Cyclone Lusi

[vilakins]

I was telling Astro about this and thought maybe I should actually post because it's been weeks.

Tonight I sliced my finger to the bone on what's weirdly called a mandolin. I've had the thing for over 10 years, used it heaps, and haven't done it before. Not a pretty sight.

Neither is the huge cyclone (this hemisphere's name for a hurricane) is due to arrive tonight or tomorrow. It's already killed 3 people in Vanuatu and is now lashing Northland. There've been all these extreme weather warnings and admonitions not to make unnecessary journeys but I have to go to the gym tomorrow, then get my hair cut (it's hard to get Saturday appointments so I can't reschedule) when I'd much rather stay home safe and dry (and possibly cowering). We live on a ridge and it's breezy at the best of times.

Oh joy.

I found however that I can type which is good because I thought I really should get round to writing the trope bingo stories in my head.

Comments

[kalypso]

Ugh, that sounds like a nasty injury - I'm glad you can still type, and hope it heals quickly. Also that the cyclone passes with minimum damage.

[gwendraith]

Injuries to fingers or toes always make me wince a bit, I hope it heals quickly. Take care in that cyclone!

[feng_shui_house]

Ow! I hope you heal quickly and stay safe!

[watervole]

Mandolins are lethal. We threw ours out after a nasty sliced finger. Knives are much safer.

[vilakins]

I went to A&E today and the nurse in triage said they should be banned. I'll continue to use mine, but much more carefully. I still haven't worked out how I did it because I hadn't got even halfway through the potato I was slicing (and consequently hadn't transferred to using the stabby-holdy thing) so my finger shouldn't have been anywhere near the blade. I obviously wasn't concentrating; it was a good warning not to take sharp things for granted.

We have some excellent ceramic knives which I love, especially for veges as they don't bruise them, but both of us have sliced finger open (once each) with them. Once was enough; we're very careful with them now.

[corvuscornix]

*winces at finger injury*

Be careful out there. Only last weekend the wind snapped a big tree for me - and in an instance of ridiculously bad luck it fell partly on the parked car of a visiting friend... It wasn't even particularly extreme weather, just a strong gust from an unusual direction. (No-one was injured, or even near when it happened, luckily. But the car was not a pretty sight.)

[vilakins]

How awful!

We've had trees come down before, once in our drive blocking our cars in, but no damage to anything I'm gad to say. I heard the garden bag (a big canvas thing in a steel frame we put cutting and weeds into for collection) go over before which made a racket but that often happens in high winds.

The winds today are from an unusual direction but don't seem any worse than a lot of what we get, which is a relief.

[mab_browne]

Ouch to the finger slice - they can be devils of things to get to close, so good luck, and good luck with Cyclone Lusi too.

[toft]

Ohh, mandolins. So useful, so dangerous.

[trixieleitz]

Yeeeowch! Sorry to hear about the finger. I hope it heals without incident, and that Lusi is gentle with you.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Those mandolins are vicious things, they strike when you get relaxed with them, I always use the spiked holder that came with mine, it does leave a bigger 'stub' than holding the veg but nothing goes to waste those go into the puppy stew I make for the girls.

Having lived and driven through much milder winds (a series of worn out hurricanes) than cyclonic for the last 2 months do please be careful tomorrow the gusts can be tricky.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I do use the holder, but I start off without it with larger veges. I have no idea how I did it as I wasn't even halfway through the fairly large potato.

I went to the library after work so at least I don't have to do that tomorrow.

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

I hope your finger heals up quickly. I just nicked the side of mine a couple of weeks ago, cutting a particularly stubborn sweet potato, and needed a plaster for four days to stop the little flap of loose skin from catching on things. Hardly anything compared to what you've done, mind.

Take care and stay safe.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you could use some *hugs*

I hope that the cyclone weakens or makes a last-minute course change.

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

Oh jesus, that sounds horrible. Is your finger ok? Did you go to hospital? Careful with the typing, make sure it heals ok!

Keep safe during the awful weather too.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Stay safe! I have a Kevlar glove (although I don't have a mandolin!) which could be helpful going forward.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You mean you where it when wielding knives? Hmm, could be useful. We've both sliced ourselves (a once-only warning in both cases) with our ceramic knives. I'll have to check that out; thanks!

[executrix.livejournal.com]

So far it's been living in the drawer...I usually do large-scale cutting up of things with a mouli-julienne or the smaller grater with a hopper and a round cutting element. Neither of them is as sharp as a mandolin but the cutting part is nowhere near my fingers!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm not crazy about graters as gingers get so close to the cutty bits. My mother had a moulin which she used to puree cooked food for my baby brother and presumably for my sister and me when we were babies. I doubt it would slice potatoes. Does yours? Does a food processor? I recently bought my first one but haven't tried that.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Your mom's Moulin was what I call a "food mill"--it just mashes things up, not cut them. Ummm, I don't know how to take camera phone pictures--my mouli-julienne is hideous orange plastic. It has folding legs and a small hopper for holding things to be cut. It also has several different disks that fit under the hopper parallel to the table. There's a handle that slots in perpendicular to the table. You put chunks of food in the hopper, turn the handle, and things get sliced or shredded.

A food processor will DEFINITELY shred potatoes! I don't have a food processor because it's a nuisance to put together, take apart, and wash, but it has gadgets to basically cut, chop, shred, etc. just about anything.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Shredding/grating will be great, but slicing? The mandolin does it so well.

OK, I googled "mouli-julienne" and see what you mean, and someone has a French vintage metal one on TradeMe (our local eBay) for $1 starting bid. [goes for it]

[executrix.livejournal.com]

BTW Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman uses her food processor to shred potatoes for latkes (which otherwise are famous for being at least 5% knuckle by weight) and she says she likes the longer shreds created by cutting the potatoes so they go into the processor the long way instead of the short way. She also likes sweet potato latkes.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

5% knuckle by weight Oh, yes, been there, done that. Greg now does grater duty for latkes, but the food processor's definitely going to be used in future. Kumara (native sweet potatoes) latkes are delicious but they're much harder than potatoes to grate so I haven't done them often. I will now!

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Not strictly traditional, but I like other root vegetables (turnips, parsnips) mixed in with the potatoes and onions.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yep! Hey, the tradition's only been there since potatoes arrived in Europe. :-) I wonder what the major Ashkenazi fry-up was before that.

What with the finger and all, no hamentashen in this house this year. Oh well.

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

Do try and keep safe (and look after the kitties!).

[thisbluespirit]

Yikes! (And I'm glad you provided a link, because my Mum has a mandolin, but it's a musical instrument, and I was assuming till that point you'd had a nasty argument with a small stringed instrument.)

Good luck with the upcoming weather, though - I hope it's all okay! :-/

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, I am sorry!!!It must be nasty and painful and fingers usually heal with problems because we simply have touse them, cut or not...Just be careful about infecting the wound.Have you thought of having it stitched? (I think you haven´t...I wouldn´t either...).
I didn´t know that this thing is called a mandolin! I have it too and I know that one can´t be careful enough with these sharpe blades. Here is is called a cutter.
I hope the cyclon will not harm you there, stay safe, you and your family!
BTW there must be some residua of your weather because we expect a sudden drop of temperatures and very wild wind!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I went to A&E today and they said they don't stitch fingers as circulation is very important, but I have a proper dressing on it now, and had a tetanus injection. I feel happier about it now.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Good. This sounds reasonable...but still, such a wound is nasty. *Hugs*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Certainly is - they said today it would be 10 days till it was healed, but also that I was lucky I stuck the flap back as it would be much longer if I had lost it like some people do.

[ultrapsychobrat.livejournal.com]

My goodness! Take care.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

Ouch, I hope you don't suffer too much with it

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

Ouch, hope you feel better soon.

The cyclone hasn't been too bad in my neighbourhood, just light rain and occasional howly winds.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Same here - just a fairly usual winter's day in fact except for not being cold. Quite a few people had cancelled at the gym and hair salon, frightened by the scaremongering on the news. I'm just relieved it's not bad at all, though apparently St Heliers nearby lost power this morning.

The wind's whistling loudly now, but it does that round our eaves.

Obscure Picture of Mouli Julienne

[executrix.livejournal.com]

http://www.moulinex.co.uk/pages/food_cljulie.htm?OnpageA=1

Re: Obscure Picture of Mouli Julienne

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yep, found images like that! The old metal one I'm bidding on is hte same design so it hasn't changed.

Re: Obscure Picture of Mouli Julienne

[executrix.livejournal.com]

It's not a gorgeous piece of design, and it can be fussy finding the right kind of plate to put underneath it to hold the grated/sliced food...but it's cheap, safe, and easy to clean.