As domesticated as I try to be, I am just unable to use a traditional grater without grating myself. Last night, in a bid to lower the noise level of chopping a carrot, I decided to use our four-faced grater. Up until then, we had only used the grater for cheese, but tonight I wanted to use the slicer-face. It was indeed much quieter to slice up carrots that way. But it was also more painful.

I didn’t get past ten slices before I sliced off a bit of skin and flesh on my little finger. I saw the flap of skin and the white stuff below it. Then before the blood had time to fill and ooze, I wrapped an adhesive bandage firmly around it.

Then I went back to being a domestic goddess. Chopping up carrots without the grip of your little finger is very challenging. In the process, I made enough of a din in the kitchen to wake up a resting Eli who came into the kitchen and took over the duties because silly me got a scrape to my finger. He had to do the dishes too! I’m blessed.

So, I don’t see anyone else around me having the same grater problem. My mother grates everything right down to nary a bite left. My sister, known to have incredibly buttery fingers and a tendency to slip and fall, grates just like my mother. As a matter of fact, my brother grates like a pro too. So after all these years of occasional grating, I don’t understand why I still end up grating myself.

Is it because my arms are too weak and so I have a lack of control over the object I am grating? Or is it my fear of blades that causes this misery?

I peel potatoes and carrots outwards because I am terrified of what the peeler could do to the hand that is holding the vegetable. Meaning I push the peeler away from me, pushing the peeled skin straight into the bin. Other people I know pull the peeler towards themselves, and brush the peeled skin down.

Except the butter knife, I never touch a knife blade.

I’ve actually worn a rubber glove to protect my hands from the grater before, and of course I grated the glove. Will practice make perfect? I can’t really risk my skin getting cut up though. A paper cut alone makes it a b*tch to eat any citrus fruit.