Yep the pots and pans in Pedro’s Kitchen are definitely starting to look a bit beat-up, so we’ve been looking far and wide to choose our new cookware. There has been some contenders and even more pretenders and we’re still looking however after seeing this video we’re pretty confident we’ve found the front runner. What do you think?
Fresh starts need fresh coffee
When done right, breakfast can bring a great start to the day – just getting up early to whip up a mini feast in the morning can get the brain working the way it should.
But there are some days when it’s going to take a little more than good food to get you out of bed – and those mornings demand coffee. Yes, we all know a caffiene kick can help wake us up after drinking it. But while that might wake you up after drinking it, is a simple mug of instant coffee enough to lure you out of bed in the first place? Probably not.
That’s why we need the promise of gourmet, Italian style coffee, which fills the house with a nice aroma – and perfectly compliments a delicious portion of eggs benedict, bagels with cream cheese and salmon or cinamon waffles. These are the breakfasts we should be eating people – supermarket bought cereal just won’t cut it on a miserable morning.
So this realisation got me looking for coffee machines – because while there is a Starbucks around the corner, a £2.30 coffee every morning is not going to improve my morning mood any. And neither is going out in the cold to get it. So after a hunt around I settled on a nespresso coffee machine. There were a lot to choose from, but here is this particular machines selling points:
- Fresh coffee – every morning, and a guarantee which ensures I won’t lose this privellege should it break early
- The option of several different flavours and styles of coffee – latte? NO problem. In the mood for a mocha, No need to leave the house
- It turns itself off after 9 minutes – Huge selling point for me, having experienced a coffee maker that would burn the pot every few days after a collegue forgot to switch it off.
- Price of £139. My average spend at a coffee shop is £5. After just a month this coffee maker starts to earn its keep. And with bags of filter coffee widely available at just a few pounds each – the savings are real.
- Choice of colours. The model I choose – the Pixie – came in 6 colours so I could match it to my kitchen. I choose a cool chrome colour, but it also came in green, red and blue.
- The biggest selling point of any coffee maker, howeverm is creamy coffee or espresso instead of lukewarm water – with inevitably will never be stirred well enough. What a good choice, this is one kitchen appliance I won’t regret buying – let’s just not talk about the popcorn maker/cupcake machine which has never been used again.
Pedro’s Kitchen Awards 2011
Pedro’s Kitchen Awards 2011 is a new annual award that’s sure to take the world of kitchens by storm, and probably all of popular culture as well. But just like Senator McCain a couple of years ago, “We need your votes, folks” – actually Senator McCain got about 49% of the American voter turnout – literallly millions of votes. Your Uncle Pedro doesn’t need that many votes to make the Pedro’s Kitchen Awards a success. A couple of hundred would be fine. Just leave your votes in the comments over the next while and a team of kitchen monkeys will collate, assemble and then present the results via the magic of the internets.
NOMINATION CATEGORIES
BEST KITCHEN APPLIANCE
BEST TV CHEF
BEST TV COOKING PROGRAMME
BEST LAGER TO CHILL OUT IN THE KITCHEN WITH
BEST BRAND OF KITCHEN CLEANER
BEST KITCHEN TUNE
BEST MP3 PLAYER FOR KITCHEN USE
BEST BRAND OF MICROWAVEABLE RICE
I think that about covers it. If you don’t actually have your own kitchen you can still vote, by getting kitchen informations from a variety of sources like websites of furniture stores and BBC Olive magazine and so on.
Have at it, folks 
Cool Bodum toaster, I like!
Toast is of course a student staple, but even when we mature into grownups with a proper diet, toast is still a breakfast essential, and also handy for pâté, cheeseboard and as a platform for many other culinary delights.
For good toast though you need a toaster. For why? because a toaster applies equal heat either side of the slice. That’s why toast made under the grill is always concave. This Bodum toaster does the trick, and consigns grilled toast to the breadbin of history. It also looks the part.
The New Way Of Washing Your Dishes…
How Times have Changed!
Back in the olden days straight after dinnner the first thing I was ordered into was either washing or drying the dishes with my brother, I usually got stuck with drying and putting away since I was the youngest. These days though when they say the younger generation has it easy in some areas I would strongly agree.
After visiting my Mums last week and making the usual pit stop I came across a new kitchen appliance of hers, a dishwasher! Where was this when I was growing up, all that time that could have been saved! When my Mum told me she only payed a couple of hundred pounds Ive got to admit I was pretty shocked, whats wrong with the kitchen sink?
It seems to me like the world is just getting a bit lazy and things like a dishwasher just prove that. There are a lot more things I would rather spend my money on than a machine thats going to do something I already do in the kitchen sink. Leave a comment and let me know if you agree of wither I’m just being a little bit old fashioned and need to catch up with the times.
BA- BA- BA- BAR-BE-CUE!
I don’t know about you, but I think a barbecue is an essential bit of kit. When the rain’s not on, as far as I’m concerned, it’s potentially barbecue time. it doesn’t much matter whether it’s summer, autumn, winter or spring, the only thing that’s sure is that nothing beats a BBQ.
Now that the summer months are upon us, it’s defo time for thinking about getting some new barbecue kit. Time to bin the black carbon encrusted metal barbecue tongs, and forget about those disposable barbeque substitutes. It’s time to take this barbecue lark seriously. And if global warming continues, the mild weather might actually last forever too. Some good proper barbeque units are on the site of this online furniture retailing site.
I was going to compile a list of my top barbecue meals, but let’s face it: you can stick practically any food on a barbie and it will be fandabitastical. I’d bet that even Gordon Ramsay’s least favourite food ever would be ok once it had been through the magical charcoally barbie process (I don’t know if that’s the scientific term, but hey.)
Deals On Cutlery
New Cutlery
Unless your some sort of caveman from the dark ages which I’m guessing your not if your reading this then you will know that cutlery is a must have in the house. I’ll maybe make an exception for a chippy dinner because traditionally fish and chips from the chip shop is ate with your fingers.
An online furniture shop isn’t exactly the first place I thought I would have found my new cutlery but when I was on the Sterling Furniture website they had a drop down section for kitchenware, to be honest there wasn’t much you couldn’t find on there.
You know what it’s like when you have guests round for dinner or people staying over you want the best cutlery available and I’ve noticed with the likes of stainless steel it can get a bit “grubby” looking. Anyway against my better judgement Ive ordered more stainless steel cutlery (it looks the best when new) as you will see in the picture above. It was a great bargain with £50 being chopped off the original price down to 50 quid for a 44 piece set.
Celebrities and kitchen cookware – do they use it?
The whole celebrity cooking pot thing is starting to get a bit strained. Every chef who has a book or a tv show seems to feel the need to leverage their profile to usurp some pennies from their audience. When I got a Jamie Oliver flavour shaker for my Xmas a few years back it was a bit of a novelty for me.
I think the whole flavour shaker thing was a novelty for everyone! It was an encapsulated pestle and mortar: bung in some oil, vinegar, some herbs etc and bash away as if you were starring in a cookery version of Cocktail. Negate the fact that the seal was rubbish leading to dousing in soy sauce and a simple drop led to the largest chips I’ve seen out of plastic since my “shatter proof” ruler at school. But the core reason I was given it was because my mate saw I’d cooked dinner from one of the early Jamie Oliver cookbooks (the good ones) and thought I’d like it! And I did for ten minutes on Xmas morning but quickly lost all faith in it. The trout with jammy lemons recipes is still favourite in my household.
Anyway I can now see that almost every cookware brand has a celebrity chef lined up. I’m sure some use the products that are endorsed – Henckels knives are often seen on the Great British Kitchen but does anyone believe that Ken Hom actually uses the Wok you can buy in the supermarket or that Rosemary Connely (not even a chef I know) actually used her George Foreman grill rip off (see review here). American Universities have even published papers written on the whole rise of celebrity chefs which runs parallel to the issue I have with whole phenomena.
My core interest is do celebrity chefs actually use the products they promote?
- Do the hairy bikers user the tagine they promote?
- Does Nigella Lawson use her branded flame ware casserole dishes?
- Would Gary Rhodes really use the presentation juicer upon which his name is emblazzoned?
Truthfully I don’t think so but I could be wrong.
Henckels Leading The Way In Kitchen Appliances
Henckel Knife Sharpener
Chances are if you like spending time in the kitchen and making your favourite dishes or even trying out new ones then you have came across the same problem as me, blunt knifes! There’s nothing worse when you’re trying to cut up some veg or a bit of meat and your knife just isn’t up to the job.
So I decided to take matters in to my own hands and find a reliable knife sharpener that’s going to serve me well. After a few hours of surfing around the net (because I was too late to go shopping that day) I came across a fantastic Henckels knife sharpener. At just over 30quid and 15% off you can’t go wrong with that plus as you may notice it looks the part.
Of the stuff I seen on this website the Henckel range seem to be a leader in kitchen appliances. The prices can be high but the product looks second to none. If you have ever bought any Henckel kitchen appliances feel free to leave a comment.
Le Creuset Cookware – Kitchen Inspiration
If you’re an enthusiastic amateur cook thats been telling themselves for ages that the cooking gear in your kitchen needs an upgrade, then i may have some inspiration for you in the form of the excellent Le Creuset Cookware range. Le Creuset are a long established French cookware brand with a reputation for producing cooking utensils of a high quality and durability. Although it may cost a little more than the average High Street brands it will almost certainly outlast them and be a part of your kitchen for many years.
The Le Creuset range covers a variety of kitchen appliances, including pots, and pans – and perhaps what they are most famous for their casserole dishes.
You can read more on the history on the Le Creuset range on Wikipedia.
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