Everything’s so, like, pink and sparkly
SORRY, moms and dads, but it’s true: Target’s new Stuff by Hilary Duff Home Collection -- including bedding, string lights, beaded curtain, “plush doorbell,” lamp and mini-stool -- may soon be appearing in bedrooms down the hallway.
Push the heart-emblazoned doorbell puff, or plug in those string lights and brace yourselves for uber girly, Pepto-Bismol pink, and for stars -- representing stardom, we assume -- on every viable surface. Duff’s inscription, too, is everywhere.
“People on the street don’t usually want to talk to me. They just want my autograph,” says Duff from a Toronto movie set. “My signature just made everything a little more personal. Like, it’s something from me.”
When that bedroom door finally cracks open, you might notice various not-so-subtle changes in your ‘tween: She may be wearing a blue-and-red striped velour skirt (courtesy of the Stuff by Hilary Duff clothing line) and have pink or purple nails and lips that give off an appropriately saccharine “sugar-candy scent” (courtesy of Duff-brand cosmetics). Don’t be surprised if Duff provides the soundtrack for this unveiling: “every day is a transformation / every day is a new sensation ... “ (the title track of her triple-platinum CD, “Metamorphosis”).
Put-upon parents might point out that the real Duff decorates more tastefully. Says Duff of the new L.A. mansion she shares with her family: “It’s Mediterranean, lots of arches, very open. We each have our own wing. I want mine to be Moroccan.”
-- Steven Barrie-Anthony
Soft light and abstract culture
FOR those who’ve ever wanted to make off with a Henry Moore or a Jean Arp at UCLA’s Murphy Sculpture Garden, but have been intimidated by their size, lack of practical utility or the likely prison sentence, Therien & Co. offers a lawful alternative.
The new “Leeds” lighting line consists of four lamps, each drawing its inspiration from midcentury abstract art. Take the Eclipse Table Lamp (with 21-inch diameter linen shade): Its cylindrical shape, cutout and hollows make for an interplay of light and shadow, and its aged silver gilt finish brings to mind not only a Constantin Brancusi burnish but Walt Disney Concert Hall. Priced at $2,175, at Therien & Co., 716 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 657 4615.
Andrew Myers
A pan that’s a piece of cake
The new silicone bundt cake pan from Lekue ($13.95) is the most Jane Jetson-worthy device since her instant food computer. This space-age nonstick food mold in cobalt blue is not only fun to use, but easy to clean and makes storage a cinch.
Used by commercial chefs for a few years now, silicone ware has stormed the culinary world with its wildly colored palette of cookware. Developed for its safety and temperature adaptability, the soft, bendable silicone material can go from freezer to microwave to oven to sink, then roll up and neatly tuck away in a drawer, saving space for all those more cumbersome metal pans and appliances. And don’t worry about ruining the form when storing it rolled up. Silicone has a “memory” that restores it to its original shape.
Bundt pan aside, you’ll find a plethora of silicone products in every color imaginable to add to your cooking collection. Find them at any Sur La Table store (Santa Monica, Pasadena or at the Farmers Market in Los Angeles), or visit www.surlatable.com.
Tim Sanchez
Grounds for your garden
NEXT time you brew that morning coffee, don’t toss the grounds. They can be put to good use again -- as a gentle jolt in the garden.
“Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, but don’t overwhelm your plants,” says Ventura County UC farm advisor Ben Faber.
“As mulch, a thin layer of grounds is OK, but it’s even better to mix them with a woodier product, such as shredded bark or leaves,” Faber adds. “They’re great in compost.”
Old coffee grounds are also essential additions to a worm bin, if vermiculture is your thing. The little wigglers love the stuff.
Baristas are recycling their regular and decaffeinated detritus too. Starbucks donates its used grounds to schools and parks, and offers bagsful free to customers.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf recycles the burlap bags that the beans are delivered in and distributes spent grounds to gardeners from its Camarillo roasting facility (bring your own bucket); the excess grounds are trucked away by a local organic composting firm.
-- Lili Singer
