[Your favorite / most useful tool. 5 min]

I'd been saying for years that I wanted a grater that didn't have any of the fancy things to it -- just a metal something for grating cheese in just one size. 

It's the kind of thing that just doesn't seem to be made anymore, everything is double-sided-plus-a-zester-slicer-and-ruffle-cutter, all-in-one gadgets made out of the cheapest metal possible.

I found exactly what I wanted at a flea market, sitting in with rusty iron pans and egg-beaters that barely moved. A little stack of three; small, medium and large bore, still sharp fifty years after their manufacture. I wonder what fool would have given them up for something out of a Williams and Sonoma catalog, promising all that and julienne fries, or something out of a Rachel Ray cookbook, stamped boldly as approved by a TV Chef.