One gadget that is worth buying

Although I love cooking and have a variety of specialty equipment (two pasta makers, lots of cookie cutters, a stand mixer, a wok), I'm not especially fond of gadgets, especially those that only do one thing and take up lots of space. In this category I place things like garlic presses, cherry pitters, shrimp deveiners, dumpling presses - all the gadgets that populate paid programming and garage sales.

One gadget I am crazy about, though, is the jumbo vegetable cutter I got a few months ago from Surfas, the best cooking store ever. Although any kind of cooking is a welcome break from work, I've never been great with a chef's knife, and chopping a big pile of potatoes and onions can try even my typically never-ending patience. Egg rolls, especially, are a killer - after I'm done chopping, I just do not want to stir-fry, wrap, and fry, and the poor egg rolls often end up mutilated and misshapen because I'm too tired to care. Now that I've been having hand pain from typing too much, chopping has become even more daunting.

I saw this nondescript, utilitarian little gadget during one of my regular browses through the Surfas website (just follow the link and you'll see how one can lose an hour, easy), and I actually used it as an excuse to purchase a whole wish-list of items I had been saving for a long time. Believe me, the pink peppercorns and beet powder were great, but the vegetable cutter is one of the unsung heroes of my kitchen. It saves both time and labor, it's easy to clean, and fun to use - making a cool thwapping sound as the veggies are pushed through the blades, ending up in perfect uniform slices. The cutter is actually so powerful that it's best to do it next to the sink with a big bowl to catch the vegetable projectiles. Although it of course makes perfect french fries, I've also used it to chop onions, cabbage, eggplant, and even mushrooms. If you like to making big batches of things for company or the freezer, a vegetable cutter will really make life easier, minimizing the tedium of chopping that often comes with the joy of cooking. While you're at it, check out the rest of the amazing selection at Surfas online. Need Balinese long pepper, forbidden rice flour, or smokehouse almonds? Surfas has it all at the lowest premiums I've found anywhere. Shipping only costs about $17 no matter how much you buy!

Note: I am honestly not a paid spokesperson for Surfas ;-)

Painless fries (large cut):