It's more than a cherry pitter. . . .

This is a pretty sweet cherry pitter from Oxo. I tried it on some cherries earlier this summer, and now I've got it in my drawer with all the other gadgets, because it pleased me that it worked so well-- even though I don't really need to pit cherries all that often.

Well, I discovered the other night it has an even better use--at least in my world. It pits olives. Perfectly, quickly and neatly. Put your kalamata or nicoise or manzanilla on the little rounded holder, press the handle, and the pit comes out the bottom, and the olive is perfectly pitted. This means you can buy the good olives from the olive bar and then easily add them to your Greek salad or chicken stew or whatever olivey thing you like. We have Greek salad about once a week in the summer, and it's really nice not to have to spit the pits out or accidentally chomp on them and break your teeth.