The Modern Materialist

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• Never Get Cut Again

  What do you do if you keep cutting your hands while cooking? Is it: A) Stop cooking. B) Buy stock in Band-Aids. C) Start serving blood sausage more often. Or maybe... Read More... Posted Jun 25 2008, 03:00 PM by Alex Zalben with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Cooking, gloves

• Chop 2 Pot

  One of the most annoying things in cooking is getting everything nice and chopped on your chopping block, then going over to the stove, and proceeding to drop everything you've worked so hard on right onto the floor. Don't worry, friends, a solution is at hand: Read More... Posted Jun 19 2008, 04:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, kitchen, chopping blocks

• Get Dad Something See-Through

  Something sheer maybe. Maybe with peek-a-boo in its description. Sans crotch even. Or something even sexier like… Read More... Posted Jun 06 2008, 01:15 PM by Brian Marabello with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, grilling, mesh, father's day, pans

• Inventory I Lust After: Destination Japan

  Do you ever get the feeling that other countries have more fun than we do? At the very least, Japan knows how to make their containers both sleek and cute at the same time, which, let me tell you, is difficult to do. I once went to a costume party in a brushed metal kitty kat outfit. Not pretty. I was browsing through the MOMa store, and found a couple of neat items from their exclusive collection, Destination Japan. I should also mention at this point that I’m a big fan of plain white, unadorned stuff, so if you like flowers or pretty things, look away before your eyes get burned. Pics, and more inventory after the jump... Read More... Posted May 05 2008, 11:00 AM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, inventory lust

• Fun Fact Measuring Cup

  Time for your daily dose of Think Geek… I tell you, though, I wouldn’t keep posting their stuff if it wasn’t so darn kewl. Direct from the Gods of Nerd themselves comes this delightfully dorky 20oz. measuring cup, which gives you measurements in ounces, and in fun facts, like “volume of the brain of a Tyrannosaurus Rex,” and “water in a cumulus cloud the size of a bus.” More science fun, after the jump...  Read More... Posted May 02 2008, 03:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, Science

• Oven Mit Apron

  When I first started working out of home, it was like I regressed to being five again. I was entirely unable to feed or clothe myself, wandering around the apartment with no shirt eating peanut butter sandwiches. That quickly* ended, though, and I moved into the second phase of my freelance-dom, and turned into a Haus Frau. I dust while I’m on the phone. I do laundry between writing assignments. And whenever I can, I start cooking dinner around four PM, so it’s ready for my S.O. when she gets home. More homebodiness, after the jump...  Read More... Posted Apr 30 2008, 12:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, clothing

• Sale of the Day: Stainless Steel Weber Grill

  I'm convinced that living without a grill is one of the great tragedies in life. I know there are certain restrictions that one just can't get around — tenant rules, space issues, allergies to good times, but for those of you who are able to own a grill, you know, you understand, just how good the first BBQ of the season tastes. And let's face it, food cooked on a grill never gets boring and it always tastes so much better than dinner cooked in an oven or on a stove top, especially when someone else is doing all the work. After the jump, the Rolls Royce of grills. Read More... Posted Apr 28 2008, 01:00 PM by Wendy Atterberry with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, outdoors, sale of the day

• Spoon Measures "Salt" Precisely

  Now, why would you need a spoon that electronically measures to the 1/10th of a gram? Hmmm… Why, I’ve got it! For salt, of course! More info, after the jump...  Read More... Posted Apr 23 2008, 04:00 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: gadgets, Cooking, kitchen

• Living Off The Griddle

  My griddle is probably my favorite kitchen item. I cook breakfast, lunch and dinner on it. Not every day, mind you, but it’s a lot of fun to cook on one, and feel like you’re some sort of professional griddle cooker. Especially with a small stove in a small apartment, it makes you feel like you have an entirely different set up than you do. My griddle gets shamed, after the jump...    Read More... Posted Apr 23 2008, 01:00 PM by Alex Zalben with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: gadgets, Cooking

• It’s Not The Size Of Your Eggs…

  …It’s how you cook them that counts. Other possible comments: -    “Yum, can’t wait to stick this in my mouth.” -    “Hey, this would go great with sausage.” -    “Why do you own this? What’s wrong with you?” Do you think if you bought this pan, you’d be obligated to make male member shaped eggs every time you cooked? Or would it just be for special occasions? And if the latter, what special occasions? The morning after an orgy? [€4, MegaGadgets] [Via Craziest Gadgets] Posted Mar 12 2008, 04:00 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, sexy

• The Microwave of My Dreams

  I’m going to take a break from my regularly scheduled, “Isn’t that hilarious? It’s a robot mouse, but it plays videos!” to bring you something I actually, desperately want… Yet cannot have. I was recently doing a little shopping for a new microwave. The old one works fine, it’s just tiny, and takes up a fair bit of counter space for the amount of food I can stick in it. I ended up exploring KitchenAid’s site, as I already own a KitchenAid mixer, and a KitchenAid food processor, and am married to Elvira Kitchenaid, heir to the KitchenAid fortune. That’s when I fell in love. Details of my torrid affair after the jump... Read More... Posted Mar 07 2008, 04:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: gadgets, Cooking, tech, Food and Drink, Microwaves

• Will You Come To My Birthday Party?

  Does this situation sound familiar to you? "Hello! I am having a birthday party, and I would like all of you to come. It should be ever so much! We’re having pizza, and going to sing my favorite songs, and then we’ll open presents! Oh, I’m practically bursting with excitement! However… I must ask you this, and please, I hope I don’t cause offense. I know that every year, you like to bring cupcakes to my birthday party, and well, you see… Every year, you throw them in a bag, and they end up as a lumpy mess of cupcake. The frosting mixes with the smashed cake, and… Again, no offense… I hate you. I hate your cupcakes, and if you don’t do something to fix it, I will NEVER INVITE YOU TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY AGAIN!" No, it doesn’t? It was too specific? Okay, well, regardless, let’s assume that at some point you’ve had a Messy Cupcake Dilemma™. If so, I have two things that’ll help you deal with this treat disaster after the jump... Read More... Posted Mar 03 2008, 04:00 PM by Alex Zalben with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Cooking, food

• My BBQ Has a First Name. It's B-R-U-C-E.

  [$72, Quelle]  Yes. The team at Henrik Drecker Design named their flower pot-like balcony grill Bruce. All you need to know is that it's designed for small spaces, and that it hangs on most railings. Because I assume that, like me, you don't have a backyard for grilling. [Via I Heart Luxe]  Posted Feb 25 2008, 09:30 AM by Steph Auteri with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: gadgets, Cooking

• Playing the Happy Housewife

  As we've seen previously, I have an active fantasy life when it comes to the kitchen though, in reality, I tend to end up eating string cheese for dinner. Another aspect of this domestic fantasy is the image of the happy housewife, not pre-feminist, mind you, but pleased as punch to be mixing it up at the stove-side counter, mincing garlic and rolling out crust. Which is why I was so thrilled when I inherited my grandmother's old aprons, frilly, yet sexy as hell. Read More... Posted Feb 12 2008, 03:30 PM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, kitchen

• Put Your Hams Up

  God help us if Emeril ever got his hands on one of these*, but for the rest of us, we can finally take out our repressed anger and right to bear arms on a piece of meat, rather than other people, with this Spice Gun. Or at least, we could, if it wasn’t just a design concept for a spicy six-shooter. According the designer, Zhu Fei from China: Spice gun is different from the other casters, it has more fun! When you pull the trigger to compress the air in the air bag, the handspike will push the bottom of the seasoning bottle to make the nozzle in the turntable to retract and spray the seasoning. Well, okay. So you mean you use your spice gun. I get it. It’s a gun that uses spices. Make one already, and let me shoot people in the face is ground Star Anise already. It’ll be hilarious. (Via) *BLAM! Posted Feb 12 2008, 02:00 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking