Our cheerful new Poturo kettle. At long last.

Finally finally, we have a new tea kettle. Our former, burnt-on-the-inside model, which I have been looking to replace for months, has been retired and this new, smaller elegant Japanese version sits in it’s place.

The beauty of the Portoru kettle lies in its simplicity. It’s just the right size, beautifully proportioned and makes me happy every time I look at it. (is that weird?) It is not super fast and modern, like an electric kettle, nor does it have a whistle, so I have to pay attention to ensure I don’t repeat my old mistakes. It’s handle is made of the same enamel as the rest of the pot, allowing for a beautiful uniformity but requiring the use of a pot holder.

And yet, despite all of it’s shortcomings, I am smitten.

As I type this, a white version is on sale on One Kings Lane, which is where we bought ours. But if you miss that opening, or are interested in a different color, try Creatures Of Comfort, where a full range is currently available, albeit without the discount.

May all of our futures be filled with delicious cups of tea.

Hand turned glass jars by Boston Bottle. Available at Food52.com. Photo by Bobbi Lin

Actually, I do sort of need these glass containers because I am slowly trying to wean myself of any plastic storage for my food. And those ubiquitous mason jars can only take a person so far. That said, there is no gun bearing down on my head forcing me to buy these particular jars. But man are they lovely. And they would look so nice on my kitchen shelves. I might even be more motivated to soak and cook the growing collection of dried beans I am amassing… if only they were stored with the dignity these Boston Bottle hand turned jars afford.

Or maybe I’m just kidding myself.

Whatever. I’m sure I’ll cave within the next month and buy one or two.

At least I know myself.

This item comes from a land where people get big hunks of butter from farms and put them in boxes like this one that they leave unrefrigerated on the counter, not at all worried about the butter going bad. These people are secure in the knowledge that their food is good.

I would like to live in this land.

But from the looks of this website, I should probably be moving to Denmark, which isn’t happening any time soon.

This does not stop me from admiring this butter box from afar, however. Or any of the other lovely things in the Helkak webstore…

This is my husband’s version of a properly folded fitted sheet.

We tend to do our laundry on the weekends, when there is more time to spread out, and somehow it feels more OK to leave a huge pile of unfolded laundry on the extra bed for 24 hours. (Don’t ask me why, it just does. Maybe it’s because we spend most weekends in a house where there is an extra bed…) This weekend, my husband (who, it should be noted, began folding his clothes before bed at age two) took on the job of folding everything and putting it neatly in the laundry bag for transportation back to Brooklyn. He’s very organized and has recently really gotten into storing complete sets of sheets inside one of the pillowcases, so you just pull out one neat bundle and you’re all good for making the bed. A great idea if I do say so myself.

This morning I pulled out one of the aforementioned pillowcase bundles and discovered that, evidently, Josh’s folding skills do not extend to fitted sheets. (see photo above) This is ironic, as not only is he a folding fanatic, but he also oversaw the production of the incredibly useful One Kings Lane video called, appropriately: How To Fold A Fitted Sheet.

At the risk of being accused of trying to be the next Martha Stewart, I am posting this video here. Because most of us, no matter what we think, don’t really know how to fold a fitted sheet properly. And all of our lives would be vastly improved once we mastered this skill. Which takes about 5 seconds, by the way.

You can thank me later.

Oh just another, but way more beautiful than what I currently have, thing to place hot plates and pots on… photo courtesy of Remodelista.com

I do have a trivet made of wood and ceramic tile… I bought it in the 80′s I think, but it does the job. And usually, when I need to put a hot pot down on a wooden surface, I just use one of our felt pot holders, which work perfectly.

Neither option, however, is as attractive as this hand crafted hot pad by Alessandra Taccia which I spotted whilst trolling through old Remodelista posts instead of doing all of the other things I am supposed to be doing.

I then spent way too much time trying to figure out how to get my hands on one, but all of my attempts thus far have failed. There is an online shop, called Knots, but they don’t seem to have any products currently available.

If any of you have any better luck, please let me know. In the meantime, we can all dream…

Ummm…I know it looks like I am turning into some kind of Thanksgiving obsessed Martha Stewart-style preacher, but I swear this is the last post of this kind for at least a few more weeks (when the next slew of holidays will be upon us and we’ll need more drink recipes and gift wrapping ideas to get us through).

My husband showed my daughter and me this video the other night, and not only did we actually find it charming and funny, but we then spent the next 20 minutes or so on the One Kings Lane blog, learning how to actually fold these various napkin styles and figuring out which one we’re going to use for our dinner table tomorrow. And by “our” table, I mean the table at my parent’s house, which is where we’re all eating our Thanksgiving meal. My mother is all about decorating a table, but luckily she seems more than willing to give up the folding of the napkins and the making of the place cards to the next generations.

Lets hope we do her proud.