How was your holiday weekend? Mine was pretty good – good eats pretty much always equals good times. Did you get any nice Easter goodies? Now that I’m a bit older, I don’t get that much candy anymore. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because I tend to either forget about it completely or inhale it all in a two hour span. I did get some awesome dishware, but I have no idea where I’m gonna put it when I’m not using it. This is a common problem in my kitchen; I have so much stuff that there simply isn’t enough room for it all.
The Portion Cooking Spoon with Measuring Tools (Amazon, $9.06) is another example of my favorite type of product, the two-fer. Instead of stocking your kitchen with multiple measuring cups, why not use just one? This spoon not only has measurements in the silicone spoon (half teaspoon, teaspoon, tablespoon) but it also features a hollow clear plastic handle that holds wet or dry ingredients (up to 1/4 cup). So you get two different ways to measure in one convenient gadget and you can even use this spoon to stir your creation after you’re done measuring. I guess that makes it a three-fer.
Please don’t use this spoon to carve out anyone’s heart.
5 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 12″ x 3.5″ x 1″
-Capacity: 1/4 cup (handle); 1 tbsp (spoon)
-Plastic handle holds wet or dry ingredients
-Seal prevents spills
-Easy pour
-Made of food safe plastic and silicone
As I get older, I’ve stopped going out and getting all crazy in my downtime. Instead of going to a crowded bar at midnight and fighting to buy overpriced drinks, I’d much rather stay at home with a glass of wine. I mean, not only am I spending money but I’m also being healthy because red wine has many restorative properties. Yup, that’s why I’m drinking it, for the health reasons.
Regardless of your reasons for drinking the vino, there is one universal problem: the drip. Every time I pour a glass of wine, I fall victim to the drip. The drop stains counter tops and tablecloths with wild abandon – it must be stopped! The DropStop Wine Pour Spout (Vat19, $3.99) is a flexible disc that, when inserted in a wine bottle, cuts off the flow of liquid as soon as the bottle is lifted. Why is that important? That, my friends, is the key to defeating the drip. You get two discs per set and each disc is reusable as well as certified food safe. Simply roll the disc into a cylindrical shape and insert half of it into the bottle. Voila! Instant no-spill spout!
As an added plus, you won’t have to deal with constantly uncorking and re-corking the bottle.
4 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 2.75″ diameter
-No more wine spills
-Includes 2 discs per set
-Flexible to fit any size wine bottle
-Reusable
-Certified food safe
-Made in Denmark
Our friends over at Perpetual Kid have some truly awesome stuff, so we thought we’d do a top 10 list just for them!
Top 10 Salt & Pepper Shakers
Do you have pets? I do – two cats. I love those little furballs, but they are the main source of my constant need to clean. Maybe if I had carpet instead of hardwood floors it wouldn’t be so obvious that their tumbleweeds of hair blow through my house like it’s a ghost town. I wonder how they cleaned up in the old west?
I bet they wish they had the Broom Groom Broom Cleaning Dustpan (Amazon, $12.99) for occasions such as these. The worst thing about sweeping has got to be the gross stuff that gets stuck between the broom bristles – if you leave it there your floor won’t ever get clean, but who wants to touch that? This dustpan solves that problem by integrating rubber teeth into the back panel so all you have to do is pull the broom through them to clean. A built-in foot pedal on the handle keeps the dustpan in place whilst cleaning to further ensure a hands-free experience.
I could probably make a whole new cat out of the hair I’ve swept up just this week.
5 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 12.2″ x 14.5″ x 3″
-Hands free broom cleaning
-Rubber teeth clean broom bristles
-Foot pedal built into dustpan handle
-Made of plastic with rubber accents
As a master chef, or rather a cooking enthusiast of the novice variety, I make a lot of messes. You can try all you want, but you don’t usually have time to be meticulous whilst cooking. I can deal with the fact that I generally need to hose down the kitchen after a particularly tasty meal. What I really hate is trying to scrub off cooked on grease from my counter top and stove – it’s a pain in the ass.
Unless you want to stop cooking splatter-inducing foods entirely, you’ll have to come up with a better solution than a top to bottom scrub down at the end of the night. The Non Stick Splatter Shield (Taylor Gifts, $8.98) will keep your cooking surfaces safe with its handy folding design. Simply place the splatter guard around the dish you are cooking and the mess will be contained within that area. That means you’ll pretty much only have to clean that one section instead of the whole stove. It also means that if you’re cooking a separate dish on the adjacent burner, it won’t be covered in unwanted splatter.
The shield itself is obviously open on one side to allow access to the stove top so that means that while your stove is splatter-free, you are not. Perhaps you could invest in a welder’s mask?
4 out of 5 stars.
Specs:
-Dimensions: 9.5″ x 8″
-Splatter guard
-Nonstick
-Wipe clean
-Made of coated metal
