ottawa foodies

What is your OSCAR worthy kitchen buddy... Is there something you absolutely love or couldn't live without? And the winnner is...

My kitchen aid mixer. Anything else can go and I don't care

I couldn't live without a DISHWASHER. I hate doing dishes by hand, and only do the absolute minimum like crystal glassware. Pots and Pans are especially "icky". Love the pot-scrubber feature on the newer dishwashers, they get off everything. Back when I was a kid in the 60s & 70s (before dishwashers were so common place as they are now) doing the Saturday and Sunday night dishes was the "kids" responsibility, and IMO they were always the worst... We got out of doing them during the week because of homework (yea, homework).

Here's a picture of me back then

;-)

Dishwasher's right up there, man, but I can't believe I lived for DECADES without kitchen tongs...I used to turn meat by stabbing it with a fork (gasp!)

Just this week I lost them for several days. It was like losing an appendage--I couldn't believe how many things I used them for without even thinking.

They were just NOWHERE and I blamed the man of the house (who puts everything away in the wrong place). Until I remembered...something had fallen behind the freezer basket and I had used the tongs to fish it out...Yep, there they were, nice and chilled.

Apologies were proffered, and accepted (but not without a little ribbing).

Oh, and I WISH I had a Kitchen Aid mixer...

Oh, jeez. My chef's knife. Particularly the day or so after I sharpen it. Which happens once every three hundred years.

My significant other. She's the main reason i don't spend more than i earn eating out. While too modest to admit it, she's a great cook. :)

We are allowed to give that Oscar to a "someone", right?

Itchy Feet - Sure, if "The Academy" can make exceptions to the rules, and give 7 little oscars to 7 little cartoonish old men who aren't even real, then of course, we can do the opposite, and give out an oscar to an "animated real live honest to goodness" KITCHEN BUDDY.

The Fine Print - However "The Academy" reserves the right to recall an Oscar if it is discovered in anyway that the nomination was misrepresented (ie. This is your weak attempt at covering up for missing Valentines Day) LOL

LOL, the academy can be assured that while i bear an abhorrence for VD commercialization, i did don the chef's hat that evening and also bought an extra special (expensive for us) bottle of Barolo wine!

I would love to have a dishwasher. Especially if he looks like George Clooney.

Seriously though my kitchen buddy is definitely of the appliance kind. My indoor grill and my wok tie for first place. And I would second Glinda's vote for those tongs. They are especially good for tossing salads and lifting veggies out of the steamer.

Pasta Lover - LOL, this topic seems to be taking a turn towards comedy (and as we all know "The Academy" doesn't know how to reward comedy). LOL

Yes I hear that the George Clooney model is now available in a "domesticated" version. H3LL if he was my dishwasher I could easily pink-slip Mr. Maytag!

Own a wok, but not an indoor grill. The few people I know who have them, love them. (But then again, I probably don't need a George Foreman in my life).

;-)

For me it's my first ever gas stove ....Got it second hand, (but very new)just last year.... Long Live Thermador !!

BEST: My 20cm chef’s knife (what a cut, chop, mince, slice, and dice performance!); SUPPORTING: large 30cm sauté pan; and for ANIMATION: giant wire whisk.
*sniff sniff* I'd like to thank my parents, my Home Ec teacher, and...

wow, that's nice 'n shiny, CC. May i ask how much you got it for?

No prob, itchy feet... It listed for $4100, sold at retail for $3700 to $3900 and I got it for $1400. Not a scratch on it. Duel fuel ... gas on the top and conventional/covection electric oven below.

The fun part was picking it up, with my buddies, in Montreal, one weekend and returning it to Ottawa on the back of a utility trailer.

On the other hand, maybe I should nominate MY "kitchen helper" --he hardly ever helps, and when he does, he's not all that productive, but without him I wouldn't bother to cook or work hard at making it taste great!

(Even if he does put things away in the wrong places ;-)

My Global knives. definitely the best set I've ever owned

if the academy allows nominations for secondary roles, i'll also submit the guy to the right. Indispensable, esp. when i'm cooking, he's second to none at keeping the kitchen floor spotless.

Itchy Feet - What's that old saying, actors are always upstaged by Animals and Children. I'm thinking he could "run away with the lead", in fact I'm PAWS-i-tive.

He sure has a good taste in beer :-)

If the Oscar is going to go to a real live being...then Sally should be a contender...She's a ten year old Lab who helps me with the washing up.

We need some categories. I still love my tongs, but if I had to choose, I'd choose Sally.

Wow...I guess I must be pretty low tech....my two most useful cooking "tools" are found at the end of my arms.

My other indispensible cooking tool...a pen. I'm always making changes to recipes as I cook, and nothing sucks more than making something fabulous and not being able to remember what you put into it.

Mine would be my utility knife & my wooden spoon (with loads of character).

My most useless kitchen gadget, but one I dearly love nonetheless is the Cuistotmetric!!!

Moussiline:

Excellent. The pen is mightier than the tongs.

Hmmmmm......besides my knives (not fair to compare):

At home: My wooden cutting board; I absolutely cannot tolerate plastic, glass, ceramic or metal.

At work: I am never without my tongs and rags. I am somewhat of a rag hog actually.

Chimichimi - Time to explain, what the H3LL is a Cuistotmetric.

F&T - isn't it clear what the Cuistotmetric is used for just by looking at it?! ;) LOL... it's basically a wall mounted metric/imperial conversion doohickey. You turn the dials and it gives you the metric equivalent of the imperial measurement (in grammes, kilos and millilitres) and it has a celsius/fahrenheit conversion thing on the bottom. Overall, we never use it, but it looks good on the wall.

Chimichimi - Doohickey indeed!

My Bialetti. It doesn't technically help me cook, but it does put the cook into a much better mood!

I've really got to get me a cheap Bialetti ...

Hey z... don't you have one of those aeropress coffee makers? (i.e. might not need one more caffeination device?)

Yes, the aeropress is great! But it never hurts to have options :-)

The aeropress is incredible if you're making espresso/coffee for just yourself. Throw a few more people into the equation and something like the Bialetti becomes appealing.

Pete, yours looks awesome. Where did you get it?

I 'think' I purchased mine at Preston Hardware although you can get them at several places in town. You can expect to pay $50 to $120 for a decent one. Mine is not the one in the picture, but almost identical, with the only difference being the lid flipper plastic knob on the top. Also, mine is considered (I think) a 4 'cup' (re shot) espresso maker. I almost never have espresso, and instead do a sort of homemade cappucino. Long story short, I only get two 'mugs' of cap from one brew session. If I were buying another one, I'd get the 6-8 shot size. Also, I've not tried the brew from the cast (aluminum?) ones... but I can recommend the stainless steel ones (like mine) as they add no colour to the flavour. Although mine has a bakelite handle, I'd probably get a steel handled one next, as you can worry less while having it on a gas cooktop AND more importantly you can take it camping and cook over the fire or whisperlite.

Thanks for the info Pete! Now I can go shopping like I know what I'm doing. :-)

Cork screw - 'nuff said. Even if the food turns out bad, the wine is always good!
Also the dishwasher and the guy that loads and unloads it - my hubby!

I would totally use that Cuistotmetric device! My favourite recipe book is all in metric.

My favourite kitchen item is probably my glass bowls. I like using a glass bowl to mix ingredients for baking more than the metal ones. Looking forward to buying a house so that we can raise the moratorium on new kitchen things. Then I can get a Kitchenaid and some nice copper bowls :)

Funny thing Pam, about all those things you'll buy when you 'finally' get a house? The house tends to eat up all the money that you would have spent on all those new things.. ;-) My theory is.. if it's good enough to have, it's not too good to put in an apartment.

I have to say the utencil I couldn't live without at home or in a professional kitchen is...'grandma buddy', yes that is what I call it. Long story but anyone who worked at The UP would understand that everything there had/has a name and most a bio to go with it. Too many days spent in a hot kitchen can do this to people.
What grandma buddy is, is a simple metal spatula with a wooden handle. Use it for flipping, spreading, etc. Love it!