D.Currie wrote:
> I was just thinking about some of the things that I use regularly that I
> thought at first were stupid, useless, or gimmicky, but now I'd have a hard
> time living without.
>
> Prime example is my microwave. When I first heard about them, I thought they
> were insane. Why bother? Okay, I don't actually "cook": much in the mw, but
> I use it all the time for reheating things, and sometimes for thawing. Some
> veggies get cooked in there, just because I run out of burner space. And
> I'll admit to cooking winter squash in there. I'd miss it if it disappeared.
>
> Gloves are another thing. Rubber gloves, latex gloves; whatever. I don't
> think food is "icky" and I never saw the sense in using rubber gloves for
> washing dishes or handling food, but lately I've been battling a little rash
> on my hands, and I've taken to wearing gloves when I'm working in the
> kitchen. Seems to be helping while I narrow down the exact cause. Using
> gloves while handling dough is kind of weird, so I just bought some fabric
> "dough gloves" which I never would have bought otherwise. They work. I don't
> know if I'll continue using them forever, but for now, they're a keeper.
>
> Electric meat slicer. Yeah, who needs a meat slicer if you have a sharp
> knife? This isn't something I use every day, but when I have a beef roast
> and I want thin slices for sandwiches or Italian beef this thing is great.
> Or for nice even slices of anything. Bread, cheese....Yes, I still slice
> things by hand a lot of the time, especially when it's small quantities, but
> this is a nice thing to have on hand when I need it.
>
> On the other hand, I've gone though so many cheese grating devices in my
> time...this must be my major impulse-buy weakness. I was cleaning out
> kitchen gadgets a while back, and I got rid of quite a few grating devices
> that just didn't do the job. I had rotary graters and box graters, and all
> sorts of stupid gadgets. For big jobs, my kitchenaid has a grater device
> which does a good job, but I went through a lot of hand graters before I
> figured out what I liked for the small jobs.
>
> So...what things to you have that you found out were really wonderful and/or
> terrible?
>
> Donna
>
>
>
> --
> D.Currie

...don't know what's with the skin drying/ cracking up, I have to keep
remembering to use rubber gloves for dish washing/ cleaning. I would
like to keep kitchen paper towels and cling film, even though I can
live without them.

Can do without Ice Cream Scoop, saw some chopstick-rests in the
cupboard the other day, don't really use them.