Okay. I know I’m not alone in possessing an utter hatred of chopping onions. Who wants to cry copious tears into their dinner party sauté? I’ve tried sunglasses, broken bread chunks held in my mouth, glasses of water purported to draw the onion molecules away from the tear ducts—none of these attempts worked. Enter the Onion Goggle. Color them pink and black, color me taken aback. Crucial—for any crybaby chef.
Tip: When chopping onions, run your wet hands along the steel length of the sink faucet. The smell magically disappears. Honest!
My Australian husband insisted I include this item in my gift guide. He’s insane for BBQ, not surprisingly, given his Aussie background. He discovered this invention last year, and my life has been full of succulent, Guinness-soaked chicken ever since (not to mention the fifteen racks in my closet, destined for my nearest and dearest). The price is right—only seven bucks or so—though if you are feeling flush, don’t hesitate to buy the accompanying cookbook. The premise is easy, just slip an open can of beer into its little holder and then stick the chick on top. Once you get past the oddity of an upright chicken saying hello every time you open the grill cover, the rest is magic!
When my first wedding anniversary reared its “Oh-my-god-I’m-really-married” head, my beloved procured a gallon tin of cheese popcorn from the most astonishing popcorn castle on earth. I wept. It was perfect. I married the right person. This is truly melt-in-your-mouth decadence, laced with low-carb guiltlessness. Until you put a melting morsel of this in your mouth, you just won’t understand. Try the classic cheese and caramel mix: salty/sweet nirvana.
All right, it’s a bit … sort of … well … hippie-esque; but for Pete’s sake, you have indoor herbs right at your little fingertips! And you don’t have to deal with far-too-colorful garden clogs, dirt under the manicure, and the need to weed. Technology, my friends, is a wondrous thing. Hydroponics is a new approach to urban gardening, and I can tell you that my little scrappy tomato plant became something out of Little Shop of Horrors after a bit of hydro. It was kind of scary, actually. That plant fed the entire block. Here’s to the future!
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