I love gadgets and tools but I’m especially wary of kitchen gadgets with a single function, such as apple corers, ginger peelers, even citrus reamers (though I use enough of the latter that I actually have one!). They usually take up more space than they’re worth. Enter this pineapple slicer. I was very skeptical. I thought it would waste a lot of the pineapple, or do an unsatisfactory job, but I was actually surprised.
How to instantly and effortlessly cut pineapple in a spiral.
The only way to keep a kitchen good as new is to never use it. Even the most careful cook will spill stew from her ladle or have a pot boil over. Regardless of one’s cleaning prowess, these drips and smears accumulate over time and produce a hardened combination of food and grease residue that even the best scrubbing cannot remove.
Here is one of our stovetop grills. Notice the buildup of grease. We’ve tried cleansers, hot water, the dishwasher, but we could not get rid of this accumulation over four years of daily cooking.
Cruddy stovetop grates
Years of caked on residue that’s been impossible to remove.
Cleaned grill on left, and dirty grill on right – the clean one is like new!
The mark of true food fanatic is when there are more pictures of food than people in a given gathering. We attended a birthday dinner at a friend’s house in Woodside, Queens. Her mother was in town from Japan, and she always makes us a nice homemade meal with some delicacies she flies in from Tokyo and manages to get through customs. We don’t complain. We eat. We also laugh and toast, celebrating happy occasions and transplanted families.
Some days I just decide to make a “refrigerator stew,” which only means I’ll dump all the leftover stragglers in the fridge into a pot and cook them on low heat, and with consistently good results. I had some chicken and andouille sausage in the freezer, and a handful of uneaten olives from a party. With my handy tube of tomato paste, I was all set.
Chicken and andouille sausage stew, side of garlic snap peas.
Surprise guests? A can of sardines in your pantry can turn that evening around. Of course, some cheese and crackers are always good to have around, but with a simple can of sardines in oil you can have a creative appetizer with that bottle of wine, with guests mopping up the sauce with their bread.
Crowd pleasing appetizer in three steps.
