My Mom has one of those automatic soap dispensers. The sensor is super strong, as soap will come out every time you walk by the kitchen!

Pyrex is one of those iconic brands. It lasts forever, and is designed as well and is as functional as any out there.

Last year for Christmas, Leo and I got ourselves a meat slicer as our “gift to ourselves.” I can honestly say that it was $100 more than well spent. It’s already paid for itself in meat that didn’t go to waste, health benefits, etc. We make a roast, eat on it for a night or two, then slice the rest down into slightly-thicker-than-deli slices for lunch. The other gift “I” received for Christmas last year was the meat grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid – yet another thing that paid for itself. Now, the “I” was in quotation marks because the gift was on my wishlist and Leo, my darling husband, got it as part of my gift. It is, without question, his favorite gift in the whole wide world. In the weeks after Christmas, the cats would hide because he was grinding and slicing everything he could get his hands on. The grinder is WONDERFUL for things like homemade ground beef. Leo will find the right cut on sale at Kroger and bring it home, trim it down, grind it up and freeze it. Better than paying $4+/lb at the store for ground beef! I will warn, though – make sure to read the INTERNET before using the grinder. I just followed the directions that came with it and oh, boy. My kitchen looked like a scene from “Night of the Living Dead.” Unless the meat is partially frozen, it won’t grind correctly, and you’ll be left with a bowl full of pink slime and connective tissue. It almost put me off meat for life. Of course, Leo took that mess, got it nice and cold, and put it through the processor a second time (recommended in all cases). It came out looking like an ad for a butcher store. Picture perfect ground beef.

Somewhere I found online that has amazing quality products, decent prices (for some things) and incredible customer service is Marx Foods out of Seattle (http://www.marxfoods.com). They’re more of a bulk-type store, but they have some hard to find locally items and USUALLY good prices on vanilla beans. Oh, their vanilla beans. I could write sonnets to them. We love Penzey’s as well – the Carytown store in Richmond is a must-visit every time we’re out that way.

Another thing I think I’d love to have is a good storage rack for the olive oils we get from Oliveto. It’s a Saks Fifth Avenue for foodies. Sometimes the bottles get lost in the pantry – and something that good? It’s criminal to let it go to waste!

@Lindsey – I have some of the glass bowls with plastic lids mentioned earlier – never used and looking for a good home. I just don’t have the storage space for storage containers! If you (or anyone else) would like them, they’re free to a good home.