Catch Up Newsletter (Patreon)

Hello our dear friends! I hope you're doing well! 

Parts of Australia are in lockdown, so I hope if you're stuck in lockdown that you're looking after yourself as best you can. 

Our most recent question for the newsletter came from our good pal Sophie Chuter - 

"Do you have a gadget in your kitchen or house that you thought you wouldn’t use much but has become an essential for you?" 

Matt: 

"Interesting question… I don’t think I have a good answer for it though.   

Here are things I use in the kitchen: fridge, cupboard, cutlery, bowls/plates, grater, saucepan, frying pan… can I call the frying pan a gadget? Probably not…   

I used a garlic press for the first time recently, it sucked though… went back to manual chopping last night!   

I know, how about a sodastream? I always thought they were pretty silly but we did some videos for them a few years back and they gave me one, I use it a bit - I make water fizzy with my own hands, I’m not sure if humans were ever meant to wield such power!!"

Dave: 

"Hello Pah-trons!  Until this year I really could have answered… I never thought I’d use any kitchen gadget much. Soup spoon? What the hell is that?  

But my item is in fact, what I describe as my ‘hand-held’ cheese grater. Back in 2007 my girlfriend who was one year older than me (scandalous) went on Schoolies (for overseas people that’s basically our week long end of high school celebrations. Imagine Spring Break but in such exotic locations as “Lorne” and “Torquay”)  

I went along for a few nights and fell in love… with a cheese grater. Basically it’s like a zester, so you hold it with one handle and are able to grate cheese over the top of food. I’d never seen this sort of advanced technology before and honestly blew my mind. All I would talk about for the week was this cheese grater. My friends told me I should take it but being a young upright citizen, I of course refused.  

But when I got back home and unpacked my bag, guess what I found? The cheese grater had been secretly packed into my bag by assailants unknown. Now being implemented in this criminal undertaking I had to become complicit for fear of police reprisals. I couldn’t come clean for fear of self-incrimination… AKA I just started used it, and 14 years later I still love it and use it almost everyday.  

I do feel deep remorse for the owner of that holiday house who would have come home and found the grater missing, and probably had to suffer one night of parmesan free spaghetti Bolognese, but I do hope the statute of limitations on grater related theft has now run out.  If I am imprisoned for this admission, can someone please bake the grater into a cake and give it to me, so I can continue to eat the delicious cheese/use it as a file to escape. 

 Thanks for this great question!  

Dave  

P.S What the fuck is a salad spinner? We have one and it’s about 8 pieces that clip together and its only purpose is to dry wet lettuce leaves/ create a ridiculous amount of washing up. One star."

Jess: 

"I almost didn't know how to answer this question, until just the other night when I made pizzas for dinner and pulled out the trusty pizza cutter. It's essentially a long, curved blade and you just rock it side to side and have perfectly cut pizza. I bought it on a whim a little over a year ago and it is the best - as a pizza enthusiast, it gets a lot of use in my house! 

Matt's answered made me want a sodastream - I have this thought about once a week. I love fizzy drink! But I think I love it too much, and I'd really over do it if I could made anything fizzy. Fizzy juice! Fizzy coffee! Fizz on fizz! 

I also really love my popcorn machine - it doesn't get used as frequently but it always makes me smile. One time I was hanging out with a friend and somehow we got on to the topic of popcorn (probably discussing and comparing popcorn from the competing cinemas). A few days later, there's a box at my front door and inside ... a popcorn machine. Now THAT'S a sign of a good friend!" 

Tell us about your favourite gadgets! They don't have to be kitchen gadgets, I'd love to see your handy devices! 

Take care, wash your butt. 

Jess