Soapstone – What’s Old is New Again

By Steven V. Philips - For counters and sinks, soapstone is making a big comeback. In the April issue of F&M, I credited the renowned Professor Soapstone from Vermont Granite, Marble, Slate AND Soapstone, as the expert who answered my antique soapstone sink construction question. I might note that this inside information crowned me as Old Sink Expert at Flavors & More. Time for my raise. Note: “old” means sinks, not...

Let This Sink In

By Steven V. Philips - As a wee tyke, in the summers I’d get to stay at Grandpa Philips’ farm in northern Connecticut. They lived in a late 1800s farmhouse. It had an outhouse, but the kitchen was inside. Equipped with a cast-iron wood (really) burning stove. Ceiling grates allowed heat into the bedroom overhead, which allowed hearing what the adults might ambush me with tomorrow. I was a true frontier child. In...

Restaurant Trends Destined for Your Kitchen

By Marsha Fottler - If you eat out a lot, and we food writers do, various trends begin to emerge in restaurants both haute and humble. Eventually, the best of them work their way into your kitchen so trend spotting in restaurants is something well worth your time. Some of these trends are on the menu, others have to do with ambience and service. A lot of trends lately have reflected a deflated economy, declining guests at...

Special Tool Delivery – Mailbox in the Garden

By Steven V. Philips - The Philips Estate is quite extensive and I am quite forgetful. OK. Only the latter is true and due to that, I often found myself out in the garden being sneered at by a suddenly crazed weed or a dead branch that appeared since sunrise. Really, just since sunrise. It was a daily mocking. Pruning shears or the weed spray or that lethal weed digger thing have always been back in the tool shed. Or...

Kitchen Equipment Trends

By Marsha Fottler - Moroccan cooking is having a moment. It happens every few years because the cuisine of Morocco is always delicious and fairly accessible to home cooks now that global spices are available in local markets and online. When each renaissance occurs, this culinary trend always creates a product demand for the tagine. Whether or not you’re an expert in North African cooking, a tagine is a cool thing to have in...

Open and Shut Case

By Steven V. Philips - Kitchen knobs, pulls and handles. They’re all supposed to help you easily open doors, drawers or cabinets. There are probably more variations on this hardware item than there are TV cable options but, like the buggy-whip channel, some are more appropriate than others. The best knob or pull is one that you can use with either hand, or even better, one finger. And easily useable from the top,...