Thursday, November 4, 2010

Kitchen gadgets

If I am not shopping alone, I am likely to be with either my sister-in-law Beth or with my good friend Joyce. With Beth I might be in a yarn store, with Joyce, a quilt shop. In either case we are drawn to the notion and gadget departments. The same is true with both friends and any store that sells kitchen gadgets. Do any of us need another item? No, but we have to look.
When I am reading a blog and caught up in a posted recipe, craft technique or video clip of just about anything, I have to look there too. Today I read this entry in Blondie's Journal where a baking pan intrigued me. It is available at Sur la Table, a store that is within reasonable driving distance. I should explain that "reasonable driving distance" has a flexible definition. If the item is something I really want, and want it right now, an hour's drive in cold rain might be reasonable. On the other hand, going to Kroger at my corner in beautiful weather to buy something to fix for dinner can be totally out of the question if my cooking muse is on strike. Back on topic, I decided to make note of this pan and list it as a gift suggestion when my family asks for ideas for Christmas.
Yesterday a catalog arrived in my mail from a well know flour company. I have never purchased this brand, I'm not sure it is available in my area, and I had no idea they had a gift catalog. There was an odd little gadget that caught my eye. They called it a pie dam or pie gate. It is used to help a pie or casserole retain its shape after a portion has been cut and served.
Would this be helpful or would it wind up unused in a drawer, probably catching and preventing the drawer from opening?
 
The catalog sold them in a pair for $10.95 with shipping and handling boosting the cost to $17.45.
I can walk away from that but....Sur la Table has this item also! One would cost $5.95 Hmmmm, maybe I do need this?

Are you a gadget gal?

3 comments:

Chatty Crone said...

I USED to be a gadget gal - but I learned that I don't use them and then I get mad at myself for wasting my money!

sandie

Nettie said...

I love looking through kitchenware gadget sections in the stores. I don't usually buy anything but love to see what is around.
I've got a drawer in my kitchen that houses all sorts of useful but also useless bits & pieces have to shake the contents from side to side sometimes to make the drawer close...oops!

KTW said...

I LOVE gadgets! :) I sometimes buy neat little things in the Amish Country. They have that pie dam and I've often considered picking up one of them. They also have this neat little thing that looks like a pie server with a really short 'handle' that just barely sticks out over the edge of the pie plate. You put it in the pan BEFORE putting in your crust to bake. Once the pie is baked, chilled, etc., you can cut on either side of the server and simply lift out that first piece, neat as a pin! :) SO COOL! I got one for my mother-in-law but never got one for myself. She says her biggest problem is forgetting to use it! :)