In no particular order…..

1. Microplane grater/zester: zesting citrus, grating nutmeg, parmesan, garlic, etc.
2. Immersion blender: whirring up soups, sauces, making smoothies, blending salsa, making home-made mayo
3. Large Plastic Drink cup (Large enough bottom for immersion blender to fit all the way in, tall enough for mixes so they don’t overflow): Use with immersion blender for smoothies, salsas and mayo
4. KitchenAid Stand Mixer: Mixes, whips and kneads everything, and has so many attachments available that you hardly need anything else!
5. Mini food processor: chop nuts, make pesto, home-made blender hollandaise, etc.
6. Spatulas: a variety both for flipping and bowl scraping
7. Good quality knives: I have a set of Henckles from years ago and they’re still great
8. Silpat Baking Mats: nothing sticks to these things!
9. Bench Scraper: Great for dividing doughs and picking things up off the cutting board without dulling your knife
10. Ring Molds: I have a graduated set that packs conveniently in a tin. Perfect for cooking eggs to fit an English Muffin, or crimp ravioli (rounded side of ring).
11. Rolling pin: rolling dough (of course) and crushing nuts or crackers in a zipper lock bag.
12. Box grater: I did without for a couple of years and really missed being able to grate up large quantities of cheese!
13. Cheese knife: I have a Cutco one that you have to be very careful of the blade when hand-washing, but it cuts cheese like a dream
14. Cutting boards: A variety of surfaces and sizes
15. Glass ramekins: Great for mise en place or small servings of ice cream
16. Apple peeler/corer/slicer
17. Ice Cream Maker
18. Colander
19. Small Sieve or Strainer
20. Salt Pig: right by the stove – covered to keep salt dry, but nice wide opening to grab a pinch of salt or a measuring spoon for baking.
21: Pepper Mill: ’cause there’s nothing better than fresh ground pepper!
22: Tongs!: How on earth did I forget something I can’t live without!

OK, so I kinda want to put the upcoming Sony e-Reader Daily Edition on my Christmas list. I think it’d be great to drag around a huge library of books on a small device.

They’ve been touting Sony’s link with free Google books, so I thought I’d download the PC-side software to take a look at what was out there. On the software, there’s a search for books you already have, and a search in the Sony eBook Store. The Sony website says there should be a Google search box. It’s not there, so I submitted a question via their help site.
Reply 1: It isn’t available, and they gave me a link to supposedly explain it. The link was about how it IS available. So I e-mailed back to tell them that.
Reply 2: How to use Google’s advanced book search, with a link to a page about that. Ummm, if I don’t have the basic search, I can’t use the advanced search. So I e-mailed back to tell them that.
Reply 3: Any further help requires a phone call.

Not exactly a promising start. Now I’m sure the wireless connectivity will get me to Google books, but it’s been a frustrating experience so far.