Gadget Land

The small glories of hot water in the middle of the night or a faucet you can turn on with a tap because your hands are sticky with bread dough

I come from a long line of gadget lovers. My maternal grandfather was a mechanic by trade who tinkered with machines and loved to invent things. My dad was an early adopter to any new technology—he was the first in our world to have a computer, then the first to adopt the nascent modem. He bought video games the instant they arrived on shelves, and then cell phones. 

I am neither mechanical or first to own anything. Too much clutter in a house or on the counters makes me feel itchy and out of sorts. At the same time, the internet has revealed to me just how much I love all kinds of gadgets, especially those designed to make housekeeping and cooking easier. My old house had a sink faucet that turned on and off with a touch (great when you have messy hands). A recent acquisition is a hot water dispenser, so I can have tea in the middle of the night without waiting for the water to boil. Or I could have tea in the middle of the night if the damned thing didn’t beep and set my dogs off on each beep. One for turning it on. One for setting the temperature. One for brewing size. One for finishing. I’d love to figure out how to turn off or mute that tiny, enormous sound, but the gadget itself is really fun. 

Another favorite is my robot vacuum. It’s a dazzlement to me, still. I can never get over it just cleaning things up—no hands! Like a dishwasher or washing machine or dryer, it really saves a ton of time. Because we have a lot of animals and live on the beach, it takes a beating, but honestly, it does its job remarkably well. More than anything, that robovac makes me think of the future I thought we were going to have when I was watching The Jetsons as a small child. 

Believe me, I get that it takes no small amount of privilege to own a bunch of gadgets that are upgrades of things that work perfectly well. I have been a person making do with minimal cleaning tools (a broom and a crappy vacuum) and hauling clothes to the laundromat. But I’ve also been building a household for a long time. You collect things.

I’m here to tell you about my love affair with my new machine. This gleaming creature:

Yes, it’s an ordinary rice maker. I’ve never had one. I mean, I know how to make rice. I make it three or four times a week, and one of my dogs has a delicate stomach so he has to have some in his food every day. As I’ve said before, I’m terrible at mashed potatoes, and as we eat a lot of vegan and Asian foods, I always need more rice. 

I felt frustrated that I couldn’t get my rice to be like restaurant rice. Fresh and dry and not sticky, each grain its own being. A friend of mine told me some tricks to try, but they didn’t give me what I wanted. 

I held off buying a rice cooker because it just seems so extra, you know? It felt like one of those machines that would end up getting dusty on the counter (like my food processor, which someone gave me and I finally gave way—I know, I know, some of you will say it is is your cornerstone kitchen gadget, but it always seems easier to me to just chop or shred things by hand). 

Over Christmas, I complained about this rice problem to my oldest son, who surprise surprise, also loves gadgets and had a robovac long before I did. Also, a sous vide machine, which I do not own and can’t think how I ever will. He said, “Buy a rice cooker. This one.”

So I did. 

The first time I tried it, I practically wept with the joy of rice perfection. And it’s always that perfect. Today, and next week, and the week after that, the machine offers exquisite rice for our dining pleasure. Every single time. 

Like the robovac, it performs a task that took up my time and energy, and provides a result far beyond my expectations. 

Next up is the Milk Street tray that supposedly chars vegetables perfectly on a gas stove. It was simple enough, but I keep burning my cast iron, and it’s a pain to clean. Will it really work? 

Stay tuned.

Yours, 
The Gadget Queen 

Do you have a favorite gadget? Share it in the comments.