Siren

Words fail me, so go here for the story. I await your comments.

Inspired by James Bond

Gadgets and gimmicks ex-Formula 1 racing driver, Sir Stirling Moss, calls the super amazing, ahead-of-their-time features of his early 60s home in Mayfair, London. Need to relax? Sit in the den and access the TV behind the paneled wall. Hungry? Press a button and a table descends in front of you with dinner laid out. Want a relaxing bath? Another button fills your tub while you finish watching that TV programme. Too tired to climb the stairs? Step into the carbon-fiber elevator designed by the Williams racing team and be whisked to your destination. Super-efficient and super cool, too.

Pulverise It

When we were at the MoMA recently I professed interest in one of these and instantly I had two people fighting to buy it for me. Isn't that nice?
I'm usually a "smack a couple of cloves with the blade of a knife, then finely chop" girl but I loved the shape of this Garlic Crusher from Dutch designer Ineke Hans, and the weight, too. Seriously, this thing is heavy. Were you to drop it on your bare toe or bring it down upon the head of your loved one during the course of a disagreement over, for example, the best way boil pasta, you could inflict some major damage. Use with caution, that's all I'm saying.
Anyway, I've been cooking with garlic a lot this week, Spanish food, pasta with garlic and olive oil and Thai Prawn and Noodle Soup, and I've found this crusher much easier on the hands than the back of knife when dealing with 6-8 cloves of garlic at a time. Bash, peel, roll and voila pulverised garlic. And the handles, when rinsed, really do absorb the smell.
I hesitate to call something this simple and good-looking a gadget but it's proving very useful and I'm glad I made room in the kitchen drawer for it. $25 from The MoMA Store.

Iris

There are hundreds of species of Iris and they one of the most recognised garden plants. Not only beautiful but useful too, the dried rhizomes, orris root, are used in medicine, perfume, gin and as an ingredient in the Moroccan spice mix Ras el hanout.
Iris was the Greek Goddess of the rainbow and the iris comes in hues of blue and yellow, red and even white. The yellow flower is the symbol of Brussels, you see it everywhere there, on public transport, outside hospitals, they even held La fête de l'Iris at the start of May this year, while the fleur-de-lis was the symbol of the French monarchy until the Revolution put an end to that. And the government of Quebec has Iris Linné as its emblem.
These gorgeous blue Iris (Iris Germanica?) came from Trader Joe's on Long Island. They are The Guy's favorite flower, but we don't buy them often because they fade so fast. Luckily, we have this photo and a blog on which to post it, so enjoy!

New rules

A little snippet of conversation after the accident yesterday:
The Guy: I thought you were holding the ladder
Me: You told me to let go
The Guy: Oh, you should never do anything I say

New rules for The Cool House, nay for our whole relationship from now on:
I will ignore all instructions and advice that The Guy offers and he will DO EVERYTHING I SAY. The world will be a safer place this way, trust me.

What's Your Name?

For those who want to know a little more about me - like my real first name, check out One Project Closer today. You should go visit anyway because they have lots of helpful tips. I'm sure if they'd had one on ladder etiquette I wouldn't be bruised right now...

The Guy's Revenge

There have been a few comments - not on the blog - to the effect that The Guy is treated quite badly at The Cool House. His supporters say he's always gardening, or up a ladder or even banished to the roof but he never gets to do any of the cool stuff like mix cocktails or choose the music. Poor Guy. Well, fans of The Guy, today he got his revenge.
We were filling the carpenter bee holes when he had to adjust the 16' ladder, which he accidently let slip onto my head.
There's a reason you aren't supposed to walk beneath a ladder. Or stand under it for that matter. Posting will be resumed when my head stops hurting.

Modern Art or.....

What is it?


Maybe if we look at it from a different angle...


Hmmmm. Does anybody know?
The clue is it has something to do with staining the redwood siding. And that it's taken us a couple of weeks to put on a second coat....

Coming Out: the Carpenter Bee edition

Since I spotted this hole two weeks ago we've sprayed it and waited...


Day 1: Nothing to see here. Wait, what's that in the top left arc of the hole?


Day 3: That looks like a wing to me.


Day 5: And that looks like the shiny hard abdomen.


Day 7: Empty - the bee has flown, or died and dropped down inside somewhere.


Either way there's no sign of bee activity so we can caulk up the hole and maybe call an end to bee maintenance 2008.

It's Cocktail Time (again)

The quintessential British summer drink: Pimm's. There should be Borage but I can't find any on the Island so I'm making do with cucumbers. And they're not even proper English cucumbers but something called a Mediterranean cucumber. Looks like a pickle to me. This is some bastardized version of a beloved summer drink.


Why is Polly gazing down the garden path, you ask? She can see the road from there and she's hoping someone will come along to share the cocktail. I hope they're bringing food, too.


One non-authentic but nevertheless perfect* Pimm's
1 part Pimm's No.1
3 parts 7UP or Sprite
sliced cucumbers
sliced lemons
pared lemon peel to dangle over the rim of the glass in a fancy way (optional)

*I actually don't feel this is strong enough to qualify as a real cocktail so I add a measure of my new favourite gin, Miller's, which tastes more of cucumbers than even Hendricks, to each glass. Drink responsibly!