“Always with my supervision, my kindergartner will slice fruit or chop nuts with his special green knife.”
A child-safe knife that lets a supervised kid graduate from washing produce to slicing fruit and chopping nuts.
“The absolute best pepper mill I've ever used. Yes it's heavy, yes it's expensive, yes it could easily double as a weapon during a home invasion if needed — but it is an absolute must-have for anyone who loves flavor.”
A heavyweight, splurge-grade pepper mill — built like equipment, for serious flavor people.
“This year we switched from regular white kitchen towels to dark gray bar mops and, my goodness, it classed up the joint.”
Dark gray cotton bar mops that hide stains and look more put-together than standard white kitchen towels.
“Incredible little ladle. Sounds weird, but for anyone who makes lots of soups, sauces, and whatnot, this thing solves a huge kitchen irritation – the different colored lip of the scoop is flexible allowing you to get in all of the nooks and crannies of any pot you're using.”
A flexible-lipped soup ladle that gets into pot corners other ladles miss — small fix, big quality-of-life win.
“Geraldine gifted me this cookbook (I think after she saw me staring at on her kitchen counter), and I squealed with delight as I flipped through the pages of beautiful photos. It's become a page-turner for me as I plan to gift cookie boxes this year to teachers and neighbors.”
Beautifully photographed cookbook of not-too-sweet Asian cookie recipes — a gifting cookbook even cookbook-skeptics page through.
“I took an axe, a saw, a Leatherman, which is like a multi-tools, it's a knife and pliers and stuff.”
The do-everything multi-tool he chose for Alone: pliers, a knife, and more in a pocketable package built to last.
“Now, this little crab holds my cooking spoon in place or keeps my pot lid in place.”
A crab-shaped silicone gadget that holds a cooking spoon or props a pot lid to vent steam, under twenty dollars.
“Rikon makes great Y-peelers that are so inexpensive that they are often sold in 3 packs.”
A sharp, inexpensive Y-peeler often sold in three-packs, with a heavy-duty Titan version for tougher jobs.
“This board cream is a natural blend of bees wax and mineral oil.”
A beeswax and mineral oil cream that conditions, seals, and protects wooden cutting boards.
“I have 3 for emergency purposes. Super boring way to keep yourself and others safe in an emergency.”
A personal straw water filter for emergencies, from a company that funds clean-water donations out of its profits.
“These fine woodworkers make real ones that last, look beautiful, don't wobble, and make chopping a pleasure.”
Heirloom-grade wooden cutting boards that sit flat, last for years, and make chopping a pleasure.
“I love their pots. Right size. Right weight. Right shape. Cadillac.”
Italian-made cookware with the right size, weight, and shape, easy to scrub and built to last.
“Part of his history study of course put him on eating knives and eating daggers from the middle ages.”
A historically faithful medieval knife-and-pricker eating set, hand-recreated with classic methods.
“It has 8 temperature sensors along its length so it understands not just core temperature, but the way heat is moving into your food.”
A probe thermometer with eight sensors that reads how heat moves through food and predicts when it is done.
“Sprinkle in a little FryAway and wait. As the oil cools, it solidifies into a flexible puck that you can toss in the trash.”
A plant-based powder that solidifies leftover frying oil into a puck you can toss in the trash, not the drain.
“The PoulTree is a rod that attaches to your cast iron skillet which catches all the drippings while you roast your chicken on the grill. Brilliant.”
A rod that attaches to a cast iron skillet to catch drippings while roasting a chicken on the grill.
“Because you need to engage both hands in a lateral squeeze, it's easier on the wrists.”
A fold-flat citrus juicer with a lateral squeeze that is easier on the wrists and stays out of the drawer.
“The last jar of peanut butter I finished got super clean before I recycled it!”
A tiny scraping spatula-spoon that gets jars genuinely clean down to the last bit.
“With the Garject, you'll have a garlic press that presses unpeeled garlic and scrapes itself clean.”
A garlic press that handles unpeeled cloves and scrapes itself clean, fresh garlic without the fuss.
“The FireKylin rice paddle stands on its end (no sticky mess anywhere!) and it's made of silicone.”
A nine-dollar silicone rice paddle that stands on its end so it never makes a sticky mess on the counter.
“I really like using the Baby Nessie tea infuser for aromatics in my cooking.”
A Loch Ness-shaped tea infuser she uses to steep aromatics like sage, cloves, and cardamom in cooking.
“It's been so great for sodas that I used to top cocktails.”
A reusable cap that keeps tonic, Mexican Coke, or any carbonated mixer fresh, saving money over time.
“Eventually, I found my way to these washable paper towels.”
Washable waffle-weave cloth paper towels with enough texture to scrub stains and absorb spills.
“With this foldable whisk, you'll have easy storage and easy whisking. Plus, the metal wires are coated in silicone which means it won't make a scratchy noise against the mixing bowl.”
Foldable silicone-coated whisk — solves the utensil-drawer jam, won't scratch nonstick.
“Handmade aprons from Granville Island, BC. They're endlessly customizable and crafted to last.”
Handmade, customizable kitchen aprons from a small Granville Island maker — built to last.
“It's called survival cord. And it has a tinder material inside of it you can pull out... and then it has a snare, like Kevlar cable, so you make a snare. And then it has a fishing line and then the regular string that usually comes in the paracord.”
Paracord with hidden survival strands inside, waxed tinder, snare wire, and fishing line, so one cord covers fire, traps, and a gill net.
“I always carry also just a ferro rod, which is very — it just makes sparks, basically. You scrape it and it makes sparks.”
A ferro rod he always carries as a fail-safe fire starter, throws sparks when matches and lighters quit on you.
“So I bought this thing recommended by a friend of mine, Nick Norris... called the NUG. And the NUG is, it's about the size of a gigantic bar of soap, it's a piece of wood, and it has different depths of grips on it... you could keep it in a jacket pocket.”
A pocket-sized wooden grip-training block with varied edge depths for travel-friendly finger and tendon work.
“There's one called the Indo Board, which I have and I've fucked around with it.”
A roller-and-deck balance trainer for daily proprioception and balance practice, even a few minutes a day.
“I had one between trees, same company, Gibbon... Very portable. So obviously a lot easier to set up and take down a gigantic thing between two trees with ratchets and everything.”
A ratchet-tensioned slackline for balance training between two trees; portable and easy to set up and take down.