Sliced by a Ninja

Last year a couple was here for the winter - I'll call them Casey - in a 16 or 18 foot trailer called a hi-lo. Hi-lo's are first generation pop-ups. Because of all the stuff in their hi-lo, Mr. Casey called it their trash compactor. That should give you a pretty good idea of the mechanism of a hi-lo and also how much stuff they crammed into that 16 or 18-foot space. There was so much stuff that the only time Mr. Casey was allowed in the trailer was to sleep. The rest of the time he sat in a lawn chair outside, coffee and cigarette in hand until the day began to warm, then it was beer and cigarette.

That little hi-lo was some kind of magic box. Ms. Casey could produce anything at any time. You needed an exotic spice? She had it. Tarot cards, chimes, laptop, love potions, snake venom, crock pot, espresso machine, sewing machine. She had two coffee grinders. Two.

When the coffee roaster in Bisbee gave me hell for not buying beans, I said "you don't understand, I live in a tiny space. I don't have room for a coffee grinder." Ms. Casey, in seven less feet, had TWO!

I still don't have a coffee grinder but I have added a few appliances: small crock pot, one-cup coffee maker, and mini food processor. I keep them stored in the oven. But I began jonesing for a blender. That food processor was not doing a very good job with hummus. And the local store had fresh strawberries. I began craving strawberry margaritas. So I did a lot of online research and ordered a Ninja Major Prep. It had great reviews, was cheap, and looked small.

It ain't small. It's got two containers - one for drinks and one for food processing. It's got extra lids. It's got a manual and recipe book. I have to keep it out on what little counter space there is. It's always in the way. It needs to be moved to get to the coffee maker.

But I've got to say, it did an amazing job with the strawberry margarita, smashing the ice to smithereens. The Thai peanut sauce (made with fresh peanuts) was creamy. Of course one of the things that makes the Ninja so good is the blades - the really, really sharp blades. I went to wash one and sliced right through my thumb. Took forever to stanch the bleeding. Now I'm terrified of those blades. I approach them with caution, focused, zen-like.

One of the things about trailer life I like is getting down to the absolute essentials. What is it a person really needs? What is it I absolutely cannot live without? If I lived in a magic box like the Caseys' hi-lo there's no telling what treasures I'd carry. I'd have at least one coffee grinder.