I was just given a Bath & Bodyworks foaming hand cleaner & it smells wonderful! Nephew's wife was using it & I said it smelled so good! Not like the normal kind. So I went to their site & they have all kinds. Mine is coconut, lime, verbena in 1.7 oz bottle & just takes a quick pump smells like a nice lotion. They have sale online right now for some wonderful sounding sanitizers for 3 for $10. I'm going to store to see which ones I would like. Another little gift for your relatives gift bag that is nice is to type up or handwrite your 5 favorite Christmas breads, candies you make,cookies, or punches, hot or cold. I put them on cards & slid each into a plastic sleeve & punch small hole in corner & tie them together with a small length of satin ribbon with bow to finish it off. I always do this for wedding showers when I give bread pan, cookie sheet, muffin pans or cake pans so new bride has some "tried & true" recipes even if she didn't get a cookbook as a gift. I hear from brides yrs later, I was at a gathering recently when someone walked up & said she still uses, my recipes! I gave them to her 30 yrs ago!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my goggles that are the kind meant for chopping onions. They're so cute too, being pink. You put those suckers on and will never shed another tear for an onion! :) I also love my mini (Cuisinart?) food chopper. It's like a tiny version of the standard size and is just a heck of a lot easier to use when you're chopping something small enough like nuts or bread (for bread crumb toppings), etc. The one I have was a hand-me-down so pretty old...so any tiny one would do I'm guessing. I love my Zyliss rotary cheese grater, and also my microplane grater/zester for smaller jobs like just grating fresh parm. on some pasta that's already on my plate. It could do some bigger jobs too though as these things work VERY well and fast! I love gigantic tongs (the all-metal kind that pro cooks use).

This is an interesting thread. My favorite kitchens items are large Pyrex measuring cups (4 and 8 cup size)to use as mixing bowels---you have a handle to steady them. Next is the APPLE CORER that cuts the apple into 8 wedges and the center core is separate. These can be bought at the grocery store or Target. Next is a flexible little nozzle you screw onto the end of your kitchen faucet. You can turn it in many angles to direct the water to different areas of your sink. Much handier than pulling out the sprayer. I don't know where my daughter bought it. HD bought one of those onion choppers but the many little square holes are hard to clean. The onion sticks to it--takes longer to clean than to chop the old fashion way.

I wanted to chime in on this thread. I make yogurt regularly and have been for several years. Atleast 2-3 times a week. And I do not use a thermometer. I have also studied the dairy science of making yogurt professionally and despite all the math, it boils down to providing a comfortable pasturized medium for the bacteria to grow. Here is the easy recipe if you will that I wrote up for some other friends.. I usually make 1/4 gallon. But it really does not matter as you just need a longer time to "set" yogurt if you use more milk. Use ultra-pasterized organic milk (I usually pick up Horizon's or Costco or Stermicks or whatever is available on sale that week at my store). Heat the milk. If heating on stove top use a stainless steel pot with thick bottom. You can also heat in a microwave. If you are heating on stove top, use low heat and stir frequently to prevent milk from scorching and prevent the skin from forming. With a microwave, you need to eyeball it until you figure out the math for your microwave (how much milk in what casserole for how many minutes). The milk is heated enough when you can see steam arising steadily. If you put a drop of milk on your wrist, it should feel hot. Now take remove the pot from heat and let cool. You are ready to add the yogurt culture when the milk feels lukewarm (give the milk a good stir and do the wrist test again). Don't worry about specific temperature, as long as it feels luke warm and tepid, the yogurt will set. Add the culture. For the first time you can use a commmercial culture like Yogourmet (available at wholefoods for me). Use just 1 packet and follow instructions to mix the powder in a bit of milk and pour it into the pot. For subsequent times, you can save a few tbsps of the made yogurt and use it as culture for the next times. My current culture is going strong for 3 years. Mix the culture throughly and put the lid back on the pot. Keep it in a reasonably warm place. If you warmed the milk in the microwave, you can just mix the culture and leave it in there. If you live in a cooler climate, you can leave it in the oven with the ligh on. Or just cover the pot with some dish towels. Do not move/ disturb the pot too much. The yogurt will set. How long --> depends on ambient temperature (cool --> longer, warm --> sooner). Check after 3-4 hrs to see if the yogurt is set. Tilt the pot slightly to see if is liquid still or solid. You will often see a small layer of whey on top when it is set. You can put it in the fridge when it is set to stop the bacteria growth. Some Q&A: Yogurt is a bit sour Home made yogurt is not sweetened and can be a bit more sour. It will also be more sour if the milk was too warm or the place you set it is too warm (the oven or the room in summers). Just try setting it with slightly cooler milk and move it to the fridge sooner (good tip for warm summer) Yogurt takes too long to set Try with warmer milk and a more insulated area. My friend in cold canadian north uses a yogurt cosy (adapted from a tea cosy)she made to give the milk a nice ambient temperature. Why ultra pasturized organic milk Ultra pasturized basically means that the milk has been super heated to get rid of most bacteria (which explains the long shelf life of milk here). This actually makes it easier for home yogurt making as basically all you need to do is to get the milk to ambient temperature to introduce your yogurt culture/ bacteria. I usually heat it a bit more as my milk container has usually been opened and used for a couple of days. Organic is just my choice for my family. Milk and dairy products is one of the things I personally believe that it is a better choice to use organic. I NEED to know the science. This feels too "go with the flow" You asked for it. The science in yogurt making is simply to pasturize milk to kill any present microorganisms/ bacteria and then re-introduce the preferred bacteria culture that makes yogurt. When using a thermometer, heating milk to between 165 and 180 degrees Farenheit for a few minutes is basically same as ultra pasturization. This also denatures milk proteins so that they all set together as opposed to forming lumpy curds. Then the milk is cooled to 110 degrees Farenheit which is the best ambient temperature to incubate the usual yougurt bacteria (lactobacillus acidophillus, bulgaris) etc. The fermentation occurs over a period of 4-7 hrs. I want thicker yogurt Many store brands use gelatin. I don't like it as I feel it is too goopy. You can instead mix non-fat dry milk in the milk and mix it throughly (no lumps) before heating. You can start with 1/3 cup and then experiment to see how thick you want the yogurt. Also using whole milk will make thicker yogurt. Basically more solids in the milk (either fat or the solid non-fat), thicker the yogurt. Thicker yogurt will take slightly longer to set. Straining is another way to thicker after the yogurt is set. Nice but too much work IMHO. Flavored yogurt You can add pureed fruits to the mixture or jam even. I prefer to just add fresh fruit and other things like nuts, agave syrup or honey to dress the yogurt later. I usually find that the set of the yogurt sometimes gets wonky if you corrupt the milk before the culture is added. Can I use cute single serving jars This makes it a bit tricky to make sure the culture is evenly distributed and the ambient temperature is maintained for the fermentation. Results are sometimes not consistent. Suggest you try one of the yogurt makers in the market which already has the glass single serving jars. Try adding culture individually to each jar (same amount) to get consistent setting. Microwave Method please My friend simply boils milk in microwave oven till 180 to 185F (15.5mins for her corelle container in our microwave)wait it cools down to 110F to 120F. Just keep the warm innoculated milk in the oven that was pre-heated to 170 and SWITCHED OFF.