American Mensa    |    Mensa International    |    Mensaphone 952.953.8575
   
home
November Links
calendar
featured article
cover art
General Info
what is Mensa?
how to join
testing
home test
Scholarships
gifted children
resources
contact us
Member Info
archives
first friday
local board
local SIGs

(Special Interest Groups)

bylaws
directory
member handbook

From Mensagenda - November 2003

Partly Cloudy - Mixing It Up
by Karen Cyson

There is a secret to making the very best chocolate chip cookies. And peanut butter cookies, for goober aficionados.

The secret isn’t an ingredient. It isn’t a technique. It’s a tool: the Foley Fork. Yes, from the Foley Company in Minneapolis (now defunct — the company, not the city) came the Foley Fork, the secret to creaming butter and sugar and brown sugar and eggs and etc.(if you put etc. in your cookies).

I’m sure there are cooks who’ve used other tools with a modicum of success. Personally, I’ve tried everything from my 1951 Kitchen Aid model 3-C (Want to hear a hearty laugh? Call the Kitchen Aid hotline and ask if they have replacement parts for model 3-C.) to my new stainless steel Kitchen Aid — the big one with the aircraft engine driving its turbines.

I’ve used whisks and spatulas and blending forks and spoons. I’ve even used my genuine Betty Crocker red spoon, the one you could buy when touring the Betty Crocker Kitchens of the World in Golden Valley — before they quit giving tours because they were afraid suburban housewives on the tour might divulge trade secrets to their rival, Pillsbury.

Now that’s just plain silly, isn’t it? For one thing, Pillsbury and General Mills are the same thing now. And for another, I always wear the blond wig when conducting industrial espionage.

Anyway, I grew up using my mom’s black-handled Foley Fork. It was just what one did to make cookies. And in 1978 I bought my very own avocado plastichandled edition. It served me in good stead for more than ten years before it mixed its last batch and the handle splintered away from the tines.

I tossed the debris and added “Foley Fork” to my shopping list. Alas, several years of searching passed and I never did procure one. Finally, in desperation, I tried to call the Foley Company. No luck. They’d been bought out by Ekco in Wisconsin. So I called them. No luck, “but we get lots of calls asking for them. ”Well, duh. Perhaps your marketing department is dropping the ball on this one?

Remember now, this was back in the dark ages — the “pre-eBay” times, when phones were attached to walls and people were still recovering from disco. The only way to find a Foley Fork was to make it a quest.

After three years I scored my first replacement at a garage sale — a rather bent little number with a wooden handle painted red. It worked OK, and I could once again sleep through the night knowing I could arise and bake at first light.

But still there was that little bit of unease. What if this one broke? What if I lose it? What if a rival sneaks into my kitchen and makes off with it? The solution? Keep looking.

And so I did. And, not content to be alone on this mission, I told garagesaleing friends to keep an eye out, too. I now have 12 Foley Forks. I feel safe. Think that’s excessive? How else could a person buy total peace of mind for less than $25.00 total?

The count to date is: black plastic handle — 3, white plastic — 1, wood with red paint — 3, wood with green paint — 2, wood with blue paint — 1, wood with varnish — 2.

I thought this supply would hold me, until I saw an ad for blending forks. The Vermont Country Store (www.vermontcountrystore.com) advertised that they have a fork that works as well as a Foley Fork, “a modern day version that we think is every bit as good.” Hah! This would only fool cooks who think they can make apple pie with Ritz crackers and sprinkle their pizzas with fake cheese and tofu.

Now that I’m up to a dozen, I have enough Foley Forks (I think), but I’m not sharing, so if you want one you’ll have to find your own. And if you think this obsession is odd, then don’t even ask me why I must use my two-quart Hamilton Beach milkglass mixing bowl to make pancake batter.

webmaster   |    technology & such   |    privacy policy

The Mensa logo is a registered trademark of International Mensa Limited, all rights reserved.
Mensa does not hold any opinion or have, or express, any political or religious views.
Copyright © 2008, Minnesota Mensa.

Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org Minnesota Mensa mnmensa mnmensa.org