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Ikea Produkt Milk Frother
by thriftygiftyisme
=Ikea Product Milk Frother=
The IKEA milk frother, is a handy gadget to have to make cappuccinos' and lattes at home without having a steam function for milk on a coffee machine.
=Price and Availability=
This is an IKEA own brand product, I received mine as part of a present so do not know the cost of ... it.
=What is it=
The frother has a stainless steel handle and this is where you put the batteries, and this also has the on/off switch on it. From this out comes a long stick of wire, with a mini circular whisk at the bottom.
=To Use=
Warm some milk up, I usually warm mine in a cup in the microwave till it is just off boiling point, when the milk is ready, I put the whisk part of the frother into the milk switch on and this then vibrates and froths the milk up. It takes about 20 seconds to froth up half a cup of milk. If you were doing a couple of cups worth of milk then I would say use a plastic or a Pyrex jug to allow enough space for expansion.
=Batteries=
The unit takes 2 x AA batteries, I have had mine since Christmas and it gets used about 3 times a week and the batteries are still working perfectly.
=To clean=
I just insert the whisk element into soapy water and give it a clean with a cloth from there.
=Would I recommend=
I would highly recommend, they certainly jazz up a normal cup of coffee.
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Salter Orb Mechanical Scale
by scooch12
I really like cooking, but don't have much time to spend making elaborate meals, just quick and simple stuff but always from scratch. For this reason, I needed some kitchen scales that would weigh accurately but didn't cost a fortune because they're not something I use every time I'm in there. Last year when we had a new kitchen fitted, ... I changed most of the accessories in there to purple, most of which were bought from Next, including these Salter orb scales for £8.99. They are available in other colours too - pink, lime, red and white being the ones I know of (at the time Next only stocked the purple and red ones I think). They currently retail in Debenhams and Argos for around £8 and come with a whopping 15 year guarantee.
The scales arrived packaged in the box which I still like even though it's not needed, just because I like knowing other people's mitts haven't been all over them beforehand! Most of my set of scales are plum in colour, but they do have grey and white parts on them too - for example, the plunger part that the bowl sits upon is grey and the dial that shows the weight is white.
They are not digital scales, they are more the more traditional mechanical type whereby a needle moves to show the weight. I prefer this type really because for some reason I find it easier to judge how much extra I need to add when I've not quite reached a certain amount. The maximum weight on these is 3kg and for this the needle goes right the way around and reaches back to the top of the measuring dial - I suppose this means you could use them to weigh more than 3kg too, you'd just need to keep a note of how many times you'd passed the 3kg marker at the top! The weights are shown in both imperial and metric measures too which I find very useful. The bowl has a capacity of 1 litre.
Although the scales are a more traditional type in terms of the way they weigh ingredients, I think that they look very modern looking - the colour makes them stand out and the design is contemporary too. The dial part is very rounded, as is the bowl and there are also two rounded feet at the bottom. They measure around 20cm high with the bowl part in place, with the width and depth being around 18cm so they are pretty compact.
The scales are mostly made of shiny plastic, the bowl in particular is great in this material because it's extremely easy to wipe clean once it's been used. It's also helps with sliding certain things (Eg butter, flour) from the bowl and into the recipe I'm making up so I don't find the need to get my hands stuck in and can keep them nice and clean! To use the scales, the bowl is placed on top of the plunger. It sits nicely on the top as there is a ridged part on the bowl to help keep it on there securely. There is a small tuner at the top of the dial part of the scales to adjust the needle to set it to zero - I find I just need to press on the bowl lightly with my fingers a couple of times to tune it to zero properly and then it's ready to go. Most important of all is that I find these scales weigh accurately and I've never thought that my recipes have been ruined with incorrect measurements of the ingredients! I suppose they aren't limited to weighing ingredients either, they could be used to weigh anything within reason.
I would really recommend these scales to anyone like me who likes cooking but doesn't want to spend too much on fancy gadgets - these are no nonsense scales that are incredibly easy to use and look stylish at the same time. I have no issues in leaving these out on the worktop because they look funky and fit in with my room colours. I rate these 5 stars as I haven't found any negatives with them.
Thanks for reading :o)
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Braun Multi Quick Hand Blender
by paulie1975
The Braun Multiquick 5 hand blender is a must have in our house. I have to admit I don't test all of its functions as I use it for specific things, but the things I use it for have made it well worth it's cost and then some, while my partner uses some of the other attachments more regularly.
The blender provides all elements ... of a food processor but within a smaller, more compact hand held system. It works perfectly for us and I would thoroughly recommend this.
Looks:
The Braun Multiquick 5 is a nice looking hand blender, the main handheld section is about 16cm tall with some nice grooves to allow you to hold it easily at any angle whilst blending, it has two easily pressable power speeds for normal or fast blending and it is a really nice looking piece of kit, it is white with turquoise blue elements and looks timeless and not dated. The blender is 600w and does have real power when blending items for me.
Attachments:
The blender comes with a number of easy to assemble attachments, these incluse a chopper which I use solely for soups, it is a blade with a metal protective element to ensure that whilst blending there is no splash back. There is also a food processing element allowing you to blend easily, we don't use this as we have a blender. There is also a kneading hook (Again unused due to our breadmaker) and and a stainless steel whisk.
The attachments are incredibly simple to add to the multiquick and remove, to add them you simply fit them into the hole at the end of the stick, to remove them you press two buttons to release the attachment and it comes away. It is something a 5 year old could quickly complete.
The blending attachment is fantastic and helps me to make fantastic soups and hand blend things quickly with the minimum of mess or work on my part.
Use:
I use the soup blending element a few times a week, placing pre-cooked soup ingredients in a large bowl and moving the blending stick around with it on normal or high speed, it takes around 2-3 minutes to blend all ingredients to soup consistency, but has never failed to work with all ingredients from leek and potato to tomato, pepper and celery. My partner says the whisk is a decent half way house between a hand whisk and a professional hand whisk used with our Kenwood K-Mix, it allows freedom of movement and works well on blending sticky items like meringue, it does struggle with thicker elements for pastries etc, but we are fine with this as the Kmix manages this and we use this for intermediate items where it is quicker and easier to use this.
Cleaning:
You may need to wipe down the hand held element occasionally which can be done easily with a wipe, but it requires little more than this, the attachments can be cleaned in the dishwasher or through hand washing and are simple and easy to clean.
Storage:
The hand held element can be stood up to take up minimal space, the other attachments don't take up much space, overall this is a great solution particularly if you don't have space for larger items.
We bought our multi-quick for £110 from Amazon and I think it has proven excellent for us, in terms of the soups we have made it has been a delight, it takes up little space, is easy to clean, simple to use and has lasted for over a year without a fault or single problem. I would thoroughly recommend this, although will give it a 4 as it now costs £120 and there are some newer rivals on the market that perhaps offer even more for similar value.
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