Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Cuts like a knife

Occasionally I get completely fascinated and sucked in to an informercial and get incredibly tempted to buy something. The most recent example was one I saw today, the Nicer Dicer. Forgot the little chopping machines that were once all the rage, this thing looks like an alligators jaw with a circular blade set into it, and you just pop the food in, slam the jaw down, and presto, diced whatever.

I haven't bought one, but believe me, I'm sorely tempted. Except it looks like it doesn't really do small dice, the resulting chop seems somewhat medium-sized. Well, that and the fact that anything you buy from an informercial ends up gathering dust in the back of a drawer or cupboard sooner rather than later, anyway.

6 comments:

Kim said...

I am indifferent to the dicing, but I have wanted one of those Little Giant ladders that folds up into 156 different positions for, like, FOREVER. Infomercials, yay!

Finding My New Normal said...

I got the Magic Bullet for Christmas. Not as great as it looks on TV. But NOW I want the scunci steamer and the sweepnmop.

Anonymous said...

The Nicer Dicer does not work unless your vegetable fits its specific dimensions: not too soft, not too firm, not too big, not too tall.
Onions? No. Mushy onions? Yes.
Tomatoes? No. Hard, tasteless tomatoes? Yes.

Anonymous said...

The worst informercial I ever saw was for the Lauren Hutton Makeup Line. It featured women sitting there, physically weeping over how long it had tekn then to apply makeup before. There was also a before-and-after photo of Lauren herself, much talked up throughout the commercial. When they finally showed the SOOPER SEKRIT photograph where she had no makeup, they literally showed it for 1 second tops. Not enough time to form much opinion on the matter -- just long enough to keep from getting in trouble over airing subliminal messages.

Copy Editor said...

I want the scunzi steamer too.

How is the Magic Bullett? I'm sure nothing is as good as it looks on TV, but I'm thinking of getting one. Every recipe I make (almost) requires a food processor or blender and in a few months, I'll be relocating and will need both devices. The Magic Bullett looks like it'll do what I need for both. Any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

The magic bullet works nice as a blender (smoothies or whatever other similar thing). Its advantage in comparison with other blenders is that it is very easy to clean, as you put everything into the dishwasher, even the blades, and that it is really small (I put away the extra jugs I don't use and keep the motor and two jugs in a drawer). I live in Europe and so I previously adquired a rather expensive blender called Thermomix (Vorwerk tm), which is a blender and also heats, buth which amazingly the blades (the hardest piece to clean and even dangerous to touch) cannot be cleaned in the dishwasher.

But using it to chop onions is more difficult, I get them smashed, but it is supposed to depend on practice, as other people managed to get them acceptable chopped. The difficulty lies in being able to stop it in time (you push down/release the MB in quick sequences, to get the chopping). It grinds coffee ok. I haven't tested the soups recipes, but I have used the jugs in the microwave without problem.

I like it anyway, for being small and so quickly to clean.