My students are often amazed with the number of weird looking kitchen gadgets I have that is hung up near the cooking stove. Here's what I have and I find these a must-have in all basic home kitchens.

THIS is my best loved little kitchen tool. Its a mini slicer. Great for slicing small bulbs of garlic, onions and even ginger. It proved to be so handy-dandy that I bought another set for my mother-in-law. As age is catching up, dear mommie was struggling to find her grip on a ginger to slice it thinly for her daily cooking. This is easy to use, the blade is stainless steel and it washes easily under a running tap. How much? Only S$2 at DAISO. You can find DAISO stores in IMM Building, Plaza Singapura and Vivo City.

A fellow KC member once asked about where to get these Bottle Spouts. It took me a while to figure out what he was asking for. I had always bought a couple of spares and used it and I never knew what it was really called. I found mine at Cold Storage, priced at around S$2.95 for a pair. It is often placed in the aisles where the wines are kept. The black top ones are found sometimes in places that sells pots and pans. The white top ones with a cap lid are found in Cold Storage supermarkets. I have seen the more fanciful ones at Howard Storage at Parkway Parade.

These are good for bottles that are recycled without a cork or cap. When you have emptied your wine from the bottle, it leaves it 'topless'. I would often recycled the prettier wine bottles to store my home made rice wine and would close the top with these bottle spouts.

THIS is something that baffles everyone who visited my kitchen. I never realised that many do not know what this is. When I first had my kitchen, I bought a couple of these to use. I grew up learning about it from my mother. She has a couple of these too. A must-have tool in the kitchen. Okay, but what in the world is this?

Well, It is use to grip and lift plates, or bowls from the steamer or double-boiler. Here's an idea how its used.

This proves to be a great kitchen tool for lifting a piping hot plate of Steamed fish or Steam egg custard.

You can find these in most supermarkets like Shop n Save, NTUC. Its cheap and good. About S$2 to S$3 each.

LASTLY, a disposal bag which is also a great kitchen must-have..the inexpensive disposal tea pouches. . Sometimes I used to put blended pandan leaves and added that into my pot to cook Nasi lemak. After the rice is cooked, I just pick it up from the rice cooker and throw it. No fuss, no mess. My nasi lemak rice is so fragrant with pandan leaves

Occasionallly, a handful of spices are added into each pouch and drop into a pot of soup. At the end of cooking process, this pouch of spices is easily pick up and discarded. No extra work to fish out each spice from the pot of soup.

I recently found these from DAISO..the famous S$2 an item store. Each pack has 40 pieces. Depending on how often you cook Bak Kut Teh or home tonics, a pack can last for months.

Until next time, happy shopping everyone. If you find something interesting to share, drop me an email and we can feature it here to share with everyone.

Merry Christmas everyone!