Hasta La Ideas

A master craftsman’s line of carbon steel knives for at-home chefs

The term “Master Bladesmith” may stir images of medieval men hammering steel on anvils, preparing for battle. Yet visit the workshop of Bob Kramer, one of only a hundred certified such experts in the world, and you’ll find a modern craftsman at work, renowned for his custom-made carbon steel blades—which regularly sell for up to $26,000 per knife. For those without Batali-deep pockets to afford the $400 per inch his one-offs typically run, Kramer will release a new knife in collaboration next month with Zwilling J.A. Henckels to arm today’s cooking aficionados for skirmishes on cutting boards.

The partnership was born from a recognition that many Americans are returning to the kitchen with a desire for high-quality ingredients and and the tools to match. Not for the amateur culinary enthusiast, Kramer’s blades require a much higher level of care then their more widespread cousin stainless. But if you are serious about cooking and can commit to the maintenance, the rewards are plenty—carbon steel can hold a keener edge, will retain that sharpness much longer and will develop a patina over time giving each blade a totally unique look.

Kramer designed the series of blades from tip to handle and, by taking advantage of Zwilling’s scale and technological capabilities, was able to create a product that meets his standards but at a more realistic price point for the average domestic chef. Lightweight, precise and with grenadille wood handles, the hand-finished knives feel amazing in the palm, and make an impressive addition to any kitchen.

The series ranges from a 3.5″ paring knife to the classic 10″ chef’s knife. They will be available in June, exclusively from Sur La Table and ranging from $140-350.

Also on Cool Hunting: Cut Brooklyn

These items caught my attention over the past couple weeks, and I wanted to share them with you. They weren’t large enough to stand on their own as full posts, so I gathered them together in a link roundup:

• The company Electrolux sponsored nine teams at the Domus Academy in Milan to design the kitchen of the future. The concepts are pretty impressive, especially for small space and storage design. Electrolux ReSource.
• The show Clean House is looking for cluttered homes to be made over for future episodes. The show is filming next season in the greater Los Angeles and New York City areas, and to be considered you must own your home and at least two adults must live in the place. If you want to be on the show, email your name, address, phone number, list of everyone in the house and relationship to them, photos or videos of three rooms in your home that are messy, and a brief explanation for why you want to be on the show to Rose at rosecastingcleanhouse@gmail.com for LA consideration and Amy at assistant@mendenhallmedia.com for NYC consideration. You must submit your email by tomorrow, April 22, 2011.
• SwissMiss featured a great little product that bands your writing utensils to your favorite notebook, clipboard, or book. The pencil holders are called Clever Hands and they’re made by an artist on Etsy. I think these would be a great organizing tool for students.
• A website, hysterically named BookshelfPorn, features daily pictures of (usually) organized bookshelves from amazing libraries around the world. After our post earlier this month about keeping clutter off your bookshelf, I thought you all might enjoy seeing these (mostly) amazing solutions.
• My friend Julie Bestry, a professional organizer based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, recently wrote a post for the Metropolitan Organizing website on how to become a Certified Professional Organizer. If you’ve ever thought about a career as a professional organizer or are already a professional organizer and want to be a CPO, I highly recommend checking out her post.
• Another professional organizer friend of mine, Allison Carter based in the Atlanta area, has a quick post on uncluttered gift ideas for moms for this upcoming Mother’s Day.
• Last August, NPR featured a 40-minute segment on Fresh Air exploring “Digital Overload.” It’s a long segment, but it’s interesting as it looks at people’s addiction to multi-tasking.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Nespresso introduces a machine small enough for desks and colorful “capsule” cups

For no-fuss espresso, Nespresso‘s straightforward operation and effortless cleanup make their machines the maker of choice for many homes and offices. The Swiss company recently made it even easier to get a fresh brew in just seconds with its Pixie machine, a compact version of the CitiZ that comes in six colors.

Its tiny footprint (just over a foot long) means its small enough to sit on a desk, and an improved heating system takes just 25 seconds to warm up. All that, and the Pixie is supremely energy-efficient too, using 40% less power than other makers like it. (Check out our complete guide to prosumer espresso here.)

Perhaps even more appealing than the Pixie, Nespresso launched a collection of insulated cups designed to look like their essential espresso capsule. The cups come in two sizes and a rainbow of colors, and (unlike other Nespresso accessories) are free of obvious Nespresso branding.

The Pixie currently sells exclusively from Williams-Sonoma in the U.S. for $250, but will sell through the Nespresso site later this spring, when the cups ($30 for a set of two) will be available as well.

In the last few weeks on our sister website Simplifried, we’ve tackled many yummy and useful cooking topics. Check them out and weigh in if you’re interested:

• Simplified menu construction for parties (and three great recipes)
• Embracing or ignoring the tradition of two sets of dinnerware
• Crispy cheese breakfast scramble
• Baking sausage
• Moving — for real or pretend — as a way to reduce kitchen clutter

Confused about how to boil water? Is your refrigerator running? Shouldn’t you go catch it? Head on over to Simplifried to have all your cooking related inquires answered, or follow @simplifried on Twitter.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

In 2011, I’m trying out small, monthly resolutions instead of large, annual New Year’s resolutions. My public resolution for January was to be more organized in the kitchen, and create and use more nutritious meal plans for my family. If you read SimpliFried, then you know I even made one of my meal plans downloadable for anyone who wants it.

The small goal worked well for me, and I’ll try to continue it into February along with my new resolution for the second month. I think the first resolution was successful because it was:

• Scheduled. Every Monday I had “Meal Planning,” written on my calendar between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. The block of time on the calendar helped me to commit to it.
• Prepared. I had the Harvard Medical School’s guide to healthy eating Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy as my nutrition guide, a blank meal planning worksheet, a pen, a stack of cookbooks, and my favorite recipes from the internet with me every time I made the plan.
• Concrete. My goal to make and follow a weekly meal plan wasn’t lofty or ambiguous. What needed to happen was clear from the beginning and it was easy to break into action items.
• Achievable. I knew it was possible to achieve the resolution, I just had to take the time and invest the energy to make it happen. Additionally, with fresh food in the house, I knew if I didn’t stick to the plans I would be wasting my money.
• Accountable. By telling my family and the readers of this website that this was my resolution, I felt a greater sense of responsibility to carry out the goal. I’m not sure this was necessary since I wanted to do it, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

My plan had been to make February my Super Simple Month again this year, but it unfortunately looks like it’s not going to work. I’ll have to rearrange things on the calendar to try for it in March or April. One of my extended family members is very ill and I need to do some traveling this month related to her.

As an alternative, my public resolution for February will be to go through everything — absolutely everything — in my office. There will be uncluttering, organizing, rearranging, and a lot of paper processing. I spend the vast majority of my day in about 150 square feet of space, and this room needs my attention. To a visitor, my office doesn’t look cluttered, but I know what lies beneath. I know how stuffed my filing cabinet is and how many things are ready to go from this space.

Tonight, I’ll kick off my monthly resolution by splitting the room into zones and scheduling when I will address these zones on my calendar. One shelf a day, followed by one drawer a day, and so-on-and-so-forth until I’ve tackled the entire room.

Do you have resolutions? What are you doing to achieving them? Can you do something today to get one step closer to your goal?

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.