5-Blade Herb Scissor

I've been curious about multi-bladed herb scissors for quite some time. While I have plenty of knives and cutting boards, cutting herbs isn't exactly my most fun chore. Sometimes I use scissors, particularly for chives.

So maybe the herb scissors make sense?

When the nice folks at Mastrad offered me some gadgets to test, I decided that the 5-blade herb scissors would be a good choice.

Closeup of some sliced scallion greens.

Turns out that they're actually fun to use, and - hey! - they make uniform slices. Obviously, you won't use these for every single herb you encounter - with thyme, there's no real cutting involved, for example.

But for chives, basil, or other similar herbs, they work really well. And I'll probably find other uses the longer I have them.

Most recently, I used them for cutting the green part of some scallions for a garnish. Snip, snip, snip, and it was done. Best thing is that I didn't need to pull out a cutting board.

I was a little bit concerned that the cut herbs would get stuck inside the scissors because it's a pretty small space. There was some sticking, but as I cut more, the new cuts pushed the herbs through.

The scissors also come with a little plastic comb to scrape out anything remaining, or you could use a thin knife or whatever else is handy. Not a big deal at all.

Who's it for: People who like gadgets and dislike slicing fresh herbs.

Pros: Works well. Fits in my scissors jar for storage.

Cons: Totally not a necessary tool. But it's cool.

Wishes: Can't think of anything offhand.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.

Mixed Feelings: Pillsbury Cake Mix

So, I'm all about scratch cooking, right? Except when I'm not.

I mean, I've created my own cake recipes, starting from basic ratios of ingredients. But other times ...

I had a cake concept in my head and the important part wasn't the cake itself. I decided to use a box mix because it was easy. And, seriously, cakes at high altitude can be annoying. I didn't want the concept to fail because a cake recipe didn't adapt well to high altitude.

So I picked up a box of Pillsbury Moist Supreme Devil's Food cake mix.

I hadn't used a cake mix in quite some time, so it was a somewhat random choice. Well, except that the Pillsbury Doughboy was very prominent on the front of the box. He's one of my favorite product spokes-animations. Right up there with the Geiko Gecko.

But I digress. I bought the cake mix and on a cool(ish) evening decided to embark on my cake mix project. The first thing I did was check the box for high altitude instructions. I looked on the front, back, sides, top and bottom. I looked on the inside flap.

And then I looked again.

No high altitude adjustments. Dangit.

Other box mixes I used in the past had some sort of adjustments, like adding a tablespoon of flour and maybe more or less water. Sometimes a different baking temperature or time. Ugh.

But, rather than make a wrong adjustment, I made the recipe as it was printed on the box, and hoped for the best.

Much to my surprise, it was done exactly on time, and it was freaking perfect. A nice bounce, a firm cake, and it didn't over-rise and collapse, which is the second-worst thing a cake could do. Worst is when it overflows the pan.

I was in shock, I tell you. Shock.

I still plan on making from-scratch cakes, particularly when I'm yearning for something new and different. But I might have to re-think my insistence on from-scratch every time.

How about you? Are there cake mixes you like? Or do bake from scratch every single time?

This is not a sponsored post, and I didn't get anything to sample. I bought the cake mix.

Rachael Ray 3/4 Quart Butter Warmer

When I was a kid, our telephone handset (back in the days when the phone had a cord attaching it to the rotary dialer part) had a bunch of divots on the back side. Why? Because my mother was prone to using it as a hammer.

Much of our flatware was dinged and bent and off-kilter, because mom often used knives, spoons, and fork to pry things open or to unscrew screws.

She was the queen of using everyday objects in ways they weren't supposed to be used. And from her, I learned how to open the front door of our apartment with a butter knife, because mom's relationship with her keys was on-again, off-again.

On the other hand, my dad's mantra was that you should always use exactly the right tool for the job. It wasn't good enough to use a screwdriver. You had to use the correct screwdriver.

It's amazing to me that those two people managed to like each other enough to get married and procreate. A constant wonder.

While I appreciated mom's resourcefulness when faced with an emergency, I also embraced my dad's quest for the right tool for tasks that were likely to be repeated. Eventually, dad bought mom her own set of tools, but we still occasionally needed to borrow a butter knife from a neighbor to get into the apartment.

It's my dad's influence that makes me love having this blog and reviewing so many different items. It's not really about which is the ultimate best, because I don't think that's possible. It's about having the best tool for the specific job. Swiss Army knives do a lot of different things are great for emergencies, but in the kitchen I prefer to have a paring knife and a chef's knife and a bread knife, each designed for specific purposes. In theory I could cut a slice from a bread loaf using a paring knife, but it wouldn't be pretty.

So this brings us to the Rachael Ray 3/4 quart butter warmer pot. For those who are doing the math, that's 3 cups. Yes, it's a small pot. You're not going to make stock in it.

But the pot is absolutely perfect for melting butter, as the name implies. Or for other small tasks where a larger vessel is just ridiculous, like heating that cup or two of milk for making hot chocolate.

I've even used it for making a very small amount of caramel. Very small. Caramel can boil over easily.

Or for heating a single serving of soup. Or warming some gravy or sauce. Or any other small cooking task. While I love my giant stock pots and even my normal-sized saucepans, they're simply not the right tool for the job when you're dealing with a small quantity.

The interior of the pot is nonstick, so it's easy to clean. As far as the exterior, this pot, as well as a whole set of Rachael Ray Cucina cookware, comes in a number of fun colors. I chose the new lavender color, because I thought it was fun.

Who's it for: Anyone who needs a small pot.

Pros: Nonstick interior, pouring spout, attractive.

Cons: No lid.

Wishes: None really. I don't even want a lid for this type of pot.

Source: I received this from the manufacturer for the purpose of a review.