I really love kitchen tools and what you’ll find in my kitchen is a good mix of super-specific items and general use. I don’t tend to get a lot of one use items, but when I do, I think long and hard before I purchase. This is my ultimate kitchen gadget-y wish list – a mix of high-end and affordable products. To make these products even more affordable, you might be able to find some voucher codes! I would love to receive any of these items this holiday season and I’m sure the cook in your life would too!
Ever since I tried rigging up a ghetto-sous vide machine to make Momofuku’s 48 hour short ribs, I’ve been wanting a sous vide machine. Nomiku just came out with a new wifi home sous vide machine and I backed it because I was so impressed with their past incarnation. Essentially, a sous vide machine lets you cook food (usually in a vacuum sealed bag) in water bath set at an extremely low temperature. The sous vide machine both heats and circulates water and your food is gently cooked to scientific precision.
If you’re going to ask for a sous-vide machine, the next thing you might want to add to your wish list is a Searzall. I don’t have one of these (they just finished their kickstarter and are gearing up to sell on Amazon), but it’s definitely on my radar. It’s basically a portable salamander – use to sear sous vide steaks, melt cheese, or finish dishes off with a blast of heat.
The above two items are things that I think I’ll love, but they’re definitely more things I wish I had rather than things I need. These spatulas on the other hand, I have in my drawer right now and reach for all the time. I’ve talked about my love for silicone spatulas previously and I’m still a big fan of them. These colorful guys from Get It Right make me happy every time I reach for them. They make a perfect little gift. They’re unibody (which means no grotty parts to clean), hold up to heat well, and are dishwasher safe.
One of my favourite kitchen tools is a garlic press. I actually like mincing garlic (I’m weird, I know) but I don’t really like my fingers smelling like garlic every time I do it. Garlic presses take that problem away. This press from Savora is both pretty and functional. It’s an excellent gift for a garlic lover.
I wish I could send everyone a holiday present but since I can’t, I’m doing the next best thing and hosting a little Le Creuset Giveaway!
Giveaway: I’m giving away a Le Creuset Cherry Wok, a Le Creuset Balti Dish and a cute little Le Creuset Condiment Pot. They’re cherry red and perfect for the holiday season – thank you Le Crueset!
Enter: Leave a comment letting me know what the best gift you received was and why and then use the widget to enter. Open to US residents only. Winner will be selected at random and contacted by email. Good luck!
Update: Congrats Vicky! Get ready to start cooking! :D Look for an email from me shortly.
my new kindle voyage! total surprise and a total treat
I think books are always the best gifts. It’s just stories and information! What’s not to love. Especially books by one of my favorite authors.
A few years back my husband got me a full 10 hour day at the spa. I was a new mom at the time and I was so stressed out so it was the perfect gift at the time.
The best gift I ever received was my husband flying home early (to my surprise) from being away for work for 6 months. It was a gift because my parents were in on it (and paid for the plane ticket). Sweetest surprise :)
One of my favorite gifts ever has been my (cherry red) Kitchen aid mixer and the ice cream attachment to go along with it. I love using my mixer to mix up baked goods, but by far the thing I make with it is ice cream! It’s so much fun to try out different flavor combinations – one of my favorites has been lavender honey!
The best kitchen gift I ever received was my KitchenAid Standing Mixer. I love it so much.
The best gift I’ve ever got was tickets to see Frank Sinatra in concert when I was 15!
The best gift I received was a back scratcher my Grandma gave me last year. Since then, I lost her to cancer, but that back scratcher will always remind me of all the times she would rub my hair until I got sleepy.
candle sticks my mom picked up from a yard sale – they are so completely me and so completely not her, and it was the first gift she ever surprised me with that was more about what I might like to get than she would like to give ;)
Ahhh the rainbow spatulas are so pretty too!
Not sure I can remember the best gift I’ve received, but last year my sister and brother-in-law gifted me a camera lens mug which I loved! (They even got me a Canon one so I wouldn’t confuse it with my actual Nikon lenses, hah.)