A Half Fast Life: A Trip to Dooley's for Heat Diffusers

A wonderful thing about living near small towns is the mom and pop stores that are there.

Dooley's 5, 10 & 25 in nearby Fredericksburg is one such store. I have been shopping there

for 20+ years and it is still a treat to walk through their doors.

On my new website, http://www.theteachingkitchen.com/ I have a tutorial on making yogurt at home. In the pictures accompanying the recipe, you can see I use a heat diffuser to keep the milk from burning onto the bottom of the pot. I've had a few inquires about where to get one as apparently they aren't a

common item. I have three of them...they look terrible, but work wonderfully. The one on the left is small in diameter, but taller then the rest-very good to simmer delicate sauces in small saucepans. I bought it at a garage sale about 5 years ago and it didn't look much better than it does now!

The middle one is the one I use most often and it looks it.

Believe it or not, I bought this heat diffuser 20 years ago at Dooley's!!

The one on the right I bought at Dooley's about a decade ago. These diffusers get almost daily use

and I'm not sure how I would cook without them. So I decided to stop by Dooley's to see if they still carried these nifty kitchen tools.

It's pouring rain here today and although I parked right out front (a miracle!), I had to walk through a bit of water to reach the front door. As I walked across the store to get to the kitchen section, my wet shoes squeeked on the old wooden floor. The store carries everything from socks and underwear for the whole family

To an incredible kitchen section complete with spatterware.

And most every kitchen gadget imaginable!

On the far aisle are boxes of all kinds of little kitchen gadgets...some mini versions of graters and spatulas and some items that are hard to find anywhere else. The nutmeg grater in the blue box on the front left (the graters are wrapped in little plastic bags) is one tool I always have and have given many as gifts. There is a HUGE difference between freshly grated nutmeg and ground nutmeg in a jar.

Whole nutmeg are easy to find and after you grate a bit, the partially used nutmeg stores under a little lid in the top.

Then there's the Plastic Yard Goods where you can buy fleece backed oilcloth by the yard in lots of different prints. I just love the lemons on the bottom right!