Stinkerpants

Favorite Things: Microplane

January 18, 2009 in I Freakin' Love This Thing! • I Freakin' Love this Kitchen Stuff!

My friend Sarah tells me about many things.  Especially cooking related things, because I’m still pretty much clueless in that arena.  I asked my friends to share their favorite cooking gadgets, and Sarah responded with this gem:

It’s the Microplane!  Image from here.

It’s a zester, it’s a grater…it’s wonderful.   It grates parmesan fluffier and faster than anything I’ve ever experienced.  I tell you, people, get one.  I thought, “what the heck am I going to use that for?!”  But I use it all the time.

I got mine from Macy’s online, but I’ve also seen them at Cost Plus World Market and Crate and Barrel.

Favorite Things: Bee House Tea Stuff!

December 30, 2008 in I Freakin' Love This Thing! • I Freakin' Love this Household & Every day Stuff!

Happy New Year, everybody!!

This time of year, I really like tea.  Like, a lot.  I like to make drinking it special, with pretty teacups, loose tea and my favorite personal-size tea pot.  I really, really love this tea pot:

image from here

It’s made by Bee House, and I got it from a place online called the Tea Table. I bought it well over a year ago (maybe even two years ago!) and I still haven’t forgotten the excellent customer service I received from Lori, the owner.  I’d order from her again in a heartbeat, and I really loved the tea samples I got there, too.  I’m still opening and enjoying new packets.  I have a LOT of tea (Y used to work for Cost Plus’ corporate office, and we got a great discount and a lot of samples), so I haven’t had a need to go back…but I digress.

Back to the tea pot.

There are a lot of imitations of Bee House design now.  I find myself feeling pretty protective of the real Bee House, especially considering the imitations aren’t as good of quality and they’re the same price.  Buy Bee House, people.  They come in all different sizes, and I want a bigger one so I can have my girlfriends over for tea.  Not that I ever do that, but if I had the tea pot, I totally would.  Right?  ;)

When I bought my tea pot, I also bought this adorable cup (it says “tea” on the side!):

image from here

I didn’t just run across Bee House in a store.  A few years ago, Y and I took a cross-country roadtrip, and we stayed at an awesome bed and breakfast in New Hampshire called the Silver Fountain Inn.  It was the best B&B either of us had ever stayed in, and the owner had Bee House teapots for each room.  I fell in love and googled “Bee House” as soon as we got back to California.

In other news, I’m looking for a fancy tea pot to match our wedding china.  Anybody seen anything to match this:

?? It’s Kate Spade’s Gwinnett Lane in Creme.

Who else loves tea?

Favorite Things: Stemless Martini Glasses

December 18, 2008 in I Freakin' Love This Thing! • I Freakin' Love this Kitchen Stuff!

Around Thanksgiving, my friends and I all gathered at Sarah’s house for a little party.  I brought all the makin’s for my favorite cocktail: the lemon drop.  Sarah provided the glasses, which were awesome:

 from Crate and Barrel

I fell in love with these glasses.  I tend to spill things, and these glasses are easier for me to balance (for some reason) than the typical martini glasses.  They’re also stackable, which saves a ton of space.  Last week I ran out and bought 12 of them (I might have gotten a little carried away), and I’m happy to share that they’re also cheap!  Each glass is only $1.95.  What a deal!

Another great thing for making a delicious lemon drop?

The rokz brand of sugar rimmers:

The yellow sugar hardens around the glass, so it doesn’t come off right away, and it tastes delicious!

Favorite Things

December 16, 2008 in I Freakin' Love This Thing!

About five years ago, I decided to become a minimalist.  In college, my room was full of crap.  Little and big trinkets were scattered all over the place.  I kept clothes I didn’t need and every spare surface was covered with something.  I felt like I was drowning in crap.

When I moved to San Francisco, I cleaned out a lot of my stuff and made some big fat donations.  When I was done, my apartment was filled only with things I truly cared about, and I loved it.  Disposing of unwanted clutter has since become a little bit of an obsession.  I am constantly filling up boxes for donations, and I only keep things I really like.  I rarely spend my money on things, and when I do, for the most part it’s on things I really want.  We don’t buy souveniers when we travel and we don’t keep things that don’t have a purpose.  As a result, I really like the things I have in my house.

When Y and I started registering for our wedding, I had the opportunity to put together a wishlist.  Things I’d wanted forever went on the registry.  Some of the things we received as gifts, and others we bought ourselves after the wedding.  As time goes on, I discover more and more awesome things.  A long time ago, I did a post on a personal blog about my favorite organizational items.  I had a great time creating the post (after all, I do love organization!), and I always meant to do another.

Tonight I made some carrot soup and used a few kitchen items that I love.  Because I’m always looking for new fun things, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite things with you guys.  So, I decided to start a new category called “Favorite Things.”  Every once in awhile, when the mood strikes me, I’ll share something I’ve found and love.  Hopefully some of you will love them too, or tell me about something even better!