"home" news and stories

With only a few days left until Valentine's, we thought that it would be fun to take a look at the role that food can play in our relationships with a little series leading into February 14th. Only one day left in the countdown, now!

If you're looking for a recipe for romance, are you more likely to plan for dinner at home, or to make a reservation at your favorite romantic restaurant? There are advantages and disadvantages to both options. Eating at home will give you control over the food and the atmosphere, both of which can be tailored to your, or your significant other's, tastes. The drawbacks are that you have to do all of the prep work yourself, as well as the cleanup, and you're limited by what you have to work with, which could mean mismatched serving pieces and no espresso after dinner.

In a restaurant, you won't get the kind of privacy that you can enjoy at home and you are limited in your menu options - especially on Valentine's Day when many places offer prix fixe dinners. On the positive side, you are free to focus all of your attention on your dining partner, rather than on cooking and cleanup.

Restaurants are a done deal, but if you do decide to dine in, there are a couple of alternatives to you doing all the cooking and serving. For example, you could consider hiring a personal chef to work for the night, effectively bringing the restaurant home. Alternatively, you could cook with your partner, which will keep you together, engaged and making a very special meal.

Well, the rest of my day is shot.

I came across this really cool web site, Retro-Housewife.com. It has a rather daring manifesto:

We spent the 80's and the 90's trying to do it all. Now we are tired, overworked and want to offer a different life plan. We want to stay home, take care of our kids, our husbands and give them the attention they deserve. This site may not be for everyone, but if you want to be a retro housewife, you have come to the right place!

Of course, if that's the only way you look at the site, you're missing out on some truly great content, including a Retro Housewife blog, sections on retro furniture and fashion, and, of course, recipes! After the jump, some cool-sounding meals you've got to try.

How interested are you in accessorizing your cereal? Personally, I'm quite satisfied with my relatively plain bowls and prefer to spice up my cereal - especially hot cereals - with actual spices or sugar. When it comes to using cereal to accessorize other things, I'm willing to be a bit more open, so the idea of the Cereal Bowl Light is an interesting one. It is a real light that has been built into a cereal bowl and is topped of with real Fruit Loops and a spoon. When the spoon is touched, the light turns on.

The seller says that it is "the best thing that you will ever buy in your life," and while I'm not trying to cast doubt on the seller's sincerity and think that the light is interesting in a pop-art sort of way, it's probably neither the best thing you will ever buy nor is it "the coolest light on earth." It is the best, and possibly only, cereal bowl light and a must-have for anyone who really loves their cereal.

[via coolhunting

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For those of us who live the luxe life, we can afford to buy separate sets of dishes for different occasions, not to mention afford the space to store them all. Howeve, most of us are resigned to one set of dishes that has to work for everything from every day dine and dash to an occasional fancy fall feast. If we're lucky, maybe we have two sets.

However, with Nora Fleming's collection of dishware, you can have dishes that will match every occasion, whether it's a Spring brunch or a Holiday dinner. The dishes are all a basic white with a simple dotted pattern around the rim. The beauty, however, comes with "Minis," which are tiny colorful, ceramic adornments that attach to each plate. These accessories are what take a special Valetine's Dinner with an "XOXO" imprinted heart to a fun birthday fete with wrapped gifts. The plates and bowl range in price from $12.50 to $60 each, and the Minis are $12.50 per piece.

Those of us on the west coast know that if there are good diners out here, they are few and far between, so you probably have to get your diner fix if and when you take a trip back east. This brilliant set of Diner Plates lets you bring the diner straight into your home, albeit minus the charming waitresses who call you "Hun" and endless steaming mugs of watery coffee. The plates have sharp photographs of a retro-looking diner on them, giving you the impression that you are looking through a tiny window. There is a semi-matching set of plates that feature roadside signs available, too, so by combining them, you can have an entire road trip without leaving your driveway. It won't quite be road food, but you could come pretty close.