Could a restaurant be so appealing, so irresistable, that you'd wait a year to get a reservation?

This one apparently is: Talula's Table in rural Pennsylvania, has been called the most difficult reservation to get in the country. Talula's is about an hour outside of Philly, has only one large farm table that seats 12, and is run by a husband and wife team. There's a store that sells cakes, pies, soups, and over 150 different kinds of cheeses (the co-owner spent her life studying cheeses).

But the real treat appears to be the restaurant. The eight-course tasting menu, which features fresh and primarily local ingredients, is the same every day for about 5-6 weeks, and then changes depending on what's in season.

The day that one NPR reporter visited, the menu was as follows: egg custard; mushroom risotto; hand-rolled rigatoni with snails; pampano roasted with a mango-saffron broth; pork osso bucco; lamb; blue-raisin chutney semolina; and for dessert - deep breath - a coffee-infused bavarian creme with bittersweet and white chocolate over a piece of buttery shortbread, covered in a blood orange jelly.

And for the record? If you want a reservation, call them tomorrow starting at 7 a.m. The first person to call that day gets the next reservation a year from now, and the process repeats itself the next day, and the next, and the next...

I was just over at Crate&Barrel, swooning over all of the gorgeous new kitchen gadgets for spring. My new favorite? The oil and vinegar pump bottle, which allows you to pres a button and squeeze precise amounts of the mixture into a resevoir, where you can then pour it onto your salad, fish, bread...or directly into your mouth. (Wait. that would be gross. Scratch that).

Craving more fun, brightly-colored kitchen doodads? You know you are. Check out the marvelousness below.

In a funny post on a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reader blog, blogger Christina Hyun talks about growing up in an Asian household, and how her friends always told her that her house smelled better than their's did. On the flip side, Hyun always marveled at the huge quantity of bread/cereal/cookie products in her Caucasian friends' houses.

I can't relate as much to the cultural aspect, but as a kid, I was definitely envious of my friends' kitchens. My own mother tried to keep our diets pretty healthy, and flat-out refused to buy certain products (Fruit Roll-Ups, Ssips fruit punch, and Cookie Crisp cereal immediately come to mind). Other kids' parents often commented on my "healthy" appetite, as I downed cakes, cookies and fruit punch like it was going out of style. "Oh - my mom won't let us buy this stuff," I'd say, mouth half-full of Tastykake pie, red goo stuck to my chin. The mothers would nod warily as they added "Tastykake pies" to the grocery list.

As I got older, the rules loosened, and I heard rumors that my mom even allowed soda in the house - after I went off to college, of course. But by then the thrill was gone, and fear-mongering about obesity and diabetes had taken its place.

What about you? What products did other kids' kitchens have that made you green with envy? (Or were you that "other kid?")

Your dream could soon become a reality, if ReadyBot has anything to say about it. A group of scientists banned together to answer a challenge question: How many common and household commercial tasks can a two-armed, moderate-dexterity simple robot perform?

The answer: plenty. to see ReadyBot in action, click on the video, which is set to music similar to that of 50s Sears infomercials. So far, the Bot can raise and lower itself; grab, move, and tip dishes; and squeegee and wash countertops. Between this and a Roomba, just think of the possibilities! Your very own version of The Jetsons' Rosie (though it always irked me that she had female traits - ReadyBot will hopefully remain gender-neutral).

As you watch the clip, you'll notice that it moves fairly slowly, but the Bot scientists claim that this is intentional, and that it is intended to do work when people are at work or out of the house, so the lack of speed shouldn't be an issue.

Their ultimate goal? To program ReadyBot to complete approximately 80% of typical kitchen tasks (loading the dishwasher, washing dishes, etc) and then make it available for mass production. The scientists also claim that the price won't be too prohibitive, but we'll believe it when we see it.

In the meantime, one can only dream...

Every time you turn around, there's a new brightly-colored, cleverly-named kitchen product adorned with google-y eyes and baring a twenty dollar price tag. We've all come across these products, smiled, cooed, and handed over our Visa, only to get them home and dizzily wonder, What the heck was I thinking? The utensil then sits unused, in your junk drawer, until, in a furious bout of spring cleaning three years later, you stumble upon it and have absolutely no idea what it is.

Don't feel bad. We've all done this. It's awful fun to peruse these items at stores, play with them, and make them into little puppets in order to entertain/freak out your other customers (in fact, the latter is one of my favorite pastimes). So in an effort to dissuade you from buying these little gadgets in the future, we've provided some of them here, so you'll know 'em when you see 'em.

Now, for the record, I understand that these products do serve some purpose, however insignificant. And if you happen to own one of these products, more power to you! I am simply suggesting that there are, perhaps, other ways to accomplish the same kitchen tasks that these products purport to execute...

Now, without further ado...

Sometime about five years ago or so, I got in the habit of printing recipes I wanted to try off the internet. This was back in the days when I had a full-time administrative grunt job and so had free time, abundant internet access and unlimited laser printer toner. I started out storing those recipes in a three-ring binder, but quickly outgrew that storage device. I ended up with a file crate with hanging files and manila folders (complete with clearly printed labels--I can be a little overzealous with the office supplies at times).

In addition to that crate (which I often flip through for inspiration) I have a series of small wooden file boxes in which I've stashed the recipes I really like and want to be able to access again easily (without digging through several reams of paper). Sometimes I think about revamping my recipe storage system, but I hate to mess with a good thing.

If you are looking for a way to store your recipes (or want to buy a creative kitchen-based gift for a friend or family member) you should head over to Design*Sponge and check out the Recipe Storage Roundup that Grace put together. She has scoured the internet for a variety of boxes and binders that will hold your recipes neatly and in style. I am particularly smitten with that binder decorated with silhouettes of kitchen utensils.

Designboom, a mod blog devoted to the latest and greatest in product design, recently came out with the winners of its 2006 Dining in 2015 contest. The challenge was exactly as it sounds: to design a food-related product that would be useful in 2015 at work, in travel, or at home.

Chefs and designers from Italy and Japan judged the entires and came up with the top three and an honorable mention.

Let's start from the bottom and work up. The honorable mention [ed. note: shown in photo] was an eco-friendly solution to dinner prep: silicone and nylon triangle-shaped buckets that allow the cook to boil three different foods all in one pot, thereby saving energy, time, and water. I totally expect it to be selling out on QVC in no time.

Third place? A creative ceramic salt and pepper shaker that forces you to physically break open the canister to access the spices inside. The goal of the project? There isn't any, really, but we bet it's really, really fun to break open. Save it for a day when you're really pissed off at someone, and then smash away. (But don't get carried away - - then you'll just have a mess of salt, pepper, and white ceramic shards to clean up).

Chances are that if you're a Slashfoodie, your kitchen's drawers and cabinets are overflowing with gadgets, tools and equipment that you use all year already. However, for those of us who rely on a single chef's knife and a pair of chopsticks to do just about everything in the kitchen, there are some certain tools that you might want to pick up between now and the Big Day to help with the Thanksgiving preparations. Things like brining bags and flavor injectors aren't necessary, but they do enhance, and other things like turkey slings and fat separators aren't required, they're just nice to have to make roasting turkeys and making gravy easier.

The one thing I'm just not so sure about? The Stuffing Cage. Just the name alone...

Lately, I've had this obsession with cutting boards, whether it's a giant butcher-type block, those colorful silicone mats that are meant to keep food separated for safety reasons, or the "green" cutting boards made of sustainable bamboo.

These wooden cutting boards made from acacia have been laser-engraved with different illustrations that are matched to the grain of the wood on the individual board. That means no two boards are the same! Prior to the engraving process, the designers determine the ideal position for any of the 6 different illustrations, which are a diver, skiing, fishing, the man on the moon, a gardener, and a motorcyclist.

The boards are available from Charles and Marie, $38 for a large board, $20 for a small board.

About a year and a half ago, I posted about the work of photographer Michael Harlan Turkell, particularly his Back of the House Project, a great series of 25 very candid black and white photos of restaurants and their staff. Turkell recently dropped Slashfood a line, pointing out his photo blog, as well as what appears to be a new photo series called "mise en place". It had been a while since I checked Turkell's site, so the blog was news to me. It appears he's also been commissioned by New York City restaurant blog Eater to photograph the subjects of their "Gatekeepers" series, which profiles "the very folks that stand between you and some of your favorite impossible-to-get-tables." If you've ever worked in the restaurant industry, or if you're just a lover of food, dining and photography, do yourself a favor and check out Turkell's website as well as his blog.

Have you ever had to quickly run to your computer to use google or had to search through the indices of a few cookbooks to look for equivalent measure conversions? If so, you'll probably like this idea from a practical standpoint, and if not, you might like it from an artistic one. This Equivalent Measure wall transfer is easily applied to a kitchen wall or cabinet by rubbing the design with the included burnishing tool. Once on, it is permanent and can easily be washed without rubbing off, although it won't damage the wall in any way. It lists common equivalencies that most cooks will need to reference from time to time and has a graphic of lightly colored measuring spoons in the background, which gives it a slightly "country" feel and prevents it from looking like you simply decided to write on your wall. It measures 14" x 19" and comes in light or dark brown.

If you have neat writing or are reasonably artistic, you might want to consider skipping the $70 expense and trying to do it yourself.

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.

We have heard that formal dining rooms are back in vogue on the restaurant scene this year, which means that the combination restaurant dining room/kitchens, where everyone had a clear view of their food from start to finish, will gradually be phased out. Patrons are now more interested in eating the food and appreciating the subtleties of a well-prepared meal than they are in watching it be prepared. With the massive number of cooking shows on TV, can you blame them? Everywhere you turn, you can see great pictures of food and videos of how its made, but the restaurant is where you can taste every delicious looking item that you wouldn't ordinarily get at home.

The UK Guardian is saying that the "Nigella Effect" is responsible for this change, as the sultry chef's recommendation is enough to make people try anything. She sold the public on 250,000 tins of goose fat over Christmas, so the end of open-air kitchens was easy by comparison. But although she may have helped to speed up the trend, it is far more widespread than Britain already - and like it or not, it seems as though this trend could be here to stay.

Perhaps calling this bowl "perfect" is a bit of a stretch, but it is designed for both utility and beauty, so it must be getting close. The Udon Noodle Bowl is reminiscent of a giant shell, with spiraling layers that fit perfectly into your hand. At the top, there are grooves to hold the included chopsticks in place when you're not eating. Every bowl is handmade and will vary from the next ever so slightly. All are both microwave and dishwasher safe.

If soup, rather than noodles, is your comfort food of choice, you might want to consider the buddah bowl instead. Also designed to fit ergonomically into the palm of your hand, this bowl can double as a giant mug for large cappuccinos in the morning and a soup cup in the evenings, or even as a dessert bowl for ice cream.

Using fresh herbs in your recipes is a sure way to brighten up your favorite chicken dish or add some dimension to a rice pilaf. The flavors from fresh herbs are more vivid and complex than those from dried herbs. Once way to obtain said herbs is by choosing bunches of fresh at your local market, but growing them at home is going to be more convenient and less expensive than buying them every time you need a few tablespoonfuls. These garden-in-a bag kits are perfect for anyone interested in trying to grow some fresh herbs who doesn't have the space - or gardening abilities - to handle something bigger. The indoor-friendly options include organic chives, mint, basil and lavender, along with a variety of flowers. To get your herbs to grow, all you need to do is stir the included seeds and water into the bag, full of already primed soil, and wait. Germination takes a few days and, depending on what you're growing, you'll have fresh herbs within a couple of weeks.