Well, I guess it's fund raiser time again, because my manager's wife (she works there too, in a different department) just brought in a book of stuff her daughter was selling. I never buy from those things, but I wanted to "be a sport" since everyone else was doing it... I stayed far away from the candy/cookies (they had labels for snickerdoodles and sugar cookies transposed on the wrong pictures!)... I got something called a bash and chop. It was only 6.50, cheaper than the 14.50 Vanilla Ginger candle I also got :o) It's kind of a bench scraper/prep taxi with a sharp edge. I thought it would be useful for cleaning the countertop after baking something with dough (I have a plastic pan scraper version I've used before that worked well) and for transporting ingredients for soup to the stock pot. I don't know how much real cutting I will be able to do with it, but I like my knives anyway :o) It has one curled edge to form the handle and numbers on the business end for measuring... has anyone used one before? Jude, I tried some silicone tongs before and the silly things wouldn't hold on to anything I tired to grab with them. I hated my silicone bakeware and threw the tongs and bakeware out on the same day, banishing silicone from my kitchen "forever". Well, I guess not because dollar store pastry brushes still reside in the drawer and I've gotten a lot of use out of them. Maybe I should check out the Zyliss... I don't have any Zyliss products! I tend to stick with Oxo and Farberware. Cookie, do you have the green garlic thing with the teeth inside that was an "as seen on TV" thing. I got one a few months ago and I do prefer it to the garlic press.

This is a neat thread -- I'm a gadget freak, but mostly the are hand-powered type. But electric... On the counter and used daily: Small microwave Can opener that actually opens tall cans [I have arthritis and manual openers are a literal pain to use.] DH's 2-cup coffee maker 2-slice toaster; why don't they make 3-slice toasters? Small toaster oven which I *never* use but DH does -rarely-I keep trying to get it off the counter and that reminds him he wants to use it. In a convenient cabinet and used at least weekly: 3 qt crockpot, the standard deep type. I'd love an oval shape that would be easier to use for lasagna or roasts. Bread machine, the one that makes regular-shaped loaves. I wore out 2 and killed one before this darlin'. Electric knife. Heavy-duty handheld KitchenAid mixer. I killed seven and severely injured another 5 in between my original Sunbeam (which worked well for almost 30 years) and getting this one. A mini-chopper. Location, location, location. Right now it's in a bad neighborhood-when it's on the counter it's used daily. Waffle iron -- this should go into the seasonal storage. In storage but used seasonally or often enough to be worth the space: 5 qt crockpot, another 3-qt would be more useful; 2-qt would be wonderful but are apparently non-existent. 1 qt crockpot, actually used fairly often but not enough to rate good storage space. Immersible blender- it lives in a worse neighborhood than the minichopper. Large KitchenAid food processor... if I had more counterspace, it would be out. Probably put it where that toaster oven is. Deep fryer [some day it will go into the yard sale box] Vittoria tomato saucer - I'd give up the food processor before I let go of this! Deli-style meat slicer; it was great for meats and cheeses, but now the littluns have grown up, it should go to the yard sale. A pot-stirrer. Naturally, after I got it, I discovered the crockpots are great for making jam and fruit butters without stirring. Vacuum packer for freezer bags -- not really satisfactory. This is the only appliance that I'm totally sorry I bought. Vacuum breadkeeper: a bad purchase because the seals quickly wore out. Not really worth the effort of fixing. Electric frying pan. I used it daily when I had an electric stove, but now I've got a gas stove and this pan should be in the go-box. Mini-frying pan, same as above. Dehydrator. Yes, it's used. Rice steamer. Takes 40 minutes; family can't tell the difference from 20-minute boiled rice, but this thing never burns the rice. I use it more when the microwave is dead - it's okay for re-heating vegs. Blender, used it when I had it; don't miss it now it's gone. Yoghurt maker, ditto above. I have wanted for years and can't find: the machine that vacuum seals cans. Hmmm, maybe I should look into those mason jars...

I had a Chinese ceramic spoon go down my disposal once. I had to take the whole darn thing apart to get the chips that were wedged between the wall of the disposal and the grinding plate. Believe me, I am very careful with my Chinese spoons now. As for treasured kitchen gadgets, I bought a bunch of tiny glass bowls from the dollar store. They hold about a third of a cup, and I use them many times a day. They're perfect for giving my cats a small treat, for one thing. For another, when I'm prepping to make a meal, they're wonderful for holding quantities of crushed garlic, ginger, spices, chopped herbs etc until ready to use. I make a lot of Indian foods, which often require that a variety of spices be added at several different times during the cooking process, and things go much more easily if I pre-measure the spices into these little bowls. They're also great to hold small quantities of dipping sauces/spice mixtures for the dining table. One by one, they'd get broken though. As you never know what is going to be offered at the dollar store, I panicked and went down and bought up several more packs of them (they come in packs of 4). Now, thinking about it, I'm getting nervous and think I will go down and buy several more! :D

It's a really useful gadget! Just this last week I made two batches of Date Nut Pinwheel Cookies, and used it for processing the dates into bits so it would cook down quickly. It was also used for pulverizing cookies into crumbs for truffles, and I made fresh bread crumbs, combined with cold butter which I put in the freezer to use at a later time. I'm making pizza later this week and always use it for my dough, along with the crust I use for pie or tarts. I also grate parmesan and other cheeses, make dressing and chop vegs like broccoli, where I don't really care what size it all turns out. It's wonderful for chopping nuts, although I usually also put those through a strainer to get rid of the nut dust. It's been used to turn sugar into fine granulated sugar, and I always grind oatmeal into coarse flour before adding it to cookies or pancakes. I think it's best for things you really want to shred, pulverize, emulsify or turn into dough. Now that I've had one, I'd never be without it and would replace it in a heartbeat.