You can't walk through a kitchen store anymore without seeing silicone gadgets everywhere. Sometimes its use seems purely gratuitous, but silicone happens to be a great material for colanders. My favorites are the collapsible colanders made by Oxo, particularly the Silicone Cooking Colander, a 6.75-inch diameter, long-handled colander that can be immersed in boiling water to blanch or parboil vegetables or quickly cook small foods like shrimp and dumplings. It's heat-resistant to 600 degrees and fits inside most 3- and 4-quart saucepans. Oxo's larger, more conventionally designed 3.5 quart colander can be used for cooking, too; it has raised feet, so it also works well for rinsing and draining fruits and vegetables.