Just looking at this makes me happy

Meet my precious: the Keurig coffee maker. The Mother’s Day gift I made my husband and son give me last year. Best gift I ever picked for myself, and trust me, I’ve picked a lot.

I was an avid coffee press person right up until the time my husband suddenly decided to start drinking coffee (what is up that, anyway?). The press became a huge pain because it only holds a couple of cups of coffee, so I would have to boil a second pot of water, clean out the press, etc. Really too much effort for a weekend (I wait for free work coffee during the week), don’t you agree?

Now, I had considered the Keurig before but since I was the only one drinking coffee the press was really ideal. But now that there were two (three if you count my son, who, inexplicably likes coffee) coffee drinkers in the house, this started to sound like a good idea. I could have my stronger coffee, and my husband could have the coffee equivalent of training wheels. And, my son could have a cup of decaf once in a while. Brilliant.

Let’s start with the obvious. This is a nice looking machine. It’s not huge; it probably takes up a bit less space than a conventional coffee maker. It’s slightly rounded in back rather than square so it fits nicely in a corner. The pan on the bottom, where the cup sits, comes out for cleaning and for tall travel cups.

There are three “strengths” you can choose for your cup. A small cup, which would be pretty strong, a medium (think Startbucks) and a tall. You’ll have to play around and try them all to see which suits you. Which is the beauty of the thing really. You can have one cup strong and the next a little mellower. Everybody gets exactly what they want every time with no compromises. I love it when I don’t have to compromise. It’s a little bit of Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one.

The other great thing is that you have many choices in coffee, from mild to bold, organic and not. You can mix and match so there’s something for every mood. Plus you can also get all kinds of tea and hot chocolate. Honestly though, I’m not a huge fan of the hot chocolate (at least the one that comes in the sampler you’ll get with the machine) because it is made with water rather than milk. But that’s a personal preference. And I see that Godiva makes a hot chocolate for the Keurig, so that’s an enticement for me to give it another try. You’ll find the most choice online at Keurig.com, but you can also buy the K-Cups (as they are called) at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s, Target and other places. We buy a huge box of the Newman’s Own at BJ’s once a month. It has about 80 cups in it. You can also purchase a refillable cup to use your own coffee in, but to me that defeats the entire purpose because then you have to clean that thing.

Now, the cleanup. Ready? Just take the cup out and toss it. Done. Brilliant.

And the coffee? It is good. And hot. And takes only a few seconds to brew. The machine needs a minute to heat the water when you turn it on, but after that your cup of coffee is done in a flash.

Mother’s Day is coming up. So is Father’s Day. And bridal season. And your birthday. You can thank me later.

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Post tags: bridal shower gifts, coffee, coffeemaker, gifts, gifts for women, keurig, mothers day, wedding gifts

It’s the only detergent I use to wash my clothes.  I adore the way it smells and it is the only laundry soap that my husband’s overly sensitive skin can handle.  We’ve tried every product under the sun, and we always come back to Tide.

So when Tide had a booth at the BlogHer conference in Chicago this summer, you can bet your sweet behind I was front and center with outstretched palms gathering up every single free sample they would give me.  I got tiny packets of laundry detergent and some new boost packet thingies.  I also received a sample of their new product, the Bounce Dryer Bar.

What is a Bounce Dryer Bar?

It looks like a bar of soap stuck in a mounting device.  You stick it to the inside wall of your dryer and it stays there for 2-4 months working as a constant fabric softener.  In other words, it’s a replacement for dryer sheets.

Oddly enough, this is not my picture.  This picture of a Bounce Dryer Bar is courtesy of rockinfree on Flickr.  I don’t even think he has a review blog.  He’s just taking pictures of his dryer bar.

Anyway.

The Bounce Dryer Bar made my clothes smell fantastic!  It was so easy!  Just stick it in there and forget about it, and load after load of laundry came out smelling like heaven!  No, better than heaven.  It smelled like my mother-in-law’s laundry!  (This, by the way, is a feat I have been trying to achieve for 10 years now with no success.  THANK YOU BOUNCE DRYER BAR!)

And then the Bounce Dryer Bar went and fell off the wall of my dryer.

I was sad.  I was depressed.  I was deeply disappointed that I would no longer have mother-in-law standard laundry.

But!  No!  I just restuck the bar to the dryer wall!  Problem solved!  I LOVE YOU AGAIN BOUNCE DRYER BAR!

And then, a week later, the Bounce Dryer Bar went and fell off the wall of my dryer again.

There would be no resticking this time.  After about a month of use – half the time the packaging promised me – my Bounce Dryer Bar was completely useless.

I can’t decide if I want to replace it.

You can buy a 2 Month Bounce Dryer Barfor less than $6 online. Even if I have to replace it every month, it’s only $6. BUT – a box of Bounce Fabric Sheets will last me at least twice as long for the same price.

And dryer sheets don’t crumble.

Yes, I said crumble.  While I didn’t experience any problem with the bar dissolving in my laundry, I’ve had friends who also received samples and ended up with soap flake like specs of the Bounce Bar all over their dryer and freshly laundered clothes.

I’m torn. The idea of the Bounce Dryer Bar is fantastic and my clothes were softer and smelled better than when I use a normal dryer sheet.   However, the long term execution was less than desired.

Have you tried Tide’s Bounce Dryer Bar?

What were your results?

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Post tags: blogher conference, bounce, Bounce Bar, dryer bar, dryer sheets, fabric softener, free, laundry, laundry soap, sensitive skin, soap, Tide, tide laundry detergent

Hot Air Popcorn Popper

My favorite snack food in life is popcorn.

Specifically, I love buttered popcorn.

More specifically, I like popcorn drenched in warm butter and coated with salt.

Air popped popcorn, as far as I’m concerned, is from the devil.

But oh, how I love my hot air popcorn popper.

I have a Presto Poplite Popper that I am not supposed to use because I am not supposed to eat carbs.  But I make a carbohydrate exception on occasion for a ginormous bowl of popcorn.  Because if you’re going to take health risks you should do it in moderation, and nothing says moderation like the word ginormous.

This is, in my opinion, the closest you can get to movie popcorn without being in a theater.

How does the poplite popper work?

You put 2 cups of unpopped popcorn – the kernel kind – into the top.  (Do NOT under ANY circumstances put oil in the popper.)  Plug in the popper and stick a bowl under the spout.  Two minutes later, you have popcorn!

It’s so easy a child can do it.  Literally.  My kids make me popcorn all the time.

Now, the downside of a hot air popcorn popper is that it makes hot air popcorn that tastes, basically, like air.  BUT!  You now have the perfect fluffy canvas on which to make the perfect buttery, salty, heavenly popcorn.

Microwave some butter and pour it over the bowl, shake on some salt, and voila!  You’ve got popcorn that is way, way better than anything that comes in a microwaveable bag.

You can buy a Presto 04820 PopLite Hot Air Corn Popper for less than $20 on Amazon.  I just realized Christmas is (holy shit!) coming up soon – and my mother loves movie style popcorn even more than I do.  Guess what she’s getting for Christmas this year?

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Post tags: air popcorn popper, amazon, Corn Popper, food, hot air corn popper, hot air popcorn popper, Popcorn, presto, snack food, unpopped popcorn

In Our House We Call It "Sweet Manna From Heaven"

I first read about the On Task On Time unit over at Work It Mom.

I spent the next 30 minutes figuring out how to get my hands on one, and then sent a barrage of pestering emails to their PR department.

A few days later, FedEx delivered salvation to my front door.

Let me back up.

I have two kids.

Every day, both of these children have to get out of bed, get dressed, get fed, get stuff, and get out the door to school or daycare.  At the exact same time that I have to get up, get dressed, get fed, get stuff and get out the door to work.

It makes for fun mornings – if nagging and crying and threatening and crying and begging and pleading and crying and starting off every day pissed off and crying is fun for you.

(In which case, you need therapy.)

At the end of each day, I still have two kids (knock on wood).

And now they need to be fed and bathed and brushed and put back into bed – but only after they’ve been brow beaten into homework and chores and picking up after themselves.

See previous statements about fun.

Of course, this is just all par for the course for parenting – right?

WRONG!

That is par for the course for sucker parents who don’t have the On Task On Time For Kids thingy!

Sorry.  I’m getting ahead of myself with the gloating.

Do you remember those old Speak & Says?  This unit looks a lot like one of those.  Except it comes with replacable disks that you put little stickers on to customize your kids’ routines.  You wind it up and it counts down, making a delightful tic tic tic tic tic, and then “DING!” when time is up.

When you get the unit, you sit down with your kids and figure out what “tasks” they have.  In our house, it’s things like “chores” and “brush teeth” and “take bath”.  You then decide – with your kids – how long each task should take.

Important tip: the point is not to rush your kids.  The point is to keep them on task.  Give them ample time to do what needs to be done.

Anyway, once youv’e decided together what needs to be done and how long it should take, you follow the instructions to place the stickers onto one of the removable disks in the order and interval you want them.

And then you wind it up and watch them go!

We’ve been using this for a few weeks in my house now and everyone LOVES it.  The kids love the idea of beating the clock, I love not having to nag them.  When I see them screwing around, all I have to say is “are you going to make the timer?”, and they get back on task.  They don’t have to ask me “what now?” or “what did you say?” 50 million times – they can go find see for themselves what they need to do.

Added bonus: my husband and I are not parenting the kids at the same time right now, but we set this disk up together.  I know (and, OK, so does he, but I highly doubt he worries about it) that the basic child care stuff is getting done even when I’m not there.  (Not that I’m controlling or anything.  Really.  Not at all.)

The unit comes with 3 disks.  We use one for morning and one for bed time.  It also uses stickers with pictures so even my four year old can follow along.  It has blank stickers in case you have really crazy unique needs.

I love the crap out of this thing.

Some other stuff to consider:

• It’s recommended for ages 5-10.  I have a 9 year old and a 4 year old, and I can imagine it might be a little difficult for my 4 year old to do alone, but she does pretty well following her brother’s lead.  I think he could use it well past his 10th year.
• There’s a place to keep track of their “progress” on the back – basically a check mark reward system.  The markers that come with it are dry erase, but the coating on the back is wonky.  Use stickers instead OR windex or 409 to clean the back.
• It’s $50.  Which kind of sucks.  Sorry. 

That being said, if your mornings and evenings are a constant source of stress, I highly recommend On Task On Time for Kids.

You can order it here through their web site for $49.95.

You can also buy On-Task On-Time For Kids on Amazon, for the same price.  (In case you’re an Amazon gift card junky like I am.)

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Post tags: amazon, chores, homework, kids time, parents, product, routines, time management, time unit

I usually roll my eyes because, really?  We’re jumping up and down about razor blades?  No.  Not really.

Not that we don’t need razor blades, mind you – but let’s not pretend that OUR LIVES! THEY ARE CHANGED! BY THIS AWESOME RAZOR BLADE!  THAT I HAVE BEEN COVETING!

This is not, by the way, a post about razor blades.

What this is, in fact, is a post about a marketing campaign that made me laugh so hard that I couldn’t wait to share it with you.

Ladies (and gentleman), I give you the latest craze in workout videos…

Strong As Steel from Strong As Steel on Vimeo.

My witty and insightful commentary – after the jump.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA

And also?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHA

Ha.

I don’t know who at GE came up with this idea, but I would like to buy them a drink.  Or two.  And then I want to drag them into my kitchen and make them teach me how to WORKOUT!  USING NOTHING BUT MY STOVE! AND REFRIGERATOR!

And then I’ll buy them another drink and convince them to replace my dishwasher.

Do you know the funniest part of this whole promotion – I mean, besides Alison Sweeney doing fridge curls on camera?

I actually considered for a moment buying the DVD.  Oh, yes, you can buy the DVD.  I mean, I do have a kitchen and a desperate need to firm up…

Yeah, OK.  Back to watching the video and laughing hysterically.

While you can buy the DVD, the point of this whole campaign is to promote GE’s stainless steel appliances.  Starting now (OK, probably earlier than now), you can buy GE Stainless Steel Appliance for the same price of their regular appliances until July 6, 2009 at participating retailers.*

I am not (knock on wood) in the market for new appliances – but if I was, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be all about making it look like I had spent money on fancy, schmancy stainless steel ones without actually having to spend more money.

If you, on the other hand, happen to be in the market for new appliances, you can find out about GE’s stainless steel promotion here.

Now, on to THE PRIZE!

GE is not, unfortunately, letting me giveaway appliances.  And if they were, I would probably rig the contest so my cat won them.  Because I am ethical.

Instead, GE is letting me giveaway a REALLY FANCY YOGA MAT AND CARRIER.

Which is totally just as awesome as a dishwasher in some circles.

HOW TO WIN THE FANCY GE YOGA MAT AND CARRIER:

>>Leave a comment telling me what at-home exercise you do.

>>You must comment with a valid email address because that’s how I’ll notify the winner.

>>Contest (and comments) will be open from now until midnight EDT on Friday June 22 June 26.

>>Winner will be chosen at random and contacted via the email address they used to enter.

>>GE (or someone who works for them) will be responsible for sending out your prize.  Lucky, you.

Ready, set, go**….

*And no one paid me to say that.  Which is so sad, because look at how awesome that sentence was.

**I love how I am creating all of this drama!  And excitement!  And anticipation!  For a yoga mat!

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Post tags: contest, GE, marketing, marketing campaign, new appliances, stainless steel appliances, strong as steel, workout, yoga

I tend to assume that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I probably wouldn’t have even tried the Debbie Meyer Green Bags if they hadn’t been given to me by stepmom.

What are Debbie Meyer GreenBags?

According to the infomercials, these green plastic bags miraculously prevent produce from spoiling.  You simply put your fruits and vegetables in a green bag and they stay good for much longer than they normally would.

It sounds like a fantastic idea.

It’s important to me to feed my family real food.  I load up on fruits and vegetables as much as I can – but I don’t have the lifestyle that allows me to stop by the grocery store every few days.  Unfortunately, that means I end up throwing away a lot of food that sounded like a good idea when I was grocery shopping, but didn’t get used up as quickly as I thought it would.

If the Debbie Meyer GreenBags worked as promised, they could potentially save me tons of money!

But is it possible for a plastic bag to prevent food from going bad?

As it turns out, Debbie Meyer Green Bags actually do seem to slow the decay of fresh produce.

Of course, they don’t stop spoilage all together.  Your fruits and vegetables will still rot if they are left in the bags for too long.  But, I get much more “shelf life” out of our fresh produce than I get when I don’t use the Green Bags.  On average, the life expectancy of my fruits and vegetables is about double with Debbie Meyer Green Bags than without.

A few tips to keep in mind when using Debbie Meyer GreenBags:

- Moisture is your enemy. You’ll get better results with the Green Bags if you put a paper towel in the bag with your fruits and vegetables.  This works really well for keeping lettuce crisp longer.

- Reuse sparingly. The bags are meant to be reused, but they won’t last forever.  If something does go bad in them (it happens), throw them out.  Also, make sure you rinse lightly and give the bags plenty of time to dry out before trying to reuse them again.

- Nothing lasts forever. Seriously.  This should be a no brainer.

You can get Debbie Meyers GreenBags at Bed Bath & Beyond, Walgreens, or online at Amazon.

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I’m sure of it.

I want a label maker.

Strike that.

I need a label maker.

Allow me to share my label making fantasy with you and paint you a beautiful picture of organizational nirvana.

Let’s start in the kitchen.  I’ll label all the shelves (inside the cupboards, mind you) with the name of the items that are supposed to go on them.  For example – “mixing bowls”, “tupperware”, “coffee mugs”, “weird shit”.  Etc, etc, etc.

Then I’ll label the drawers (you know, on the little ledges you can only see when the drawer is open) – “spoons”, “pot holders”, “knives”, “big shit that doesn’t fit elsewhere”.  Etc, etc, etc.

Now, because every cupboard and shelf and drawer is neatly and clearly labeled, every single person in my house can put the dishes away.  All of the dishes away.  Gone will be the pile on the counter of things that “I didn’t know where those went!  So I left them for you!”  And more than put away – they’ll be put in the actual spots they belong.  Never again will I find myself hollering through the house “where is the cookie sheet THIS time?!?!?!”

And peace and joy will follow.

And not just in the kitchen.

I can label everyone’s dresser drawers, too!  Because sometimes it is just too hard to figure out that socks go in the drawer with the other socks.  But there is no denying a clearly marked label with the word “Socks” typed out in courier font.

OH!  And I can label bathroom drawers and medicine cabinet shelves.  Surely that will completely eliminate “I just left it out because I didn’t know where it goes” conversations when someone is asked to clean the bathroom!  And maybe they’ll even know where to put things away after they use them – because it’s hard to remember sometimes where you got it out from 5 minutes earlier.

OH!  OH!  And toy shelves!  And bins!  Never again will I spend 6 hours cleaning a child’s bedroom only to have everything taken out and jammed back into not at all the right places later.  Clean rooms for everyone!  Forever!

Ah, yes.  A label maker will change my life.

Clearly.

Now I just have to figure out which one to buy…

Brother PT-80 P-touch Electronic Labeling System

Apparently, this is the one Martha Stewart herself recommends. It’s supposed to be small and easy to use. Some reviewers complained that it sucks battery life too quickly and the cartridges are $10 each.

DYMO LetraTag Personal Label Maker 11944 Silver

Apparently the battery life on this label maker is better. You have to use two different types of labels – one for paper and one for hard surfaces (like plastic). Other reviewers noted that the cartridges were less expensive and the backing was easier to peel off. The biggest complaint with this one tends to be longevity.

Brother PT-1010 Handheld Labeler with Rubber Grip

This is another label maker by Brother, but it seemed to have slightly better reviews than the one Martha recommends. And it has the option of an AC adaptor, which I like. It’s only $19.99 – which I also like. The biggest complaint with this one seems to be label tape waste – which all label makers seem to do to a point. A few users suggested printing multiple labels on one tape with spaces in between to save tape. I think I can manage that.

So what do you think?  I’m thinking I’m going to have my husband buy me the Brother PT-1010 Label Maker for Mother’s Day.  And then make him promise to put everyone’s laundry away.

Anyone have better suggestions (or experience with these models) before I finalize my wish list?

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Post tags: amazon, brother label maker, DYMO label maker, label maker, label maker reviews, labels, organization

The thing about eating low carb for that long is that it gets boring.

You can only have so many hamburger patties with cheese or chicken salads before you want to stab someone.

Add that to the fact that I refuse to cook more than one meal at dinner time – meaning my family gets one low carb meal a day – and I absolutely have to find ways to be creative with a low carb menu.

George Stella and his “Stella Style” cooking has saved my diet on more than one occassion.

What I like about this cookbook is that it’s not exactly Atkins.  I don’t follow quite as strict a regimine as the Atkins Diet, so it was nice to find a low carb philosophy that was closer to mine.

“Stella Style” is basically about eating low carb – not counting carbs.  You make foods that are naturally low in carbs – especially “bad” carbs found in things like flour and sugar – and don’t worry about how much of it you eat.  It has been an easier way to maintain a low carb lifestyle long term for me.

My mom gave me her copy of this cookbook at Christmas and it has found a permanent home in my cookbook stand.  It’s also starting to fall apart.

Post it notes and binding breaks - the signs of a well loved cookbook

My family is LOVING the recipes in this book.

Some of our favorites are:

*Low Carb Pizza – like, with actual crust.

*Low Carb Cheesecake – which my husband swears is the best cheesecake he’s ever had period.

*Low Carb Soy Bean Chilli – almost everything in chilli is low carb anyway so this was an easy adjustment.

*Low Carb Zuchinni Muffins - can I tell you how much I had been missing muffins?  It’s so awesome to have something to put butter on again!

*Low Carb Tequila Chicken – I’m pretty sure the alcohol burns off in the oven.  I mean – it must, right?

*Low Carb Blueberry Pancakes – now if only I could drown these in syrup, I’d be a happy girl.

*Low Carb Meat Lasagna – lasagna with no noodles?  Yep.  And it’s a family favorite around here.  It’s also a good option when we have guests over.

I have three or four other low carb cookbooks in my kitchen, but this one is by far my favorite.

Get it on Amazon:

George Stella’s Livin’ Low Carb: Family Recipes Stella Style

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Post tags: atkins, atkins diet, bad carbs, books, carb cheesecake, carb lifestyle, cookbook, cooking, george stella, low carb, low carb diet, recipes, zuchinni muffins

Some kitchen gadgets look cool.

And some kitchen gadgets are overpriced pieces of crap that are way too much work to use than the original tool they were meant to replace.

I do a lot of chopping and dicing and cutting into little pieces in my quest to use fresh ingredients to make real, healthy food.  It’s my least favorite part of cooking.

So, in a moment of weakness in a William Sonoma store in Charleston, I splurged on a $50 chopper.

It slices!  It dices!  It has a citrus attachment!

And it’s a giant pain in the ass to use.  The multiple pieces are a nightmare to assemble, disassemble and clean – especially if all you need is to quickly chop an onion.

Aside from that, you have to pre chop a lot of things before you can use it in order to have pieces small enough to fit into the chopper.  And if the pieces are too big but you don’t realize it ahead of time because they sure as hell look like they’d be small enough to fit, you end up with a half chopped green pepper stuck in the blades.  And that’s fun to try to pry out of the itty bitty wires.

The absolute worst part of using this is the amount of pressure required to actually chop anything – even if it is small enough. I literally had to stand on a step stool so that I could put all of my body weight down on pusher in order to actually cut anything.

Pain. In. The Ass.

Come to find out, all I needed to make all the slicing and dicing and chopping easier was a good knife.

Calphalon Everyday Cutlery 7″ Santoku & 5″ Santoku

I picked up a Calphalon knife at the outlet store here for less than $25.

And it actually works.

And cleans off in about 2 seconds.

And did I mention it works?

Yeah. Turns out cutting food up isn’t supposed to be quite the ordeal I thought it was.  Or nearly as expensive.

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Post tags: cooking, kitchen gadgets, knives, professional chopper, william sonoma

Cooking in her kitchen is like being on a cooking show.

I’m convinced the reason everything she makes turns out better than when I make it is because of her kitchen gadgets. That’s the only logical explanation. Clearly.

10 Kitchen Gadgets I Want – Even If I Don’t Know How To Use Them

Chef’n PalmZester, Citrus Zester, Orange

I first realized that I needed a zester when I was making low carb margaritas that called for lime zest.  About 30 seconds later, I realized that zesting with a cheese grater makes a freaking mess.

This palm zester collects the zest in a little storage container so you can measure it AND keep the itty bitty pieces of whatever it is you’re zesting off of your floors and countertops.

Plus, it looks pretty freaking cool.

Harold Imports Chopstir

My friend Erin got one of these for Christmas and I got to play with it for a little while at her house.  You know how browning ground beef is a pain in the ass?  What with the scraping and the stirring and the turning and the standing.

This is designed specifically to make that process easier and faster! Finally, a gadget that understands my style of cooking.

KitchenAid Mezzaluna

I have no idea why you are supposed to use a Mezzaluna instead of a knife, but this one comes with it’s own case blade shieldy thing.  Apparently I’m supposed to be using this when I cut up spices??

Gourmet Cheese Slicer

My husband says I suck at slicing cheese.  Those stupid little hand held things always screw me up and my slices are thicker on one side than the other.  Apparently it’s because I haven’t been using a gourmet cheese slicer.

Which, I think, is a much better explanation than “gah! You’re a moron!”

RSVP International Endurance marble mortar & PESTLE

I’ve wanted one of these forever and I can’t believe I still haven’t bought one.  It’s used a lot in traditional mexican cooking – which I actually do quite a bit of.  I did a little digging and found that the best kind as far as versatility, clean up and surface hardness are marble mortar and pestles sets.

I think you can also use them to crush up pills or something.

Misto Gourmet Brushed Aluminum Olive Oil Sprayer

I use olive oil (or EVOO, actually, as Rachel Ray would say) in almost all of my cooking.  And yet I have never once used an olive oil sprayer.  Apparently, you use this to spray oil evenly on vegetables and breads.  Pfft.

But you can also use it to spray olive oil on your pans – like, instead of PAM.  GENIUS!  Have to have one!  Now!

8-Piece Glass Prep Bowl Set

Deanna has these.  Rachel Ray has these.  Martha freaking Stewart has these.

I?  Do not have these.  Every time I go to buy them I think “really?  Pinch bowls?  Aren’t Emma’s little Dora bowls just as good?”  Something tells m that Rachel and Martha would say “no, no they are not.”

And they would also probably faint dead away at the suggestion.

Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press

Will someone please explain to me how I have lived this long without a garlic press?  I suspect that garlic salt and garlic powder and those little glass jars of diced garlic are just not the same as real garlic that has been pressed.

OXO Salad Spinner

I don’t even know what a salad spinner does – I mean, aside from the obvious – but I know that I want one.  I eat salad, so therefore I must need one.

Mario Batali The Italian Kitchen Collection Silicone Large Basting Brush,

OH!  I actually DO know what to do with a basting brush!

How don’t I own a basting brush?!?!  MY GOD IT’S A WONDER WE EVER EAT IN THIS HOUSE!

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Post tags: cooking, for the home, gadgets, gifts for the home, kitchen gadgets, kitchens, utensils