I recently rewarded myself with 2 kitchen gadgets that I’ve been longing to obtain. What were the rewards for? I’m a mother to a toddler, a stay-home wife and partner to a man and I still work from time to time….need I explain more? In fact, mothers should reward themselves every month just to make themselves feel appreciated. Do it yourself if no one else would take that initiative. Go for a hairwash, a pedicure, a manicure, go have long chats with your girlfriends or read a book at a cafe, anything that would recharge your batteries and keep you going, and don’t feel guilty about it either. I always believe that if you’re happy, you can take care of your family better.
Well, back to the ‘rewards’. I have been purchasing a number of items from this local brand BRISSCOES. Although looking at their website, I wasn’t that impressed, if you keep your eyes peeled, you’d find them in shops. Their signature colour would be green and grey. I must say first that this might not be THE best brand for items such as knives, but if I wanted to purchase a knife from J.A Henckels, I’d have to budget for 3 months. So this brand is somewhat for the average-earning family but performance-wise, still decent.
It actually started out with the cleaver in the picture (above). I’m not a cleaver person, only when I have to chop chicken right through their bones, but for prepping tasks such as dicing onions and garlic, I’d use the knife next to it. My mother was the one that actually bought the cleaver cause that’s her knife of choice. When she was in KL, she was baffled I didn’t have a cleaver among my bevy of kitchen items. She went and got one and she was raving about how good it was so I trust that if she says it’s good, it must be good. But it came in really handy during my confinement, my ‘pui yit‘ (confinement lady) had to use a cleaver to do rather cumbersome prep work in the kitchen. She actually cut right through my chopping board but that’s another story.
The chef’s knife was more of a last straw because the tenants in my house before bought quite a number of knives and not wanting to be excessive, I tried to make-do. But God help me those knives were only good for gardening in the end. I even tried to sharpen them using a whetstone but I think without the proper skill, I might’ve set off the balance of the knives. I got a new one and so far, it’s been working well. Doesn’t react to lemon juice or any citric acids either.
But here are my latest buys (above). A silicone mat (49cm X 39cm) and a silicone whisk. My kitchen has very limited space to roll out pastries. When doing the Onion quiche, I actually had to roll out the crust in 3 batches, then join them in the pie pan. I’m hoping this mat would be the solution to my space problem. It’s heat resistant, supposedly withstanding to about 240 degrees Celsius. A part of me wondered if it could double as a baking sheet like those SILPATS, but I was apprehensive because though the mat might be heat resistant, the white markings on it might not. I had searched various places for this item, with an affordable price. I actually found one under the brand TESCOMA in Empire Gallery, Subang but it’s out of the way from where I live. I’m totally eyeing their range of silicone muffin cups though. 🙂
Silicone whisks are practical when you want to make custards or whisk milk or melting chocolate and butter. Being heat resistant, silicone whisks are kind to your pots and doesn’t leave scratches at the bottom.
So, there you have it…if I do purchase any more products from this line or from others, I would definitely review about it from now on.
