We have two of these handheld blenders - one for soap making and one for soup making (I still get these two words mixed up sometimes!). I got the first one when I started making soap at home (as a hobby) in the winter of 2007, after I hand whisked a batch of soap mixture for an hour and thought my right arm was going to fall off. The stick blender works wonderfully after many batches of soap. Then we bought a second one when I learned to make dahl soup from an Indian friend, and we've been equally pleased with its performance in the kitchen.

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Things We Like: Cuisinart Smart Stick Handheld Blender

One cleaning product that we find indispensable in the kitchen is Bar Keeper's Friend. It's a fine white powder that contains no phosphates, bleach, or abrasive substances. It works wonders on getting stainless steel pots and pans sparkling clean, especially after sauteing vegetables or browning meat which often leaves a thin film and slight discoloration on the inside bottom of the pan after normal washing. Regular use of Bar Keeper's Friend also helps to prevent stain buildup.

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Things We Like: Bar Keeper's Friend Multi-Purpose Household Cleanser and Polish

I recently had the opportunity to try a couple of kitchen knives from Saber. These knives are intended for culinary students or people just getting started in cooking (recent college grads, etc.). The knives will be sold in a set of ten: two chef's knives (8-in and 10-in), two paring knives (3.5-in and 4.5-in), santoku, serrated bread knife, utility knife, boning knife, and two slicers (8-in. and 10-in ham slicer). The set also includes a steel and a unique bag that holds all the knives in place when transporting them. I had an early prototype bag which worked well for the smaller knives, but the 10-in. chef's had some trouble staying put (not dangerous since the blade stayed put, but he handle sloshed around a bit). The new bags have a solution involving magnets that supposedly works very well, so I'm eager to see that.

The set will be priced around $200 or so. This puts the knives in the same price category as the J. A. Henckels International knives (the discount line from Henckles). However, in our testing it outperformed the J. A. Henckels (premium line) Four Star chef's knife that we usually test with. Something to note is that our Four Star chef's knife costs $80 at cutleryandmore.com and $125 retail. The Saber knives also performed on par or better than the Wusthof Classic (a knife similarly priced to the Henckel's Four Star). When we moved up to the Japanese blades (Global, Tojiro, MAC), the Saber fell short, but for the price of two of these Japanese knives you can get the whole set of Saber knives. That makes Saber's performance/price value extremely high. Also, every blade has a granton edge which really does help prevent sticking when julienning. It really is nice to have it on every blade.

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Saber Chef Knives

Since Michael and I moved to Austin, I have been cooking a lot more. Of all the pots and pans we have in the kitchen (various brands, mostly stainless steel All Clad), my favorite is the Tramontina 12" tri-ply clad saute pan. It not only stands up to the All Clad pans we have but is also most useful due to its size. It's 12" in diameter (without handles) and 3" deep (without lid), ~6 qt in capacity, has a loop (helper handle) in addition to the long handle, and comes with a lid.

We use it to saute vegetables, pan fry meats, make pasta sauce, etc.. It heats up evenly and is easy to clean (a little Bar Keeper's Friend does magic). We use it everyday and sometimes I wish we have more than one! Picked it up at Marshall's a few years ago for $39.95 which is a steal, and haven't seen them around since then. Recently I found it on Walmart.com for $69.97 which is still a great deal considering the All Clad 6 qt saute pan with lid is $250! If you have been looking for cookware that performs similar to All Clad at a fraction of the price, give Tramontina tri-ply clad pots and pans a try.
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Tramontina 12" Tri-Ply Clad Stainless Steel Saute Pan - Tina's Favorite