This is why Cuisinart has brought us the EasyPop. Convenience of microwave popcorn (just switch it on) with the flavour of real popcorn. Also gives you the ability to adjust and experiment with flavour by varying the type and amount of oil you use (we find peanut oil gives a tasty result). Also add as much or as little salt or butter as you like.

Could be fun to try it with bacon salt or garlic butter.

Get the Cuisinart CPM-900 EasyPop (Red) or if you prefer things in black: Cuisinart CPM-900BK EasyPop (Black)

First up, it’s Batman. It’s a salt and pepper shaker disguised as a novelty watch. It’s Batman. It looks like something you stumble across in a back lane market whilst lost in Taipei. It’s Batman. It’s what you need. It’s Batman. Right now.

We’re all about gadgets here and gadgets need juice so these puppies make perfect sense. Now, I haven’t had to use some size D since I ditched my boombox in favour of the laptop as a stereo, but i can still appreciate the appeal of these. I like the energy level detail and the packaging is an obvious necessity. To be honest you’d need to buy two sets, one for use andother to keep in that pristine package, nestled amongst your vacu-sealed jedi figurines.  They’re still a concept and the designers are looking for manufacturing partners so chase them up nd make your fortune.

Dude, they’re floating. FLOATING. On. Your. Table. If you find some where that sells them, hook a brother up.

Nostalgia is a big part of geekiness and there’s very little in the way that compares to the almighty symbol of 80′s fads that is the Rubik’s Cube when it comes to nostalgia invoking stakes. Now thanks to these badboys you can relieve your childhood playground, car ride, back row of class frustations every meal. Find them here

There is one thing that blows the old Rubik’s Cube out of the water when it comes to childhood nostalgia – Lego. When it comes to childhood geek wetdreams Lego is king.  And because it’s lego you know it’s flexible, which means dilemmas. Do you go classic block or grizzled head? And why has this adaptable concept by Joel Hesselgren not yet become a reality? Oh the troubles and woes. I wonder if there is room on my table for two sets of lego shakers??

This is one for the handygeek. Combine the power of a slinky like material with the utility of nuts and bolts or something like that. Look they’re salt and pepper shakers shaped like rigid pieces of metal but actually bendy. That’s kinda cool, what more do you want me to say?

http://www.gadgets.co.uk/item/NUTBOLTSCREWSH/Nut-Bolt-and-Screw-Salt-and-Pepper-Shakers.html

For the outdoorsy gadget geek there’s these suckers: Mini Lanterns. Never again will you have to season your food in the dark!

Buy em here

Another good one for the outdoorsy types – the waterproof Swiss Spice Salt and Pepper Shaker. I’m guessing they’re meant to be Swiss Army knife inspired or maybe just trying to ride on the coattails of that vibe, but regardless I’m sure the over the top spring loaded mechanism is sure to appeal to some of you. Pick yours up here

You stare at them all day long so why not through dinner? Pick up these keyboard key shakers here

http://www.dwr.com/product/swiss-spice-salt-and-pepper-shaker.do

Drink beer. Save the World?

I’m usually not that excited by recycled homewares, but I do like well designed novelty goods, am a fan of handmade things and I certainly like things related the alcohol consumption. Check out these drinking glasses blown out of Red Stripe Beer bottles.

NickPaul, the designer and sole craftsman explains his process.

These are 12 once Jamaican Red Stripe beer bottles that have been opened up into drinking glasses. The process starts by washing the bottle, then placing it into an annealing oven. The oven is set to one thousand one hundred degree, and let to sit for 30 minutes. A rod is then dipped into a melted pot of spectrum 96 glass and formed into a punti. The punti is then touched to the bottom of the bottle and transferred to a glory hole furnace. The bottle is heated until the glass begins to move. A special tool call jacks are then used to open the narrow bottleneck into a cylinder. Once the bottle is in its final shape it is then placed back into an annealing oven to cool of the course of 30 hours, to assure no stress fractures form in the cup.

Sounds complex. Red Stripe isn’t your brand? me neither. But take a note of what he says next.

I can turn any bottle with a painted label into a drinking glass. Coke, Corona, Pepsi, Rolling Rock, Red Stripe, Grey Goose.

Ahem. I know exactly what I want now.

Check them out on Etsy

and check out his other items (the lucky beer one is kinda cool)

via Geddem

Apparantly the name of the dish has something to do with the fact it is supposed to be so hot it will make a tiger cry. Or something about the marinade ‘weeping’ into the beef. I don’t really know – but it’s a really tasty way of preparing a beef dish.

Easy-to-prepare recipe after the jump. 

Ingredients

500g slice rump steak
1/3 (80ml) light soy sauce
Juice from 3 limes
Thai fish sauce
½ teaspoon white sugar
2 Freshly chopped chillies or more chilli if you are game.
2 shallots, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves

Method

Combine the beef, soy sauce and fish sauce (2 tablespoons) in a shallow dish or snap-lock bag; refrigerate for 1-3 hours.
For the sauce, combine lime juice, fish sauce (2 tablespoons), sugar, chilli, shallots and coriander leaves in a small bowl.

When the beef is done marinating drain it and pat dry.

Cook beef on a lightly oiled, heated grill plate or pan and brown both sides until you are happy.
It’s best to leave the a bit pink and rate. Transfer the beef to a warmed plate; cover and stand for 5 minutes.

Slice the beef thinly and serve with the sauce, you can pour it over or use as a dipping sauce.
Serve it with some lettuce and cucumber, or alternative chinese cabbage and carrot. Oh and rice would be good too.
Enjoy.

Has anyone stayed up late enough to watch that infomercial for the Aerogarden? Clearly targeted at pot growers, this is a similar concept but way better looking. Studio Schulab have created the ‘lightpot’, a small pot for growing plants and herbs indoors.
The light is LED based, which means it’s strong enough to keep the herbs and plants well lit in any room. Whether or not it gives them the right kind of light – I have no idea.

It also collapses if you want no light, or to store away. I wonder if you could put it in the fridge like that to keep it fresh?
Still I’ve always wanted something like this, as I like pretty light thingies and I like fresh herb(s) and pot(s).

More pics after the jump.

link studio schulab

I’ve recently being upgrading my kitchen gear, and was on the lookout for a pair of oven mitts that clearly defined me, as a person, in a humorous and quirky way. I came across these by Brazil based Bazar Design on OhGizmo, only to find that they aren’t available quite yet. Which was somewhat depressing.

Still they are pretty cute. I hope they will be cheap.

via OhGizmo

Much has been made of the death of the Polaroid, you’ve all probably read thousands of articles on it and went out and stockpiled catridges like they were tins of beans in the days leading up to the Y2k crisis. News of the shutting down of production was taken badly by design mavens worldwide. Wailing blog posts likened the decision to a dagger thrust into the heart of kitsch lovers worldwide, it was an apocalypse on par with a decision to stop global cute puppy production. Auschwitz had nothing on this man-made disaster. Believe. Humanity has never been subjected to such a nefarious example of corporate malevolence and short-sightedness.

Thankfully, a hero has emerged. Technology and a geek with too much time, that glorious combination to which humanity owes so much, has given birth to Poladroid – a polaroid emulator designed for the techno unsavvy. Check the video above to see how you too can start faking the immediacy of polaroid and hark back to a golden age of colour variation, limited space and quirky exposures.

You can check what people have been achieving with it at the Flickr group.

Visit the site here to download and interact and all that jazz.

Omurice (short for Omlette Rice) is as Japanese as you can get. It’s fairly simple food – basically tomato friend rice wrapped up in an omlette. Sometimes served with a side of meat or veggies.

You usually find these in Japanese ‘family’ restaurants like Denny’s or Gusto’s. As a picky little child, when it came to meals – if it wasn’t sweets, I probably wouldn’t eat it. But one of the few savoury dishes I always wanted was Omurice. Anyway – there aren’t many places in Sydney you can get Omurice (except the new Poporo place in Chinatown that we love) but we’ll cover that next time.

But really it’s not that hard to make.
Here’s how its done.

You’ll need

• 2 Large eggs
• Some butter
• 1 cup cooked white or brown rice
• 1/2 small onion chopped finely
• 1/2 cup ham (or diced chicken breast if you prefer) cut into small pieces
• Ketchup or Tomato Sauce
• Salt and Pepper

Sauté the finely chopped onion (and I stress, finely) until transparent in butter. Add the chicken or ham and sauté until done. Add the rice and toss until heated through. Add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of ketchup and toss quickly. The idea is to colour the rice, not make it too saucy. Add a little salt and pepper to taste and place on a plate. Best to put it into a little mound like an omlette kind of shape.

Chuck some butter into the pan. Quickly prepare the egg mixture: two eggs in a bowl, salt and pepper, and mix up with a fork. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and create an omelette shape that is still slightly runny in the middle.

Once you are done, carefully turn the omelette onto the mounded rice. It’s also nice cut it carefully down the middle and let the egg run a little over the rice.

Draw something nice on top with ketchup, like a face or a star or something.

Maybe add a side salad. Maybe not. Enjoy.

Came accross this in my favourite Sydney bookstore, Ariel, the other day. A pretty novel concept – combining two of our favourite things in the world: Art and Eating.

The author put this book together over a great excuse for a trip around Paris, Berlin, and Amsterdam to London and New York. His road-trip rules were to use public transport, eat street food, and stay in cheap, locally run hotels. All of which allowing him to focus on visiting underground-art-type places, people and events that are seldom covered in traditional culinary or travel titles. There’s fifty recipes including such tantalising urban dishes as: Jerk chicken with hot pepper gravy, Ras-el-hanout lamb, Trinchada, Potjiekos and Rajad’s perfect steak. I’m hungry already.

It’s also littered with stories, interviews and pictures of photographers, illustrators, fashion designers, digital and street artists, skaters, DJs, club owners, musicians from the cities.

The author being a Creative Director of 100proofTRUTH magazine and it being published by Thames & Hudson – you’d expect the layout and images to be great. And they are – check out a pdf sample.

And you can buy The Urban Cookbook here 

Anyway it’s been awhile since we’ve done a food related post. Expect more soon.

link The Urban Cookbook website

Keeping somewhat on the limited edition arts book theme, I came across Playboy’s Complete Centerfolds collection thanks to Golden Fiddle.

This 730 page behometh recreates every single Playboy Centerfold exactly as they were published. And not only that, it comes in a self-described “handsome leather briefcase lined with velvet”.

Why would you want to spend US$500 on this? Well, obviously because:

“Paging through this colossal, chronological collection provides a breathtaking view of our evolving appreciation of the female form: from the fifties fantasy of voluptuous blondes to the tawny beach girls of the seventies to the groomed and toned women of today”

I am intrigued by the introductions to each decade, apparently penned by peeps such as Jay McInerney and Paul Theroux. Should one of you cough up for this, feel free to scan them for me. One cool thing I did come across that I was unaware of is a feature on Amazon that allows buyers to upload pictures of the product. Check the two that exist thus far after the jump.

Cop yours here

via Golden Fiddle

Big enough to not only be a coffee table book, but also a coffee table.

Safe storage for your originals.

We rarely bring a pre-made sandwich into the DEGOURGET offices, but from our past experiences working in corporate hellholes, we understand the pain involved in losing ones midday meal to some light fingered co-worker scum. To combat this worldwide problem, Sherwood Forlee comes up with this brilliant concept.

Stealing your co-worker’s lunch is a downright contemptible act, that is, if it’s perpetrated by someone other than you. But, if you’ve ever had your lunch stolen, you know the the frustration and anger it causes. You know the revenge and ill-will it inspires. And you know that no matter how well you try to hide your lunch bag at the back of the refrigerator, something’s gonna be missing when you open it. Well, lament no more. The Anti-Theft Lunch Bag to the rescue.

It’s pretty easy to replicate this brilliant design simply with a ziplock bag and green marker.

Check out the website for other fantabulous ideas.

My peers who are not Asian have slowly learnt that using chopsticks has become a necessity in today’s age – without feeling like an uncultured douchebag when having a meal with your mates and. This is so true that sometimes i am schooled by my Aryan counterparts as to the fundamentals of 2 pieces of wood

Well my lovely Caucasian friends I’m giving up my oversized toothpicks and bringing this set of cutlery to the table ……. or picnic …….. or party ……… whatever.

The “snap and dine” from the demelza hill is super fun for all the family, it’s like those snap and assemble plastic robots you had when you were 5 years old, coupled with eating makes for a good time out.

So the next time you’re taking your partner out for a meal, take’em out to the park and show them not only your culinary expertise but also that deep down inside you are also a design nerd.

Nordic Rock is a novel way to chill down your drinks. Well, to me anyway, maybe they’ve been in widespread use for decades and I’ve just never twigged.

So, what is it? Pure rocks from the deepest Swedish…place where rocks come from, that you chill in your freezer and then throw into your drink instead of ice cubes. Dubiously refered to as environmentally friendly cause they’re reusable, as opposed to that pesky water that keeps filling up our landfills, they may be the thing for scotch drinkers, no dirty water polluting your perfect drink.

When I first read the site, I thought I saw it as “free base rock” and had a whole OMFG, crack is funny thing to write, but then I noticed they’re really “Pollution-free base rock” and the whole thing failed. But still, I felt I should share. Also, can you imagine the sheer volume of shithouse puns that this product will give birth too?

Buy them here

(I had roughly 2.7 gajillion browser tabs open today, so i have no idea as to the provenence of this link. Sorry to whoever’s keen sense of style I’ve bitten!)

Run by three Swedish guys with a self-described background in PR and advertising, it’s a company set up for the purpose of making jeans in North Korea. Or as they describe it:

Noko Jeans is our attempt to approach and get closer to North Korea, and it is our attempt to answer the question: is it possible to do what no one has ever done before? Is it possible to design, produce and import jeans from North Korea?

They’ve got a nice little blog detailing the whole adventure called the Noko Process. You’ll find some cool videos they’ve put together like the one above (I love the titling) and tales on the North Korean gaming industry, North Korean burgers and insights into the little known, or considered, process and cost involved in blogging from one of the most controlled parts of the planet.

on a side note, how is that Sweden took over denim? Why did this happen? Is there something in the water in those Scando lands that predisposes them to great design and clothing? I don’t know. I do know this though – jeans are cool and North Korea is a land of mystery and intrigue. Combine the two and I’ll be very happy if I somehow manage to avoid a wet dream tonight.

Some more vids and pics after the jump

Dapper young(ish) swedes:

North Korean Burger action:

The British are not famous for their food. Jamie and Gordon might be changing the perception, but some guys in the UK have come up with the UPbox this looks like a more interesting attempt to challenge the conventional trend of ‘boring british food’.

Bastardising Inspired by the traditional Japanese bento-box, the UPbox is a priced at £6 takeaway lunchbox that comes in packaged nicely in a unbleached recyclable cardboard box – containing a gourmet main, desert, cutlery and a napkin.

It comes in British, Thai, French, Indian, Greek, Moroccan, Lebanese and ‘Feel Good‘ flavours.

We like the sound of the Moroccan one:

• Harissa marinated chicken
• Burghul with cashew nuts
• Herbs and pomegranate dressing
• Roasted courgettes with lemon and mint
• Cucumber and yogurt
• White chocolate cranberry cookie

Chef Ines Alfille and her former investment lawyer husband, Nick are the brains behind UP Box (the letters stand for Urban Picnic). Their MO is healthy, low-carb meals made, where possible, with seasonal, locally sourced and non-GM produce.

Looks good, and we assume, tastes even better. And we’re sick-to-death of salad bar chains.

Anyone tried it yet?

via Wallpaper