Christmas Presents for the Kitchen: 2010

[andiesenji]

Andie,

Those spice jars with the clamping lid, are they new?  If so where are they made and who sells them?

  I'm always on the lookout for those and the bigger clamp top jars that are made in France or Italy when I'm out yardsaling.

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Both spice jars were purchased at Cost Plus World Imports and each contains a piece of chalk with which to write on the black patch (feels like a blackboard) on the side.

I think they are very clever and my friend was sure I had nothing like them. (We are somewhat benighted in the Antelope Valley as we still do not have a Cost Plus.)

I just got a new Hammacher Schlemmer notice of new stuff in an email which includes this little gem:

Chef's Remote thermometer monitor.

Neat, huh?

Edited January 22, 2008 by andiesenji (log)

[Anna N]

Andie,

Those spice jars with the clamping lid, are they new?  If so where are they made and who sells them?

  I'm always on the lookout for those and the bigger clamp top jars that are made in France or Italy when I'm out yardsaling.

←

I am not Andie but I do live in Canada so I can tell you that I have seen these spice jars in the dollar aisle of Price Chopper - they don't have the chalk though! They are the wire clamp spice jars and the ones I saw were oval.

[Anna N]

. . .

I just got a new Hammacher Schlemmer notice of new stuff in an email which includes this little gem:

Chef's Remote thermometer monitor.

Neat, huh?

←

Definitely neat! And not too bad price-wise either.

[andiesenji]

. . .

I just got a new Hammacher Schlemmer notice of new stuff in an email which includes this little gem:

Chef's Remote thermometer monitor.

Neat, huh?

←

Definitely neat! And not too bad price-wise either.

←

I am tempted, however I already have about two dozen thermometers of various types and am running out of excuses as well as room for them.

[Kerry Beal]

Time to haul this thread out again I think. So far this year - nothing new for the kitchen for me (that I didn't buy for myself), but the day is young.

[Anna N]

Well I got a great stainless steel saucepan in a size that seems perfect for many jobs I do frequently. It is induction-ready which means that it heats up in no time on my portable induction cooktop yet it is heavy enough to make caramel in.

I also got pepper and salt mills which is quite funny really as I now have 4 peppermills! The best of the lot, a Magnum which I have had for a few weeks, lives in the kitchen and the new set will likely be stashed for re-gifting!

I am getting a gift of money after the holidays so I can do a bit of dreaming as to what new kitchen thing might find its way into the house in January.

[peterm2]

I got a 2 quart Le Creuset pot for oatmeal, gravy separator, and a 5 tray Excalibur dehydrator! One batch of jerky is in progress. Yum.

I may pick up a Magnum salt and pepper set soon. I got some grey salt that needs grinding.

[Genkinaonna]

It was a sad year for Kitchen gifts...I got a Mario Batali 4 qt cast enamel dutch oven but the enamel had 3 big chips/flaws in it, so it will need to be shipped back (what a pain!) and a cookbook I already had. Oh, and a bottle of wine I don't like. Sigh...last year I got a $100 Williams Sonoma card and a Thermapen. Maybe next year I should be a little more specific when I say, "sure, I like wine, and cookbooks are always welcome..."

Merry Christmas anyways!

[tsquare]

We received two bottles of wine last evening.

The grapes are grown in our neighbors' back yard and they bottle the stuff in the basement. This is from last year (well aged.) Mid-morning, pop. One of the corks blew (nice puddle on the counter)! Fizzy red. We had a bottle of this in September - if you like a fizzy red, light body, not bad. We opened both and put them in the fridge for cooking.

No drinking happening around here at the moment.

We opened the fancy Carr's crackers - the Cheese Melts.

"A Platter of Figs" and "Vij's" cookbooks.

[Darienne]

DH and I don't give each other gifts but he is always more than generous in urging me to get what I need. And since we have set up temporarily in Moab, I have had to buy a lot of kitchen bits and bobs that I either forgot to bring or didn't realize I would need. And Ed did buy me a set of stainless steel bowls with rubber bottoms last month. Good because my manual dexterity is almost gone and the bowls stay still on their own, but bad for cooling things quickly because the rubber bottoms hold heat. Learn, learn, learn.

I guess my best present this year is being able to cook in a kitchen in Moab, the red rock center of my heart.

Oh, and he did buy me a stand mixer, the honking big Cuisinart, just before we left Canada. (Bigger than I wanted... )

It's been a quiet, but very good, Christmas.

[heidih]

A Rival crockpot which is currently cooking (on low) turkey stock from the carcass. Broke my last one with slippery hands. I scrubbed the newbie before plugging in but there was a nasty chemically plastic odor when it started up. Seems to have gone away. It came with a "Little Dipper" which is just s mini crockpot but it does not have a removable crock so you have to be really careful cleaning. Sort of a pain if you make a cheesy dip.

[lcdm]

I received a shiney, brandy new, Fagor 8qt. Pressure Cooker.

woohoo - I can't wait to use it

[K8memphis]

I will tell what others received this year.

My husband got a calphalon griddle pan. He about came unglued when he opend...are you ready for this...when he opened a salad spinner...and I got him an immersion blender for making me more soup.

Got the Red-Headed Girl and Chef-boy some cupcake cuddlers

like these.

And I got the RHG some linzer cookie cutters and I made some tea-jellly with Southern Comfort so she has a filling for her linzers. And I gave her the really cool snowflake cookie cutter set with the extra little bitty cutters to make the different cut outs within the snowflake. She got a sifter and an iron skillet and a food processor.

I got jewelry. gimme five!

And the RHG gotta bottle of champagne for us all to toast our 30th.

Edited December 26, 2008 by K8memphis (log)

[scubadoo97]

Not exactly for the kitchen but I just bought myself a Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker. So far it works real well. Smoked a brisket last night and have salmon and chickens going on today. All will be served tonight.

[whatsaMcGee]

I got...

the Alinea cookbook

Vino Italiano

Hugh Johnson's The World Atlas of Wine (incredible!!!)

a Sani-Tuff 15"x20" cutting board

the famous MAC bread knife

A Riedel tasting set + decanter

Kershaw Taskmaster shears

And I'm still expecting Thomas Keller's Under Pressure and a Suien VC cleaver from granny tomorrow!

Edited December 26, 2008 by whatsaMcGee (log)

[tsquare]

I forgot - the indoor lemon tree came up with one perfectly ripe lemon in time for Christmas. In Seattle. In the snowiest days we've seen in 20 years.

[judiu]

I forgot - the indoor lemon tree came up with one perfectly ripe lemon in time for Christmas. In Seattle. In the snowiest days we've seen in 20 years.

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I hope you remembered to thank the tree for the gift?

[Peter the eater]

Some great gifts. I'm specifically envious of:

peterm2's Excalibur dehydrator

lcdm's Fagor 8qt. Pressure Cooker

scubadoo97's Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker

whatsaMcGee's MAC bread knife

tsquare's fruitfull lemon tree

I got a big shiny meat slicer, some large bowls, lots of exotic ingredients in weird jars, and a bunch of books. And some copper from the FIL's recent trip to Istanbul.

We'll be back home for a NY's Eve feast involving some of the above.

[eldereno]

I got an electric mandoline that my SIL saw on QVC. Have not yet taken it out of the box or used it. Anyone have any experience with one like it or advice?

Also a rechargable battery operated wine bottle opener. My husband liked using it. I have not tried it yet.

[eldereno]

Forgot to add the 1/2 spiral cooked ham and 6 bottles of wine from my boss. And, for my birthday (coming up), an electric turkey fryer/steamer that I opened early to steam the crab legs for Christmas Eve dinner. It held a lot of legs and did a good job (in between tripping the breaker).

Oh...Oh.....Oh, and a collection of different kind of finishing salts!

(edited because I thought of more)

Edited December 27, 2008 by eldereno (log)

[Dr. Teeth]

A 3 lbs block of Parmigiano carried by hand from DiBruno's in Phily's Italian Market.

A kitchen-aid meat grinder attachment

[Restorer]

A Breadman Pro bread machine, and eight bread mixes to go with it.

A $200 Amazon gift card, some of which will probably go towards kitchen supplies, maybe a new chef's knife.

[BigDan]

I got the big score. I originally just asked for a nice Chef's Knife for Christmas since I'm finally to the point to upgrade out of my Henckel Internationals (the economy line), but I was extremely surprised when I opened up a 7 piece set of Shun Alton Browns that my parents found for 200-somethin. I didn't know how I would deal with the angled handles at first but they are actually barely noticeable.

Oh and my Mom got the Bouchon cookbook which I have been stealing away and using.

Edited December 28, 2008 by BigDan (log)

[lancastermike]

One of thosw hipped cream things with the nitrogen cartridge that the fancy guys use to make foams and a yogart maker.

[emilyr]

I got this covered baking dish (or, rather, I will; it's back-ordered). I also got my mom a digital meat thermometer with alarm like Alton Brown uses, but I will be using it a lot, too!