Beyond The Kitchen Sink

Carnival in your kitchen… and on your sofa… and in the carpet… and on the drapes…

The carnival has packed up and is heading off into the sunset. The sounds of the midway are faint in the air. A slight breeze carries the scent of fried foods and roller coaster grease. You take a step forward, hoping to capture one last taste of the county fair and all that it has to offer. Instead, you find a sticky paper cone attached to the bottom of your sole; a piece of pink-stained detritus left over from the summer carnival.

Lucky for you, you can take that crumpled tube of paper and breath new life into it with your very own cotton candy machine. The Nostalgia Electrics Retro Series 50’s Style Cotton Candy Machine is a countertop appliance set to spin all year long. Just add sugar mixture and use the included reusable plastic cones to catch the freshly flossed cotton candy as it spins out of the machine. Now, that sticky and goopy mess that you thought you left out in the fairgrounds can finally be made at home. Lucky you.

Pasta Vision for those that do not see

The really cool superheroes have x-ray vision or heat-ray eyes, but there is another class of totally lame superheroes (or villains) that have bunk powers. However, Asbestos Man and Doctor Bong have nothing to fear from anybody who has Pasta Vision.

Featuring a concealed heating element mounted in a cool-touch base, the pasta maker is “a fun and easy way to cook your favorite pasta dish”. It may be easy to use, but I’m not sure how much fun I would be having. Chances are I’d be kicking myself for buying this $60 kitchen appliance. However, I’m sure Saucepan Man (if he existed) would be so proud of me once I defeated this awful Pasta Vision by simply throwing it away.

Grind your own chuck daily

Why let the fat cats in the meat establishment decide what should constitute a burger? With the Deni Professional Meat Grinder, you can decide for yourself. Create custom sausages or burgers by grinding beef, chicken, venison, turkey or anything else you can think of. Or, just stick with the classics and grind your own fresh chuck daily.

With an 800-watt motor that grinds up to three pounds of meat per minute, youâ€™ll be enjoying better, tastier and safer burgers and sausages in no time. The counter-top kitchen appliance comes with three die-cast grinding discs for making everything from breakfast sausages to Polish and Italian sausages, and of course, ground beef for burgers.

It’s my (wok) party and I’ll cry if I want to

There is no way this Table Wokset is a good idea. The small, 4-centimeter tall (really?) mini-woks may look colorful and appealing, but in no way could perform like, you know, an actual wok. With such a small area to work with, ingredients can’t be moved around to different temperature zones. That doesn’t even begin to touch on the question whether this crazy contraption can even put out the heat necessary for the high heat cooking commonly associated with wok cooking. Most likely, this 6-serving party set would do little more than make individual bowls of slightly cooked vegetables. Which, all in all isn’t such a bad thing: add some broth and have a soup party. For about $90, you can find out.

Via Gizmodo

***UPDATE 8/15/2013***
Here is a link for a seller on Amazon:
BP 2973 Wok-Set (now defunct)

And here is the site of the manufacturer, Tristar:
Wokset 6 colored wok pans – Crepe and baking plate BP-2973

Double bonus: Turns out the contraption can be used as a crepe pan. Thanks, Nicole!

Personal chef on your kitchen counter

There is no end to the amount of culinary information available on the Internet. However, if you donâ€™t keep your laptop in the kitchen, chances are it does little good. Sure you could print out content (gasp!) and follow along, but that doesnâ€™t help much when it comes to video tutorials.

Continue reading Personal chef on your kitchen counter

Spooky gingerbread house is a home for candy corn

As far as gingerbread houses go, Halloween seems like the perfect holiday for them. Candy flows freely during this time of year, a happenstance that offers mounds of sugary treats just waiting to be converted into building supplies. Alas, the fat man in the red suit has usurped this logical practice, turning gingerbread houses everywhere into gumdrop-adorned travesties of tradition. Well, no longer!

The Fox Run Halloween Gingerbread Haunted House Kit offers the ability for kids of all ages to decorate a gingerbread house the way it was meant to be. Plastic pumpkins and pillowcases full of chocolate treats finally have a place to end up aside from turning into a melted glob of goo found under the mattress months down the road. Perhaps most importantly, this gingerbread house finally supplies a place to put all that horrible candy corn. Comes with seven cookie cutters, a cardboard base and an icing set for decorating.

***Update 10/21/24: The candy corn escaped! Product above no longer available. But lo! What do we spy here? A Halloween Haunted Gingerbread House with reviews on par with candy corn!