Kitchen gadgets can be so much fun!  I went to a business lunch and there were door prizes.  I never win anything.  Most of the giveaways were gift cards, anyway, and as nice as essential cash is (they were Visa cards), I knew I wouldn’t win.  Well, suddenly I heard my name.  But, I didn’t get a GC.  The stars aligned and I won the kitchen gift bag.  The rep giving this one away had been to Sur La Table and had a field day.  WOW!  I was in luck.  So, I got all sorts of new toys that I would totally never go buy for myself but loved getting.

The one I’ve played with the most is the Berry Pincher (that’s the formal name I give it).  The manufacturer, Chef’n, calls it the StemGem.  You can remove the leaves from strawberries and clean all sort of other things.

You just plunge the sharp teeth of this thing right in the top of the berry.

You give it a little twist.

And yank it out.  The motion makes the picture a bit fuzzy!  Sorry.  The website has better pics.

The other great toys I got in my bag were:

A Kuhn Rikon Pepper Mill with Ratchet Handle — so cool with the handle!

A Joseph Joseph Rocker Garlic Masher — SMASH!  Great fun, you can also use it to get rid of the odor in your hands.

And the last toy, by the same producer as the strawberry toy, I got the Zipstrip Herb Stripper.  I haven’t actually gotten around to using this yet.  I needed it the other day and of course was cooking in somebody else’s kitchen when I was looking for it!!

So if you want so new additions to your kitchen, consider checking these out.