TRENDSPOTTING | by MOLLY MARTIN

I’VE GIVEN UP ON FOOD SUBSTITUTIONS, for the most part. Quickly abandoned the carob-for-chocolate movement ― not much fun for me there. After original Fresca, never really hopped on board the artificial-sweeteners train ― don’t trust ’em. Eventually realized through the low-fat and low-carb trends that I feel better when I eat a variety of real foods. Get more satisfaction from indulging in, say, some great chocolate.

SOURCE: TRUVIA.COM

But two sweeteners have gotten my attention recently, because both come from natural sources and also might have less of an effect on blood sugar. With my family history of Type 2 diabetes, I try to pay attention.

The first is agave syrup, derived from a succulent native to Mexico. It’s sweeter than honey, and although its calorie and carb counts aren’t far from sugar’s, for some reason it doesn’t seem to make blood sugar spike. Manufacturers, naturally, offer sugar-to-agave conversion charts and recipes.

The second, and I think more promising, is stevia. Also known as sweet leaf, the plant native to Central and South America has a long and sometimes controversial history , in part because it was not until December 2008 that the Food and Drug Administration granted two stevia-based products, Truvia and PureVia, the prized “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) status for use in foods.

Stevia’s big selling points? Much lower in carbs and calories than other natural sweeteners, and little apparent impact on blood sugar. Drawbacks? Slight licorice aftertaste (to me, a worthwhile tradeoff in flavored waters), and adapting it to recipes.

Since one of Truvia’s developers is The Coca-Cola Company, and one of PureVia’s is PepsiCo, you can imagine that I’m not the only one who sees some promise here.

CELEBRATIONS | by JEAN GALTON

WHEN EVERYONE DESCENDS ON YOUR HOUSE FOR THE SUPER BOWL, make these simple Barbecue Pork Buns. There’s no need to spend the day cooking and I guarantee they’ll be consumed in 2 seconds flat.

© ANGIE NORWOOD BROWNE

Barbecue Pork Buns
Makes 4 servings

3 cups grated green and purple cabbage
1/2 cup grated carrots
5 tablespoons cider vinegar, divided
2 teaspoons kosher salt or sea salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 teaspoon brown sugar, divided
1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch medallions
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1/3 cup bottled barbecue sauce
4 multi-grain hamburger buns, toasted

In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, 3 tablespoons of the vinegar, 1 teaspoon of the salt, 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper and sugar. Toss to mix and let stand while making the pork.

Stack 2 slices of the pork on top of each other and cut down through the stack creating 1/4-inch thick strips. Continue with the remaining pork until it’s all cut into thin strips. Place in a bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper.

Heat the oil in a heavy (cast-iron is perfect) skillet and warm over high heat. Add half the pork and cook, stirring, until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pork to a plate and repeat with the remaining pork.

Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring frequently until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the barbecue sauce, 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and the pork and toss until pork is warmed through. Place the bun bottoms on four plates and top with the pork, coleslaw and the bun tops.

DESIGN | by DEBRA PRINZING

ENJOY THE EVENING VIEWS WITH LANDSCAPE LIGHTING. Safety, utility and security are top reasons for designing an outdoor lighting system, according to Aime Lindsay, whose family owns Malibu-based Stone Manor Lighting. The functional use of outdoor lights is obvious, but Lindsay says the artistic use of illumination should also be incorporated into the garden’s overall design scheme.

SOURCE: STONE MANOR LIGHTING

“By lighting your backyard, you are adding hundreds, if not thousands, of square feet to your living space at night,” she says. “With the proper outdoor lighting, you can enjoy your garden in the evening and also make it appear more dramatic than it does during the daytime.”

Lindsay uses lighting to accentuate the best areas of her garden. She relies on warm-colored lights to add excitement and cool-colored lights to give the landscape a tranquil feeling.

Here are some of her design tips to inspire you:

• Path lighting: Usually low-impact (12- to 25-watt bulbs) path lighting is typically placed 10 to 12 feet apart, staggered to create pools of light that draw you along a path. It can illuminate walkways or highlight water features and falls.
• Area lighting: A grouping of lights or a hanging lantern used to illuminate a larger bed, border or small specimen tree.
• Wall lighting: A wash of light that sweeps along a vertical surface, such as a wall or fence. Sconces are the ideal type of fixture to throw a glow above or below (but not into) the eyes.
• Then there are lights you want to show off, like works of art. “The caveat in lighting has always been never to show the source,” Lindsay says. “But my lights are highly decorative in the landscape. Plus, the amber glow is pretty on plants.”

BACK TO BASICS | by JANNA LUFKIN

YOU KNOW HOW WHEN YOU FIND SOMETHING YOU LOVE, you just have to pass it on? I feel this way about certain tools in my kitchen.

IMAGE SOURCE: SURLATABLE.COM

Over the years I’ve come to realize that there are a few essential tools I just can’t live without. They make the time I spend in the kitchen that much more enjoyable.

Here are my top five must-have kitchen essentials:

• Parchment paper sheets. I buy them at the restaurant-supply store and use them for everything from lining baking pans to wrapping a gift.
• Microplane grater. It’s so easy to grate chunks of hard cheese or zest a lemon, and it saves your knuckles too!
• Oxo can opener. Once you have one of these, you’ll NEVER need another one. It easily and smoothly opens a can, and best of all it crimps the edges so you’re not throwing away anything sharp.
• White ramekins. I have about a dozen of them and use them for all kinds of things including for their intended use: baking lovely individual soufflés or puddings. I also press them into service nightly for food prep, and as wine coasters to keep a bottle ring off the dining table. They’re great for corralling little objects in drawers or cupboards, and are the perfect size for a butter dish.
• A good pepper grinder. If you buy a quality one, you’ll have it for life.

Day in and day out, I use these over and over again. I am thankful for their simplicity and functionality.

CELEBRATIONS | by KAT SPELLMAN

THERE ARE SO MANY REASONS TO THROW A PARTY: celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, those holidays, yadda yadda yadda. Come Super Bowl Sunday you can have another great reason to party beyond the standard seven-layer dip and brewskies. This year, party for a cause on game day.

Use this weekend’s 2010 Super Bowl Sunday gathering as a reason to support and fundraise for a special cause close to your heart.  Email your pals with an invite and include hyperlinks to the charity’s website ― letting them know they’ll be putting their Super Bowl money into a kitty for a cause this year. If it’s a local organization, invite a staffer to come talk to your guests.

On game day, set up a laptop on the buffet, playing a loop of videos from your chosen nonprofit’s website. Display brochures, photos, and print materials from the organization or create a storyboard “case study” to educate. Friendly betting always a given on game day? Then let guests know that if they’re the gambling type, wagers to support your charity are an excellent and fun way to donate.

For ideas on what nonprofit to select, peruse the Internet, poll friends and look through your neighborhood paper. A great one that’s all about promoting the fun of physical team sports while shattering stereotypes is the Special Olympics “Unified Sports Teams“. This program joins Special Olympic athletes with teammates without intellectual difficulties. Playing together, both discover the thrill of the sport, whether it’s basketball or figure skating, and while doing so prejudices are overcome and respect swells.

Party on. And pass the brewskie.

PASSIONS | by VALERIE GRIFFITH

DELICIOUS ONLINE WINDOW SHOPPING IN PARIS.

© iSTOCKPHOTO.COM

Faire du lèche-vitrines, literally “window licking,” is the French expression for window shopping. It’s what Parisians do in their free time – they stroll, stop, stare and dream. Women, men, even dogs do it. I once saw a chic petite chien, paws glued to window, salivating over a foie gras display.

If you’ve ever wandered the streets of Paris, you will perfectly understand the sentiment. From designer boutiques to patisseries, Paris’ windows dazzle. They’re playful, sensual, outrageous and exquisite. Like everything else French, window design is an art form and faire du lèche-vitrines expresses both an appreciation and desire for what is so beautifully displayed.

Can’t be in Paris at the moment? Do a little window licking online. Like their brick-and-mortar versions, these web destinations are by turns beautiful, très cool and inscrutable.

Here are four to sample. Before you surf, be aware of a couple of things: Most of the sites use Flash (download and install if you don’t already have it); let your intuition be your guide – these sites are highly interactive so click around and see what happens. There’s often an English version available; look for the British flag. French sites often are accompanied by looped music. If you find it annoying, turn off or mute the sound.

• Patrick Roger. Chocolate artist.
• Chantal Thomass. Lingerie goddess.
• Christian Louboutin. Shoe impresario.
• Musée du quai Branly. Museum of indigenous art.

CONNECTIONS | by CELESTE TELL

MY FRIEND CAROLYN SAID IT IS LIKE BIRTHING A BABY. Standing by the huge Thai-style Anagama wood-fired kiln that her husband Jim Stout built on Lopez Island in Washington State, we were helping with Jim’s annual kiln firing, which has become a community happening.

© JIM STOUT

The huge kiln even has a shape reminiscent of a pregnant woman. Made of bricks and steel and stucco, it takes on a life of its own as the temperature starts to rise. Expanding as the heat rises, bellowing smoke out the chimney, quieting as the hot ashes settle on the works of clay inside, we cycle with the kiln through its process over an intense 48 hours.

The process is earthy and physical, like childbirth. And like childbirth it has an organic momentum, and no two firings are exactly the same, even in the same kiln. Different types of wood. Different weather. What’s the temperature? More wood. Less wood. Morning shift. Afternoon. Evening under the stars. Making it through those dreaded-yet-peaceful graveyard shifts.

There is something primal about the fire, the heat, the way we gather around it. Forging physical changes to the clay inside and fusing we humans closer to each other and to the earth. Its pull irresistible. From raw clay, human creativity, fuel and heat: something new.

Somewhere along the line, in all our modernity and innovation, it feels like we’ve lost touch with where things come from. How we make things. But experiencing the firing provides a visceral connection to how things are made. It’s a primal human need. Like heat. Like fire. Like birth.

BACK TO BASICS | by MOLLY MARTIN

OUR OLD STOVE’S ELEMENTS NEEDED REPLACING AGAIN ― or so I thought.

Removed elements and drove to the appliance-parts store. Woman #1 said if the receptacles they plugged into were old, the new elements would keep failing. Easy to replace those receptacles yourself, she said.

© iSTOCKIMAGE.COM

Drove home. Got stove model number. Called store. Woman #2 confirmed they had replacement receptacles in stock. Feeling miserly, decided not to call an electrician and try it myself, first time. Enlisted husband’s help to make sure I didn’t electrocute myself. ID’d corresponding circuit breaker and switched it off. Turned element knob to confirm power was off. Removed one old receptacle.

Drove to store with receptacle. Man #1 looked up part, went into the back, returned with new receptacle. Looked different. He said it would fit.

Drove home. Checked that circuit-breaker was switched to off. Turned knob to confirm power was off. Installed new receptacle. Tricky. Finally fit at one end but not the other ― element didn’t push in far enough to nestle in drip tray. Called shop to confirm right part. Woman #3 said it should fit. Tried again. Called shop. Just closed, Man #2, said not open again until day after tomorrow. Turned power back on. Cooked dinner on one element.

Drove to store Monday. Talked with Man #1, who turned out to also be Woman #3 (high telephone voice), and apologized for giving wrong receptacle. I apologized for calling him a her. He found correct receptacles. Looked like the originals.

Drove home. Turned off power. Installed first receptacle. Turned on power. Worked. Forgot to switch off circuit breaker but luckily wasn’t electrocuted before remembering. Turned off power. Installed second receptacle. Turned on power. Worked.

Now, about those track lights that went out in the bedroom?

Called electrician.

BACK TO BASICS | by SHERRY STRIPLING

IF YOU’RE LIKE ME, AN AMATEUR PAINTER with no end to paint-worthy walls, you’ll take any help you can get. For what it’s worth ― and believe me nobody pays me to paint ―here are my favorite paint tools and tips. 

© iSTOCKPHOTO.COM

The 8-in-1 putty knife: I have used this versatile tool for putty, but I primarily use it for scraping. It pries up trim boards, tough plaster, nails. You can use the cut-out to remove paint from paint rollers. Rumor has it you can also use it to open beer.

Blue masking tape: Yes! My woes with pulling paint off as I remove masking tape are gone. You can also use this lightly sticking tape to outline where to put a flat-screen TV.

Quality paint: Frankly, you get what you pay for. I nearly choked recently when I paid $130 for two gallons of exterior paint and a quart of primer but I know it will last. Bonus hint: Find a paint store that keeps track of colors you’ve purchased.

Buy good brushes and take care of them: I’ll pay $25 for a good brush. I clean my brushes every night using a paintbrush comb and warm water or solvent (for oil-based paint). Retain the shape by drying the brush in its cardboard jacket.

Tools I’d like to try:

No-peel or peel-stop primer or a stir-in bonder-sealer-primer adhesion system. Priming is vital. Moisture is your enemy, so take care to paint in dry conditions, allowing time to dry between coats.

Bucket grid: Used to remove excess paint from brushes and other applicators before applying.

Accubrush XT edger or MX edger: I’ve only seen the video and read reviews, but I want one. Sells for $30 (MX) to $100 (kit with both) from Painthelpers through Amazon.

DESIGN | by KAT SPELLMAN

SOMETIMES THINGS LOOK, WELL, JUST MORE ELEGANT AGAINST A DARK BACKGROUND. It’s an easy DIY project and instant update that involves little more than a can of spray paint, a scrap of fabric or a repurposing of things you already have at home.

© iSTOCKIMAGE.COM

• Add visual import to household accessories, nature’s goodies and everyday items. Promote them to a simple thing of beauty by placing them in front of a blank dark canvas. Whether that’s a bulletin board sprayed black, a panel of fabric propped against a wall, or a tiny easel perched on a desk, you’ll look anew at a bundle of moss, a crocheted doily tea-stained with age, or a cancelled postage stamp steamed off an envelope.
• Choose a dark-hued tablecloth or leave that deep-toned wooden table bare for your next dinner party. Simple dinnerware and silver pops against the dark background, conveying a modern, clean feel that’s fresh.
• Transform an eyesore nook or hallway into an instant art gallery by painting it a rich, dark color and accessorizing it with sumptuous picture frames sprayed gold, silver or bronze. A little bit of gloss and sparkle will trick the eye making this once neglected spot a real gem.