Sur La Table has recently introduced an “exclusive” color in the Nespresso CitiZ Espresso Machine line of coffee makers. OK, maybe I’m out of touch, but I just don’t get it. A cream colored coffee machine? And is the color cream any different than the color beige? Does cream outsell beige? I have another question: Could they have used “flesh” as the color?
The red and black CitiZ Espresso machines look great, but if they decided to come out with a new color, I’m curious why they didn’t introduce a chrome or stainless steel model. Now those would have looked pretty cool.
I’ll be honest with you — when I first laid eyes on this coffee maker in the Sur La Table catalog I instantly thought of a cream/beige/flesh colored VW Beetle. I see those things all over the place. They look like a single butt cheek flying down the road. Yeah, I’d drive pretty fast too if I had to drive a butt cheek around town.
This falls into the “more money than sense” category. You’re telling me, there are people in this world that would plunk down $44 for a couple of Klasp wine glass protectors so they can toss their high dollar wine glasses into the dishwasher, rather than taking the horrendously long 30 seconds per glass to hand wash them?
Come on. You’ve got to be kidding me. Even Waterford recommends hand washing. I can only imagine if you are drinking wine out of fine crystal stemware, you’re not drinking MD 20/20 or Night Train Express, so your brain cells are somewhat still functional. I shouldn’t have to be spelling all this out for you.
Listen, here’s a tip…and I’m not even a sommelier. Pass on the wine glass protectors. Buy yourself a nice $18 bottle of wine, a bottle of Dawn dish washing soap, and wash the wine glasses by hand. You’ll even have enough left over for those pizza scissors you’ve been eyeballing.
If you are one of the large percentage of people in the world still driving to work in the morning and drinking coffee out of a regular ceramic coffee mug, stop. Stop it now. This is not the 1990s people. OK, I understand, the selection of travel mugs on the market can be kinda sad.
The other day I had lunch at a Mediterranean place that has to be one of my favorite places to eat in Richmond. They have this incredible rice and chicken dish that’s out of this world. I believe the main spice is turmeric, and it has corn, peas, and green beans and is simply crazy good.
So, I’m looking for a similar recipe online, which I can’t find, mainly because I have no idea what the dish is called. I asked the owner and he told me, but I promptly forgot about three seconds after he said the name. I’m good for things like that. What I did find was this recipe for Turmeric Rice with Chicken Legs, which, doesn’t look remotely like what I had, but does look seriously good. When I go back to the Mediterranean place I’ll ask the owner to write down the name of that rice and chicken dish. I sure hope he doesn’t slug me.
As far as hobbies go, taxidermy has always been my favorite, followed closely by watching water boil. But with the discovery of the Adagio Glass Water Kettle, I think my days of taxidermy are over. Except for the occasional trophy fish, hamster, or woolly mammoth.
Now I can watch water really boil because I don’t have any of that silly metal in my way like traditional tea kettles are made of. From the tiniest of bubbles as the water temperature starts to climb, to the big rolling bubbles and steam of a full on boil. Doesn’t that sound exciting? I’m getting goose bumps.
This glass tea kettle holds 60 ounces of water and works on nearly all sources of heat (gas, electric, and ceramic). Made from tempered borosilicate glass which, in English, means: magic glass that looks amazingly thin, but is extremely durable. However, it is recommended that you don’t use the glass tea kettle for pounding nails into your walls for hanging pictures, as tempting as that might be.
Sur La Table is offering free knife sharpening through April 30th, 2010. They’ll sharpen two of your longest knives at no cost. Bring in the rest of your kitchen knives and they’ll be sharpened at just $1 per inch. You’ll probably need to drop them off for a day or two. I’ve taken advantage of this offer in the past and it’s a great service. Remember, Sur La Table sharpens knives all year round at $1 per inch. So, even after this deal is over, you now know where to go to keep your kitchen knives sharp at a really reasonable price.
Corn on the cob is a wonderful thing, but I think you’ll agree, holding onto a hot cob of corn is akin to wrapping your fingers around a steam pipe of a nuclear submarine. That seriously degrades the enjoyment factor that corn on the cob can bring a person. Especially, as you’re being rushed to the ER for burns to your fingers.
In the 1970’s an enterprising inventor came up with the idea of corn holders that themselves looked like tiny corn cobs. You’d poke the corn holder into the ends of the cob so you hold onto them, instead of the lava like corn cob. It was an ingenious invention and saved thousands, if not millions of lives. [click to continue…]
Every family has different tastes in food and lasagna is no exception. Somebody wants the classic meat lasagna, somebody wants a veggie lasagna, and then there’s always that one person in your family that wants the sardine and white chocolate lasagna.
It’s virtually impossible to make all those different lasagnas in your standard lasagna pan without everything tasting like the veggies, and that is just wrong. [click to continue…]
March 23rd, 2010 – A day like today only comes around once in a lifetime. Starbucks is giving away free pastries with a beverage purchase from open until 10:30am. Then an hour and a half later, starting at noon, Ben and Jerry’s is giving away one free scoop of ice cream. Starbucks is calling it Free Pastry Day and Ben and Jerry’s is calling it Free Cone Day, but I’m calling it Free Sugar With A Side of Caffeine Day. Actually that rolls off the tongue pretty nicely. And if I had a French accent it would sound really cool.
I’ve got your entire day planned out for you. Yes, I’m not just a blogger; I’m also a Life Coach.
Call work and tell them you’re going to be late. You’ll be in around 12:30 p.m.
Head out to Starbucks and buy your coffee and get your free pastry. Repeat this about four or seven more times at the other Starbucks in your area. Do this before 10:30 a.m., because that’s when Free Pastry Day at Starbucks ends.
Head over to Wal-Mart and get some smiley face stickers. You want to kill about an hour and a half. Maybe look at plungers or deodorant while you are there.
A little before noon, head over to Ben and Jerry’s and get your free ice cream.
OK, you should really be hopped-up on caffeine and sugar now.
Time to go to work.
Whatever you do, don’t look your boss directly in the eyes.
These reclaimed chalkboards turned in coasters sure bring back memories of my childhood. They sure are tiny little chalkboards, though. At 4″ x 4″ they must have come out of a elementary school for hamsters. I sure wish chalkboards were this small when I was a kid. I spent many a recess writing the same sentence on the chalkboard – over and over and over. With chalkboards this size I could have been done in a jiffy. But, no, we had chalkboards that were human sized.
Here’s just a small sample of the types of sentences I had to write on the chalkboard as a kid…
I will not talk in class.
I will not disturb others.
I will not talk in class or disturb others or give my teacher a migraine.
I will keep my hands to myself.
I will keep my hands and my feet to myself.
I will keep my hands, my feet, and gum to myself.
I will not bring sardines to school in my pocket.
I will not put sardines in my ears.
I will not put sardines in my ears or the ears of my classmates.
Handmade in Wisconsin from reclaimed chalkboards from Franklin Elementary School in Quincy, Illinois. Also features reclaimed wine cork feet to prevent scratching and slipping. I’m curious… were the wine corks reclaimed from the same elementary school?
Available from Uncommon goods – $35 (4 coasters and a piece of chalk)
Writing basil or oregano on a popsicle stick and shoving it in the soil with your herbs just isn’t all that classy. You are classy, aren’t you? Of course you are, or you wouldn’t be reading a classy site like Unfork.com. We have Pizza Scissors.
Ready for the garden or a pot, these charming Vintage Silverware Garden Markers are sure to give you that warm fuzzy, like they did me when I first saw them. Already pre-tarnished, so you don’t have to waste an afternoon tarnishing them. Even though that sounds like a lot of fun.
3 Herb Markers (basil, oregano, and sage) on a fork, a knife, and a spoon.
Not growing sage this season? Need a custom marker? Want a marker to say “Here lies Snowball”, because your pet hamster just passed away? No problem. This artist does custom markers as well. Just $8 per marker. I think for these beauties, that’s a great deal. And please, accept my condolences for Snowball.
Mark your calendars for Free Pastry Day at Starbucks on Tuesday, March 23, 2010.
Purchase any handcrafted beverage and get a pastry FREE. Grab your coupon here or show the Barista the coupon on any mobile phone. Wow. Aren’t you high tech.
Pastries included in this offer are: Croissants, Muffins, Bagels, Breads, Pound Cakes, Scones, Rolls, Doughnuts, Coffee Cakes, Morning Bun, and Cheese Danish. Have you tried the apple fritter? Man, I love those things.
Offer good between opening and 10:30 a.m. or until pastries are gone. So, really, Free Pastry Day at Starbucks is really, Free Pastry Morning at Starbucks, because, where I’m from, the day doesn’t end at 10:30 a.m. Although, I sometimes wish it did.
Creating picture perfect calzones with the Williams-Sonoma Calzone Mold is a breeze. Lay the dough in the mold, fill with your favorite calzone filling, and close the mold. The dough gets crimped with a decorative braid and, most importantly, every calzone is the same size. I know, I know. Homemade calzones that are the same size. Will miracles never cease?
Here’s a tip. The consensus amongst the reviewers is: this is a great product, however, the dough recipe on the box is a bit too sticky. The trick was to add at least an additional cup of flour and one reviewer even said to refrigerate the dough to make it less sticky in the mold. Refrigerating the dough is actually a great idea. This is cold-fermentation and if you have enough will power to keep that dough in the fridge for a couple of days, man oh man, you’re in for a treat. The pizza dough will have incredible flavor instead of just tasting like you shoved your fist through a loaf of Wonder Bread and stuffed it with sausage and cheese. There’s a recipe you won’t see in Martha Stewart Living magazine.
What do you do when you’ve pawned all your silverware to pay for your back hair removal and only have a titanium spork, but you want to eat some ramen noodles and have $14.36 burning a hole in your pocket? The answer is simple. You buy the stainless steel Ramen Spoon & Fork and two packages of Top Ramen and call it a party. Woot.
With over 350 million Rubik’s Cubes sold, the Rubik’s Cube is considered to be the world’s best selling toy. I was a kid in the 80’s when the Rubik’s Cube popularity was at its peak. I couldn’t solve that blasted thing to save my life. I could get one side, maybe two sides on a good day, but never the entire thing. Basically, you just need to memorize a series of moves to get it solved. Heck, I can’t remember how to spell my middle name most of the time. I thought I was pretty clever, though. I’d pop out one corner, take the whole thing apart, then put it back together. See. I solved it. With brute strength and ingenuity.
The Rubik’s Cube Salt and Pepper mills are more my speed. Only the top layer moves to grind the salt and pepper against a ceramic grinder. Only the top layer moves! YES!!!!! This is a Rubik’s Cube I can solve… Maybe.
Salt mill $14.99
Pepper mill $14.99
Available from ThinkGeek
Holy ravioli Batman! Fred and Friends have come up with yet another way to make mealtime for the little ones a whole lot of fun. The Souper! Spoon is part action figure, with posable arms and legs, and part stainless steel spoon.
The idea came from a true story of a hiker in Washington state who was eating from a can of Beanee Weenees at his camp site when he was tragically struck in the head by a bolt of lightning and fused the spoon he was eating with to his body. Yes, it was a very large spoon.
Initially, he was devastated by the freak accident. His girlfriend left him and was fired from his job as the Zamboni driver at his hometown ice skating rink. He slipped into a deep depression and ended up putting on an enormous amount of weight. But, after a few years of therapy, he opened an ice cream shop and his whole life turned around. He found his true calling and even lost all of that depression weight and started wearing a black and purple spandex jumpsuit at the ice cream shop to show off his new physique.
There was a movie made about the guy, called Beenie Weenie Spoonhead Man, but it went straight to DVD so not to many people saw it. Check it out if you have Netflix.
I’m no fan of non-stick cookware. At high temperatures the non-stick coating can release toxic chemicals into the air and inhaled into your body. Once in your body, these chemicals can bond to your cells and can do one of two things. The first possibility is turning you into a superhero know as Non-Stickulous. Your super power would be the ability to slide around on your butt knocking over criminals like bowling pins. What a cool power. Ask yourself–Would you rather be Spider-Man or Non-Stickulous? I think the choice is obvious.
Or the other thing that could happen if the chemicals get into your body is that you keel over dead. Like a goldfish left at home alone during your family’s 10 day vacation to Disney World. I’m talking all dead, not just mostly dead. Yes, the dangers of non-stick cookware is that serious. Now I don’t have any conclusive proof of this. And I don’t personally know anybody that has gained super powers or has died from non-stick cookware, but I think that is due to a U.S. Government cover up.
So, with this in mind – there is a better way to cook meals without resorting to non-stick cookware or worrying about using regular (non-non-stick) cookware and risking the burned on mess that an unattended stew, chowder, or sauce can turn into.
The Pauli Cookware stock pot has a patent pending 7-layer bottom that alternates layers of stainless steel and aluminum around a sealed oil chamber creating a non-stick surface without any chemicals touching your food. Even if both of your arms were broken from a freak letter opening accident and you were unable to stir your famous clam chowder, it wouldn’t burn. Heck, it couldn’t burn even if your clam chowder decided it wanted to burn. This pot is that crazy.
Here’s a touching testimonial from a satisfied Pauli Pot user…
I was cooking spaghetti sauce one night when I got an unexpected knock at the door. It was the FBI. To make a long story short, after doing 24 months of hard time at Sing Sing prison I came back home and my spaghetti sauce was still simmering away…without burning. Even after 2 years! Amazing! Thank you Pauli Pot!
Peanut butter and chocolate: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Peanut butter and jelly: The peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder: Ebony and Ivory
Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett: Two years of tabloid fodder
Odd pairings sometimes work… and sometimes they don’t. Case in point… The other day while perusing the gourmet food section of my local World Market store, I found myself staring face to face with a Mo’s Bacon Bar by Vosges. In a nutshell a Mo’s Bacon Bar is an apple wood smoked bacon and milk chocolate candy bar.
A few thoughts flashed through my mind as the bacon bar stared me down — should I run through the store like a little girl flailing my arms about, screaming that there are pig parts in a chocolate bar — or, should I man up and spend $7 on a chocolate bar… with pig parts in it… and is probably not kosher — and lastly, if a Canadian Goose could speak like a human, would it speak French or English? I opted to not buy the Mo’s Bacon Bar, as $7 for a 3 ounce bar of chocolate is a bit spendy — but I am considering it. I think I’ll continue to mull over the Canadian Goose issue for now. Maybe it would be English with a French accent.
Happy New Year from Unfork! I’ve got some huge news to pass along. Unfork will be sponsored by Spendy Fish Caviar Company out of Wahoo, Nebraska. Starting in January we’ll have weekly guest blogs from celebrity chefs like Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, Bobby Flay, Martin Yan, Mario Batali, and many others. Also look for reviews of high end kitchen products, contests, and exclusive recipes from Cook’s Illustrated, Bon Appetite, and Cat Fancy magazine. Getting a sponsor changes everything here at Unfork and you’ll get to enjoy in the changes along with us. Our first sponsored giveaway will be a $50,000 kitchen renovation sponsored by Home Depot, All-Clad cookware, and Band-Aid. Check back soon for complete details. Thanks again for making last year so great and here’s to a stellar New Year.
Update: I’m sad to report, but due to the floundering economy, Spendy Fish Caviar Company is unable to sponsor Unfork at this time. I’m still excited, though, as we have picked up a new sponsor: Top Ramen — the official food of this year’s Recession. We’ve canceled most of the celebrity guest bloggers. You are pretty much stuck with me and a dishwasher named Juan-Carlos. He works at a Chinese restaurant near my house and will be blogging about matching wines with the many flavors of Top Ramen. The $50,000 kitchen renovation has been replaced by, well, I think I can scrounge together a wooden spoon, an egg slicer, and a bottle of Tums, the official heartburn reducer of the Global Recession. I know you are as excited about the changes to Unfork as I am.
The red and black CitiZ Espresso machines look great, but if they decided to come out with a new color, I’m curious why they didn’t introduce a chrome or stainless steel model. Now those would have looked pretty cool.
This falls into the “more money than sense” category. You’re telling me, there are people in this world that would plunk down $44 for a couple of 
I’m no fan of non-stick cookware. At high temperatures the non-stick coating can release toxic chemicals into the air and inhaled into your body. Once in your body, these chemicals can bond to your cells and can do one of two things. The first possibility is turning you into a superhero know as Non-Stickulous. Your super power would be the ability to slide around on your butt knocking over criminals like bowling pins. What a cool power. Ask yourself–Would you rather be Spider-Man or Non-Stickulous? I think the choice is obvious.
Peanut butter and chocolate: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups