Hehe. I have a tong drawer: a dedicated, tong-only drawer in my kitchen. Wow---she must have a big kitchen. Far from it---in fact I have very few drawers and have to be quite creative with stashing all my kitchen tools, pots, pans and [note my mild addiction to] small Italian bowls. Even with all that creative stacking and cupboard cramming: one skinny little drawer boasts 9 pairs of tongs. Because really, its all about the tongs.

Now its true that I do some product reviews on this site. Part of the fun of writing a blog is having companies contact you to review cookbooks, pasta sauce or kitchen tools. And who better than food blogger to reach real-life audiences? Who better than the person who steals away their down time pouring over cookbooks, searching for recipes, mastering how-to-make polenta and has an incessant need to share all their best tips, recipes and methods? Who better? Blogs are a new medium for promoting awareness of new products and seasonal foods---and the trendiest of kitchen gadgets. Naturally, I am all for it.

I will say this: most of my blogging is about a new favorite recipe, food discoveries, kitchen timing, mastering cooking methods and all manner of my culinary curiosities (Italian cooking, whats in season, my new affection for home-canning). But since I took August as holiday, my pile of products-to-review has been growing.

Please note: I prefer posting about products I love, recipes that are worth your time and cookbooks that you really, really should consider. I don't like posting about recipes that failed, products that aren't worth your time or the myriad of cookbooks that would get lost on your shelf. I have even emailed companies back and told them I didn't really like their [insert product] and would rather not post bad press about them. Even if I don't love it, somebody does. So I leave it at that.

Which means if I am talking to you about this particular pair of tongs... and say that it is my FAVORITE pair of tongs in my tong-dedicated drawer, then that is worth something. These tongs rock.

Its like a group of people gathered around a table and said: what do you love about your tongs? Now, what do you just hate about them? And they took all that people loved, and added all that people wished-their-tongs-had and they constructed these tongs. Kinda makes me want to cry. Somebody cared enough about us tong-lovers to make the very best.

These tongs are: heavy, sturdy, their end claws match up perfectly, they have TWO settings for opening: one regular and one wide. Of course it stores 'shut.' Plus you can choose from 3 sizes. I was able to use their long 16 inch tongs---ideal for the grill AND for flipping stuff over in the oven from a safe distance; I also tried the 9 inch tongs.  The short tongs are fantastic for dexterity in the kitchen. Staying close to your food but not quite touching it can be quite 'handy'; apparently these short tongs are deliberately constructed to debone fish. (I still have to snag a fish and give it a whirl, but LOVE that they thought of this. Like those table-talkers said: you know what would be really, REALLY cool? De-boning fish with a pair of tongs). And now you can.

Well if you want to own these/find out more about these tong-drawer chart-toppers (I am asking Santa for the 12 inch---wouldn't be the first time he dropped tongs in my stocking):

• Chef's Resource gave it a stellar review: "We're kitchen tong snobs at Chef's Resource, a bit (too) picky about what we like in food tongs. These Isi Pro Tongs are really great tongs, perhaps the best we've used. The sturdy and sleek design of the Isi tongs earned them a best in category award for kitchen tools at the 2010 housewares show... Also unique about the Isi Pro tongs is that they are NSF approved for commercial use as well (most tongs aren't) and can completely come apart for cleaning if needed."
• You can buy them at William Sonoma or Amazon. Because I know you want to.
• p.s. YES they sent me complimentary tongs to try, and NO---I don't earn money if you buy them. And YES I would marry these tongs if I could.