Internet Machete 002: Heavenly Hots, Homemade Pizza Ovens and More

0 Comments 31 January 2010Print This Post

Cutting through the jungle of the interwebs so you don’t have to.

Here’s what struck my fancy over the past few days. (PS: I bookmark links I love on my StumbleUpon account. You can check ‘em out there too, though I don’t usually write full overviews there.)

Food

Food Recipe Redux: Heavenly Hots, 1987 – My friend Tori Bortman just made these for her boyfriend Dan Sharps’ 40th birthday breakfast (with cardamom syrup!). My mouth died a few deaths from sheer deliciousness. Light, fluffy, amazing.

Recipe 2009: Heavenly Necci – The Italian version of Heavenly Hots. Haven’t made this yet but definitely planning to… chestnut honey,
chestnut flour… RICOTTA! Delightful.

Cast-Iron Skillet the Key to “Serious” Homemade Pizza – I’m in favor of anything that helps people make better pizza. And cast iron kicks ass. Read and conquer.

Build a Pizza Oven Out of a Weber Grill – As someone who daily covets Sal’s parents brick backyard pizza oven, this is something I just may have to try. Ghetto? Kind of. Brilliant? Definitely.

More recipes to stick in your mouth. Split Pea Soup, Easy Pico De Gallo Recipe, and edna mae’s sour cream pancakes

And one that’s especially close to home: Confessions of a Coffee-holic

Photo

BLUR: Weekend Photography Challenge – Blur photography challenge for the weekend. Kind of fun. If I get anything, I’ll share it here on Monday.

thewashingmachinepost :: velo club dardbeg :: robert millar :: societa colnago – My friend Dan Sharp is a kick ass photographer. And smart. And very kind. You can tell those things from this interview with WashingMachinePost. It’s good.

Afghanistan, January, 2010 – The Big Picture – More moving images from The Big Picture.

Nerd and Productivity

Project SIKULI – I’m a productivity nerd. SIKULI claims to enable you to “automate anything you see”. If this actually works, it could automate my entire life. Or at least some frequent computer tasks that annoy me. Either way, interesting idea.

How Not to Hurry – Great advice for slowing down in a crazy, crazy age.

30 Outstanding Commercial Wordpress Portfolio And Photoblog Themes - It’s easy to make sites look good these days. Stuff like this helps a lot.

35 Beautiful E-Commerce Websites – I’m always interested in how people are making the internets useful and beautiful. eCommerce sites are hard to get right and these are good sources of inspiration and ideas.

Download Over 150 Free Advanced PowerPoint Slides to Jazz Up Your Presentations – Do you know someone who still uses PowerPoint? Aside from consoling them and helping them seek help, you might pass this along to them. Many of my consulting clients use that wretched, evil, horrible program and I’m going to share this with them to help in their endless and pointless quest to make Power Point presentations dynamic and interesting. [As an aside, I think it's very appropriate that the title includes the phrase "jazz up". That's so power point, right? Just sayin'.]

feedly: a magazine-like start page – So, back to beauty and productivity and usefulness. Day in and day out I have observed my Google Reader feed and wondered to myself, “This works so well. This does exactly what I need? Why does it have to be so painfully ugly?“ Apparently, the people behind feedly were thinking the same thing, because they went and made my Google reader feed look downright sexy. Dear Feedly, I LOVE YOU.

Fun Stuff

$2000 homemade airplane – This one is for Sal. Who loves and hates airplanes. And might actually want to make this. (Please don’t, baby.)

Very Cute Jacket+Bookmarks by Igor “Rogix” – These aren’t very practical, but they sure are cute. I would like to see some made for “The Road” and “The Rider”, two of my favorite books ever.

Bicycle History: A Book Review – A brief history of things that happened in cycling over the years. Looks brilliant, already on order.

Make A Viking Shield From A Wine Barrel -Everyone needs a viking shield. Now you can make one with that old wine barrel you have lying around.

Design

30 Designers 1 Question – Where are you most inspired? – Thinking about place as inspiration is really interesting, especially considering my temporary relocation to the desert.

5 Simple Tips for Improving Designer-Client Relationships – Client relationships are important and you’re nothing without good ones. Unfortunately, I see (and sometimes work with) so many creatives fucking this part of their business up it makes cringe. Don’t just be brilliant, be professional – foster good relationships, be a team player, and learn how to manage your stuff.

The Sartorialist: On the Street….After YSL, Paris – The Sart in general is magnifico, but this cupid-lipped beauty really feels inspiring. The mix of colors, the jade, the sunglasses. So I don’t wear fur. Who cares? It’s a texture thing, which can be solved in other ways. Bravo.

Beautiful Helvetica Inspired Artworks (Fanart, Posters, Wallpapers & Icons) - Oh, Helvetica. I love and hate you and love you again. In this instance, love.

Writing

OneLook Reverse Dictionary – Reverse dictionary helps you think of words by putting in phrases related to intention. Will also dig up a big pile of examples of things like “desert flowers” or “white food”.

Greek and Latin Roots A handy list every now and then – great for thinking about sound, meaning, intention and connotation when working on naming projects.

Postscript: J. D. Salinger: Back Issues : The New Yorker – We lost Salinger and that makes me sad. Cheer up by reading some of his old pieces for the New Yorker. Bonus: quaint, old magazine layouts and kitschy ads. You’ll need a digital subscription to view these.