Category — Accessories

You know that scene in Goodfellas when they are in ‘jail’? And whatshisname is slicing garlic so thin that “it melts in your mouth”? That has always appealed to me. (The garlic, not the jail time.) While I may have picked up a few cooking tips from Martin Scorsese films, generally I still crush garlic. There may be a ton of garlic crushers or mincers out on the market, but I still usually prefer to simply whack it with a knife. (The broadside of a knife, that is.)

For those that desire thinly sliced garlic without doing time, the Garlic Slicer may be the answer. Made of 18/10 stainless-steel, the handheld gadget delivers three uniform slices of garlic with a simple twist of the wrist. It holds up to two cloves at a time, and the remainder can simply be stored in the fridge for later use—with no need to bribe anyone in order to go on a garlic run.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. – Clarke’s Third Law

Of course, you are not going to be fooling anyone if you don’t have a magic wand. Everybody knows that magic requires a magic wand. That’s like Magic’s First Law. But in a pinch, a thing that looks like a magic wand will do. Especially when faced with a case of beer.

The UTILO Deluxe Bottle Opener with Black Handle by Blomus is a uniquely styled bottle opener. Similar in styling to a classic magic wand, the bottle opener may not fool anyone into believing you magically opened the beer, but open enough of ‘em and they just might.

The best part of a s’more is pushing it together. There is nothing more barbaric than seeing a full-figured marshmallow that hasn’t been smushed into s’moredom. Right out of the microwave (or campfire for you s’more purists), the first thing to do is to smush that sucker together. It is a satisfaction that should be shared amongst all foods; it is pure enjoyment on an instinctual level. (Perhaps that’s why clamshell-type grills and panini presses are so popular.)

Unfortunately, the cold, modern, technological world has given us the Micro S’Mores Maker, a damnable machine that automates the s’more-smushing for us. Worst of all, it does this in only ten seconds. The world may never again see an unsmushed s’more, except out in the wild. Which might not be such a bad thing—back to nature as it were.

(Via Geekalogie)

With the street food craze still going on in full swing, it’s time to get back to basics. While we may never know what the original street food really is (noodles in China being a good bet), the iconic street food item of the modern era in the U.S. (or at least NYC) is the hot dog. While the close companion of the hot dog, the hamburger, might best be prepared on a backyard grill, the hot dog just isn’t a hot dog unless it comes from the street. Or at least a cart.

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It’s winter, and winter spells delicious. The cold weather encourages us to stay inside to cook rather than hunt down food in the wilds of our shopping centers. Maybe that’s why holiday season comes at the end of the year. Either way, there’s going to be a whole lot of cookin’ going on.

Whether you’re cooking for friends, family or yourself, you are going to need keep an eye on what’s on the stove. Often, this means a kitchen timer. The Maverick Professional Digital 3-Line Timer and Clock keeps track of up to three events at once. Most stovetops have four burners, so if you’re cooking for a crowd, I guess someone will just have to stand guard on the fourth burner. That is, unless you can think of a way to avoid Aunt Sally’s Boiled Green Bean Surprise this year.

Sure, we all know that plastic water bottles are bad for the environment, and are pretty easy to phase out of our daily routines. All it takes is a getting some sort of reusable water bottle, and those are certainly plentiful. Water may indeed be everywhere, but when out in the wild there is usually not a filtered drop to drink. Until now.

The Self Filtering Water Bottle from Hammacher Schlemmer is a stainless-steel water bottle that comes complete with an integrated filter. Able to treat up to 100 gallons of water before replacing, the water bottle/filter combination provides the equivalent of 757 1/2-liter plastic bottles. Using adsorption, chemical bonding, and 1/500-millimeter perforations to remove 99.99% of microbes, the water bottle is a convenient accessory for modern life, or even as a means to ensure access to potable water when out on the hiking trail—you know, out in the environment we’re all trying save.