Consistently, predictably, dependably, unwaveringly ERRATIC

Kitchen stores are my great weakness after bookstores - but I rarely come across sales, which helps me restrain myself. And I try to remember that usually a good knife is better than a gadget and that I really don't need that mini-bundt pan.

But I am quite likely to ask for kitchen equipment for my birthday or Christmas. Mum says I actually squealed with delight when my friend Pip gave me a mandoline/julienne slicer for my last birthday (and I hadn't even asked for it! She just knew I'd like it!)

Among my Christmas presents from Mum last year were a KitchenAid vegetable peeler and a Jamie Oliver garlic mincer/slicer. I asked for both, the peeler since it seemed indulgent to buy a fancy peeler for myself when I could get cheap ones from the supermarket and the garlic press because I had yet to find a garlic press that wasn't a pain to deal with.

Having been given these, I was then dealing with summer vegetables that didn't need peeling and I kept forgetting to take the garlic press out of its packaging. Tonight however, I was making a lentil stew with carrots that needed to be peeled and chopped and eight cloves of garlic to be peeled and sliced.

Okay, the KitchenAid peeler? AWESOME. I only had to press very lightly and it was so much easier then with a cheap peeler.

The garlic press? Well I haven't tried the mincer yet but the slicer is EXCELLENT. Made things a lot less tedious and time consuming. Maybe for people with good knife skills it would be quick but I a) do not have great knife skills and b) am frequently tired when I cook which does not help with fine work.

Sometimes a gadget can be a good thing, particularly when you have limited energy available. This garlic gadget is completely useless (even if it manages to chop the garlic, what good is that if you can't get it out?) but I'm considering getting a garlic peeler along these lines since that's one of the fiddliest parts of dealing with garlic.