Joseph Joseph Pump Action Potato Smasher
The problem I find with most gimmicky kitchen tools that claim to make cooking less of a chore is that they actually perform their tasks poorly, and the convenience gained through the devices is made up for with loss of flavor or texture. Garlic presses, for instance, waste a lot of garlic, and result in less actual garlic flavor going into your food. And really, crushing garlic with the side of a knife is about the most simple thing to do.
Mashed potatoes are deceptively simple, with most people assuming that boiling and mashing them is all that is involved. Chefs, food geeks, and grandmas, however, know that improperly mashed potatoes can be gummy if you break the potato granules and their starch leeches out. This is why people don’t mash potatoes in a blender, and most traditional techniques are gentle – using the back of a fork, for instance. I’ve had decent luck with a plain potato masher, and with minimal effort to boot, so I don’t quite see the utility of something like Joseph Joseph’s pump-action potato smasher, which I would worry would tend to over mash. People who love their gadgets and know enough to use restraint when using something like this may find it worth the relatively low price tag of $16.
Also by GERRY MAK
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Most instructional books focus on the how to and not the how NOT to. Artist Aleksandra Mir has created an ongoing project compiling ‘lessons learned the hard way‘ submitted by the general public. Read more
Evan Stremke, a graphic designer from Wisconsin, has given us a morbid history lesson. The continuous subject of his marvelous poster series, Invitation To An Assassination, is the forced death of outstanding public figures. The Osama Bin Laden poster is, of course, already in the making. I’m not sure what to think of the subject matter, but I love the artistic execution. Read more
I spent the formative first six years of my life in Wellington, New Zealand, a beautiful windswept city framed by a magnificent harbour in one direction and a stunning collection of green, rolling hills in the other. It was here, on a return visit many years later and deep amongst the clipped accents and ruddy faces of the weather-beaten locals, that I stumbled upon the vast catalogue of the then Dunedin based record label Flying Nun. And what a roster of acts they housed — The Chills, The Bats, The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, and my favourite guitar-pop band, Straitjacket Fits. Read more
One of the largest contemporary construction projects in the world [it's the size of London's Hyde Park], the 220 suite Hydropolis, situated twenty metres below the surface of the Persian Gulf near Dubai, will be the first luxury underwater hotel. It’s expected to open to the public in late 2009. Read more
Our friends over at SNAP!, Montreal’s only free and independent arts and lifestyle magazine have just released their fourth issue in which they look back and celebrate the faded beauty of past eras, grandmas and grandpas, Polaroids, antique finds, old wisdom and vintage style. Yeeha! They also remember the best of 2008 in Montreal arts, with a variety of writers and photographers giving their take on their favourite cultural discoveries.
I’ve heard whispers that Kings Of Convenience, the Norwegian duo of folkloric proportions, have split. I hope they’re unfounded, but like all good rumours, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Perhaps Erland Oye is enjoying the unlimited scope of his solo career too much? And then there’s his new submorphic guitar pop project, The Whitest Boy Alive, to keep him occupied. The whitest boy alive? Indeed he is. But damn the guy can sing.
Ok, so I’m speaking from first-hand perspective here because as I type on this warm morning, with the faintest slither of sun creeping its way through the privacy blinds in my living room, I’m wearing the very same t shirt that the dude in this photo is wearing. Yup, the same damn one. Perhaps I’m not looking quite as groomed as he is, but hey, it’s a start. Australian fashion label Das Monk is my new favourite t shirt label and this t shirt is more comfortable to wear that a thousand pairs of Ozone socks. Das Monk? Yes it is.
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Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more
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Set up in 2011, Rebel Unlit is a printing collaboration between London based Artists Neil Butler and Shanney Mulcahy. They make short run screen-printed t-shirts and limited edition prints from their studio in East London. All the t shirts are fair traded and printed by hand and, as a result, each one is unique. Read more
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