If you’ve never used a pressure cooker before, it can certainly seem like “magic” - presto, and your food is cooked in a fraction of the time it’d normally take. There’s no more room in our tiny kitchen for yet another large pot, but I still often eye pressure cookers wistfully online. It’s a great way to quickly cook “slow-cook” food.

This is the 6 quart stainless stell variety from Presto which looks like a pretty simple device without any unneeded bells and whistles. As with most modern pressure cookers it has a lock-down saftey mechanism that prevents you from catastrophe if you try to open the lid when cooking. It also has the usual valve to release steam.

I have to admit that I’ve been thoroughly making use of my Senseo coffee machine lately - so I’m posting about the Biatletta mainly because I just like the way it looks. This is the three cup aluminum version which makes three 2 ounce cups of espresso in 5 minutes. I really like the old school Italian octagonal shape (they say it was originally introduced in 1933).

I’ve been using a standard glass Bodum Coffee Press for years now to make the morning coffee. But the sleek lines of their Columbia Stainless Steel line caught my eye the other day. …