GASTRONORMOUS

I love these martini glasses. They are the perfect combination of old-fashioned looks and new-fangled technology. According to the Sur La Table website, this crystal ware is fortified with titanium and zirconium (rather than lead) to help it resist chips and breaks. Plus! these are dishwasher safe! Betchya can’t say that for grandma’s Waterford. [$78 for a set of 6]

Years ago, after noticing my mom had recipe cards and recipes cut out from magazines and newspapers stuffed into several drawers in her kitchen, I decided to make her a catch-all recipe binder to hold all these fluttering bits of very useful paper. I bought a little 3-ring binder and a bunch of plastic photo sleeves and painstakingly drew pictures and stenciled headings for every page of the binder. It looked cute when it was empty, but the problem came when I noticed after a year or so that a folded-up 8×10 page of a magazine didn’t fit so well in the two 3×4 spaces provided in each page. (I must say I think my Mom loved the book I made, but between you and I, probably more for the thought and effort than the actually usefulness of it–though you’d have to ask her to know for sure.)

In walks TasteBook to resolve the sloppiness that ensues with a truly do-it-yourself recipe book. You can type in your own recipes, download your own photos, or use recipes and photos from a host of cooking websites (including, I was thrilled to see, Epicurious), pick your cover photo and recipe book title, and a beautiful, glossy binder-book full of your favorites is sent to your doorstep! Sure, this is not an effortless proposal, but would be a lot less effort than doing it totally from scratch, and will be a lot more user-friedly besides. Another great feature is that because it is in binder-form, you can add more recipes over time (up to 100).

Unfortunately, gift certificates are not yet available for the service, though you can purchase the book and have it sent to someone, then they can suppliment it with their own recipes. Overall, a neat idea! [$19.95--$34.95]