Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Ten years ago, when William-Sonoma had completed their decline from store-for-cooks to store-for-people-who-like-pretty-cookware-they-don't-actually-use, Sur le Table stepped into the gap to offer Serious Cookware for Serious Cooks.



... and now, ten years later, they're selling spatulas with snowmen on them. There must be some law of kitchenware kitch which says that every cookware distributor must inevitably slide downhill until they join Skymall. Clearly Surly Tab is no more than a couple years away.

A selection, with images where I can link to them:



2. Holiday Stemware Coasters: because nothing says "Christmas" like wrapping your wine glass in the skin of a deceased Rudolf.



6. 5-color Santa, anthropomorphic reindeer, and snowman spatulas. If that's not tasteless enough for you, argyle is also available.



6. Red-and-green Plaid Linens: aaaauuuuguggh! my eyes! my eyes!

... I need to have a lie-down now until I can see clearly.

Ok, better now.



9. Snowman Measuring Cups and Spoons: ceramic measuring spoons of dubious accuracy and even more dubious lifetime. Ceramic measuring cups with no handles. Really, what could go wrong?

9. Sur La Table EXCLUSIVE Snowman Spatula Set: yes, these are the same spatulas which we just saw on page 6. They want to make sure you didn't miss them.



10. Smiley-Face Flex Turner. See, I told you we were returning to the 1970's. The horror! The horror!



10. Matryoshka Doll Measuring Cups. Impractical. Yet ... I want some.



11. Fred Batter Finger Spatula: because doesn't everyone want a spatula which makes things look like you used your fingers?

12. Whiskey Stones: I still say this sounds like a medical condition caused by too much drinking.

32. Babycakes Pie-pop Maker: exclusive to Surly Tab. I wonder why?



32. Mastrad Chip Tray With Mandoline: "Homemade, crispy, fat-free chips are as easy as turning on your microwave ..." Microwave potato chips? Gah. They even look disgusting in the catalog image.



37. Red melamine mixing bowl set: more evidence we're returning to the 70's.

40. A new high-water mark for kitchen knife prices: from Bob Kramer, an apparently genuine forged Damascus-style steel kitchen knife. $1800.



44. Skewer Station: for metal skewers full of food to hang, point down. Take bets! Will the food get cold or fall off the skewer first?



46. Party Foul Department: Schott Zweisel "Dancing Tumblers" have deliberately round bottoms for "stirring your drink". Yes, really. Available as a package with Whiskey Stones! ( http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-184317/ ) What could possibly go wrong?

I had noticed, in my last visit to a store, that the section of useful things had declined, but man oh man, that is looking bad. The red and green plaid linen could be kinda hot though

A few months ago, I got the Darth Vader spatula and Star Wars aprons for my nephews age 8 and 11 on sale at the W-S outlet (not willing to spend full price on it).

The 8 year old has always ordered 'fancy' dishes at restaurants from a very young age. Not wanting the kids selection, he goes for such things as king crab legs, lobster, petit sirloin. He has a great palate and I am amazed at his comments while the 11 years is very, very picky always wanting pasta, yet he loves to help cook with his aunts. (Their mom does not get them involved in the kitchen.) I want to get the 8 year old more interested in cooking, I think he would be great at it.

It's the stemware coaster that gets me. Isn't one of the points of using stemware the fact that the bottom doesn't get either hot or covered in condensation? Also, isn't stemware unstable enough, especially with red wine in it? What is the point of taking an elegant object like a stemmed glass and rendering it ugly, not to mention even more likely to fall over just to solve a problem it doesn't actually have?

How funny and apt. I always wondered about the spatulas that reflected the holidays I love the cake pan in the shape of a cupcake. Seems to me, a devoted frosting fan, that the ratio of icing to cake would be wayyy too small and that there would be a problem baking a cake as heavy as that.