The power of peas compels you!

I am unduly frightened of pale, red-haired children, but I am absolutely freaked out by this image of little demon child working her voodoo magic on the whole milk and peas, plotting to subversively bring the American people to the altar of Satan through spells that makes them inexplicably crave canned foods.

Come to the Buttered Side

or ...

Use the Toast ...

And there it is: the actual background image on Ladygoat's desktop ... Darth Vader carved out of butter.

May the butter be with you. May you use the butter well.

See? The entire Star Wars saga would have been just as compelling (dare I say, even more so?) had they substituted "the Butter" for "The Force". I know that's what they were thinking about.

Real Men Don't Eat Cake

Some foods, it's true, can be embarrassing. Beans can induce unwanted embarrassing bodily functions, for example. A not-quite-screwed-in salt shaker cap can produce a moment of mortification. And that piece of spinach often colludes with the teeth at the worst possible moments.

But cake? What's so embarrassing about eating cake?

Apparently men in Japan are so embarrassed about being seen eating cake that one bakery aims to solve the problem by disguising cakes as fast food.

Frankly, I'd be more embarrassed to be seen eating fast food that eating cake. But I'm not a guy, and I'm not Japanese, so you can't go by me.

I sort of want it. Does that make me bad?

Knife storage seems to bring out the evil in designers. Would it be bad karma to have this latest model in my kitchen? What about if I had shaped as a particular person's head? Nominees, anyone?

I NEED IT!!!

For months, I've been fiddling with my tea methods and tools, searching for the ideal teapot and the perfect seeping tool. The tea press we had until recently was great - good size, abundant room for loose teas - except that it was made of glass and couldn't retain heat, and like all our glass items, eventually broke into pieces. The tetsubin I have now is great - cast iron so it keeps heat well and definitely won't break, and looks so snazzy - except that it was way too tiny. The ceramic teapot I use is great - nice and big for a whole night worth of tea - except that the top is too small and will not fit any buy the smallest of tea balls. And I like my tea strong.

But now I've seen the Staub La Theiere, and I'm drooling. A big cast iron tea kettle and teapot, together! With a wide top to use my giant tea ball and all the loose tea I want! And so pretty too!

I wonder how long I can go before convincing myself that I really, really need a $50 tea pot?