"book of joe" news and stories

Back in the early seventies, my parents lived a necessarily frugal lifestyle. They had a vast garden and kept chickens in the backyard of their little Santa Cruz house. When it came to interior decor, their style was thrift store chic. The light fixture in the dining room of that little house a bare bulb and so, in order to conceal it a bit, they crafted a chandelier out of styrofoam cups. It did the job and looked pretty cool (although one questions the ecological sustainability of the medium now).

However, if they had been thinking more creatively, maybe they would have hit upon the idea of using edible gummy bears (did they even exist in the seventies?) in their light fixture construction. Artist YaYa Chou determined recently that gummy bears would make an excellent chandelier and crafted the truly impressive one that you see above. It is also made of beads, monofilament, plastic, metal and light bulbs. Looks good, and in a pinch, could be quite delicious.

[via Book of Joe]

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We all know that when it comes to baking, it's important to be exact in your measurements. There's a world of difference between a heaping teaspoon and a perfectly leveled one. Too much baking powder in your cookie batter will potentially result in bitter cookies and odd leavening. And while the old system of using a butter knife to level your measuring spoons does work, the lazy among us often skip this step, haphazardly leveling their spoons with a finger or a few well-placed taps.

However, salvation has arrived, in the form of Self-Leveling Measuring Spoons. These measures have a sliding lever that scrapes off the excess and ensures that you always have the exact amount of baking powder, soda or cinnamon. I have about ten sets of measuring spoons, so I'll probably skip this set for now. However, for the people who do a whole lot of precision baking, I can see how these would make a great addition to their array of tools.

What do you guys think? Ingenious or ridiculous?

[via Book of Joe]

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