Kitchen Vogue: A Taste of Luxury
The guests are gone, the dishes done, and there’s yet another couple of days before Monday. I can’t help staring out my window at all the lovely parking available in our quiet, turkey-sedated city, but I’m avoiding the shops for now. The weekend after Thanksgiving is one my favorite times to stay in my pajamas and catch up on my reading. Forget award-winning novels or the latest treatise about the end of the world, though. For now, it’s all about fun and fantasy while browsing lifestyle porn rags like I.D. magazine, blogs like bLavish and the websites of local companies such as rose and radish.
For those of you still putting off your holiday shopping binge, here’s a short list of gifts for the lucky foodie in your life…
Drinks in Hand
Designer Jean-Marie Massaud created this ingenious, portable bar for the leather company, Poltrona Frau. Modeled after a classic steam trunk, the portable mixing station stands only 46 inches high and has discrete wheels, saddle leather exterior (your choice of 90 colors), walnut-veneer folding shelves, and enough chrome and glass to make it glitter beneath the chandeliers. Call one of the showrooms in New York, Miami or Washington, D.C. to order. $10,400.
Global Service
Munich-based Nymphenburg commissioned English designer Barnaby Barford for limited-edition, signed tableware to add to their 2007 line-up. His Global Service collection consists of 14 porcelain plates, each showing a different section of the globe. Available in three soft hues: turquoise, green and beige. Dandelion on Potrero Avenue might be able to reserve a set of the dinner plates for you, though they probably won’t arrive from Germany before the year’s end. $10,350 for the complete set.
My Coffee Maker’s Bigger Than Yours
From Dacor in South San Francisco, you can get your very own automatic coffee system to install in your kitchen wall. Once it’s hooked up to your plumbing system and programmed to your hot beverage specifications, it’ll grind, brew, steam, froth, and dispense upon command. It even makes tea and hot chocolate, but my favorite part is the integrated storage for keeping cups and saucers warm. Siemens also offers a built-in, fully programmable coffee system. Both companies request that you contact them for prices.
Grill Alert
Melding high-tech with the high life, Oregon Scientific came up with a gadget that geeky grill masters of the world can use with pride: a remote wireless temperature probe to signal meat doneness. It speaks in five languages, can sense up to 572 degrees F before passing out and can be programmed for all the basic animals: beef, lamb, veal, hamburger, pork, turkey, chicken and fish. As long as you don’t wander more than 330 feet away from your grill, you’ll be able to hear its verbal alerts of almost ready, ready or overcooked. Batteries not included. $60.
Braising with Bling
This premium quality, gem-studded pan from Fissler made an exclusive appearance last month at Harrod’s in London. The handles weigh in at just under one pound of solid gold and the diamonds number over 200. Your limited-edition pan will come complete with a high-class box made of rootwood and a document certifying exclusive quality. Fissler has already sent an application to the Guinness World Records’ office for the “most precious pot in the world.” $203,000.
Sinking into Style
To help take the edge off kitchen chores, install one of these laser-cut drain covers in your sink. Brazilian-Isreali designer, Joana Meroz of Ornamented Life appropriates flowered lace patterns to help evoke love and romance while you scrape and rinse. While you’re at it, get a nipple-shaped plug to cover your new, pretty drain. $86.
The Ultimate Dinner Cruise
There’s a listing right now on Classic Yachts for the Sierra Rose, a 2005 Finney yacht on Lake Tahoe. Though it measures a modest 86 feet, the architects were able to fit in a helicopter landing pad and an on-deck hot tub. You’ll be able to zip away from work and relax with comfort and ease. Of course, while you’re at the lake, you won’t need to sacrifice a good meal: “The Kitchen is a gourmet cook’s dream with granite countertops, three ovens, 4-burner Viking range with griddle, four under counter SubZero refrigerator and freezer drawers, ice maker, and two under-counter dishwashers…Storage is provided throughout the kitchen with mahogany-stained, raised-panel cabinets. Entertainment continues at the Stern, where a granite countertop extends from the kitchen through a large pass-through window to the Rear Terrace.” Call for a private viewing. Asking $7,000,000.
What’s on your fantasy foodie wish list?
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Category: Bay Area Bites Food + Drink
About the Author (Author Archive)
Thy Tran writes literary nonfiction about food, the rituals of the kitchen, and the many ways eating and cooking both connect and separate communities around the world. She co-authored the award-winning guide, Kitchen Companion, and her work has appeared in numerous other books, including Asia in the San Francisco Bay Area: A Cultural Travel Guide and Cooking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America. Her writing has been featured in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Fine Cooking and Saveur. A recipient of a literary grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Thy is currently working on a collection of essays about how food changes in families across time and place. Though trained as a professional chef, she works on cookbooks by day, then creates literary chapbooks by night. An old letterpress and two cabinets of wood and lead type occupy a corner of her writing studio, for she is as committed to the art and craft of bookmaking as she is to the power of words themselves. In addition to writing, editing, teaching and printing, Thy remains active in local food justice and global food sovereignty movements. Visit her website, wanderingspoon.com, to learn more about her culinary adventures.Subscribe
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