Sililcone Kitchen Tools Confuse Me

The above are silicone tools in our kitchen. More on them coming up.

But first, what is it?  It's a largely inert, man-made compound of inorganic silicon plus oxgen with a side group that attaches to the silicon atms.  Okay, we should now know what silicon is, but not having had any chemistry experience at all, I still don't know for sure. 

The advantaes that silicon has:
It doesn't melt easily (although it sure looks like it would) and can withstand temperatures to 400 degrees. 
It's hard to stain.
If something in silicon falls to the floor of the dishwasher while it's running, it won't melt.
Silicon is not porous.  Unlike wood breadboards or wooden spoons, it won't absorb germs.

A disadvantage:  They look and are "floppy" and to our snake brains "Floppy" = "Fragile."  (At least that's what mine is telling me.)

The Sil-Pat baking sheet above is used for baking and candy making.  Since you don't have to butter Sil-Pat, you'll have less grease in the finished product.  You'll never have to buy parchment paper again. 

I visited chowhound.com and got opinions from people who bake.  To a person, they said that cookie bottoms crisp up better on parchment paper.  They say they re-use the parchment until the whole batch of cookies is baked. 

They all complained that Sil-Pat felt "slimy."  When I asked Richie (the one who uses it) he said, "They're fine!  No complaints at all." 

The green frogs (above) are pot holders.  When Richie saw Michelle's in France, he had to have some, too.  I never use them.  They seem clumsy.

The purple "cup" is one of the two egg poachers - called "poach pods" by maker Fusion Brands.  To use them, start a pot of water boiling, oil down the inside of the pod and float the pod on the boiling water.  Break an egg into the pod, put the lid on the pan and let cook for six to eight minutes.  When it's done, pick up the pod with a pair of tongs, run a spoon around inside to loosen the egg, invert over the dish and poke the bottom of the pod with an index finger.  The egg should come right out.  There are three little holes around the top so that you can hook them over a diswasher post in the top portion of the dishwasher.

The lemons are a jar lid opener and I bet it will last longer than its predecessor which was raised-welt rubber... still it really does have a slimy feel to it.  Confusingly enough, I know I'm holding something with a slimy feel too it,  but I'm also sure that it will grip hard and really do the job.   "Slimy and grip hard."  Oxymoron to this moron.