I have been meaning to tell you about this next little thing FOREVER.

As you may know, I'm particular about the gadgets and stuff that come into my kitchen, perhaps as a result of working in a half-postage stamp sized space for so long. And despite having more room in my current kitchen, I still eschew useless wasting of real estate in favor of only keeping and storing those things that work well enough to earn their culinary room and board. If something functions poorly, is redundant, ill designed, or just plain doesn't get used, it's a pretty short trip from utensil drawer to donation pile.
So all of this means that the inflow of gadgety things into my house is pretty slow, since the great, functional basics last forever and the kitchen gadget invention bubble seems to have burst following the invention of the Microplane. But every once in awhile, something really great comes along and surprises even me, the gadget cynic.

Behold, the plastic cheese knife, aka Brie's best friend:


I must confess I purchased this thing on a day of rare weakness and because I had a coupon for the kitchen specialty store that I felt compelled to use. And I was a little disgusted at myself for paying $19 for an ugly plastic thing of questionable function, but I had been told by a couple of people that it worked great and I just had to see for myself, even if it was to prove them wrong.

So I bought it and tried it, never in a million years thinking I'd have to tell you about such an unappealing looking little piece of plastic, but what this sucker lacks in kitchen chic it more than makes up for in it's perfectness for certain highly annoying, sticky tasks. It goes through Brie, that gooey, unsliceable brat that makes a mess of every cheese plate it's ever visited, with nary a stick or a glop, making it possible (finally), to cut perfect, one handed slices or wedges even when it's meltingly hot. It works wonders on Blue or Feta, offering the opportunity for tidy, even slices instead of crumbly clumps. Perfectly halved hard boiled eggs? No problem.
Introduce it to anything sticky or clingy and it comes out the champ, even when everything else fails, because it's plastic and it's got this great, step-shaped blade that pushes things off of it as it cuts through:

Or maybe it contains some mysterious and top-secret cheese knife nanotechnology, I dunno, but my point is it does what it's supposed to and eliminates one of the great agonies of knife-dom. And it's not sharp so it's a great tool for kids, too.
So while I wish it was more fashionable, say with a modest black handle like a proper knife, or even cute orange or red, I can forgive this blatant design oversight because the thing works the bomb.
They are available direct HERE.
Your Brie will thank you.