Potato Preparation (or I Can't Think of Anything Else about which to Write)

I was born and raised in the Deep South and every 'nice' Southern girl learns to how to make polite conversation, play the piano, sew clothing and prepare food.

Sometimes I wonder, "How many potatoes have I peeled in my life?"

I can do it so quickly and so well with a knife that it amazes everyone.

It should.

Why, as soon as I was old enough to sit up, my mother had me beside her in the kitchen shelling peas or snappin' beans. As soon as I could stand, she had me peeling potatoes with a knife.

My mother is about as Scot-Irish as one can be -- we had potatoes every single day.

Oh, but to the point of this silly entry. In the photo below I was raised to call the utensil on the left a carrot scraper. The utensil on the right is, of course, a paring knife. John calls the utensil on the left... a potato scraper.

"What?" I asked him the first time the subject arose. (I think it was one of the times that he was using the carrot scraper to 'peel' potatoes.)

Now, I'm just curious as to whether this 'carrot-potato utensil thing' is Southern or simply a personal preference.