By Merle Lee Ann Pratt – Merle Lee Ann’s Kitchen, author of “A Baker’s Dozen”

Seniors Scene

Go Go Gadgets

Mar 17, 2023 | 4:37 PM

“The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Pattison Media and this site.”

Here it is the middle of March – spring is just around the corner. More than likely we can expect a couple of more snowfalls too. It always amazes me as to how quickly the weeks and then the months go by.

I was wandering around a store this evening, killing time as I waited for my dogs to be done at the groomers. I used the washroom in a store and thought about the gadgets we now have at our fingertips.

Starting with washrooms. The first one public washroom this afternoon had an automatic water dispenser – just move your hands underneath the tap and the water should start. Sometimes these work great and other times they do not come on at all and you have to change to a different spot at the multi sink. I also find that sometimes the soap works at one station but then no water and vice versa.

The next washroom stop had one of those fancy Dyson washstands that don’t dispense soap, but they have water and the hot air dryers together. I would say that is my favourite washroom gadget so far. You finish washing under the automatic water dispenser, move your hands over slightly to the extended arms and the hot air comes out – nice and warm and not too noisy; not like a jet landing in the washroom or next door. They claim fourteen seconds to completely dry your hands. I didn’t time myself, but it was very fast and efficient. A definite winner.

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Next stop. The bathroom was clean and that is always a bonus. How I hate dirty washrooms; talk about germs waiting to attack you. Anyone remember COVID???? Bad joke! This one had the standard soap dispenser with once again an automatic water dispenser. No paper towel dispenser but hand dryers only. Now this hand dryer is the very loud one – hard on the ears. Your hands do dry relatively fast though, so you aren’t exposed too long to the jet airplane sound.

Enough about washrooms and hand drying devices. I am going to talk about gadgets for the kitchen. Some that I own and one that I just cannot justify to purchase.

The air fryer. I bought my first air fryer about 5 years ago and have never looked back. It is one of the best ways to cook frozen foods and warm up foods. There are lots of recipes for cooking everything from your veggies to raw meat. But the baskets aren’t overly large so if you have a larger family this does become a little more difficult. It is hard to do everything in the air fryer. If you are cooking for just yourself or a couple – it is perfect. They also do a great job at warming up a cookie, so it tastes like it is fresh out of the oven. Warming up pizza is like fresh out of the oven. I purchased my second air fryer this winter as my original one was starting to get hard to clean and smelled more like a deep fryer when using it. I have banished it to the deck for cooking outdoors on warmer days.

The next gadget that a lot of people own, and love is the Instant Pot. I have considered purchasing one, but I just can’t. They are like a pressure cooker, and you can do complete meals in the instant pot. The food is supposed to come out tender, moist and delicious. Since I don’t own one, I will not add a personal opinion as to whether they are fabulous or not.

Why can’t I buy an Instant pot you may ask. Well, I did a kitchen renovation about 7 years ago and we put in higher end appliances for the oven and cooktops. I have a steam oven and they are not exactly cheap to buy. I use my steam oven for most of my oven baking. A steam oven is great for re-heating as well as baking. Instead of using dry air like a convection or gas oven it uses steam to lock the moisture in. You can use less oil and fats for healthier cooking.

As I visualize the modern day kitchen instead of having built in ovens you would have pull out shelves for these two gadgets and call it good. These gadgets are replacing the modern-day oven and microwave. And these gadgets often cook food quicker than your oven can. They don’t heat your house up the way a gas range does either. As we often sa,y it is food for thought. Hahaha.

Let’s not forget about “The Smoker”, which has now replaced a lot of BBQ’s. Once again you can put practically anything and everything onto the smoker. Men especially seem to love the smoker. I still prefer the BBQ to the smoker for certain foods. But, the great part about the smoker is the no flare-ups – so common on the BBQ. You just throw the food on and walk away, check it in a half hour or two hours you decide by the temperature and what it is you are smoking. (No pun intended!)

I am sure all of you can think of some more gadgets that you have and either love or seldom look at. What about the good old crock pot. That is a gadget I only use once in awhile, but definitely comes in handy for certain occasions. And then there is the rice cooker – I don’t have one of those either. I don’t eat a lot of rice so for the half dozen times a year I cook rice I will use my reliable Henckels induction pots.

And how about the various types of blenders and choppers. The mandolin, the graters, my Turbo Tupperware chopper, the Pampered chef lettuce cutter, cheese slicer, oh man … where does it end? The kitchen gadget area list can go on for quite awhile. Some of these gadgets we would never go without, and others hide in a drawer never to be seen again. I have 3 different garlic graters and still go back to cutting it with my knife sometimes. Go figure.

We have cleaning cloths, microfibre cloths, specialty cloths for stainless steel. My latest cloth is one that I use on glass or mirrors. Simply wet it, wipe the window or mirror, and let the streaks air dry. Once the streaks dry you can’t see them. So far, I am actually very impressed with these cloths. They are also available for eyewear too.

Enough on gadgets for tonight. Take a look in your kitchen and your life and just think – where would we be without these great gadget inventions?

And for a good laugh – this is the funniest gadget I have ever bought. It was for weight loss. I was in about grade ten when I bought it from a comic book. This gadget was called Vacu Pants. You would put these plastic pants on over your legs/thighs – like a pair of pants. Do the waist up tight with a cheesy drawstring. Next, you would take a vacuum cleaner and attach it to a plug on the side of the pants and turn the vacuum on and start exercising (running on the spot, jumping jacks, etc. with the vacuum attached.) You were supposed to do this for 10-15 minutes per day and it would “suck” the weight right off you. Lol. I still have these pants. They obviously don’t fit anymore. And my dad didn’t let me to do this very many times as he was sure I would burn the vacuum out. And he was probably right.

Now for my musical choice for you.

I found this song on YouTube the other day when my daughter and I were looking for Disney songs for my grandson to listen to – he may only be 2 ½ months but he already loves music. The song that came up was called “The Wonky Donky” by Craig Smith. It is quite hilarious. It is about the life of a 3-legged, one-eyed donkey. And once I researched it, sure enough it is also a children’s book, read aloud book and a series of books. Children would love singing this song when they are young. Watching it on YouTube makes it even funnier. Trust me – go watch it.

So that’s it for today folks. Enjoy your gadget life and your Wonky Donky days!

Merle Lee Ann Pratt – merleleeannskitchen.com – Email: merleleeann@gmail.com

This column is sponsored by MacKenzie Funeral Chapel and Crematorium – We will be there when you need us – Bev and Brian Stobbs

130 9th St. E, Prince Albert, SK

Phone: (306) 763-8488

https://mackenziechapel.ca/