we do have an "instant hot" water dispenser that has a small heating unit under the kitchen sink. Nice for a cup of tea or whatever without turning on the stove.)
LOL!!!! We all love new toys. For some reason, I'm reminded of these we had when I was a kid: They had some funny name other than "Juice Extractor."
I forgot my favorite, most-often used gadget of all...my Vacuum Sealer!!! I use this so many times every day. I keep strawberries, blueberries, prepared salad lettuces, cheeses and deli meats in vacuum canisters. Everything that's in my freezer is in vacuum bags. I always have parsley, shallots, cilantro, citrus zest, etc on hand in vacuum bags in the freezer...this is really helpful in the country where the nearest store is almost 10 miles one way. All of my countertop-kept staples are in vacuum canisters:
I like my vacuum sealer, too. I only use mine for freezer storage, though. I don't have all those fancy canisters.
I won't poke at your new toys, mainly because I can sense that my jealousy is coming through loud & clear.