The Cultured Girl

I had these glasses growing up, and so—it seemed—did every single one of my friends. That’s why I appreciate Apartment Therapy’s ode to the classic and ubiquitous Duralex Picardie glass. My family had tons of these glass tumblers in various sizes, and they remain some of the most durable glasses I have ever come across. More than once, I have dropped one on the floor and watched it practically bounce and come up unscathed. A bit of history from AT:

“First made by Duralex almost 80 years ago, Picardie glasses are classic French bistro glasses. They were also used in the dining halls of British schools for many years. They’re simple, durable, versatile. They’re stackable, comfortable to hold, and the perfect weight. And, amazingly, they’re inexpensive.”

You can buy them at Crate & Barrel for $2 to $3 each, depending on the size.

KitchenAid mixers are so passe. (And at $300 a pop, a pretty expensive counter accessory for those of us who don’t bake very often.)  At Cultured Girl, we’ve been won over by the Russell Hobbes Immersion Blender, sold at Williams-Sonoma for just $100. The handheld appliance doesn’t take up much room in your cabinets, and with its interchangeable attachments, it’s highly versatile, doing triple duty as a blender, a food processor, and a mixer. Better yet, it’s a hell of a lot easier to clean than the alternatives, and the blend setting is quieter and far more powerful than most countertop blenders we’ve tried, so you can make a morning smoothie without waking the whole house.

Most urban-dwelling 20- and 30-somethings I know shudder at the thought of someday moving to the suburbs. But with the housing prices as absurd as they are in cities such as San Francisco and New York, sometimes it seems that moving to a culture-starved, commute-tainted burg is inevitable. Fortunately, a new housing concept, dubbed the “new village,” could supply a very different vision for suburban dwelling. Spearheaded by community planners like Robert McIntyre, new villages would combine the density of urban downtowns with a small-town vibe —think walkable squares with farmers markets — alongside major commuter rail lines. In some ways the idea sounds a bit too pre-planned for me, but I also like the idea of suburbs without the sterile subdivisions and long commutes.

Having a big bouquet of fresh flowers in the house is great; having a mass of smelly, brownish vegetation after just three days is not. But by choosing flowers carefully and using a few simple tricks, you can exploit a single bunch of flowers for as long as two weeks. Here are a few pointers.

• Choose the sturdiest varieties. Some flowers just last longer than others. In terms of longevity, alstroemerias (like these from ProFlowers, pictured) are probably the best, which is why you often see them adorning the tables of restaurants. Daisies, carnations, and hydrangeas will also stay nice for quite a while.
• Opt for tightly closed buds. Particularly for shorter-lived flowers—such as stargazer lillies, roses, and tulips—buy buds that aren’t quite open yet and let them bloom in the vase.
• “Cut in” the stems. Before putting a batch of flowers in water, cut each stem at an angle with a very sharp knife.
• Keep the water fresh. Just as you would with a plant, keep adding water to the vase as the flowers soak it up. Every few days, dump the dirty muck and replace it with fresh water.
• Weed out the wilted ones. Instead of tossing a whole bouquet with a few brown blooms, pick out the troubled flowers and toss them, then transfer the ones that still look nice to a smaller, clean vase.

Last month we wrote about stick-on wall graphics from Vynil and Blik; now here’s another creative, commitment-free wall decor option (via Apartment Therapy San Francisco): Wallwords. The online store makes wall stickers (which are removable, but not reusable) with the words and phrases of your choice in a wide variety of typefaces. Simply input the phrase you want and chose the style, and they’ll send you the premade transfers. Sort of like a tattoo for your wall, the hard part is deciding what to get.

Unless you’re storing raw chicken or something, plastic freezer bags rarely get so tainted that they have to be tossed after one use. A little hot water, dish soap, and vigorous rinsing, and they’re ready to store something else.

The problem, however, is getting them dry. One clever trick I’ve seen involves stringing a mini-clothesline over the kitchen sink, then drying the bags upside-down with clothespins. Or, you can get a wooden plastic bag dryer for just $15 bucks and set it up next to your dish rack.

Aluminum foil and plastic wrap, however, aren’t as easy to reuse. But Treehugger today is featuring some more responsible alternatives, including recycled aluminum foil and reusable silicon food covers from the Natural Collection. (The covers also work a hell of a lot better than cling wrap, which just seems to get less clingy as the years go by.)

Another weird but brilliant idea that I learned from my mom. When staying at a hotel, be sure to take home the cheap plastic shower caps often found among the free toiletries. With their springy elastic, they make great resuable bowl covers.

Ever wondered what’s the best-selling item at Ikea? Or what really flies off the shelves at the overwhelmingly cool Conran Shop? For all the design-minded cultured girls out there, I.D. Magazine has uncovered the most popular items from a bevy of design emporiums, like ABC Carpet and Home, and manufacturers such as Kartell. You can see the results in this sleek slideshow published online at BusinessWeek. The winners range from the ubiquitous Umbra trash can (at left) to a $1,500 antler chandelier. It’s great idea fodder next time you need to buy a wedding gift that’s out of the ordinary but has mass appeal.

Bamboo cutting boards are sprouting up everywhere, prompting many cultured girls to wonder: What’s the advantage of using bamboo versus traditional wood? The cutting surfaces from companies like Totally Bamboo are undoubtedly cool-looking, but they’re also more durable—about 16 percent harder than maple, the wood most commonly used in cutting boards. The even bigger selling point, however, is that bamboo plants grow like weeds, so it’s a more eco-friendly option than wood. According to Totally Bamboo, the grass “grows to a harvestable height of 60 feet in about 3-5 years, growing as much as 2 feet per day.”

Plates and bowls made from bamboo, like these from Smith & Hawken, are also a great alternative to plastic and styrofoam dinnerware used at picnics and barbecues. Lighter than ceramic plates but just as reusable, the biodegradable products are also cheap enough to toss when they’ve seen too many summers.

One of the things I find most frustrating about apartment-living is not being allowed to paint. So I really love the idea of these stick-on decals that make a mural out of any boring white wall. If you move or get sick of the designs, you can just peel them off. For playful, poster-sized decals, there’s Blik, a company with a neat little story you can read about in Business 2.0. And Apartment Therapy just turned me on to the mod graphics of Vynil (pictured), which are more mural-like designs created by individual artists.

Perhaps it’s their unpredictable nature, or because I grew up in hurricane-prone Texas, but ever since I moved to San Francisco I’ve had a strange fascination with earthquakes. The only problem was, while I could easily name the deadliest earthquake in history (Shaanxi, China; 1556) or the number of big quakes in California since 1700 (76), up until last week I could not say I was the least bit prepared if “Big One” hit.

Thank goodness for Target–the only retailer I know that could make emergency preparedness both hip and affordable. I briefly considered putting together a kit myself, but Target’s stylish pack is pretty hard to beat at $30. Created in partnership with the Red Cross, it contains most of the essential gear–everything from tweezers to a radio–you’ll need in the event of an emergency (it also comes with a list of necessary items not included). Plus, if you order by the end of August, Target will donate $10 from your purchase to the Red Cross.