Kitchen-Gadget Must Have: IKEA Milk Frother

So you technically don't HAVE to have this.  But if you're a coffee lover, it's a great thing to get!  We love having a little whipped milk on top of our coffee in the morning to make it feel more coffee shop-ish.  We've had an espresso machine in the past with the frothing wand thing on the side.  But honestly, I just prefer brewed coffee from a pot, not espresso, every morning.  So this is a perfect way to have that little bit of frothed milk on your regular cup of coffee! :)  You can pick one up on amazon, (if you've got a package headed your way soon) or in Bangkok at IKEA next time you're in Thailand!

How to Slice a Mango (and Kitchen Gadget Must-Have)

I never bought mangos before moving to South Asia. But here, we eat them weekly, sometimes daily.  A friend from the US sent me this mango slicer, and I'm tellin' ya, it's worth the $15. : )

 It was always hard to find the pit when I was trying to slice the sides off with a knife.  This thing, it doesn't matter the size of the mango, the bulk of it, or anything.  It just slices right down the sides of the pit in no time.  I. love. it.

So, I learned how to remove the flesh of the mango from a Slice! bill board.  No joke!  When we first arrived, we had lunch with some field veterans who sliced their mangos in half, like around the "waist" of the mango, popped the top half off the pit and ate it with a spoon out of the skin.  I thought there surely had to be a different way to do it, but always struggled to slice the flesh out.  Then I saw the Slice!  bill board with the cubes cut into it, like so:

 and inverted, like so:

From here, you just slide your knife under each cube to cut it out.  Easy, easy.  I'm sure everyone knows this already, or has their own method, but since I was sharing the mango slicer, I though, why not? : )

Kitchen Gadget Must-Have: Garlic Peeler

I can't remember how I first learned about this little doo-dad, but I can't live without it now.  I lost mine in our move, and have been without one for several months. My sister in law just brought me a new one, and I'm so thankful to have it back!  You must go over to Pampered Chef and get one, it will save you so much time! And save your fingers from smelling like garlic for days!

You put your garlic cloves, just plucked off the bulb, inside, give it a couple good rolls, and your garlic comes out sans their papery, sticky, smelly skin! A-mazing.

Pampered Chef Garlic Peeler here!