Yes, I know, random topic is most random, but that's what Thinky Thursdays are for - they are all about my random brain :) Welcome to this week's instalment.
Single Use Kitchen Utensils - Yes or No?
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| Egg Slicer |
I have wanted one for ages, but all the ones I saw were too expensive, but then Morissons had one for £2.99 and I was sold. I used it for the first time on Monday for an egg salad and I love it.
It started me thinking about single use Kitchen Utensils and how some people think they are a waste of space. I can't remember who, but I recall watching a cooking program where someone went on and on about how they were pointless. (Feel relieved, my other possible topic was underwear, and not the sexy kind).
In this case I think they are wrong. Yes I can use a knife to slice an egg. In fact I have been doing that most of my life.
BUT...
The egg slicer does it better and quicker.
The knife sticks to the yolk and makes the egg fall apart. Not once when using the slicer on 3 eggs did this happen on Monday. I ended up with three perfectly sliced eggs ready to lay out neatly on our salads.
You could probably use the slicer to slice other soft things, but really, it's only real function is to divide eggs into nice even bits. I think it is worth it's place.
I love my multi-tools like my knives, my mandolin and my mouli, but sometimes you just need a specific tool for a specific job.
I think this principle spans out into other areas too, not just kitchen utensils. I can even link it to books - watch me! :)
Sometimes authors try too hard to please everyone. This is IMPOSSIBLE. Not everyone is going to like you choice of topic or your genre or even your writing style. Pick up any book, even the most famous ones, and you'll find someone who doesn't like it.
The secret is finding your niche, because if you don't love what you write no one else will either. Then investigate your genre and tailor what you love to your market to attract as many people as you can. Strive to be the best you can be, but remember you are not a multi-tool - you cannot do everything for everybody.
I don't care much for single use items. A hand mixer, a blender, my mouli, a good set of knives and a cutting board. That's about it for me. Ah, but hubby is all about the gadgets! But then, he uses them and leaves them to me to clean up. For me it's the clean up of most gadgets. I still do my dishes by hand and I don't like all the extra cleanup...I find most of them aren't worth the extra time they take in cleanup, unless you were going to do a large amount of the thing they are designed for.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, blogging at Life & Faith in Caneyhead
Ah, so maybe one should only have a certain number of really useful single use utensils :).
DeleteI love your seque. Perfecto! And I totally love my egg slicer! Those things are great. It's so fast and the slices come out perfect. I just turned my mom onto it as a matter of fact. She said, "Oh, is that what that thing is for?! I have one at home but I didn't know what to do with it." haha. She's sold. She now loves the egg slicer too.
ReplyDeleteI think it's fine to have single use utensils. I have a set of knives and I'm very particular to only use the knives for their specific purpose (tomato knife, bread knife, sandwich knife, citrus knife, paring knife, etc). If you use single use items for other things, that sometimes messes them up and then they become useless (in the case of my knives, if I used my tomato knife to cut celery or carrots, eventually it's not going to cut tomatoes so nice anymore)...
Single use utensils definitely have their place. I'm sold on them.
And I think you've hit the nail on the head: you must find your niche and concentrate on that. So what if you don't find an audience with the masses. Your niche audience will love and appreciate your writing because you're talking directly to them.
Great random post! And I'm dying to hear the underwear one... :)
Michele at Angels Bark
Thank you and YAY! for egg slicers :). I have wanted one for ages.
DeleteI don't use my knives for one specific purpose, except the bread knife, because I have no idea which each one is for :), but I do have a very good knife sharpener. I cannot imagine how people manage with blunt knives.
I think the underwear one might not have been so interesting - it was more of a rant about cheap materials and how nothing seems to last long these days ;). Now I sound old!
Hi Tasha - I've always had lots of utensils over the years ... now I use few - but then I don't entertain that much ... but I love the egg slices when they come out of the slicer. Glad you've got a little treasure there - especially as Summer and salads are here ...
ReplyDeleteCheers Hilary
It's the small things that make us happy :D
DeleteI always loved egg slicers, ever since I first saw one as a child in the 80's. There's just something very satisfying about just one movement and you have a perfectly sliced egg.
ReplyDeleteI don't have many single use tools, I don't even own an egg slicer, although if they're that cheap then, we may own one soon. Having said that though, I do have a donut dropper and a cake pop tray - they do not get used very often, I have to say! I am a gadget fan, but I do restrain myself, most of the time.
LOL - most of the time - yep, I've seen you eyeing up the gadgets in B&M ;)
DeleteI don't have room for single-use items on our boat. Everything has to have at least two purposes. But, if I lived on land, it would probably be a whole other story :-)
ReplyDeleteNice link between egg slicers and finding your writing niche. Cheers - Ellen
Ah yes, I imagine space is at a premium. I would have to have a second boat for all my stuff :)
Deleteegg slicers aren't single use item. you can cut up pitted olives too.
ReplyDeleteand as i child i used to pretend it was a harp. :)
DeleteLOL - I love it. You just have to be careful that the wires aren't too sharp :) I'm not sure pitted olive slicing really counts as a very different use.
DeleteA job I used to work at had one of those egg slicers. It was very convenient and fast when orders were piling up. So pretty much, no I don't think those gadgets are a waste.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think there is such a thing as the right tool for the right job :)
DeleteI have a couple of single use tools, the one I love best is my handheld garlic press, yes you can chop garlic up, but it's not the same and sometimes you need lovely squishy garlic juice and pulp!
ReplyDeleteI've never had an egg slicer like that but we did have a type of metal afro comb in the 80's, which you could stick into an egg/onion/tomato and then you'd run the knife inbetween the teeth of the "comb" to guide your cuts, but that was a bit more faff than just slicing the items with a knife!
Love the segue, and I love my niche blog wise ;)
Mars xx
@TrollbeadBlog from
Curling Stones for Lego People
I have a few single-use gadgets - and an egg slicer is one :D We also have a cherry pitter and a pineapple corer. And a garlic press, but I feel like there is no alternative for that! I did feel a bit weird about the pineapple corer, but it really is handy. It's supposed to slice the pineapple too, but that blade broke off the first time I tried to use it. Still, it does such a quick job of coring the pineapple, it's still worth keeping around. Oh, I also have an apple peeler/corer that is sooo worth the money! The first time that I made an apple pie I peeled and cored all of the apples by hand and it took so long. I made sure that I had the peeler/corer the next time that I made a pie!
ReplyDeleteI do not have an egg slicer but I do have a small egg masher. It's funny feet on the bottom of a funny looking egg.
ReplyDelete