This #thankyouthursday, I am grateful for a Norwegian cheese slicer, recently rediscovered.

A little over five years ago, I traveled to Norway, where some of my family is from. I had a wonderful experience, and among many discoveries, I learned that a Norwegian named Thor Bjørklund patented a popular cheese slicer in 1925. I also learned that, at least in the home of the dear Norwegian friend I stayed with, it is common to eat bread and sliced cheese for breakfast.

So when I ended up in a kitchen store at one point during the trip, it made perfect sense to buy a large quantity of authentic Norwegian cheese slicers to bring back as souvenirs.

I eagerly gave these excellent, high quality cheese slicers to friends and family, but, even though I also bought one for myself, I never used it. At the time, I think my reasoning was that I didn’t need it while I was living solo in a Manhattan studio apartment, although that logic makes zero sense to me now.

Regardless, five years later, aka this week, I impulsively bought a hunk of smoked Gouda and then realized I did not have a cheese slicer.

…OR DID I?

At first I doubted the possibility—surely in the intervening years I had either given away or lost the remaining slicer. But just in case, I went into a storage closet and checked the one drawer where I thought it could maybe have been stashed and…

There it was. Still in its packaging, complete with a price tag of 169 krone. Enchanted and delighted, I immediately opened the cheese slicer and set about enjoying my Gouda.

I try not to hold on to physical items beyond reason—I have no interest in being a hoarder, and, having moved three times in the last five years, I understand the value in traveling light.

But I sure am glad I kept that cheese slicer. And I’m even more grateful to be actually using it.

Love > fear,
Christina

p.s. I found my recently rediscovered cheese slicer online; it has significantly increased in value (at least in USD) since I bought it, which somehow makes me even more appreciative of my newest kitchen addition.

#thankyouthursday

A Norwegian cheese slicer, recently…