November 2, 2012
How to devise a storage system for herbs and spices and forever do away with novelty spice racks and their special containers—or purchasing extra spice packets you don’t really need.
PROBLEM SOLVED | Has this ever happened to you? You’re ready to whip up a dish from scratch when you realize your recipe calls for a dried herb that, after rummaging among your cache of spice bottles and bags, you appear to be out of. So you rush out and pick some up only to discover later that you already had a bottle on hand—three, actually, stashed away in the dark recesses of the various places you store this stuff. Get the whole story »
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February 9, 2012
Premeasured dishwasher soaps are convenient but overkill almost everywhere—and particularly unnecessary in places where the water is soft.
WASTE NOT | When my four-year-old European dishwasher crashed a while back, I called in a repairman who made an eye-opening comment about my dishwashing detergent. “You use that stuff?” he asked, pointing at the Electrasol Dishwasher Detergent with Powerball Tabs I’d bought in a convenient 100-tab tub at Costco.
“Yes, and I love it. It’s so easy,” I chirped, citing a no-mess no-fuss defense and explaining how my dishes looked at least as sparkly clean as they had with other detergents I’d employed. Get the whole story »
September 2, 2011
The right tools make kitchen tasks easier. Here are two must-have gizmos that infinitely out perform their insignificant price.
Poke, Squeeze, Twist—You can juice a fruit by hand—or by mouth as Oprah did on her now famous televised camping trip with Gayle last October (WATCH HERE)—but a tool devised for this task will extract juice more efficiently.
Stylish low-tech juicers abound, including Philippe Starck’s iconic Juicy Salif, but unless you’re looking for countertop décor, why would you pay a hefty $100 for a Salif, a product that serves but one purpose, when an inexpensive citrus reamer will do the trick and tuck away nicely in a drawer. Get the whole story »
August 31, 2011
When it comes to certain kinds of cleaning jobs, distilled white vinegar really is the liquid miracle it’s touted to be.
DUMB IF YOU DON’T What is it about ordinary distilled white vinegar that encourages list making? Google “vinegar” and you’ll see what I mean. Here are a few of the crazy numbers vinegar lovers throw around in their effort to woo you to their website: “74 Little Known Uses For Vinegar,” “1001 Things To Do With Vinegar” and, I kid you not, “A Billion Bitchen Things To Do With Vinegar.”
These kinds of hysterical pronouncements give vinegar a bad name. There’s no way I feel encouraged to try a product that can serve a billion purposes, particularly when almost all of these claims are little more than a few sentences that are part of a list.
As the numbers climb higher, every claim about vinegar starts to feel like a joke. Give me one “researched and proven” reason to use this product, and I will turn right back around (thanks, Tracy Chapman). Turns out I didn’t have to look very far to find three. Get the whole story »
August 12, 2011
Serious cooks say there is no better vehicle for hand drying dishes or mopping up spills than the humble flour sack towel.
CULT PRODUCT ALERT | Don’t you just love it when you discover a product that is beautiful, useful—and inexpensive? If you haven’t already replaced the fancy cotton or terrycloth tea towels in your kitchen with ones made of flour sack material, here a few good reasons to make the switch. Get the whole story »
September 16, 2010
Two stylish counter-depth refrigerators are practically identical, but one {IKEA’s Nutid S23} is $1,000 cheaper.
SPEND SMART | Whenever you see a drop dead gorgeous kitchen in a decorating magazine, there is a 99.9 percent chance it will feature a counter-depth refrigerator. “CD” fridges, as they are referred to, are the coveted look, even if they don’t always pack the cubic capacity punch of traditional freestanding models, which can extend eight inches beyond the depth of standard kitchen cabinets. Get the whole story »
