notable five in 2007: home decor + design edition

yippee with an extra two sparkle stars: my website is finally transferred over (with thanks to nick for putting up with my technological fuss), so now i can actually edit the pages with more up-to-date information. wow, i am so getting used to this internet thing. ;) relevant content, here i come...

although i'm not one to change my profile photo on facebook every weekend (i think mine still stems from fall 2006), it's good to give a good fresh start to things after a good while, lest one ends up like the ageless marilyn vos savant.

scary.

anyway, let's get on with the 2007 notables. i absolutely hate moving and try to minimize stuffffffffff, but it's amazing how much small, well-designed objects can make a significant impact on living. (not to mention sleeping and eating and breathing and...)

#1: ingenuiTEA teapot from adagio teas (gift from mom)



call me paranoid, but it seriously took me a good ten minutes to poke around and actually put utter faith in its workings. how, indeed, would it know when to brew quietly with no chance for spillage, and when to eject its tea-leaf-infused waters into a waiting vessel? the last thing i wanted was a kitchen countertop glazed in boiling water, but of course my worries were all for naught. this thing is MAGIC. my former methods such as tea balls or blank tea bags for loose tea seemed so quaint compared to this system... you just brew, place the thing on a cup, watch the tea get 'peed' from the pot (seriously, i can't think of any other metaphor); the leaves are left inside to enjoy 2nd or 3rd brewings. the tea spurts into mugs, my media lab pint glass, whatever cups are lying around. only caveat: you can't use it on wide-mouthed mugs. but otherwise, it's a fantastic little tool.

#2: tangiers tile sheet set from urban outfitters



i rotate two sheet sets throughout my sleeping/laundering patterns, and one set sourced from when i was in college (i think i bought it secondhand too; you can go 'ew' now) was really looking worse for wear. ergo, time for a replacement to supplement my neutral ikea sheets. i've never indulged in such graphic sheet sets (i've been tempted, but i always dread the less expensive ones will be itchy or thin), but these were on sale at urban. so i made the plunge. and now i relish in my favorite color, bright green, as it cocoons me all night! luckily, they've surpassed my humble expectations and are putting up with use quite nicely.

#3: silicone zone strainer from target



i have the red one, and the soft silicone allows it to smoosh flat. which means, of course, the better to squish it in the jumbly pots and pans cabinet, flattened against the lids or wedged in a lonely corner. the bright color and rubbery texture make straining pasta and veggies that much more fun (sad but true); it wins alone on a tangible level, but the collapsible form is supernice.

#4: totoro plush susa-atari from tokai (gift from tristan)



this gets a warm-fuzzy prize of tenderness; tristan gave this to me on our first datey kind of night (although i suppose officially we were still friends) as we got gussied up for an unparalleled dinner at o ya, followed by a chill-out session at les zyg. a leather district fantasy, one might say. but this little fur ball on a suction cup makes my days a little brighter, as he hangs out on a window or any glossy surface in my bedroom. now he greets me in the mirror every morning in his curious and black-foofy way.

#5: kitchenaid citrus juicer from target



although i would kill for an antique cast-iron juicer (it'll come in time), this gadget's been super handy for extracting juice from fresh lemons, limes and oranges, and the shiny chrome surface not only is handsome and easy to clean, it matches perfectly with my classic stainless steel boston shaker. it's not the most efficient thing for, say, making a gallon of lemonade, but for cocktails and marinades and desserts it does the extraction deed with solid performance.

so, perhaps this edition was not so glamourous, but i have all the respect for intelligent industrial design. (and how!)

coming up this weekend: notable dishes eaten in boston (or otherwise) in 2007! i'll give you a hint: at least one is spicy :)