Bring some life into your lifeless places

We got this great little terrarium from one of our favorite new providers: Uncommon Goods (disclaimer: for free, though we got to pick what we wanted from their online store). What we liked about it was that (a) it was essentially an old wine bottle with the top whacked off (not bar-room fight style, but cleanly lasered), and (b) it seemed like the perfect way to get a little green into our office without a lot of work (or, ahem, maintenance requirements like watering). Turns out (no surprise to us of course), that we were right. (again)

The entire thing was cleverly packaged – basically a bottle with dirt, moss and a set of chopsticks. It was a little messy getting all the dirt into the bottle (best to remove keyboards, etc when doing so), but the chopsticks helped to get the right placement (these eventually become the stand to keep the bottle from rolling around). And in just a few minutes we had what you see in the picture. The packaging suggests putting in other little tchochkies like plastic dwarves or mini ewoks (your own personal Endor!), but we decided to pass.

In the end it’s a simple little thing – but it really is great for adding some green to an un-green area (like a cube or office, or even a dresser). A little piece of earth to keep us grounded.

Uncommon Goods also has a number of other green and plant-related and gardening supplies like air plant vases, herb garden kits, bansai kits and all kinds of great stuff:

cool gifts for gardeners
plant gifts

As to the terrarium – it’s $38.

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There is nothing like fresh cheese

This simple kit will give you all the tools you need (except the milk, of course) to make your own cheese. It includes instructions on how to make ricotta and mozzarella. Tyou can easily veer from these examples and make your own chevre or other types of cheeses. Apparently it only takes about a half an hour from start to fresh cheese.

Imagine the awesome pizzas you could make. The rigatonis. Mmmm.

Contains enough for 30 batches and includes cheesecloth (it’s called “butter muslin” but I’m not sure what the difference is), dairy thermometer, vegetable-based rennet tablets and cheese salt.

$25

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Filament Bulbs

While there is some debate about these types of bulbs, especially in regards to their use of trendy restaurants coast-to-coast, it is true that they look pretty damn cool. But what about their energy consumption?

These particular bulbs from Roost burn at Euro 60w, which is only 15w American. This means they don’t actually use that much energy and because of the nature of the filament last longer than a typical 60w bulb.

It also means they aren’t as bright…but great lighting for a “candle”-lit dinner or to set the mood.

These bulbs come in a few styles:

Small ($9)

Tube ($13)

Large ($26)

Real vintage speaker horn, wireless in the OLD sense...

This is cool: an old-school record-player-like dock for your iPad. What’s even cooler is how it works. You don’t plug in your iPad, you simply set it in the dock. The iVictrola will channel the sound from the iPad’s speakers and amplify it using a real speaker horn from an old turntable. So cool. It’s available in limited production by the designer Matt Richards.

The base is solid walnut and apparently this little baby can broadcast the sound loud enough to fill the room.

It is not, however, cheap.

$985

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Bring the woods into your house

I can’t imagine anything more sublime than a lovely venison meal served up on these moss placemats. How woodsy! Or, apologies to vegans out there, how about a nice saute of hen-of-the-woods with caramlized onions floating on a bed of rice, floating on a plate, floating on these wonderful mossy mats?

They’re pretty simple: preserved mosses fastened to bamboo placemats. Not sure how to clean or preserve them, but they’ll be fun while they last. The only thing that could make this better would be a pine needle rug. Will have to check Etsy for that…

Check it out: made to order.

$40 for a set of 4

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Healthy subscription for yourself and the environment

Now this is smart: you sign up, pay in advance, then leave it to Preserve to send you a toothbrush every couple or few months. What’s even cooler is that when you get your new brush, you can send back your old one which will then be further recycled into a park bench. Or something.

If you’re not familiar with Preserve, they are our toothbrush of choice – let’s be honest here, what much can be said about a toothbrush. But these have a nice little curve, are easy to hold and are made from old yogurt cups, which let’s us feel better about throwing them out every couple months.

The subscription is for 4 brushes, the first comes with a travel case, the others in a mail back pack so you can send back your used ones. They also have a subscription for kids brushes.

$15

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From bike to beer...

Because really, what do cyclists do other than cycle? Drink beer.

Or maybe that’s just a cliche, but it’s still pretty cool to have one of these around. The bicycle chain is actually a good asset because it allows you to hang it where you like, or just spin it around on your finger.

Anodized aluminum opener should stand up to lots of caps.

On sale now for $9 (regularly $11)

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Warm vintage glow

I don’t know what it is about jars that attracts us so. Perhaps it’s the age old human behavior of always wanting to compartmentalize everything. Perhaps it is that the contents are invariably the result of warm summer sun, that in each jar we release the fresh bounty – berry jams, heirloom tomatoes, or just peaches in syrup.

And these old jars bring us back to a simpler time. A time when all those things really mattered. A time when it was more important to spend a day making pickles from all the cucumbers in the garden than it was to download the latest iPad app. I don’t mean to say they were better times, just different ones. And important ones for us to remember; to not forget that the bounty of our gardens is not to be taken for granted, that winter is, indeed, coming.

These pendant lights from Terrain are made from vintage canning jars, oiled bronze hardware and are hardwired and ready for professional installation in your home.

We think they bring a special warmth.

$400

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Not for the uncool

No, despite it’s appearance this device will not take you to the moon or beyond. However, it will give you some fresh-squeezed citrus juice for drinking plain or mixing with your cocktails. And it will do it with more style than you probably deserve.

Er. Speaking for myself, that is.

Designed by Phillipe Starck, this is a signature Italian design from Alessi – so Italian that it was in fact first sketched on a pizzeria napkin during an Italian sea vacation (in the 80′s – proving how good design holds up). It became a Euro icon of home product design in the 90′s. And then people started getting serious about discussing this juicer. The Web site (buy or image link) goes on at length about semiologists and the decorative veil as well as the notion of functional approximation, not to mention the epic battle between Form and Function.

Again – it’s  not something we deserve and certainly nothing we can talk about at length.

But it sure is purty. And we might buy one anyways because it will look so cool in our kitchen.

$96

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Whatever you call it, it’s the process of making gels, foams, freeze drying, carbonating, doing all kinds of crazy cool stuff that hopefully makes for interesting dinners.

Here’s a list of everything an aspiring molecular gastronomist can’t do without:

Agar – makes a gelatin-like substance. But don’t mix with fruit, use beef broth (grass fed organic, of course) to create thin beef sticks, or hot pepper sauce or indian spices or good boozes.

What you need to play with your food

Methylcellulose – dissolve this stuff in hot water and it becomes a syrup or a gel. But when it cools, it becomes a liquid again. Use to make cool hot solids. Try a HOT vanilla hot cream (opposite of ice cream) that is hot, but dissolves in your mouth as it cools. Also a very good soluble fiber.

Soy Lecithin - A bonding agent that makes things stick together that shouldn’t. This is what the pros use for asparagus, milk/turmeric and other crazy foams.

Xanthan Gum – helps keep oil and water emulsified for long periods.

Tapioca Maltodextrin – make any fat or oil into a powder that releases its juicy goodness when it dissolves on the tongue.

Activa RM (meat glue) – This stuff will make proteins stick together. Use it to clue different cuts of the same meat together. Or to make a literal surf and turf with a lobster tail seared to a filet mignon.

Sodium Alginate & Calcium Chloride – This is how they make the “caviar” of weird things like wine and chai tea and carrot juice and whatnot. Simply mix a liquid with sodium alginate and immerse the droplets using a syringe.

Or…buy a ready-made kit that includes a lot of these ingredients – and more not mentioned. Either way, have fun!

Also of note, there is one cookbook set which is the DEFINITIVE GUIDE. Definitely read our article about this one…