Wacky Practicals has developed a new take on the conventional tea kettle, a collapsible version that is made of silicone.  The Pack Away Kettle has a stainless steel base that does conduct heat so it will stay hot after boiling.  It is safe for all heat sources, electric, conduction, and gas stoves.  Now you can be sure to have tea wherever you go or have a new way just to boil hot water, be it abroad or even on a camping trip.  This tea kettle shrinks down to 5.5 cm and expands to 14 cm.  It is dishwasher safe too.  The capacity of the Pack Away Kettle is 1.1 litres (just under two pints).  Enjoy your favorite drink wherever you are.  If you are attracted to a tea kettle that whistles, this one will disappoint you.  Pack Away Kettle is FDA food safe and weighs 350 grams.  To get it shipped from the UK to the USA, it will set you back approximately $81, about half is shipping fees.  Please go to http://wackypracticals.co.uk for more information.

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen, Tea

Pack Away Kettle – A Collapsible Teapot originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 8, 2011 at 10:00 am.

I’m not sure if it’s due to the fact that I’ve been watching Game of Thrones on HBO, but I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the Swashbuckling BBQ Sword on ThinkGeek. This cleverly shaped cooking skewer will be the envy of your buddies at your next cookout. It’s 19″ long, made of heavy duty stainless steel, and has a wooden hand grip. You know you want one, and at $24.99, you won’t have to pay a king’s ransom for it.

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News, Outdoor Gear

Tagged: BBQ, Kitchen, Outdoors

Vanquish Hotdogs and Marshmallows with the BBQ Sword originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 28, 2011 at 1:00 pm.

Remember the Boogie Board that Julie reviewed awhile back?  Well it seems that Improv Electronics has updated their Boogie Board line. The new line includes a bigger Boogie Board of 10.5” which will cost $60, a $45  8.5” binder slate, and a Brookstone exclusive $40 slate.

The 10.5” version has added features such as, a built-in stylus holder, a lock button to prevent accidental erase, user replaceable batteries, and a place to loop your charms to give a more customized look to it.

There’s a new $20 accessory as well for the original Boogie Board where you can slide it into a cork board style holder.

Filed in categories: Miscellaneous, News

Tagged: Bulletin Board, Kitchen

Boogie Board Gets an Update originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 14, 2011 at 12:30 pm.

Several years ago I reviewed the SmartShopper grocery list recording device. The SmartShopper has been recently upgraded with a smaller design and extra features like a built in timer, ability to keep two lists and ways to sort the list by your store layout. The SmartShopper still doesn’t require ink, but it does use small rolls of thermal paper which cost $10.99 per 3/pk. The SmartShopper itself is $79.99 and can be purchased here. How do you keep your grocery list? Can you believe that I still do it the old school way with paper and pencil? Shocking isn’t it?!

Filed in categories: Home Tech, News

Tagged: Kitchen, Shopping, Spotlight Gadgets

The SmartShopper gets Smarter originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 2, 2011 at 12:30 pm.

The Tapi from DreamFarm adds a water fountain capability to your regular tap.   Just squeeze-n-snort. It doesn’t impede the normal flow and comes in a range of colors. $5

[Via OhGizmo!]

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News

Tagged: Kitchen, Spotlight Gadgets

A Fun Way to Squirt Water Up Your Nose – Tapi originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 28, 2010 at 10:00 am.

You scream, I scream... personally, I hate that phrase! I don't scream for ice cream. However, these screaming ice cubes in your friend's party drinks, are hilarious!

Forget the X-Files…the Coolness Factor is the Truth that’s Out There…

While most people like to read the Gadgeteer to find out the latest in cool, new electronic gadgetry, it’s important to remember that gadgets aren’t ALWAYS electronic.  Sometimes they just have to be cool.  Something you can’t help but look at.  Something you can’t help but think:  “I totally know someone who would love that,”.

Fred & Friends, a company recently profiled in Country Living magazine (yeah, yeah, yeah….but just stay with me here) is touting their latest in cool ice cube trays.   I know, I know… we’ve all seen the fruit slice or berry shaped ice cube trays.  Big deal.  But how would you like to float the Titanic and it’s fate inducing iceberg in your drink?  What’s a wedding without a cloud of icy diamonds cooling the punch bowl.  Or better yet.  Got a bunch of sci fi friends?   How about Edvard Munch’s Screaming Man?  Gives a whole new definition to the term “cool” doesn’t it.

Guitar shaped ice cube tray with plastic fret bar for guitar loving friends. I have a friend in Washington state who would just LOVE this.

Fred & Friends, home of the Ninja Bread gingerbread cookie cutters (hey the list of cool stuff goes on) has a nice line of just off the wall gadgets guaranteed to assist the most creative minds.

The cold brain ice cube tray accompanied with what looks like Romulan Ale. Star Trek fans...you know what I'm talking about.

My personal fave is the Gin and Titonic ice cube tray.  A replica of the sinking Titanic ocean liner accompanied by the iceberg ice cube that rendered the “unsinkable” ship to the bottom of the sea.  Another fave, especially if you’re living in Indiana this summer is the Chill Pill ice cube tray.  Yes, Gadget fans, an ice cube tray in the shape of an oblong scored pill with the words Chill and Pill appropriately engraved.

Sink your Drink!

Fred & Friends’ trays are made of silicone which I personally love.  I use silicone trays for baking muffins and cakes.  I do not have anywhere near the sticking problems I have with rigid pans and while I haven’t tried the ice cube trays, I can stand up for silicone trays for their utility and ease.  I can’t see why this wouldn’t work for ice cubes.  Anyone who has ever handled one of those outdated ice cube trays knows that the key to release is flexibility and most ice cube trays have all the flexibility of a redwood picnic bench.    Fred & Friends also packages their trays in recyclable packaging so that’s another plus in my corner. Oh and they’re also dishwasher safe.  I’ll admit it though… I’m attracted to the Coolness Factor that these trays provide.  Everyone needs ice for party drinks…why not jazz it up a bit and show your more warped side?  The possibilities are endless.

You can find them for $9.07 on Amazon for the Cool Jewels tray…$7.40 for the Cool Jazz guitar tray.  If you’re making a lot of ice for a party, it could get pricey.  If you’re giving them as a unique gift, the cost is very reasonable.

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News

Tagged: Beverage, Kitchen, Spotlight Gadgets

Ice Said Fred originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 4, 2010 at 11:02 am.

I really look forward to doing kitchen gadget reviews when the purpose of the gadget is to make something yummy. Today I want to show you the Pizzelle Pro Express Bake 834 from Chef’sChoice. If you are not familiar with pizzelles, they are crisp thin cookies that originated in Italy. Jeanne has wanted one forever, so I was super happy when the folks at Chef’sChoice offered to send one to me to review. Let’s take a look.

Package Contents

PizzellePro device
Cannoli wooden roller
Instruction / Recipe booklet

The pizzelle maker looks like a small waffle iron, which is what it basically is. It has a chrome top and bottom, with a long Black plastic handle.

The handle has a trigger mechanism that you press as you lift the lid.

You can make 2 pizzelles at one time with this cooker. As you see, there are non-stick heating elements on the top and bottom, with attractive snowflake patterns that bake into the pizzelle as they cook.

The heating elements are not removable, so you have to wipe them clean (you can not dunk the whole unit into the sink).

The attached cord can wrap around the bottom of the cooker for easier storage. The instruction booklet states that the PizzellePro can be stored standing upright, but this really isn’t true because it will fall over. Of course, it could be wedged against another appliance in your cabinet.

Ok, let’s get cooking!

The recipe booklet that ships with the cooker only includes 2 basic recipes. Each one makes about 6 dozen 4 inch pizzelles. Since there are only two of us in my house and neither one of us needs to eat that many sweets, we cut the recipe in half. The main ingredients are eggs, butter, flour, baking power and sugar. To flavor the pizzelles, you can use Anise, Vanilla, Lemon, Almond, etc. We decided to go the traditional route and use Anise.

Once the batter is ready, all you do is plug in the cooker and wait for the Red LED on the lid to go out.

Then you lift the lid and place a teaspoon of the mixture in the center of each heated plate and close the lid. At this point you only have to wait about 20 seconds till the baked pizzelle is ready to be removed. I really wish the cooker had some type of timer instead of us having to count out 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi … 20 Mississippi a bazillion times.

The finished product is a thin lightly sweet cookie. You can remove the pizzelles and plop on two more dollops of batter to cook the next batch. There is no need to wait for the cooker to heat back up.

You can leave them plain or sprinkle some powdered sugar on top.

Click the image above to see a larger view.

The PizzellePro from Chef’sChoice is really easy to use. We made a half batch (around 35 pizzelles) in about 30 minutes, including the time it took to mix the batter and read the instructions. Even better is the the fact that clean up was just a simple matter of wiping down the plates after they had cooled.

I know we’ll end up experimenting with different flavors (I want to try Orange extract) and might even try cannollis sometime (you roll the pizzelle into a tube and fill with icing, cream, etc.). Making pizzelles could be a fun family activity for the holidays or anytime when your sweet tooth starts aching.

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, Reviews

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen

Chef’s Choice PizzellePro Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 1, 2010 at 1:00 pm.

Finally!

Well I think this is legit.  While most postings for a see-through toaster make note that the designs are just concepts, I found the Magimix Vision see-through toaster (“coming to Williams Sonoma stores in Spring 2010″) on actual web sites, for sale as of right now.  JohnLewis.com claims it has “more than 10 in stock” and Williams Sonoma‘s web site is also listing them now.  So it must be available.

Its street price has been touted at 300 dollars (US) and JohnLewis’ web site lists it as 190 pounds (UK).

Filed in categories: Kitchen Gadgets, News

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen, Spotlight Gadgets

See Through Toaster – Don’t Believe it Till You See it originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 1, 2010 at 11:02 am.

You can buy the Autonomous Saucier from Hammacher Schlemmer. It’s a battery powered sauce stirrer. No longer will you need to slave over a pan of gravy when you have this little gadget. It sits in the pan and automatically spins and revolves around to keep everything mixed and smooth. The three legs made of stainless steel with silicone feet can be removed and washed in the dishwasher. Freeing yourself from the tyranny of stirring will cost you $39.95

Filed in categories: Home Tech, News

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen, Spotlight Gadgets

When stirring is just too much trouble… originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 14, 2010 at 9:34 am.

The NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto is a beverage brewing system brought to you by Nescafe and Krups. That’s sure a mouth full, isn’t it? After unboxing the thing and setting it on the kitchen counter, my spouse took one look at it and named it “The Coffee Duck”, but for the review I’ll stick with calling it the Gusto. What it is is a system combining a Krups-built simple to use one cup at a time brewer with a  capsule-based beverage system by Nescafe. Yikes, still a mouthful! Its a dead-simple system to make a single cup of coffee-house class drink, minus the barista, the mess, and for the most part, the danger associated with espresso machines, milk foamers, coffee grinders, etc. Once you get the hang of it, the Gusto actually does what it claims.

Unboxing

The review unit I received was the “starter” retail package:

All the bits in the box except one are fairly important… and the one bit that wasn’t (the saucer for the cup) arrived in several bits thanks to my UPS guy. Once you dig it all out you’ll have a pile something like this:

It’s nearly foolproof, but I’ll give it a go

There are currently eight beverages you can make with the Gusto. The review included a second box containing one each of the seven flavors available at the time – a few weeks later I received a sample of the newest flavor “Cappuccino Ice”. I’ll come back to the flavor choices in a bit, let’s focus for now on how it all works.

Each beverage uses one or two capsules. If the beverage has a milk component, you’ll use two capsules to make it. If not, you just use one.

So, for example, the very popular with my daughter “Latte Macchiato” uses two capsules. You buy these things in a box of 16 capsules. Most likely you’ll be buying them online – I’ve kept an eye out for them at my usual grocery stores, and they’re not stocked there. You can get them at Amazon and other online retailers. At Amazon, a three-pack box goes for $25. You can find single boxes for $8-$9. Those of you with good math skills have worked out by now that a cup of joe via this system runs you $.50 for non-milk single capsule drinks, and $1 for the two capsule ones. If you’re getting your drinks at a place with a guy or gal foaming the milk, this is actually a little less expensive, although its not quite as inexpensive as you might think. More on that in a bit!

Each beverage comes with instructions on its box. The Gusto also includes a manual showing how to make each beverage, but it seems like the instructions don’t match exactly. For best results, go with the instructions printed on the capsule box. Each beverage recipe breaks down into something like this:

1. Fill the Duck, er, Gusto with water. You can make 3-4 cups with one tank of water. The tank is the self-contained clear plastic that makes up the body of the Duck.
2. Press the Power button. It turns from Red to Green when the heater is ready. This takes just a few seconds from dead cold, so usually its ready to go by the time you finish the next step.
3. Insert a Capsule in the tray. The tray is the “beak” of the duck. Flip up the release (the duck’s eyes) and pull the tray out. Insert the first capsule in, push down the release, and you’re ready to go



4. Now for the tricky bit. Assuming the power light is Green, you’re ready to brew. You use the shifter on top to shoot screaming hot (or unheated, for cold drinks) water at high pressure through the capsule. Sadly, you’re in control of how long that water goes, and here’s where some practice makes perfect. The supplied cups are important, because they’re sized right for the beverages (which are small!) and they include subtle hints as to how much of each capsule you should add. Using the glass to make the Macciahato, you dispense latte/foam (the light capsule) to the top of the handle. Then you add coffee (the dark capsule) to near the rim. Overfill either, and you get a watery, weak drink.
5. Once you’re done filling a capsule, flip up the release, pull the tray, and dump the spent capsule into the supplied bin. The capsule is HOT and still has liquid in it, so some care (and adult supervision) is a good idea.
6. If the beverage uses two capsules, do the same routine with the second capsule, dispensing the right amount, to the next mark.

Hit those marks exactly, and you get this:

Not only is that visually appealing, but it has one of the best foam tops I’ve ever gotten at home:

It also passes the taste test. Yummy.

Coffee for everyone

As the reviewer, I carefully made each of the drinks supplied in the sample set. Since I wanted to be able to sleep sometime in the next few days, I enlisted the spouse and teen to help with the taste testing. After a few tries I could get repeatable results using the clear glass supplied, but it’s actually easier to use a measuring cup to get the exact amounts, and then dump the cup into the final beverage container. The system is simple enough that my teen and her friends can use it, and it’s sure convenient.

The first few attempts showed a problem with taking a European product to the US market. I don’t know about you, but my coffee only comes in one size. Really really big. Grande. Super Size. Whatever you call it, it’s some honking 16-20 ounce monster. The Gusto cranks out beautiful Euro-sized 6-8oz drinks, or a wee drop (2 oz) of espresso. You can merrily push 16 ounces of hot steamy water through the capsules, but all you’ll get is a fairly horrible glass of hot brown/white water that will leave you jumpy and disappointed. Either scale back your size, or make it a double. Even if you double the capsules you’ll be paying just $2 for your 16 ounce Macchiato.

Skinny? Decaf? Diet?

Finally, another potential weakness of any capsule-based system is that you’re forced to use what they sell, and nothing more. Currently for the Dolce Gusto that’s:

• Caffe Lungo (your basic coffee, black) and
• Caffe Lungo Decaf
• Cappuccino (1 shot of espresso and 6 oz of foamed milk – 3.5g fat, 10mg cholesterol, 80 calories)
• Cappuccino Ice (1 shot of espresso and 6 oz of foamed milk – 3g fat, 10mg cholesterol, 110 calories)
• Chococino (hot chocolate! Non-caffeinated – 6g fat, 15mg cholesterol, 150 calories)
• Espresso (1 shot)
• Latte Macchiato (1 shot of espresso, 6 oz foamed milk, 4g fat, 10mg cholesterol,  90 calories)
• Mocha (1 shot of espresso and 6 os of hot chocolate, 5g fat, 10mg cholesterol,  120 calories)

Not much here for anyone counting calories other then espresso or caffe (ie, the non-milk beverages.) I would hope they would consider “skinny” and “skinny – sugar free” versions, or even just selling milk systems separate from the espresso shots.

Parting Shot

Here’s the bottom line. I’ve had a nice Krups dual coffee/espresso/foamer sitting on my counter for several years. I make a pot of coffee a few times a month, and I’ve steamed milk exactly three times with it. I’ve still never quite brought myself to attempt the espresso side of it. The Dolce Gusto has been in near daily use by at least one of the three of us, including the teen and her posse of friends. We’ve long since burned through the review capsules and now get a regular shipment from Amazon.

The thing works. It’s simple, its instant gratification, it’s easy to keep clean, and it delivers any one of those eight styles of beverage any time you want going from cold start to steaming drink in less then a minute. Once you get in your head that 8 oz is a reasonable size for a coffee, it’s pretty much perfect.

Filed in categories: Geek Toys, Home Tech

Tagged: Appliance, Coffee, Kitchen

NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 20, 2009 at 7:38 am.

There are two beverages that I would be hard pressed to live without. Tea and Diet Coke. I love tea, but I’m addicted to Diet Coke. I drink the 20 ounce plastic bottles from vending machines at work and cans at home. Even though I recycle, I often feel guilty at the number of bottles and cans that I go through in a week. For this reason, I happily accepted the offer to review the SodaStream Fountain Jet soda maker. I was eager to see if the machine would offer fountain style taste and if it would help me save money and reduce can usage at home.

SodaStream sent me the Fountain Jet Starter Kit along with a selection of their soda mixes and favored water drops.

Package Contents

Fountain Jet soda maker
110 Liter carbonator gas cylinder
2 1 liter bottles with caps
User manual

The starter kit does not come with any soda mixes, so you’ll need to buy them separately. They are priced at $3.99 – $4.99, with quite a few flavors (20-30) to choose from, including diet and non-diet flavors. Since I am diabetic, I requested samples of the diet mixes and was sent Diet Cola, Diet Root Beer, Diet Creme Soda, Diet Cranberry Rasberry, and others. The diet mixes use Splenda. They also sent me some of their non-diet mixes and I was surprised that they are also made with a mixture of Sucrose and Splenda.

The machine itself is made of plastic and is relatively light weight. It stands 16.7 tall, and just barely fits under my kitchen cabinets.

I was a little worried that the process to make drinks would be more trouble than it would be worth. I’m happy to report that my worries were completely unfounded. I am not sure how much easier this system could be…

To get started, you remove the back cover on the soda machine.

This is where the included carbonator gas cartridge will be installed.

Just unscrew the protective plastic cap from the top and then…

Screw it into the fitting on the back of the Fountain Jet and snap the cover back into place.

Open a soda mix flavor that you want to use and fill the cap full of the syrup.

Then wash one of the included liter bottles. FYI: The bottles can not be washed in a dishwasher… Then fill the bottle to the fill mark with cold water. I always keep a Brita filter pitcher in my refrigerator, so this is what I use to fill the bottle.

The bottle then screws into the threaded fitting on the front of the Fountain Jet.

The top part of the Fountain Jet can swivel out to make it easier to screw in the bottle.

Here we see the filled bottle of water installed in the SodaStream ready to be carbonated.

To release the gas from the carbonator cartridge into the water bottle, you just press the large Grey button on the top of the Fountain Jet in short firm bursts. The first few times you press the button, you’ll hear and see gas release into the bottle, but you have to keep pressing till you hear a loud buzz. Once you press the button and hear a buzz, you press it two more times and  you’re done. Swivel the bottle out, unscrew it, pour in the cap full of soda mix syrup, screw on the bottle cap and shake the bottle gently back and forth a couple of times to mix the syrup and  that’s it.

The carbonator cartridge that comes with the Fountain Jet starter kit is supposed to create up to 110 liters (bottles) of soda. New cartridges cost $21.99 and require that you return the used cartridge. If you don’t return it, you will be charged an additional $15.00 fee. Thankfully, a return shipping label and box are provided to make the return more convenient.

One bottle of Diet Root Beer ready to drink.

I’m curious if anyone has caught on to the fact that The Fountain Jet does not require any batteries or electricity to work. I know that I was a bit surprised when I unpacked the contents and did not see an AC adapter.

I’ve made five liters of soda with the Fountain Jet so far and I have liked all the flavors except the Diet Cream Soda which was a bit too sweet for me (even though it’s diet). The Diet Cola is surprisingly good and tastes more like Diet Coke than Pepsi. Which is good because I don’t care that much for the flavor of Pepsi. You can also use the MyWater flavors with the Fountain Jet to make sparkling water aka seltzer water. I tried the Berry flavor and it wasn’t something I’d probably try again. I’d rather have the more flavorful flavors.

The one liter bottles have been the perfect size to share with another person during a meal or with a snack. The bottles keep the fizz in the drinks even if you don’t drink them all in one sitting.

We’ve established that the Fountain Jet is easy to use and makes good tasting sodas, but is it economical? Here are the consumables:

$21.99 per 110 liter carbonator = ~ .20 cents a liter
$4.99 per soda mix (makes 12 liters or 50 servings) = ~ .42 cents a liter

That works out to a cost of about .62 cents per liter. Let’s use Diet Coke as a comparison. The prices that I’m going to quote are local for me here in Columbus, Indiana at the time of this review. The 12pk can and 2 liter prices are sale prices for a local grocery store.

$4.00 for a 12pk of 12 ounce cans (works out to ~ .94 cents per liter)
$1.25 for a single 20 oz bottle (works out to about $2.11 per liter)
$1.00 for a 2 liter bottle (.50 cents a liter)

It appears that the SodaStream Fountain Jet does save you money when compared to buying cans or individual bottles. But it does not save you any money when you compare to buying a 2 liter bottle. That said, I don’t normally buy 2 liter bottles because I usually only drink about half of it before it goes flat. That is one of the advantages to using the Fountain Jet to make 1 liter bottles, I find that I don’t waste as much. Another advantage is that I don’t have to lug and store multiple 12 and 24pk boxes of cans. So for me, this product gets two thumbs up. I’ll write an update to the review after my first experience exchanging carbonation cartridge.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Beverage, Kitchen

SodaStream Fountain Jet Starter Kit Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 13, 2009 at 12:37 pm.

Do you use your refrigerator as the family bulletin board? If so, do you use tape or magnets to hold your lists and pictures? Tape can leave a sticky residue and some magnets can scratch and mark up the surface of your refrigerator. The Endo Clip is a magnet, but it won’t hurt the surface it’s affixed to. Check it out. 

The Endo Clip is a 2.25 x 1.0 inch neodymium magnet wrapped in a soft silicone covering that is available in Black, White, Yellow, Red, Pink and Green.

The front surface is flat, with a circular ‘button’ at the top.

The bottom is magnetized with two flat bumps and a beveled surface at the top.

To use the Endo Clip, you just slap it on a metal surface like a refrigerator or file cabinet.

You then press the ‘button’ to open the clip. Since the whole back surface of the clip is the magnet, it fall to the floor if you happen to remove your finger at this point.

Just slide a photo or paper under the bottom of the clip, remove your finger and there you go. A very clever, yet simple design.

The Endo Clip can hold up to 20 sheets of paper or an object that weighs up to 1 pound. I’m not quite sure why you would want to hang a 1 lb object from your fridge, but hey, now you can They are also dishwasher safe, which is nice. My only complaint with this product is the price. $9.99 – $11.99 for a package of 3 seems a little steep in my opinion. But if the price doesn’t bother you and you’ve been looking for a more elegant way to display your child’s latest drawing or your grocery list on your refrigerator, the Endo Clip will do the job.

Price: $11.99 for 3pk (some colors are available for $9.99), $74.99 for 25pk

Pros:
Won’t scratch surfaces
Easy to use
Strong
Washable

Cons:
Expensive

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen, Magnet

The Endo Magnet Clip Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 23, 2008 at 1:18 pm.

I’ve been a tea drinker my whole life. No stinky coffee for me thank you very much! ;o) I was raised on cheap Lipton bagged tea. But as an adult, I discovered loose tea and am always trying new varieties of green, black and white teas. To fix a cup of loose tea, you need some type of infuser that will hold the leaves as they brew. Gamila Company’s Teastick Gem is just such an infuser. Let’s give it a try…

The original Teastick is made of stainless steel, but the Teastick Gem is made of a material called Eastman Tritan. It’s a thick plastic that has been FDA-approved, taste-free and BPA free. In other words, you can place it in 200+ degree water and not have to worry about chemicals leeching out of the Teastick and into your tea.

I’ve used several other types of loose tea infusers, including the ones you see here. The one on the Left is a spring loaded steel mesh ball that you can squeeze to open. The cup shaped infuser has a nylon mesh basket that you fill with tea and then set the whole thing in your cup. Both of these infusers work fine, but have a couple issues. As you can see, the nylon mesh in the cup infuser is stained brown from tea and starts looking nasty soon after using it. It and the other infuser are also a pain to clean because the wet tea leaves tend to stick to the mesh. These reasons are why I was interested in testing the Teastick to see if it has a better design.

Teastick Gems are available in two colors: Amethyst or Sapphire.

This infuser is made of two parts. A spoon / handle part and a mesh tube cover part that can slide off. It can only slide back on in one direction.

The tube cover has a stainless steel mesh top that has a very fine weave to help keep tea leaves out of your tea cup.

To use the Teastick, you slide the mesh cover off the handle and either use the Teastick like a spoon to fill the bowl area with dry loose tea, or you can use a teaspoon and fill the bowl.

You then slide the mesh cover in place where it is held there with friction. It feels a little awkward to slide the cover closed when there’s dry tea in the bowl. I also found that the cover doesn’t stay closed very securely. But as long as you are careful and hold it so that the tea area is pointed down, the leaves won’t spill out.

Once the Teastick is full of tea, you place it in your cup, heat up some water and …

… pour it in over the Teastick. You then wait a few minutes, depending on the type of tea that you’re using, while the tea brews.

When the tea is the strength that you like, you remove the Teastick from the cup and drink it. I actually had to swirl the Teastick around in the cup before I removed it from the water, to make the tea a bit stronger.

To clean the Teastick, slide off the mesh tube and dump the leaves. Some wet leaves will stick to both parts of the Teastick though, so you’ll have to thoroughly rinse both parts to remove them.

When it’s all said and done, I think Gamila Company’s Teastick makes an ok cup of tea while looking very trendy. The thing is that the Teastick is not any easier to use than my inelegant cup shaped infuser shown above. The Teastick is actually more awkward to use and clean since there are two parts involved. I think cup shaped infusers are better because they have a larger area for the tea leaves to ‘bloom’ in. So, for now I’m sticking with cup shaped infusers.

Do you have a favorite tea gadget? If so, let us know about it.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen

Teastick Gems Loose Tea Infuser Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 2, 2008 at 10:00 pm.

I did not start drinking coffee until I was in the service and was 19 years old. After a 6-year stint, I’m able to drink anything resembling coffee and probably have drunk things I shouldn’t have. If it is burned at the bottom of steel pot and you add water and re-heat, is it still coffee?

With that premise, I will tell you that I’m a coffee lover. I lived in the Seattle area during the rise of Starbucks. I can order a double-half-cafe-decafe-no-fat-double-latte with the best of them! I just cannot afford a daily fix and given I am the only coffee drinker at my home. I just don’t brew a big pot in the morning or the weekend any more. I have had Krups and Cusinart espresso and drip makers for a while but they just didn’t fit my lifestyle. For most of last year, I was using an Aeropress and for espresso, I still think this is the best you can make at home. I drank Americano (half espresso, half-water) but it is a bit of a production and became too much trouble with the grinding and cleaning for the 5-6 cups that I like to drink on the weekends. On a whim, I bought a Cafe  Gourmet single-serve pod machine for $9.99 on Woot.com last year. Lexxus International does not sell the machine or subscriptions (like Gevalia) any more. I was able to find inexpensive pods at Target and even ESP Espresso pods at Starbucks and other local stores and the purchase was well worth the money.

I started to look at finding some better pods and found Single Serve Coffee and started reading about other machines. After reading some of their reviews and the forum posts, I was ready to upgrade and my choices were a Cusinart SS-1, a Bunn My Cafe, and a Grindmaster OPOD. The Grindmaster is a commercial grade machine and the most expensive of the lot. It turned out however that the Grindmaster had a number of refurbished OPOD machines that they sold through the Tuesday Morning stores and I was able to pick up a 2nd generation machine for ~$120. It is by far the best gadget purchase I have every made!

There are three major styles of automatic single serve coffee machines on the market today. K-cups style machines by Keruig and licensees use a cup similar to a single serve creamer cup. T-disks are sold and licensed by Tassimo and use a bigger, flatter single serve delivery system, again a disposable, plastic container that is punctured at brew time. The third, most popular, single serve system uses pods that are essentially individual servings of ground coffee packaged in filter paper. Senseo, a Philips company, popularized this system. The pods are generally 55-65mm in diameter and contain 7-12 grams of ground coffee each.

The Grindmaster OPOD is a commercial grade machine designed for shops and offices. It retails for $299 list and they are now manufacturing their 5th generation machine. Grindmaster makes a number of commercial beverage systems (including frozen Margarita’s!!!) and you can see them in bars, hotels, and convenience stores everywhere. The first generation OPOD machine apparently had issues with heating and the second generation added a fan to cool the electronics. Subsequent generations have continued to be improved and refined.

My OPOD came with 4 pod holders that were all the same size but labeled “water,” “regular,” “flavored,” and “tea”. I subsequently have purchased another holder labeled “gourmet” which is slightly larger for bigger pods. The unit also includes an adapter fitting for hooking the unit up to an external water supply. I intended to do that but the water tank on the unit is 80 ounces and lasts me an entire weekend so I have not plumbed it in to date. I used filtered water from my refrigerator to fill the tank which is accessed through a large covered opening on the front top of the unit.

On the back of the unit there is an 80mm case fan for the electronics, a priming switch, and on/off switch. There are also two access panels, one for a thermostat control and one for a troubleshooting hookup. No, the RJ-45 connector will not put your OPOD on the internet! The thermostat is set by default at 200°F which gives a final coffee temp in the 180°-185° range. The OPOD is one of the hotter single serve coffee makers on the market and it makes a difference in the quality of the coffee. The water tank has a blue backlight which shines through a water level site for the tank. A large cover with screen covers the fill access. The front has the pod holder carriage mechanism which is very sturdy and on ball bearings for a long life. Two LEDs give the status of the machine. One is the water heating/ready and other is low water level and if the pod is used or the carriage is unseated. A four position switch selects the brew strength and a push button starts or interrupts the brew.

The 4 positions on the strength switch are “light”, “medium”, “strong”, and “tea”. Light cycle is a continuous flow of water through the pod. Medium gives a brief pulse of water through the pod and then pauses for a moment before starting a continuous flow of water. The pre-wetting increases the water contact time with the coffee increasing the extraction. Strong also has a pre-wetting pulse and then a sequences of pulses for the extraction. The tea cycle is a continuous set of smaller pulses that give the strongest brews for both tea and coffee.

The operation and control of the OPOD is very simple. After the unit is filled with water, primed, and the brew light is one you are ready to go. Place a coffee or tea pod in a holder, insert and latch, select one of four brew strengths, and press the brew button. In 20-40 seconds you will have a steaming cup of your favorite hot beverage. The brew cycle can be stopped by either pressing the button or opening the pod holder. The recovery time is very quick and you can brew another cup in 15-20 seconds. The water amount is also programmable if you have a larger cup. One downside is that a large travel mug will not fit under the nozzle.

I have tried about 25 different brands of pods and my current favorites are the Fratello pods from Chad at the Coffee Artisan – I especially like the Acid Jazz , Dixie Voodoo, and the Kenya AA. I also like the Timothy’s World Coffee, Rainforest Espresso through Amazon. The Target Archer brand pod French Roast and the Tierra Del Sol are pretty good in a pinch though they are smaller (~8gr) and don’t make quite as strong a cup. The pods cost between $0.25 – $0.75 depending on quantities and shipping. The Single Serve Coffee site forums have great reviews of pods, machines, etc. as well as a forum for deals and coupons.

Single serve coffee makers are perfect for households or offices where full pots of coffee go to waste. You can spend anywhere from $25 for department store machines to hundreds or even thousands of dollars for espresso machines. The Grindmaster OPOD was the perfect compromise for me and due to the commercial grade build should provide years of great coffee one cup at a time.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen

Grindmaster OPOD Single Serve Hot Beverage Dispenser Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 30, 2008 at 10:08 am.

Here’s my quick look video review of the Snap Capp, which was sent to me by Convenient Gadgets & Gifts.

Features

4 per package (Blue, Green, Red and Purple)
Plastic re-closable spout for 12 and 16 oz. aluminum beverage cans

YouTube link for a higher quality version of this video

Video Notes

I did a follow up test with the second Snap Capp that was sent to me, to see if it also had an issue with drips when turning the can sideways. The results were the same what I showed in the video.

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Travel Gear, Video Reviews

Tagged: Kitchen

Video Quick Look at the Snap Capp originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 6, 2008 at 10:00 pm.

Here’s my quick look video review of the DoneRight Timer from Tuscan Concepts Inc..

Features

5 separate timers
Buzzer and visual alarm cues

Click thumbnail to play video

Video Notes

Sites or products mentioned in video:
Chef’s Quad-Timer Professional Review

Zibra Open It! Shears Review

Can be found for sale on Amazon.com and Target Online retailers.

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Video Reviews

Tagged: Kitchen

Video Quick Look at the DoneRight Timer Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 23, 2008 at 8:22 pm.

I don’t know about all of you, but the first thing I do after getting seated on a flight is to open the seat back pocket to find the latest issue of the Skymall catalog. I didn’t change that habit on my last trip when I went out to San Francisco for MacWorld Expo. One of the more interesting items that I saw in the catalog was the tiny iwave cube portable microwave from icube designs. Coincidently, a few days after returning from the trip, I was contacted asking if I might like to review this mini appliance. Of course I said yes. Let’s take a look…

Available in eight colors including White, Black, Grey, Blue, Green, Pink, Red and Yellow, I was sent the Black model.

With a footprint of 10.5 x 12 x 10 inches, the iwave cube takes up less than one cubic foot of space. It is definitely a little microwave, making it perfect for a dorm room, office cubicle, etc.

It weighs 12 pounds and has an output of 600 watts. The grounded three-prong power cord is about 42 inches long and is attached at the top back corner. Not sure why it’s attached at the top instead of the bottom. This causes you to lose about 10 inches of cord length, if you need to plug it into an outlet below the device.

The user interface is located on the top of the iwave, along with a convenient handle. The location of the buttons may make placement of this microwave a bit problematic as you’ll probably not want to put it on a shelf above eye level. Doing so will make it really difficult to see / press the buttons.

As you will notice, the interface is simple and user friendly. You can’t punch in a specific time such as 1 minute and 23 seconds. Instead, you can press the 10 second button several times to a maximum of 1 minute. You can press the 1 minute button several times for a maximum of 5 minutes and the 5 minute button twice to give you a maximum of 10 minutes. There are also buttons preprogrammed for items such as hot sandwiches (can you say Hot Pockets?), Popcorn, Coffee, Soup and Gel Pack. The times associated with these items are:

Hot Sandwich – 4 minutes 30 seconds
Gel Pack – 1 minute 40 seconds
Coffee – 5 minutes, 6 minutes (press the button twice to toggle between the two settings)
Soup – 5 minutes, 6 minutes 30 seconds (press the button twice to toggle between the two settings)
Popcorn – 4 minutes 30 seconds

When you open the door, you realize just how small the iwave cube really is. With the accessory rack in place, the heating area is only about 8.5 x 8.0 x 5 inches (0.30 cubic feet). I think the metal rack is really only needed for popping corn, but the instruction booklet doesn’t make that clear.

You won’t be cooking a whole chicken in this little guy as it’s basically for small items such as heating your coffee (or for me, tea), single serving snacks, small bowls of soup, etc.

When the door is open or while you are cooking, there is a small light that shines from the top of the interior of the microwave so that you can see the activity inside. Depending on the size of the item placed inside, you may not be able to see the activity though.

I was pretty sure that I would not be able to use a regular sized package of microwave popcorn in this device. I didn’t think there would be room once the bag expanded. I decided to go ahead and give it a try and I was wrong, it worked fine.

In use, I found the iwave cube to be surprisingly quiet while cooking. Besides the fan noise, it will beep with every press of the keypad and when the cooking time is complete it will beep several times. It’s not overly loud, but I do wish there was a setting to turn that off.

There are a couple of downsides to this product that I would like to point out. Since this device is only 600 watts, it will take longer to heat up items compared to regular full size microwaves that might be 3 or even 4 times more powerful. There’s also the fact that you can buy a smaller regular microwave for less than half the price of the icube wave. I found an 800W Oster microwave with a foot print of 17 x 13 x 10 inches on Best Buy’s site for $50. So if you have just a little more space, you can save quite a bit on a mini microwave purchase.

Other than those issues, the iwave cube is super easy to use, portable, cute as a button and perfect for small spaces. If you must have the smallest microwave currently known to man, then this is the one for you.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen

iwave cube Portable Microwave originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 19, 2008 at 9:18 pm.

Do you still write your weekly grocery shopping and errands lists on scraps of paper, only to lose them before it’s actually grocery day? Or maybe you keep your lists on a PDA or Smartphone, which requires time for formatting and sorting? If you would like an easier solution than those two methods, I have something really cool to show you today. It’s the SmartShopper Grocery List Organizer from SmartShopper Electronics, Inc.

The SmartShopper is an all-in-one battery powered device that records your items, sorts them and then prints a paper list that you take with you to the store.

Package Contents

SmartShopper unit
2 rolls of extra paper
Wall mounting hardware
Quick start guide
Grocery item master list book

You have everything you need to start using this device except for 4 AA batteries that are needed to power it.

The SmartShopper device is 7.5 x 4.0 x 1.25 inches and is made of plastic with a brushed aluminum front. On the face of the unit, there is a mono backlit LCD, 6 buttons and a printer. On the back there are mounting holes if you want to mount the SmartShopper on the wall and hidden magnets if you would rather stick it right to your refrigerator. The battery compartment is also located on the back of the device.

A thermal printer (no ink needed – yay!) is built into the device and is easily accessed by opening the hinged door on the front of the unit. One of three included rolls of thermal paper is housed there. Removing and installing rolls is very easy. Replacement paper rolls are available through the SmartShopper site for $7.99 (for 3 rolls).

To use the device, you first mount it either on your refrigerator or wall.

Then you press the big Blue Record button in the center of the device. A beep will sound and then the screen will show the words “Speak Now”. At this point, you say the name of an item or errand that you want to add to your list. That’s right, you don’t have to train the SmartShopper to recognize your voice. It uses Nuance’s Vocon 3200 voice recognition engine.

For example, if you want to add ‘eggs’ to your list, just say the word eggs. The device will beep again and you’ll be shown a list of words that hopefully contain the one you just said. If the word is in the list, you use the up and down arrow buttons to highlight the word and then the select button to select it. That’s it. Now that item is on your list.

The SmartShopper’s internal database has approximately 2500 items stored in it. Luckily, the master list is included in booklet form, sorted both by category and alphabetically.

If your item isn’t in the database, you can add it by going into the library management settings screen.

As you add items to the list, you will see them on the display. Even when the SmartShopper automatically powers off after 30 seconds, the list till remain on the screen sorted in alphabetic order.

You can scroll through the list with the up and down buttons. Pressing the select button on an entry will give you various options such as changing the quantity, deleting it from the list or even marking the entry as having a coupon available for it.

If you mark an item as having a coupon, a small icon will appear next to that item in the list. Very handy for those of us with crummy memories ;o)

Selecting the library management option gives you the ability to remove items, improve item recognition and add new items. To add a new item, you first have to type in a name for it. Then you record the word and chose the category that it belongs too.

Using the SmartShopper is easy and intuitive. Anyone (including kids) can figure out how to use it without looking at a manual.

The only thing that you will probably look at once in awhile is the master list booklet. It is very helpful if you have problems finding the word for what you want to add to your list. For example, I wanted to add a mop to my list. After trying to add it without success, I then tried the words floor mop and viola, there it was.

Like I mentioned above, the SmartShopper has almost 2500 items in its database. They are not all just grocery items either. There are many errand items such as: Dentist, Pay Bills, FedEx, Gas Station etc. The grocery items are as simple as grapes, to as detailed as Granny Smith apples.

When you’re ready to go to the store, just press the Print button on the front of the device and out will come your categorized, alphabetic list. Tear it off and out the door you go. I love how the list is sorted by category. This really helps you save time when you get to the store because you won’t need to scan up and down your list constantly as you wander the aisles. Everything you need from each area will be grouped together. You can print the list as many times as you like. Printing it does not clear it. You have to clear it manually. Even pulling out the batteries did not clear the list. Granted, I didn’t leave them out very long, so your mileage may vary…

$150 might be a lot of money to pay for device that does the same thing as a pad of paper and a pen, but the SmartShopper is a more convenient in my opinion. You don’t have to worry about sloppy hand written lists, the lists get sorted automatically, and it’s just plain fun to use.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen

SmartShopper Grocery List Organizer originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 22, 2007 at 8:30 am.

I remember this episode of “Roseanne” from years ago. The Connors were sitting at the breakfast able and Dan was yelling at Roseanne. The reason being, she was double dipping into the butter and leaving food crumbs in the bowl. I remember laughing and going, “I know, I hate it when someone does that!” May sound strange, but hey, I get annoyed by seeing someone’s food crumbs in my butter. Here to possibly save “Dan” and me from the crumbs is the One Click Butter Cutter.

Product Specifications:

Stands approximately 8″ tall, 2″ long, and 3″ wide
Opening measures 1 3/8″ x 1 3/8″ and accommodates butter up to 5″ long
Available in green, red, blue, gray, yellow, and American Flag

Ten years ago, Inventions for Market came up with a concept to combine a butter holder and knife into one device. After years at the drawing board, they came up with a simple way to slice butter and not have the butter exposed. In addition, it comes in a handy container that stores upright in the fridge. Pictures do not quite do this justice, so I have a little video to share:

http://www.oneclickbuttercutter.com/one_click_butter_cutter_demonstr.htm

If you noticed, he was able to easily insert the butter, click the handle, and eject a pat of butter. He would also shake and tip it backwards to make the butter fall. Looks pretty simple, right? Well, I used the device for approximately 6 weeks and did not always think so.

For starters, just inserting the butter was a tough task—and it has nothing to do with my naturally blonde hair.

The directions state you just remove the top cap and flip over the cutter. Then lightly tap the device and an inner piece should easily fall out of the cutter.

Since our home is a part-time Bed & Breakfast for visiting family and friends, we went through at least four sticks of butter. Each time I changed a stick of butter, I had a rough time getting the inner piece out. It would take a lot of shaking and manual pushing to remove it. It was not just me, either. I let other guests try it out, as well as my trusty sidekick Ronnie. All of us noticed it was difficult to remove the insert. But, I was able to make it work and use the One Click Butter Cutter.

From there, I could start slicing the butter by gripping the device and squeezing. I found I had to use both hands to even slice the butter, though. The same was found with three women visiting my home. It just was not easy to push the handle. The three men testing noticed the cutter stuck when slicing, but could squeeze the device with one hand. Regardless of gender, all had to shake the device after slicing the butter. It was the only way to get the butter into the pan, on the bread, etc. Even then, we just hoped the pat would fall into the intended food. Occasionally, it landed onto the table or wrong side dish.

As I mentioned, I used the device for 6 weeks. I began working on my written review last week. Always the procrastinator, I delayed finishing my review so my family and I could enjoy the beautiful weather. In doing so, I was able to discover something new about the cutter…it broke! After all the testing, the little plastic insert snapped right off. My husband was cooking (yes, he’s awesome like that), squeezed the handle, and the last pat of butter ejected. In addition to the pat was the inner plastic device. Here are pictures of the device before and after:

I looked online and parts are not available for ordering. However, there was an impressive clause listed online:

“Because of the high quality of construction and materials we provide a 100% money back guarantee.
If the One Click Butter Cutter arrives broken or breaks during normal usage we will refund your purchase price in full, including shipping and handling costs. Either of these two possibilities are very unlikely.
For record keeping reasons our guarantee is for only 6 months but you can be assured that your One Click Butter Cutter will last many years.”

Since this was a free review item, I will not ask them to honor the guarantee.

Overall, I really like the concept of the One Click Butter Cutter, but wish it had not broken. It answered my neurotic desire to have no crumbs in my butter. I also found me using the device nearly every time I cooked. It was easy to quickly grab it out of the fridge, squeeze it, then return it to the fridge. But, with it being difficult to load the butter and eject the slice, I would have to recommend using an old-fashioned butter dish and knife. There just seem to be less complications with them.

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen

One Click Butter Cutter originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 26, 2007 at 5:17 pm.

“Don’t worry honey, I just fed the dog for today”
“Um.. I already fed the dog two hours ago!”

This type of conversation is a common one in my household. From feeding the dog to cleaning out the fridge, it can be complicated to keep track of it all. When I saw the DaysAgo timer, I knew that I had try one as soon as possible, so that we could stave off potential canine obesity in my household.

Initial impressions

The DaysAgo timer is so simple it’s brilliant. Originally designed to track the number of days since opening a jar of baby food, this product quickly was utilized for a variety of applications. Measuring just 4 centimeters in diameter, the face of the timer is divided into two parts, display and a single button. The display is easy to read and depicts the number of days it has been since it was last set.

In each package there are two small timers.There are two types of timers available: magnetic and suction.

Both work by the same interface mechanism and come in four colors. They are also water resistant, but should not be submerged in water.

Product Testing

The packaging of the DaysAgo timer is simple and easy to open. The clear molded plastic stapled to a cardboard back creates minimal waste to throw away.

To activate the timer for the first time, simply pull the clear plastic tab on the side. This creates a circuit between the battery and the timer. This is a great idea so that batteries are not wasted prior to your first use.

To set the timer press the the semi-circle shaped button on the bottom of the timer for 5 seconds. The display will bank out and then read “0″. The DaysAgo will keep track of up to 99 days in between resets. If you want to know how many hours (in addition to days) it has been since the last reset, press the button for one second.

Attaching the magnetic timer is completely self-evident you just stick it to any surface that usually attracts a magnet. I have have found a that applying a small drop of water to the center of the suction-cup version of the timer gives it a much more secure hold. This is really helpful for surfaces that are handled frequently such as medicine bottles or tupperware.

Although I haven’t had the need to replace the battery in the 3 months that I have been using the DaysAgo timers (each battery lasts about 18 months) the size G8 watch-type battery is fairly common and appears to be easy to replace.

This is one product that I can say that I want to purchase in bulk. They are visually appealing, easy to set and reset. The more I used the timers, the more uses I found around my house. I have used them for leftovers, feeding my dog and turtles, taking vitamins, and timing cleanings of the turtle tank. It’s useful for pretty much anything you ask yourself “How many days ago did I?”

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen

DaysAgo Digital Day Counter originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 15, 2007 at 5:50 pm.

And now for a review that isn’t quite a gadget, but since a lot of gadgeteers might be able to use it, I thought what the heck. First of all, how many of you have a counter top or cabinet crammed full of snack bags that require clips to keep them closed and their contents fresh? If you’re anything like me, you have more packages then clips and have to resort to double clipping or using weird items as clip substitutes.

As an example, above you will see the top of my microwave stand. I have all the necessary geek munchies: Pretzels, BBQ chips, Fritos, Cheetos and although you can’t see them, Doritos. If it ends in a ‘tos’, you know it’s gotta be yummy. Right? Anyway, you might notice that I have a variety of clips holding the bags closed. There’s a wooden clothes pen, a couple plastic clips and even 2 office style binder clips.

What if you could turn any snack package into a ziploc style bag? No more clips needed! Great idea, or wasted expense? Let’s check out QuickSeals.

QuickSeals convert the top of bags and boxes with openings up to 11 inches into easily re-sealable ziploc style tops. Available in 6 packs and 20 packs (priced at $1.29 and $3.49 respectively), each pack comes with an equal amount of Medium and Large seals.

The medium sized seals fit up to 8″ openings and the large seals fit up to 11″ sized openings. QuickSeals look pretty much like regular ziploc baggies, but they are open along the bottom.

Let me show you how they work. First of all, you need some bags…

This was a good excuse for me to go to the store and buy some new snacks! FYI, those Baked Fruit Crisps from Flat Earth are great! But anyway…

The first thing you do is open the package at the top as you usually would do.

Then along the bottom of each QuickSeal there are 2 adhesive tape strips. Pull off the bottom strip.

Press the top of the opened bag about 1 inch or so above the adhesive strip, making sure you smooth it down firmly all the way across.

The next step is to lift the top edge of the QuickSeal over the bag. Pull off the tape strip, fold it down and press it firmly to seal the tape across the package. That’s it!

You now have a re-sealable but clip-less bag. Wheeeeeee… Just pull the Green plastic slider across the top to open and close. It’s also important to note that you can use QuickSeals with boxes as well. It’s not as easy to install, but it does work.

QuickSeals are easy to install on bags, but they do take a bit more time than just rolling down the top of your bag and slapping on a clip. The biggest issue that I have with them is the fact that they are not reusable like clips. But just like clips, if you run out of QuickSeals, you’ll be in the same situation as before and have to resort to MacGyver methods of keeping your snack bags closed. Ever used a stapler to keep your chips fresh? Yeah ummmmm, me neither… ;o)

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen

QuickSeals originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 5, 2007 at 7:41 am.

I enjoy cooking and tend to be the main person in my household to do this task everyday. Until now, my method for timing dishes on the stove and oven has been accomplished using the timer in the microwave, the grandfather clock in the living room and the timer built into my stove. That doesn’t sound like a problem does it? Well it is when you forget what time source was used for which dish. And then there’s the fact that the grandfather clock doesn’t actually buzz when the time is up.

American Innovative has come to the rescue with the Chef’s Quad-Timer Professional. This is a small battery operated digital timer that allows you to keep track of 4 different timed events, all in one small device.

The Quad-Timer stands 5.5 inches tall and 3 inches wide. The professional version like the one I was sent to review, has a black rubberized housing with a brushed metal face. The regular version ($19.99) has a white face and plastic housing.

A speaker grill and battery compartment are located on the back side of the device. The Quad-Timer is powered by 2 AAA batteries.

Besides the large LCD on the front of the timer, there are 2 dials, 4 LEDs and 1 button. The 4 LEDs correspond to the 4 timers and are arranged just like the 4 burners on a standard stove cook top. This allows you to easily see and remember which timer has been set for which dish on your stove. Great idea!

The Silver knob is the mode dial. In the Left-most position, the timer is turned completely off. One click to the Right and the timer is in time of day mode. Turn it one click further and you are selecting timer #1. Each additional click of the dial matches up with Timer #2, #3 and #4.

When the mode dial is set to one of the timers, you can then set the time by rotating the Black value-entry collar (the one with the dimples). Every click of this dial will adjust the timer 1 minute up or down. Each of the 4 timers can be set from 1 minute to 24 hours.

Here is the Quad-Timer in time of day mode.

In the first picture above, I’ve set Timer #1 to 30 minutes. Then to activate the timer and start the countdown, the diamond shaped button between the LEDs needs to be pressed. When pressed, the #1 LED will start glowing Green to let you know that the timer is active. If you press the button a 2nd time, the countdown will pause. Quick presses will toggle between start and pause. If you hold the button down, it will reset the selected timer to 0.

Now the cool part comes when you use the Quad-Timer to time more than one event. At any time, you will be able to see two of the timers as they count down. Using the Silver mode dial, you can select which timer to view in the main display. Then by pressing the bar on the top of the timer, the other timers will show below in the sub display. Each press of the bar will cycle through the 4 timers in the sub display.

The bar will also silence an expired timer when it buzzes.

Besides hearing a loud buzzing noise when a timer has expired, the LCD will blink and the associated LED will blink Red until the expired timer has been muted with the button bar. If you do not press the bar, the audible buzzer will automatically silence after 1 minute. However, the LED will continue to blink until the bar has been pressed. This actually allows the Quad-Timer to be useful for people with hearing problems.

Two more features that I find useful are the fact that once a timer has expired, it will count up from 0:00. So, if you happen to be out of the room when it expires, you’ll know just how much time has elapsed. Also, you can automatically recall the last value entered by pressing the diamond button. Pretty handy if you’re baking batches of cookies or something similar.

In my opinion, there are only two things that would make this device even better than it already is. A backlight for the LCD and a built in digital thermometer probe. The backlight would probably be a much easier feature to add, but a thermometer would be really cool. The Quad-Timer Professional is a very nice tool that any cook would be happy to have in their kitchen. It’s built to last and very easy to use. I didn’t even need to look at user guide except to set the clock. Get one for your favorite chef!

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Kitchen

Chef’s Quad-Timer Professional originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 10, 2006 at 9:46 am.

You’ll never shed another tear while chopping onions. However, you will look like a big dork.

Filed in categories: Uncategorized

Tagged: Cooking, Kitchen, Spotlight Gadgets

Spotlight Gadget: Onion Goggles originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 25, 2006 at 5:36 am.

You probably never imagined that drinking your morning cup of coffee or tea would give you the ability to display your Gadgeteer spirit, did you? I mean, besides a coffee maker, what type of gadgets could a gear-head use to help with that first blast of caffeinated goodness? How about a special mug that can mix the sugar in your tea or the cream in your coffee? The Brando Whirl Wind Cup to be precise, can do just that.

According to the box, this mug makes your beauty come to life. Ummm, if you say so… As you can see, this is a plastic and metal mug that looks similar to other coffee mugs that people tote around the office.

It even comes with a removable lid that helps guard against spills by employing a twisting top that closes or opens the sip spouts.

Remove the lid to see what makes this mug special.

A small 4 bladed rotor is built into the bottom. The blades are made of plastic.

Here you can get a little better view of the rotor. Even though it looks small, it is actually quite powerful.

The rotor is powered by 2 AAA batteries (included with the mug) which are installed into the base of the mug. A plastic cover locks in place to protect the batteries.

The Whirl Wind Cup can hold approximately 1.5 cups (350ml) of liquid. You don’t want to fill it up to the very top though, because the mixing action will raise the level in the cup.

After you fill it, you just press the clear rubber button on the handle and watch your beverage mix before your eyes!

See it in action…

Click on image to play the QuickTime video (1:48sec, 3.7mb). The video is encoded in the H.264 codec. You will need the latest version of Quicktime to view it. VLC is another free viewer.

I conducted several tests with the Whirl Wind Cup. The first test I tried was mixing some splenda in a cup of hot tea. No problems there. The next test was to beat up a raw egg for some scrambled eggs. This worked great too! The hardest test was to mix up some chocolate protein powder in soy milk. The powder I use tends to be pretty clumpy if it doesn’t mix up thoroughly. I am happy to report that this cup mixed the powder perfectly. Then I cleaned the cup by filling it with some hot water, dish washing soap and pressed the button to spin the solution. This is actually the best way to clean this cup. You DON’T want to submerse the cup in water or wash it in a dishwasher. Even though the lid on the bottom appears to be snug, water can seep in.

The Whirl Wind Cup is a fun little doohicky that doesn’t really do anything that you can’t already do yourself with a spoon. But, it is one of those products that will give your gadgeteer reputation a few more points. And who among us, wouldn’t like that? ;o)

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: Kitchen

Gadget Brando Whirl Wind Cup originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 24, 2006 at 2:21 pm.