kitchenmage

Mage's got a Brand New Blog

with apologies to James Brown

One of my long-term goals is a reorganization of my multiple blog disorder syndrome (MBBDS), a malady which I am guessing will be in DSM VIII. The first step is admitting you have a problem.

Hi! I'm kitchenMage and I am a blogaholic....

Ah! I feel so much better.

The next step is creating a new blog: kitchenMage's Reviews so all of my opinions about things you can buy have a home. My first review, of a lovely shopping spree courtesy of BlogHer and JCPenney's is posted. Wander over and see how I spent $300 without taking off my fuzzy slippers.

Half-price Aerogarden, today only!

Fresh herbs are an essential ingredient of my cooking, which makes me lucky to have an herb garden of my own. Even here in theOtherCity, where my tenure is anything but permanent, I someoneElse replanted the front swath of an overgrown strawberry bed with herbs. More telling, as the moving van was being loaded,  I someoneElse dug up my favorite dwarf sweet bay tree, which I could not bear to abandon and brought it along in a pot. Then someoneElse I bought another one. (hi, my name is kitchenMage and I am an herbaholic...)

Sadly, not everyone is fortunate enough to have the space or sunlight for any sort of outdoor herb gardening, and the indoor herb growing methods have been limited and expensive. This has left apartment dwellers at the mercy of the market. The one with the five buck clamshells of suboptimal herbs.

Start your day with...bacon!

This may be the answer for people who, like me, hate mornings but adore bacon. The Wake n' Bacon is an alarm clock that wakes some lucky person with a waft of freshly frying bacon. A cute little wooden pig hides a small cooking chamber where a slice of bacon is cooked just in time to wake you up with a hungry smile on your face.

The only downside that I see is that you have to load the bacon before you go to sleep so it spends the night sitting there being a laboratory for bad bugs to grow in - meaning you probably don't want to eat it. Well, you probably want to, but you shouldn't.

Tools: Seasonal Produce Map

Epicurious has a sweet little applet that you just might find useful: an interactive Peak Season Map. It's simple to use, just select a state and a month to display a list of produce that is likely to be available at farmer's markets. (I'm going to check when I go to the market this weekend and see how the list matches up to reality. It says there should still be rhubarb and I haven't seen any in weeks. Then again, maybe it is still growing on the other side of the mountains.)

Each type of produce has links to a description of the ingredient and recipes, some also have preparation and shopping tips. It looks like it could be a handy thing to have bookmarked, particularly when planning for the future or sharing recipes with friends in other places, or to reassure yourself that berry season starts next month and that's really not so long to wait.

Plastic knife pot roast (with recipe)

Tonight I bring you the tale of the plastic knife and the pot roast, in which we will attempt to answer the question: Will the little red plastic knife be able to cut up vegetables for a pot roast or will it have to call on the reinforcement knife lurking in the background?

The bright red beauty is a Zyliss salad knife - theory being that if you cut your salad with plastic/nylon instead of metal the lettuce won't oxidize and turn icky brown. I tear lettuce for salad by hand so that purpose was of little interest to me, but I have been looking for kid-safe tools and wondered if it would work to cut veggies but not fingers. 

Setting my expectations at some reasonable level, I decided that I would try something soft to start with. Handing the knife and a tomato to someoneElse, I watched, ready to admit defeat when the knife mangled the tomato.

Except it didn't. 

KitchenAid Classic - what a deal!

We have moved on from floods to snow (and I hear the think I hear the plague of locusts lining up offstage) and it seems like a perfect day to stay inside, mug of warm cider in hand, and do some shopping. Starting with this: Amazon has KitchenAid Classic mixers for only 109 bucks (and free shipping) which is a good enough deal that I almost wish I needed a new one.

Tools: Hooked on my spatula

Maybe I excite too easily, but I just noticed the coolest thing: my spatula has a hook to keep it from sliding into the bowl! I am sure they have made these for years and I've been too busy cooking to notice, but wow, what a difference this makes. The bowl the handle is leaning of the edge of in the picture is HUGE and I am always fishing spoons out of the half-made bread dough they slide down into. Ugh!

But no more! I discovered this wonderful little hooker (that'll get me google hits) and now my gooey troubles are over. Want one? Run over to Amazon and snag your very own spatula of wonder.

Next thing: can someone tell me how many years ago they started making the little tipout things on the front of the sink cabinets? You know, the ones you are supposed to store sponges and stuff in. I figured out they existed a couple of years ago and the first tow people I mentioned it to looked at me like I had been offplanet for decades. Have they always been there?

I feel so oblivious some days.

Shop 'til the rain stops.

Rain sheets dance the length of the valley, sending all but the elk scurrying for cover. 'Tis a good day to be inside and dry, pulled close to the techno-fire of a glowing computer screen, still warm cookie in hand, melty chocolate chips and all. It's enough to make one grateful for online shopping.

Does 50% off Godiva sound good? How about 50% off gift certificates at Restaurant.com? Or, because I know there's a candy freak lurking out there, 40 Pounds of Lemonheads for about 50 bucks?

All that and more at dealnews.com, a site I stumbled across recently. They scan a number of online shopping sites for the best prices on a range of somewhat random, yet interesting, items. It's not comprehensive (as if anything could be) but there are probably a few things there that could part you from your credit card. Kitchen deals here, food and drink deals here.

Did I mention that their slogan is how to go broke saving money? Well, at least they warn you.

More food. Less whine.

By popular request (who knew?) and with Rand's generosity, I offer more shirts and stuff.

Having fought with Cafe Press's upload system (is resumable FTP really too much to ask for?) and a flaky satellite linkfor too many hours this evening, I'm now beat and must turn in before dawn, but I do have to say one thing: I put this on a toddler shirt and it sheds a whole new light on it. A whole new light. Because most parents of an active, growing, and eternally hungry toddler would agree: More food truly does often equal less whine.

eat, drink, blog...eat a cheese sandwich...shop

I've got a little side project that seems highly appropriate to announce right about now; so much so that I made something special just for Kalyn, Catherine, and anyone else who is feeling slighted by some guy by the initials of PW (who is not getting more publicity from me).

Seriously, even the most dedicated foodist must venture out of the kitchen every once in a while, and since you've probably got flour on your sleeve or a drip of sauce on your shirt you need a new shirt. Check out these shirts. You can even order them with your blog name added (minimum order, drop me a note if you're interested).