This battery-operated, pepper, salt, or spice mill is easy to operate and has a built-in light, which could be stronger. (We await the day when all portable lights contain next-generation LED bulbs.)

The grinder has a soft-touch exterior with adjustable ceramic grinder and includes six AAA batteries and light bulb. The grinder is a little pricey at about $45 plus shipping, but it is nicely designed and requires very little thumb pressure to use.

Find it here at MoMA - New York’s Modern Museum of Art

In our opinion, this stainless steel 11″ ball whisk is the easiest of all whisks to clean - key if you primarily use one hand or arthritis flare-ups keep you from using both hands.

Easier to use than conventional whisks, the vibrating ball-capped rods generate more whipping action with less effort and the combination of wires of differing lengths guarantees thorough blending. Dishwasher safe.

The ball whisk’s enthusiasm requires a deep bowl. Best used for liquids and thinner batters.

Find it here at MoMA - the Museum of Modern Art

The Knork is a combination fork-knife that allows foods to be cut and lifted to the mouth using just one hand.

The outside tines are beveled and curved, forming cutting edges that are not serrated or sharp to the touch. The Knork’s solid stainless steel cleans up easily in the dishwasher and has more heft to it than the average fork, which helps with the cutting.

We find the Knork cuts through tough foods, such as steak and even the rind of a watermelon, and could prove helpful to people with limited use of their hands due to a stroke or a temporary arthritis flare-up.

At $5.50, the Knork seems ideal for college students who eat and study at the same time, young mothers with babes in arms and campers and tailgaters who want minimum cleanup.

We were reluctant to try something that had an infomercial, but George’s grill comes close to its hype. We Gimpy could almost live easy with an electric water kettle, a mini fridge, a microwave and The Grill.

Our hamburgers cooked moist and tender in half the time it takes on the stove. Ditto grilled-cheese sandwiches and yogurt-marinated chicken on skewers. The Grill did justice to veggies too, rendering asparagus, zucchini and mushrooms tender, juicy, flavorful and nicely hashed with brown grill marks.

We usually hate to cook bacon, yet we found The Grill to be a bacon-making machine! Because the lid closes there is no splattering hot grease, which makes cleanup easy and cooking safer, especially for a Little Person or someone cooking at eye level from a wheelchair or atop a stool. People with vision problems have one less step because they don’t have to flip the bacon to get it crispy.

In our tests thus far, The Grill’s one failure seems to be eggs, which turned rubbery despite my varying the temperature with the one large easy-to-use knob. Leave the eggs for your stovetop cooking.

The Grill comes with a cookbook and five dishwasher friendly interchangeable plates that makes everything from steaks, fish, kabobs and sandwiches to pancakes and waffles, which we have yet to try.

As you can see, we are jazzed about George’s Grill and will keep you apprised of our future successes and failures.

See The Grill

Know someone who has a difficult time standing on hard floors? Gel Pro Chef’s Mats contain a soft gel that makes standing on hard floors easier for those with back pain or arthritis. Read the rest of this entry »

Iced Tea spoons conjure up images of fussy bridal showers and debris you find in the bottom of your cabinets, but they really are a workhorse in your kitchen when regular spoons are just to short.

Use ice tea spoons to:

* Stir the grounds in a French press coffee maker so you don’t leave a dry clump of dry coffee in the bottom.
* Blend sugar, milk and coffee in those tall travel mugs for your morning commute.
* Get the last bit of mayo or peanut butter out of a jar.
* Stir up juice in a pitcher

Ice tea spoons — or parfait spoons, as some call them — keep hot liquids at a safe distance if your fingers are sensitive to temperature, or if you have lost some sensation and can’t tell when liquids are hot enough to burn you. The spoon itself also leaves extra room to grab onto if you need a more solid grip. At times Cait has needed the spongy tubing stuff that physio therapists like to dole out and a regular spoon doesn’t have room for the tubing.

Cait found her first set of ice tea spoons at an estate sale - eight spoons for 35 cents. She felt sorry for them. It was like they were the Charlie Brown Christmas tree of cutlery. No one was interested in them. She’d seen similar sets go unpurchased many times.

Cait brought them home and her partner, Doug — not known for his culinary prowess, or even interest — took to them immediately. Doug found them ideal for his venti-sized coffee cups and French press. Doug also likes to eat peanut butter with a spoon and a glass of milk. Now he gets every last bit out of every jar without getting gooey knuckles.

Eds note: Marty’s favorite long tea spoons are the ones that have a straw built it. Perfect for ice cream floats!

Born with one arm, Rick Curry is a model for the able and the disabled. Whether baking up great breads or leading theatre workshops, Curry, a Jesuit who was featured on the television show “60 Minutes,” inspires with his cookbook: The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking.

The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking at Amazon.com.