ottawa foodies

alright, time to confess. my cupboards are full of gadgets and things that i never use, but think i ought to.

i have my garlic masher which works wonders, and i bring it out about six times a week. other than that though, my gadgets get used few and far between. mostly they're just cute.

so, i saw this today (an egg timer!) and thought "i must have it". the question is, would i use it??

anyway, any gadgets that you or your spouse are ashamed of but will never give up?

(yeah, mostly this topic is here because i wanted to share the lego greatness...but obviously there are other things like this!)

It would have to be my cuistotmetric: ottawafoodies.com

It hangs on my wall, looks sad, but adds character to my kitchen.

We have all kinds of baking & pastry making crap in my kitchen that I have no clue about, but the SO seems to think it's all necessary. I have no clue when it comes to making pastries (consuming them - different story!)

We're not ashamed per se, but an unnecessary gadget we have is an olive de-pitter (forget their technical name). Actually works pretty well (imo) & looks gadgetty-nice, but its hard to think of it as a necessity.

Lady Who Brunches - Think you'd use the "egg" timer if it was more of a timer than just a specific one designed for eggs.

Currently I use the timer on the stove / microwave, but the downside is I can't always hear it from other spots in the house (if I choose not to hang out in the kitchen).

At least with the one that you've shown here, you could take it with you and know (hear) if it went off... I used to own a timer like that, think I need to replace it.

LWB, I must admit your Lego man egg timer is indeed cute, and I expect useful when timing an egg. I can't quite figure out just what Chimi's "cuistometric" actually is or does but I sense it's uselessness. I think I might like to have one of those olive pitters - wouldn't that be a useful tool to own, especially when faced with hurriedly pitting a cup of olives? My own unnecessary gadgets, a pair of them as you can see, are an empanada press and a perogy press. I have made both and never have I used the presses so I don't even know if they work well or not. I bought them maybe 15 years ago from a neighbouring girl who was selling kitchen stuff for a school fundraiser and they've sat in a basement "Kitchen Stuff" box for 13 years or more; I submit them as my unnecessary kitchen gadget.

Chimi, I'd never heard of a cuistotmetric but this is the second time this week I've seen one on an Ottawa blog... weird...(although this is not REALLY a blog but ...)

Tiana - who the heck else owns a Cuistotmetric in Ottawa? Send me the link!

It's handy for imperial-metric conversions on the fly, great if you own any British cookbooks.

I sent you a pm

The two things that I regularly get "critized" for having in my kitchen are a meat slicer and a set of pasta spoons and forks, ie: forks specifically designed for twirling long pasta. Both things may be unnecessary, but damn they are handy!

A sandwich press i didn't really want but felt I had to purchase at one of those awful home parties--used it once.

Andy, re "...those olive pitters - wouldn't that be a useful tool to own, especially when faced with hurriedly pitting a cup of olives?". The answer is yes, i think you're right -- they are actually kind of efficient for novice pitters (myself). End of the day, though, they're not essential and i wonder if the experts would turn their noses up at 'em, sort of like you seem to have done w/ your perogi presses? ;-)

i can't be the only person who fell hype to the george foreman grill ('george foreman grilled cheese maker'). either that or a melon baller.

Tracinho: meat slicer in the kitchen = bad ass!

You're right itchy feet - and thanks for the chuckle I had at my own expense. By way of explanation (and in my inadequate defense) my thinking was of the pain-in-the-butt depitting of Kalamatas when I need 3/4 cup of chopped olives or more - some of them are so darn hard to pit. Of course, now I find it much easier to buy them in jars already pitted for such occasions, meaning I have no need of a useless pitter! Mind you, I still buy them with pits too.

Trachino - I think I need to see a photo of that fork!

Monty: Glad to hear of a kindred spirit!

Tiana: Apparently these things are rarer than I thought as I couldn't find anything remotely close on Google. The Forks have three tines, the outside two have tips that are slightly slanted in opposite direction (so that when you twirl it picks up the noodles). The middle tine is blunt and rounded and fits into a circular depression in the middle of the spoon, so that you can rotate the fork within this depression. It actually works. Honest.

monty I have one of those grills (mine is actually a Hamilton Beach) and I actually use it. I grill everything on it - sandwiches, steaks, hamburgers, you name it - and I dream about what it would be like having a bbq. Damn apartment living!

Tracinho those pasta forks sound like something I "must" have!

Wooden pizza/bread peel I HAD to buy at Russell but rarely use.

Also have a wooden pizza/bread peel I almost never use. Pizzas here go from stone to plate. Yet still felt I had to have one. Not sure why.

I have a peel also, just got it for my birthday a few weeks ago. Since I usually grill our pizzas it's come in handy on a few occasions already.

Meat thermometer - I cooked a turducken once, four years ago.

LOVE the Lego egg timer, I'd use it ALL the time! (perfectly medium eggs take 8 mins) In fact.. everything lego-ized is pretty damn cool.

Did you see the swiss army knife cutlery tray? Looks rad.

serrated veggie peeler
makes shredding green papayas a wiz
and alot safer than the technique I would otherwise employ