Is time spent in the kitchen, hard on your feet and legs? WellnessMats to the rescue!

The Fissler Foodies spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Not because we have to, but because we love to. We cook to live and we live to cook. Sometimes we pull out the portable CookStar Induction Pro and cook with friends at the dining table. But even that means prep time standing on the hard kitchen floor. When we were given a WellnessMat recently we wondered why we hadn't thought of getting one before. WellnessMats are polyurethane mats that are medically proven to promote proper circulation and reduce fatigue. 

We are kind of into the technical side of things, so we rather enjoyed reading this explanation of why WellnessMats work the way they do: "WellnessMats feature a remarkably elastomeric and resilient core, that offers 50% more cushioning than other mats in the category, making them dramatically different from other anti-fatigue mats on the market today. Advanced Polyurethane Technology (APT) allows WellnessMats cushiony core to permanently bond with the abrasion, stain, and microbial resistant outer layer.  Called cross-linking, the polyurethane molecules permanently bond through a process called thermosetting.  What that means is that the mats will never delaminate and that the unmatched comfort and longevity of all WellnessMats are permanently locked into every fiber." 

Okay, thank you WellnessMats for the high tech details. What we can tell you from personal experience is that our legs and feet immediately felt better when we were standing at the counter or washing dishes. Sometimes we even walk through the kitchen just to stand on it!

You can get your own Wellness Mat through Williams Sonoma, Frontgate, Chefs and hundreds of specialty retailers across the country, as well as at the WellnessMats site. They come in different sizes, colors and surface patterns to match your kitchen and your cookware.

The Giant Squash and the Perfection Knife

I met my match in the form of a 3-pound spaghetti squash.

You see, I’ve been exceedingly creative in the time since I moved into a temporary apartment in Washington, DC. I’ve been repurposing everything, adapting the Goodbye Detergent! Original Spaghetti Scrub into a mushroom brush, using my Hurom Slow Juicer box as a printer stand and converting a display cabinet into my pantry, among many other imaginative solutions.

But my resourcefulness couldn’t conquer this beastly squash. More specifically, there was nothing in my kitchen that could cut it – literally and figuratively. Most of my premium kitchen gadgets are packed away in storage or on a “to buy” list as housewarming gifts to self once I’m settled for the long term. Premium knives fall into this category, so I’ve been scraping by (eek, bad pun) with less-than-stellar cutting tools. They could barely scratch the surface of this tough-as-nails squash. There was only one thing left to do: call in the heavy artillery. Fissler knives to the rescue!

Like a kid on Christmas morning, I joyfully unpacked a shipment of Fissler knives and prepared to accomplish the mission. The squash was a worthy opponent, but the Perfection Chef’s Knife flexed its macho muscle and powered through the squash.



The dirty work done, I proceeded to cook the squash in the Fissler Blue Point Pressure Cooker and had a hearty side dish for several days.

Needless to say, the moral of the story is that sometimes there is simply no substitute for the proper equipment. Quality really does make a difference.