You know you’re a total nerd for homewares when you go to a restaurant and find yourself going ga-ga over their glasses instead of concentrating on their menu. That’s what happened to me on Saturday night at Superba Snack Bar in Venice (which was awesome, btw). I’ve seen Schott Zwiesel’s wine glasses before, and being a Riedel fan know that the two are often compared, but I’m new to their entire line. While I love the Riedel Vinum water glasses, I’m now a fan of the Schott Zwiesel Tritan Crystal Glass Pure Collection, especially the tumbler (pictured above) and whiskey glasses, which is what Superba had. After I convince my husband that the Costco pint glasses we currently have are way too outdated for us, I’m putting these on the list.
If you’re looking to register for a set of glasses, you’ll want to check these out. While Pottery Barn has a Schott Zwiesel collection, they don’t currently have the ones I’m coveting. However, Amazon offers them at $41 for set of six tumblers, which is a fairly decent price for nice glassware.
Redecker goat hair brush from Clean Slate at Crate and Barrel, $34.95
I have a problem.
I’m a little bit addicted to household supplies. If I have a chance to buy a new kitchen sponge, soap caddy, mop, or storage bucket, I will jump at the chance. Seriously. If you put me in a room and give me a choice between a designer dress or a sparkly red garbage can with some cool new auto-open feature, I will probably pick the can.
So when I recently received a catalogue of Crate and Barrel’s new Clean Slate line of artisanal utility products, you would have thought I just won something (Yes. It’s sad). The line has a lot of typical storage/cleaning products you would expect (IE: a not exciting plastic dustpan and brush set, and a wire shelf unit), but it also has things like handcrafted goat hair brushes from the German company Redecker, wooden lint brushes, a crumb brush, and yes…a fly swatter (pictured below).
I’ll save you the house-porny details, but if you’re registering at Crate and Barrel I would definitely check them out and add them to your list. Don’t judge me.
P.S.: This is not a sponsored post. I promise I don’t do those. I’m just generally this corny.
Fly Swatter, $9.95 from Clean Slate at Crate and Barrel
As I’ve blogged about before, my husband and I are obsessed with not only kitchen gadgets, but coffee gadgets to be specific. What’s so funny is that while I’ve been a coffee drinker ever since college, my husband really didn’t start on the juice until we began dating.
It started out simple for us: we loved cappuccino, so for our first Christmas together, my husband bought me a Breville 800ESXL Die-Cast Espresso maker. It was the most expensive gift I had ever received, and it was definitely the most expensive thing he’d ever bought. It was the start of a beautiful addiction.
We had a blast playing “barista” with the Breville, and (I’m not joking) we named her. Sophia, as we decided to call her, was the best thing we had ever owned. When we moved from NYC to Nashville, it wasn’t the TV I was worried about packaging up securely, but little Sophia. Thankfully, she made it safe and sound.
But, as our morning time seemed to become more precious, we somehow forgot about her. We bought a Keurig, and that was our machine of choice most mornings. It was just so fast and easy to get our fix. Soon, little Sophia was collecting dust on our kitchen counter.
When the wedding came along, we registered for a French Press, as well as a drip coffee maker that also had a hot-water attachment. I mean, we wanted to drink tea from time to time, and boiling water is just too much trouble. Right? Right?!?!
It became clear what was really going on. We were making excuses to purchase coffee makers. We had a full blown addiction.
For the past few weeks we’ve felt bad about Sophia, so, remembering all the good times we had with her, we started using again. But soon we realized that it was taking a crazy amount of time to make two cappuccinos every morning. 3-5 minutes each?! In this time obsessed world, we needed to get high FAST. Really, we had no other choice I’m telling you…
Last Saturday, we gave in to our weaknesses and bought a, gulp…Nespresso. And I feel for the first time I can finally admit it: I am a Nespresso junkie. Please don’t tell Sophia.
I mean, it seriously can’t get any easier than this. We bought the Lattisima model, below, and in less than one minute’s time, we are able to have a fresh, frothy, and delicious cappuccino. The Nespresso is amazing. Sorry, I meant to say that GIORGIO is amazing. Yes, we gave him a name as well.
Sadly, it looks like Sophia is a thing of the past. We’re thinking about giving her up for adoption on eBay. Hopefully, she’ll make her way into a home that is not as strung out on appliances as we are. She at least deserves that.
Product: DeLonghi Lattissima Plus Nespresso Capsule System
Price: $399
Product Details:
Easily prepares latte, cappuccino and italian macchiato with the patented single touch hot milk system
Convenient illuminated control panel buttons allow you to choose your favorite drink with ease, with 3 milk and 2 coffee selections
Easy-to-use patented coffee capsule system
Accommodates latte cups with the unique sliding drip tray
Energy-saving with adjustable auto-off timer
Register for it in-store at Williams-Sonoma (it’s not available online yet)
We recently came back from a trip to Napa, which if you haven’t been I can’t recommend enough. We spent a bit of time in Tuscany during our honeymoon–and obviously you can’t beat the Italian culture–but I think the whole Napa experience really rivaled our time there. The scenery is just as gorgeous, and you don’t have to pay Euros, which makes everything super-pricey. Napa is not cheap by any means, but when you consider how much you’ll save in airfare, etc., it’s a great alternative if you’re looking for a cheaper stateside experience.
Our “splurge” dinner in Napa was at celebrity chef Michael Chiarello’s restaurant Bottega, which is located in Yountville. I don’t know if it was the wine, or the amazing bread, or the super delicious food…but it was one of my favorite dining experiences in a long time. It was there that we first saw these awesome copper tumblers that they used for water. We asked the waitress about them, and she said that Chiarello orders them from India, where they are hand-hammered. Apparently copper is great for serveware because it’s antimicrobial as well (sorry, I sound like such a dork right now…but they were cool!). She told us that he sells them in his store, Napa Style, which is right across from the restaurant. We looked them up online while we were at dinner (we liked them that much), and mistakenly thought they were $89 EACH, so we sighed and said “um, no thanks.” To my surprise, I went on their website today and saw that they’re actually priced as a set of 4, which makes it kinda justifiable. They are now apparently $99 for a set of 4 (they must have been on sale). Even at $24/each, I think they’re definitely worth it!
The online shop has a ton of great items, and they also offer a gift registry. If you like what you see, sign up for one and add these tumblers to the list!
Price: $99 for a set of 4
Product Details:
from Chef Chiarello…
I chose these tumblers for Bottega for their easy, hourglass shape (which fits perfectly in hand), and for the way they keep drinks cool longer. Hand hammering the copper gives it unique texture, improves its strength and beautifies the patina. What’s more, copper is naturally antimicrobial, which ensures very “clean” cups for life. Insides are stainless-steel.
As a newly engaged writer, I had a hard time finding the practical information I needed to plan my wedding. While the wedding books, magazines, and websites I read had pretty pictures, they seemed to just skim the surface when it came to providing helpful ways for me to create the wedding of my dreams. Now that I'm married, I hope this blog serves as a resource for all you other bride-to-be's, with unique ideas for wedding venues, wedding decorations, wedding dresses, and more!
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