Kitchen Appliance and Gadget Haul (and mid-year Favorites!)

Friday, September 13, 2013

I think it would be such a delight to share with you (or if there's any keen readers, following this blog) what we got recently in our kitchen for almost half a year and the new ones we bought for use. 

As a part-timer for nearly 2 months now (sadly...), I try to live in a healthy, productive way, aside from ogling with my working drawings. I try to keep busy, keep myself sane, and at the same time like I said, work on being "fit" for an event next month. Well, at least. :)

The only bad thing here in embracing a healthier lifestyle is (and you have to admit too) that it engages you to spend more. Of course, I don't live in a place where everything that grows is free, not to mention---safe to eat. I don't live in an organic farm, at least to say. Imagine something that you can eat in a highly urbanized country where you don't spend any single cent on it, but you don't know where it came from. Where else could that be?

In short, you have to pay extra bucks to get the right and un-preserved produces here. But waaiit, the good thing here is, hey, you are practicing a healthy lifestyle. You'll be buying and cooking only the real food; --the bread that is made from organic fruits, mashed, floured, baked and comes out fresh straight from your oven-- kind of food. Eating healthy means eating what's real, and what I mean from being "real" is the food that you see it made on the spot, made in front of you. 

You will, for once, overlook all the expenses you made to get only the best, because you want to stay fit, stay happy and live longer. 

Enough on the blabbing, I'd like to be proud and we are investing equipment such as these in our foreign home.

We start off with:

FAVORITES:

1) Wiltshire Bend n' Bake Cake and Loaf Pan



Albert and I bought these sometime around April this year when I baked banana bread and brownies. It's easy to clean, and easy to work with. Recently, when I'm making brownies, it does a great help to take it out from the baking pan and serve immediately. Along with these bakeware are;

2) Easybake Non-stick Carbon Steel Square and Round Pans




These are perfect in making lasagnas, baked macaroni, or those dishes that we want to melt the cheese away. We used this before in making flurry cake, gelatin, and other desserts. 

3) Steamer




We bought this earlier this year (brand: Zebra) and I can say that this is one of my favorite in the kitchen. I can steam the fish that I want, Ianne can make siumai with these, and I can steam my veggies for my green salad with these too. My high school friend Jayne, whenever she visits here, makes their signature Filipino steamed rice cake (or puto) with cheddar cheese and salted egg on top. and what's my fave about this? We can do Leche Flan! 

4) Shakers


Who says we only use this when we drink alcohol? We can use this for other things too, such as making milk tea, homemade hot chocolate, and smoothies. But But when sometimes we feel like drinking, it's by default that we'd, of course, use this. Let's be realistic, shall we.

We got stainless and plastic. The stainless ones are what we got as a freebie from the CIROC Vodka package we bought at Changi Airport's Duty Free. The plastic ones were bought by Emman from the Philippines. Whenever I play bar-tending, it's good to do the cocktails when you see them mixed all together in the plastic shaker. In that way, everyone will know what you have put in it. What's good about the taller one (plastic) is that, there are measurements on until where you'll be pouring this liquid and what comes next. Sadly, due to washing and rinsing, the prints are wearing off and unclear to be seen. We just have to rely on how strong we would want the mixtures (READ: alcohol :) ) will be. :)

And now... the recent HAULS:

5) Sona SSM3051 Stand Mixer


This was bought couple of months ago by Ianne and Alain since at that time there was a major sale happened in Metro Department Store, and they bought this (from around S$79) to S$39. It was a total steal! I'm loving it up to this day. There's this mode where you can solely use the mixer to hold it alone if you don't feel like babysitting the bowl in rotating motion (yes it is, how amazing is that).

There are 2 attachments included and additional 1 more which is extra way cooler, I'm telling you.

The batter attachment

The dough attachment

Third one: Puree attachment! Perfect for fruit or veggie juices!


I haven't tried the puree attachment as of now because I'd let the owners to use it first before me. No worries, I'll share what it's going to be like! The only downside here is I don't think it can crush ice, so probably I'd rather find it out myself-- meantime, I'll use this whole gadget to create batter for oatmeal cookies, banana bread and muffins, pie pastry and pizza dough. :) 

The box also got a free plastic cake knife to go along with.

6) 9-inch spring-form Cake Pan with an additional Ring Cake Pan



I was about to buy the one without the Ring Cake but I saw another brand that carries an additional molder, so I availed it! It cost me S$18 (rounded off) and is made of Teflon. I love it. I already used it in making cheesecakes. The ring cake pan has yet to be used, maybe if I do a glutten free bread or Angel Cake. 

above: Ring Cake Pan arrangement
below: Normal arrangement

7) Ice Cream Scoopers



We use Iced Cream Scoopers in creating perfect shapes for cookies, crinkles and muffins. Trust me, everything will be of exact proportion when you use them. Ianne does it all the time.

8) Braun Multiquick 5 Jug Blender


Albert purchased this for S$119 (usual price is S$139) at Courts, NEX Serangoon. I think this is by far, the second most expensive item in the kitchen (first, being the Convectional Oven we bought last Christmas 2012). Aside from the brand, this guy is expensive because of the many perks it gives you. Not that I'm saying that it is a magical, liquefy-in-a-snap kind of gadget but for me, it is always nice to have one blender in your home. It makes life 10x easier and everything solid juiced up, pureed, emulsified, and well combined. We all know heavy duty blenders can crush ice, right? This is one of the reasons why I make smoothies and juices here better than the puree attachment of our mixer. I can already tell by just looking at it.



What I like here is the glass jug. I'd say it minimizes the noise while everything blends because it is indeed tougher by all means, compared to plastic jugs. The blender lock is not necessary; you just get this baby to sit on it and it won't wobble or be out in place. How cool is that? It's just place and blend away. Lift and go. Easy to maintain, washing the parts isn't so much of a hassle. 

The lid is tight and it doesn't spoil anything. There's this measuring cup on top of it that comes very handy when pouring vanilla syrup and milk and all that. The blade part isn't too messy to clean up with. Frankly speaking, I just wash it with a running water and no other unwanted particles will be left. Lastly, it is organized in the sense that the cord is nicely stored below. 


What I only like least about it is the switch because it is not smoothly turned. Well.. okay this is brand new and it hasn't loosened up yet and all but, compared to the brands like Philips or Tefal, they have smooth rotating consistency. It would be best if the power isn't numbered, and you can control how fast you grind the mixture, but other than that, this is two thumbs up. I'll just get myself be used to it.

Sooo that's it! It is always best to invest on things like this because it just keeps and brings out the love for food in each one of us, not to mention, being creative in the ways we want to. It may be very pricey to purchase the items at the beginning, but...  end of the day, you'll realize that you'll save more when there are times you had sudden cravings for ham and cheese croissant with strawberry-banana smoothie at the comfort of your living room and you have all the ingredients in your kitchen. 

What's best about it is that you can cook what you love, together with your loved ones.

What equipment you recently brand as a must-have in your kitchen? Let me know on the comments below.

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