Ode to Silicone

I've been enjoying this oven mitt that I got at a Pampered Chef party a few years back (some of their stuff, like the garlic press is excellent, but most of it can be gotten at BBB for less). It's thick and long and generally works great. Except when it gets wet, of course, then it conducts heat just like any other wet cloth mitt.

Recently I started seeing the Orka silicone oven mitts (made by Mastrad) at every other store. So last time I was at BBB and blowing lots of cash on a cool spring-form pan and Jfer's birthday gift I figured I'd take advantage of my 20% off EVERYTHING coupon and bought one of those beauties.

I must say, the mitt is everything the advertising says it is. It's amazingly thin, but works just as good as the much thicker Pampered Chef mitt. You get a better sense of what you're holding and the non slip surface really works. And it doesn't care that it gets wet. The other day I was taking Crème brûlée ramekins out of their 200+F water bath and the mitt worked like a charm. Now that I have one mitt I really want to get another one -- and I really want a long one.

So here's my toast to this wonderful product: Silicone, it's not just for fake boobs anymore!

Spell it right: Despite what thousands of pages may think, silicon and silicone (with an "e") are two very different things (the former isn't very squishy.)