In most conversations about kitchen tools, I'll be the first to step up and say, "Yeah, it's important to use good tools. They make everything easier." And yet, when it came to pastry blenders, for the last 8+ years I have not been following my own advice. I picked up that green-handled one that you see on the left sometime during college at a thrift store. It never worked well and yet I soldiered on, trying to cream butter and sugar together with wires that were constantly bending and spreading so wide that they allowed an entire stick of butter to pass through unmolested. Oh, and did I mention that the handle spins around?

Several weeks ago, I was down in Washington, DC visiting a friend. During the full day I was there, we spend nearly five hours going to three different thrift stores. During the course of that day, I picked up the pastry blender on the right for $.80 (I like good tools but I'm also cheap). I didn't really think much of it until I used the new one tonight. What a difference! The butter broke down easily, the wires didn't bend and the handle stayed right where it was supposed to. Good tools make such a difference!

The simplest thing to make for breakfast (not including cereal, since there's no real "cooking" there), is toast. Even if you're using plain old Wonder white, slipping it into a toaster, letting it bronze, then watching it pop out onto a plate, a toaster makes breakfast even the tiniest bit more special.

But! Now it gets even better with fancy toasters. Forget about the silver Oster that's sitting on your counter. Manufacturers and kitchen product designers are getting into toasters, with everything from the design on the outside, to accessories that allow you to "tattoo" your toast, to a concept toaster that's made of glass. Click through on each toaster to see what it's about.

It looks like a ninja weapon. Or maybe something out of Ty Pennington's tool box. This contraption, a sturdy handle with what looks like a piese of chicken wire pulled tautly across it, is a cake leveler. The adjustable-height wire is the part the does the cutting of regular layers into unltra-thin layers, or across the top of any part of a cake that may have "domed" up in the baking process.

I mean really, you didn't think all those individual layers in that gorgeous, impossibly tall layer cakes came out that way, did you?

Cake levelers run under $5 and are available at any cake/candy or kitchen supply store.

It is still a concept that is being developed, but when the idea is fully realized, I would love to have one of these transparent toasters, you know, to sit right alongside my Hello Kitty toaster that makes Hello Kitty Pop-tarts.

The idea is based on transparent heating glass which currently does not get hot enough to toast bread, but will some day soon, so that you can watch your bread being toasted and snag it out of there before it gets too dark!

[via: ThisNext]

If you haven't already seen your local market transform into a haunted castle and pumpkins falling all over themselves in giant displays, well, you must not be living in the US. Halloween is upon us, and technically, it's still September.

Nonetheless, I fell in love with these adorable pumpkin-shaped cakes, which are turned out of a mini pumpkin pan from Williams-Sonoma, and had a burning desire to bake pumpkin bread this instant. Whatever cake or bread batter you put in there comes out looking like the top (or bottom) half of a pumpkin. You can decorate and serve just the halves, or put two together to make a whole pumpkin.

However, I did realize, of course, that if you were to buy this pan just to make mini pumpkins, that would be a waste of $32. Why not get the mini brownie bundt pan instead and use it every season? They are the exact same product.

Oh, those tricky product marketers at Williams-Sonoma! They almost had us!

You probably don't think much about what you use to peel your vegetables, but the Seattle Times puts vegetable peelers to the test, taking into account the lumps and bumps of different vegetabless surfaces. The recipes are for fruits and vegetables that will put your peeler to use: Fall Galette, Winter Mash, Seedy Potatoes, and Roasted Carrots with Citrus.

We've already mentioned that resaurants are pulling spinach from their menus, but the Times also answers some questions from readers about E.coli and other leafy greens.

With Rosh Hashana starting at sundown on Friday, the staff digs into their archives and offers a recipe for a honey confection caled Teyglakh.

In drinks, the Wine Adviser could rattle off names of Washington Wineries for Merlot, but the one that sets the standard is Abeja Winery. Fremont Oktoberfest kicks off this weekend, offering over 70 microbrews on tap.

Obviously, we have the refrigerator to keep our foods nicely stored at a chilly 42 degrees or so. However, if you're a grazer like me, you might be opening that refrigerator every hour throughout the day just to grab a nectarine.

Industrial designer Klara Zavadilova has Coool, a food cover which keep fruits and pastry fresh, protected, and easily accessible during the day. The base plate contains a mild cooling system that sets the temperature inside the domed cover from a control. According to the product description, "The cooling system is CFC-free and free from polluting cooling liquids. An additional ventilator inside the cooling chamber ensures that the cold is distributed optimally inside the cover."

[via: Yanko Design]

In a tiny apartment kitchen, space is almost as valuable as the ingredients and cooking tool themselves. A good way to save space is by investing in contraptions that fold or collapse for easy storage.

This folding colander isn't a novel idea, as we've seen collapsible kitchenware in the form of measuring cups and funnels before. The one pictured is from Sbarro. Yes, that Sbarro, the one that peddles stale-by-heat-lamp pizza to you in mall food courts. Rather than a round colander that collapses like an accordion, this one opens and closes like a book. It costs $14.95, but I found another source that sells what looks to be the exact same thing for half the price.

Hey, we don't doubt that you are the consummate host or hostess at your party - greeting guests at the door with a cocktail, cooking, serving, clearing plates, chatting, and all done with utter grace. However, there might be times when you want to kick back for one second (just one, mind you), and let someone else do the work. Or some thing, that is.

These Rolling Serving Dishes from Fines' Makers (out of Israel) might help for that one second you have to retreat to the powder room. Sure, they don't serve themselves, but they sure will keep your guests entertained as they "take on and pass ti on." Besides, they're so adorably sleek and chic.

Though the news clips on their website are no longer available, it seems that Surfas, the restaurant supply store in Culver City, Ca, will be closing as of November 1 this year. The City of Culver City has declared the property on which the store is located "Eminent Domain," and will be using it for a large re-development project. According to food blog Eating LA apparently, owner "Les Surfas, whose father opened the store in 1937, has refused to accept Culver City's offer of $4.89 million to buy the Surfas warehouse." Others are speculating that the store will not close,and will simply move to another location.

• Rumours and discussion at Chowhound
• Save Our Surfas Blog
• News at Eating LA
• Les Surfas answers questions about his refusal of the offer from Culver City to buy

Magnetic spice racks are certainly not a brand, spanking new innovation in storage and space-saving, but MOCHA has made one in different colors. The beauty of it is that the small containers that have see-thru tops so instead of having labels that say "rosemary" and "tarragon," you can see all your pretty herbs and spices inside. Of course, that means you have to be able to identify all your herbs and spices by sight.

Each strip holds five containers and costs £13.99. As mentioned earlier by a commenter, it would be a great gift for a graduate, pre-filled with common spices.

[via: popgadget]

Chef'n is a company that makes kitchen gadgets - everything from an avocado slicer (like the one we saw earlier this year, available from Williams-Sonoma) to barbecue tools painted with hot rod flames. This is Chef'n's Grapefruiter, a tool used to section grapefruits and other citrus.

It looks scary - strangely futuristic, yet medieval. Even though I read the description of the product, I can't figure out how the thing works. You're supposed to insert the tool into a halved grapefruit or other citrus, then squeeze the handles together, which magically sections the fruit.

The Chef'n Grapefruiter is available at stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond, Linens N' Things, and Sur La Table.

The online store for the Museum of Modern Art has some beautifully designed things for the home and kitchen that if they weren't useful at all (another garlic crusher!) they're all little works of art.

These stainless steel salt and pepper shakers are $28 for the pair. They're sleek, yet adorable with their rounded design and "weeble wobble" effect. The base is heavy, so they never topple over.

More salt and pepper shakers:
Ice cream cones
Sleek and magnetic
Pretty little pigs
Self-shaking shakers for the lazy
Peugeot's electric pepper mill

We can make purty shapes like hearts with fancy waffle irons, and even do free-form pancake art, but what about simple toast?

The Pop Art Toaster has stainless steel stencils that you insert into their toasted with bread, and "tattooes" a birthday cake, heart, snowflake, flower, or smiley face onto your toast. It even lets you brand "Luv U," if you want to send that special guest a message the morning after. Just don't ask us if white or whole wheat will give him/her the wrong idea.

The Pop Art Toaster is $40 and comes in red or white.

In most Japanese restaurants and sushi bars, the chopsticks are those ridiculous splinters of disposable wood that don't deserve a proper chopstick rest. However, I always end up folding the wrapper into a nice little "bench" to rest the tips of my chopsticks do that they don't touch the table.

In nice restaurants, you might get a ceramic chopstick rest shaped like a fish or perhaps a leaf, or sometimes it's just a flat, polished stone. I can't remember what they are officially called in Japanese, but these simple shapes in light, pastel colors from Muji in the UK are beautiful for home. 

They're £0.50 per piece.