My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets (Pt. 1)

I've recently started collecting kitchen gadgets to make cooking easier and more enjoyable.  Here are a few things I've acquired that I particularly like.

Ceramic Knife - I have never fallen in love with a knife before.  But I fell in love with this one.  It is so sharp.  (It comes with a cover so you don't nick yourself when you reach for it in the drawer.  One thing I have always hated is trying to make matchstick thin slices of peppers.  But with this little baby, it is not a chore at all.  It is fast and easy.

Travel Knife - I didn't (and still don't) understand the need for this.  What?  Am I going to be out somewhere and suddenly have a need for a kitchen knife???  Out of the blue someone is going to run up and need me to chop some vegetables on a street corner?  Who knows.  What I like about this knife, much like the ceramic knife, is that it has a cover.  But this cover locks so it won't accidentally fall off.  But the knife is sharp and makes chopping onions a little more tolerable.

Grater - It has three interchangeable blades in order to shred (or slice) in a variety of textures.  I love this because it makes it so much easier to put cheese on your pasta, put chocolate on top of a cake, etc.  And it works wonders with garlic and ginger root.

Stainless Steel Soap - Ever spend a good deal of time working with onions and garlic?  You know how, no matter how hard you try or how much you wash, you just can't get that garlic/onion smell off your hands?  Well, this is your solution.  Rub this small piece of stainless steel "soap" in your hands and within seconds that smell is gone.  (It also works to get the smell of bleach off your hands after a rigorous cleaning frenzy too!)

Food Processor - As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had a little Ultimate Chopper which is basically a miniature food processor.  You can chop maybe a quarter of a small onion at once.  It is great for small jobs or if you're cooking only for yourself.  But there comes a time when you need a major heavy duty food processor.  Well, I got one yesterday.  It has a 12 cup bowl, a 4 cup bowl, a slicing disc, a shredding disc, the regular mixing/chopping blade, and two different sized feed holes.  All I have done with it so far is slice a tomato.  But it sliced it so well that I was awe struck.  Looking forward to using it for something major very soon.

Mini Salt & Pepper Grinders - Magnetic and hang on the hood right above my stove.  Not too convenient if you're looking to add a good deal of salt or pepper to something.  But if you just need a dash on top of something to finish it off, then these are perfect.

Salt & Pepper Grinders - Larger, heavy duty grinders.  You get a lot more salt and pepper out of these.  And I have become . . . snooty about my salt and pepper.  None of that iodized table salt and powdery pre-ground black pepper for me any more.  Oh no!  I am totally stuck on freshly ground sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  It's the snob in me I guess.