Meet my mandolin

For years, from time to time, my husband has described a dish he enjoyed in Spain called tortilla. We found some at a friend’s wedding several years ago, and he was thrilled. I’m always happy to try a new recipe, but somehow it had never occurred to me to try to make tortilla myself until I spotted a photo on social media a few weeks ago.

That’s when I started hunting for a good recipe. Tortilla is an egg dish with potatoes and onions in it, and it always seemed complicated. But I found a New York Times recipe that seemed doable and looked delicious.

The only problem? The recipe recommended you use a mandolin to slice the potatoes and onions particularly thin.

I have never considered buying a mandolin—neither the musical instrument nor the kitchen tool. But if I wanted to try to make this dish my husband has remembered fondly for years and years, I might as well do it right.

Besides, sometimes I like to inject a little something different into this stay-at-home life.

So, I went online and searched until I found one that wasn’t too expensive and seemed to have decent reviews. I ordered it, and two days later—voila!—there was my mandolin on the front steps.

My sons were immediately impressed. We pulled it out of the box and looked at the different blades. It was sharp and a little complex and intimidating but extremely intriguing. I had ordered gloves to use with it because I am a little accident-prone in the kitchen, and the danger just added to the mystique.

It’s amazing how adding one new item to the house can get us excited. Of course, it’s easy for anything different to capture our interest during this time when so many days are the same.

So far, the mandolin has been quite the novelty. It sliced the potatoes and onions into delicate, thin slives for the tortilla recipe—and the tortilla was a tremendous hit. I don’t always love egg dishes, but this one was flavorful and moist. We ate it with bread, and it was delicious.

The next day I used the mandolin to slice peppers and onions to go with some bratwurst.

My next goal is an apple pie made with thinly sliced apples.

What comes next? I can’t say.

One of my favorite quotes is from Robert McCloskey’s book Lentil: “So, you never can tell what will happen when you learn to play the harmonica.” That quote—which I have loved for as long as my husband has loved tortilla—speaks to me. You never know what will happen when you try something new or different—no matter how large or small. You don’t know where that path will lead.

And you never know what will happen when you start using a mandolin. So, stay tuned.

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