Buy Adam

I don’t use a lot of butter at the table, but I do use it pretty frequently in cooking. With even just a very little bit, it adds a tremendous depth, body, and flavor to most kinds of cooking.

Yes, I’m firmly in the “butter is good” camp.

I keep a stick in the fridge in one of these, at the ready. It sounds stupid, but it’s very convenient to not dirty another knife or deal with loose shards of butter and oiled paper in the fridge. Especially when you forget and realize you need it immediately in the middle of a recipe while something else is cooking. It’s a small thing, but I like it. Butter is best stored in the freezer for any length of time, so it’s easy to pull out a stick, unwrap it while it’s still frozen, and pop it in. (Note: butter for cooking should always be unsalted, so you can adjust the salt yourself as you go.)

If you’re the spready type, this is also pretty good at shaving off thin slivers that melt quickly.

My only complaint is that the basic white model is kind of fragile plastic. I’ve broken two of them over the years - once when I dropped it, and once when trying to cut through frozen butter. But they’re cheap enough to replace. I’ve linked to the “Pro” model, which looks a bit more durable.

Buy the Buttermate from Amazon.

Okay, it’s somewhat predictable. It seems like everyone’s talking about the Dyson vacuum cleaners these days.

But you know what? They’re right. There are a few new models on the way, but this is really the workhorse upright (and according to their website, is actually more powerful than the newer DC14). I’m relatively convinced that it doesn’t matter which one you get - they’re ALL far better than other vacuum cleaners.

Even after six months - I want to use it more often. I have a few complaints, but minor ones, and they’re dwarfed by the good things. There’s no cord control, but I guess that’s just an extraneous piece to break. There are extra tools that don’t have “a place” on the main unit. They’re extra, and optional, but they don’t fit anywhere. Again, this is minor, but I’d have preferred it if the extra brushes couldn’t get lost.

And now - the good things. It cleans well, it actually “doesn’t lose suction”, and you get visible feedback on how much dust/paper/cat hair/whatever you’re actually picking up. No bags or filters to replace, and it’s easy to empty. Every piece is well-engineered, and all of the connectors are solid. Just about every bit of the suction path can be opened in case something gets stuck, and all of the sections fit together with satisfying clicks, so you know when you put them back where they’re supposed to go. The extension brushes have vents so they don’t get caught in fabrics.

I sold two previous vacuum cleaners to try this one, and I’m glad I did.

Buy the Dyson DC07 from Amazon.

I’m always on the lookout for smaller, better, more utilitarian pocket tools that I can carry with me everywhere, but which will still do what I need them to do. My needs are fairly modest - opening boxes, cutting string, tightening screws (particularly eyeglass screws). I started with a Swiss Army Knife, moved to a Leatherman, then to a Leatherman Micra, then to a Juice, and finally ended up with a Squirt. The design is compact, durable, and still very usable. It (and the Juice) distinguishes itself from earlier Leatherman models by having the blade accessible from the outside without unfolding the whole thing. I still have a LOT of other tools around, but this is the one that lives in my pocket. It also comes in a model with pliers instead of scissors, but I find that if I need pliers, I probably need much bigger tools. (Full disclosure: I actually have the red one, but for some reason, only the grey one is directly from Amazon, and I tend to prefer that. The red one is nice.)

Buy the Leatherman Squirt S4 from Amazon.