Not sure I can call it "fun" but DH gave me a Breville toaster oven. The old Oster still worked but the temperatures were getting inconsistent. I haven't even looked at the booklet yet, need to do that to see what's special about it other than the look of quality it has about it - just looks well made.

Santa brought me a cook, complete with her own kitchen and a list of recipes I've never even tried to cook. Yeah, this was the best Christmas ever!

Reusable silicone sous vide bags.

Nice, thanks Santa, and safe trip back to North Pole!

dcarch

Santa brought me a cast iron grill wok. I love it but I just wish Santa would have brought it when my garden was producing so I could put it to use now! It's like getting new fishing gear for Christmas. lol

My favorite gift was the Epic Tomatoes book. I read the first 2 chapters yesterday and if I didn't make myself quit reading I would have probably finished it.

I didn't receive any gifts, but I gifted DD and DS some of my favorites and one new item that I would have liked, but don't need. DD got a new Breville Smart Air oven. Rita, I can assure you that Breville makes a fabulous oven and their new smart air was the one I was jonesing for. I bought an earlier version 4 years ago and use it constantly. It's perfect for cooking for two! I would have liked the Smart Air for the ability to dehydrate and air fry, but couldn't justify buying it to replace a perfectly good $250 oven. So I bought it for DD and family.

Both kids also got Epicure cutting boards, (another personal fave) and silicone baking sheets/pan liners.

I've had it on my wish list for years and years.... now I have a dehydrator and nothing to dehydrate but snow. :)

I got some pink masterclass cookie sheets and cake pan,some pink chantal heart shaped ramekins, a pink pizza pan, and some pretty pink tupperware. And a pink handled knife set.

ETA: I want the pink masterclass saucepans as well. But they, like the cookie sheets can only be found on eBay and are RIDULOUSLY expensive. Like, 65 bucks for a small one expensive. I still may get them though. My birthday is right around the corner......

I bought myself an early Christmas gift on Black Friday. A Farberware 6 qt air fryer oven. And I LOVE it! Absolutely perfect for cooking for one (or two)! !

Rusty

Ricky, a cook?! Do tell details. (I could use a housekeeper)....we do clean as we cook and the kitchen is almost always spotless at counter height...all other rooms and floors, disaster.

Presentable for holiday guests but DH's study is full of crap/crates/boxes.

DH has been wanting a pastry cutter, then I found the one I bought him last Christmas...so we have two. (eye roll, lol)

The past few years we have been replacing old tired crueset and ceramic bakers with Staub. Such a pleasure. All purchased cyber week. Leather pot holders, new linen napkins, fresh dish towels, new set of excellent chopsticks, A dozen thin skinny 'tea' spoons that fit in my spice jars....

A few new good chef knives.

How did you know? Santa asked me what I wanted (besides the ability to wash clothes without scrubbing by hand, which did come on Christmas Eve). I told him I wanted a dwarf Mexican lime in a tub, but also mentioned the automatic sifter attachment for the KA. I've always wanted an electric sifter, but not one of those battery op ones, and the only ones I could find were the really really expensive, if beautiful, German one meant to separate the bran out of freshly milled flour and one meant to sift whole bags of flour looking for stones, meant for people who keep the extremes of kosher practice. I forgot to bring it home after the party yesterday, so I haven't really looked at it. I hope it's not just a toy.... It has a scale attached (detachable), btw, so you can weigh and sift right into the bowl. That part looks awkward hanging off the motor head, but it might turn out handy. I doubt it'll replace my Joseph Joseph pillbug scale with the scoopish bowl. But it might be handy just to have a second scale, too, especially for those odd hybrid recipes that call for both pounds and grams, which means a lot of cycling the units button.

And if a bit of snow counts...just two inches enough to chill my fish stock! and not use up my freezer cocktail cubes...

Yes, Compumom, it's the Breville Smart Oven Pro, is that the same thing? It has a convection oven, but I don't think that's anything special nowadays. But it has along with the normal functions of toast, bake, broil and warm: roast, reheat, slow cook, and pizza. (I really don't know what the difference between roast and bake are.) I skimmed through the booklet, I'll have to look again for anything about dehydrating.

Wishing you all happiness, Ricky!

I got:

- Instant read meat thermometer (a Thermapen knock-off, has nifty magnets to hold it to the range)

- Kitchen scale (my last one died a watery death)

- Spatula

- Nutmeg grinder (hmm, this looks more like something SWMBO wanted)

- Wok (will return this, I'm loyal to my old ugly wok)

- "ROK" manual lever type espresso machine (SWMBO appears to support my new espresso interest, but since I have, ahem, two commercial espresso machines in the garage, I'm not seeing a long-term role for this - I suspect it will eventually find its way to DD).

Santa knows my kitchen is pretty well overflowing with stuff and TBH even if pressed I don’t think I could come up with an idea for a kitchen thing I really want, but at our family Secret Santa I got a really interesting looking book called “The Seven Culinary Wonders of the World, A History of Pork, Honey, Salt, Chilli, Rice, Cacao and Tomato”. I really enjoy books like this so I’m looking forward to reading it.

Silicone pie crust savers (yea no more torn up pieces of foil) and a nice set of Russian frosting tips. And.....a old rusty Griswold cast iron 12 in skillet...I can sand and season myself. LOL. A cookie scoop as I broke mine. A pressure cooker that hasn't arrived yet (shame on Amazon) and a new cookie sheet. These are all things I've mentioned at one time or another...I see my son really does listen when I talk.

GD gave me a bag of black garlic bulbs . Suppose to be very different. She had tried them and thought I would like the taste.

A new instant read thermometer to replace my broken Thermapen. Way cheaper and it is faster, I like it better than the Thermapen. It's a Lavatools Javelin PT12.Javelin PT12

Ricky, it looks like you might have a very Happy New Year indeed! I was thinking of you at the Agricultural Expo, where I picked up this bumper sticker:

Elery and I bought each other a freezer last month and agreed it was a Christmas gift, so that's kind of food related. And Ashley had this shirt made just for me. Of course, I'll never wear it out in public but everyone got a huge laugh out of it:

Yeah, OK, I know. My family is just a bit different, LOL.

Annie

I dare you to wear it in public! (I would :-D)

Something I have secretly longed for! A KA mixer and the perfect color. My old one fell off the counter and broke a good while ago but honestly, I hardly ever used it. But I was so happy to receive it and may use it more now!

Rita, I believe the one that you received is the oven that I'm so very happy with. It's not the one that I gifted to DD and family. If you want the dehydrate and air fryer, it's a bit of an upcharge, but BB&B lets you use a 20% off coupon.

My daughter gifted me a turquoise KA, I've wanted a KA for years -- like 30! I gifted her 2 crueset bake pans - she was happy esp that I had gotten her white. Said they were her first pieces and something about "having" to stick to the color you are first gifted . . . long story about how others have hard time finding forest green. I picked white as her dishes are white and easy to mix and match. I gave my DIL some airbake pans at her request. (they don't believe in spending on gifts and often buy then at thrift stores - I got her NEW pans!)

Annie - I love that shirt!!! I think it would be great shirt to wear out in public at the right event like the agriculture expo or county fair competition.

I popped into this thread to see what new toys I may need. I want Annie's shirt! I have a jar problem. Lol

pm_50- when you are at the store grab some grapes. One of my favorite things to make is raisins in my dehydrator. So yummy.

Will do, Terri_PacNW. I also got some great new non-stick frying pans in a variety of shapes, sizes, and types. Still more gifts to be opened today and tomorrow. :)

I got a cast iron muffin pan. I love the crust on cornbread, and this should really up the crust-to-interior ratio!

I'd like to give DH the canning shirt -- but he would forget and wear it in the wrong place -- run to the store, where you of course run into the people you know who would not appreciate it. LOL Maybe it wouldn't hurt them to lighten up. ;)

I got a glass bowl for my new KA 100 Anniversary mixer. I've never used or wanted a tilt head, but I loved the color and I still have the 7qt lift bowl workhorse. I gave my 5 qt pro to my son. Bought a couple of things for myself before hand.

I gifted more kitchen items -- Instant pot, glasses and utensils for my younger son who has a new place and new job, a cutting board and wrap dispenser for DH. If the wrap dispenser and cuter works well, I will be gifting more down the road.

I've been thinking of making my own pasta for years and over Thanksgiving we made some. Simple and easy, EXCEPT rolling it out. I hate rolling out dough anyway and pasta has to be rolled so thin! So... I used a gift card I received to buy the pasta roller attachment for my KA mixer. I haven't used it yet but I plan to use it not only for pasta, but for pie crusts as well.

Lowspark, I think you will enjoy using that attachment., So far, it is probably our most used and appreciated attachment. Never used it for a pie crust though - It is limited to a few inches wide strips, so that may work for some things and not others. Enjoy playing with it.

Jack, I KNEW you'd appreciate that shirt, LOL. My family thinks it's funny as heck, and my girls tell their kids not to stand still or I might can them. (grin) But I still don't think I can wear it out in public. Well, some of the things I see on t-shirts, I guess mine is pretty mild, but still.....

Lowspark, welcome back, I haven't seen you here in a while, I'm happy to see you again. I have that attachment but usually use my hand cranked Atlas. I have some trouble with the texture of the dough with the KA, and I'm not dexterous enough to feed dough in the top, catch it as it's coming out the bottom and cut it off before it gets to be 6 feet long, all simultaneously. When you first start using it, an extra pair of hands is not a bad thing to have around.

Annie

Welcome back to old friends Lowspark (May) and Terri PacNW. It's been ages since I've seen you both. It's great to see you here!

Yes! Hello again, May and Terri!

DH gave me the 3 piece Jenaluca scoop set. I haven’t used them yet, they seem really nice. Annie, I love your T shirt.

MJ

My well-meaning teen DS got DH an air fryer. I'm not sure why... I don't fry anything, and my DH doesn't cook. But I'm determined to find use for it, since DS was so excited when it was opened. If anyone has suggestions...

Also I picked up this grater from Ikea for myself prior to the holidays. It was a whim, as I'm not prone to buying gadgets. But I love it! I've used it a few times to grate cheese for fondue. I'm just tickled by it.

Feathers11 The fun thing about air fryers is that you can pretend to eat those long lost fried items with just a spritz of spray oil instead of deep frying! Things like buttermilk chicken rolled in WW panko and a little spray of oil tastes like real fried chicken. I've made egplant parm with the most wonderfully crunchy EP instead of mushy semi baked EP. French fries! One of my favorites is a small red or white potato cooked in the microwave til just soft, then make some criss cross cuts and smush the poatao. A spritz of oil and into the air fryer. Nice crunchy top! Yum!

Thank you, Nancyjane. The criss cross cuts sound like a good first try... I love anything potato.

Older son gave me a jar of canned chestnuts and a favorite recipe for chestnut soup. I plan to make it this coming week.

Of course, the time honored post-Christmas tradition is to shop the post-Christmas sales for the kitchen stuff that Santa didn't bring ...

mjocean, I LOVE my Jenaluca cookie scoops. The smallest one doesn't get used very much but the other two are used nearly constantly, for everything from cookies to muffins to cupcakes to cake balls to truffles, and I had them a couple of years and they haven't even blinked at the stiffest doughs or the constant scooping of Christmas goodies. I ought to advertise for them, LOL.

John Liu, I've been staying away from Macy's, Sur La Table and their ilk, but my willpower is waning...

Annie

I noticed that Santa didn't bring me a sous vide stick. But aaaaall the cool kids have one! Well, my birthday is in three months ago I may simply have to up the volume.

"----I noticed that Santa didn't bring me a sous vide stick.---"

Making steaks for dinner tonight.

I need the steaks to be perfect and be served at perfect time.

So, the steaks are in sous vide cooker set at 129F. They will be broiled just 5 minutes before dinner when guests are seated, whenever that happens to be.

No cold steaks after "resting". No waiting, No stress. No chance of messing up $75 of prime beef.

dcarch

Bacon.

My brother brought home the bacon... er, he sent off some frozen foodie bacon my way, prepped with different smoking techniques.

Earlier for my birthday (the beginning of the previous month) he'd sent me smoked game birds. So, I took two of the quail, wrapped them in bacon, baked in oven as per the quail directions, then removed the foil and broiled for 3-4 minutes to crispy it all up. Yummy.

Kitchen tools this year? None but that's okay. I bought myself a sous vide last spring, and once I get my pantry built, I'm probably going for an Instant Pot. Or, maybe that Ninja Foodie, which also incorporates an air fryer. But I'm still peeved at my (expensive) Ninja coffee maker that died after six months of standard usage.

I love the sous vide, although I have yet to test certain things in it. It actually makes chicken breast taste good since you don't have to overcook major portions of it to make sure the deep interior is not undercooked.

I haven't used it for making steaks for company as everyone seems to like steaks cooked to drastically different done-ness (and I only have one sous vide, not three). I simply opt out of sharing steaks with others!

PS: I'd love 129 F!

Santa brought me other stuff so I ordered some that he forgot - a new stainless steel powdered sugar / flour sifter (replacing the one I was gifted for my wedding in 1965!!!) and a kitchen blow torch. Hungry for lemon and lime pie with loads of meringue that needs to be almost burnt. This torch has a hand safety guard and a thick foot so it won't fall over - hopefully. I also found a recipe for French Holiday Nougat that uses a torch while it is being beaten to dry it "a bit more" it says - so let's see if I can burn up my KA too???

I recently bought a stainless steel powdered sugar/flour sifter - I use it for flour. I had been using a plastic one before.

This year I bought myself some OXO Good Grips mixing bowls, which I wanted because they have pouring spouts. Also, they weigh a lot less than my glass mixing bowls, and they have rubber bases, which prevents them from sliding around on the counter. I decided that mixing bowls do not have to be clear, and it is so much easier to pour batters, etc. from these bowls. My sister gave me The Spice Cookbook, which was published in 1964, I think. I remember that she had a copy of it in 1972, and I wanted it back then. I think it is still good, but I've not read it yet. Kevin and I bought some whole mace at an art fair last month, and maybe this cookbook will have some good recipes for it. We also bought some fresh cardamom - what I had was getting old. There was a spice vendor at the art sale, which we did not expect. I gave Kevin the coffee roaster this year, but so far he's only roasted on batch, but then we were out of town most of last week.