Automoblox Toy Cars

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

I am very lucky that my child was a boy, because now I can buy toys for myself and tell everyone that they are for him. Certain toys just seem to combine quality, good design and play value that makes them appeal to boy children of all ages (and girls, too, of course) . When I first saw Automoblox toy cars I knew immediately that they would be great to have around and that my son and I would have fun on the floor playing with them. They have only been available since 2005. Automoblox Toy Cars appeal to very young children, who can push them around and not swallow tiny parts. Older children can take them apart and make custom cars out of more than one. The company has a great business plan: the more cars you buy, the more fun you can have taking them apart and recombining them as stretch limos or what have you. They are a bit pricey at $40 each, but the company also makes a full line of Minis that are much smaller but only cost a third as much. A great gift; they even have that handmade by elves look lacking in so many Chinese-made toys.

Affordability: 6 (but I’d give the Minis more like a 9)  Luxury: 8

Available from Amazon or check out the company’s own site.

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Rain-X Windshield Washer Fluid

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

Back in my motorhead days, when I read Road and Track and Car and Driver every month, I would always see the ads for Rain-X, the “Original Glass Treatment,” in the little yellow plastic bottle. The Invisible Windshield Wiper. Did it work? One of my friends, a mechanical engineer, recommended it, saying, “You can pass a truck at 70 miles per hour in the pouring rain and still see perfectly.” He was right; it made a huge difference. The water drops would bead up and roll off the windshield like little drops of mercury. It made driving in the rain much less stressful. In fact, the faster you drove, the better it worked. You could put the wipers on the intermittent setting and they would lazily flick the beads away every so often and leave the windshield perfectly clear. There was a catch, of course: every 30 days you would have to reapply it. Clean the windshield thoroughly, apply the Rain-X, let it dry to a haze, then buff it out like wax. Worked so very well the first few days that you tried not to use the wipers, the washer fluid, or God forbid, let an overzealous service station jockey clean “stuff” off your windshield. All that would only hasten the day when you would have to do all that work again. Now I don’t don’t do any of that anymore, I just fill the fluid reservoir with Rain-X De-Icer Fluid and use the wipers and washers as much as I want. All of the pros and none of the cons.

Affordability: 9                  Luxury: 9 (I really like this stuff)

Available from Amazon or most any auto parts store

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Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

“Would you like to let that wine breathe for a few minutes, sir?” says the server at the white tablecloth restaurant, meaning that the wine in the neck of the bottle is supposed to mix with the air and the whole bottle will taste better. A myth based on the fact that wine does taste better when properly aerated, but that means you have to take the trouble to pour it out into a decanter, which is a pain. The Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator is the right kitchen accessory for the job; it looks great sitting on the counter, and feels right in your hand, too. Just hold it over the glass and pour the wine through. Plus it’s easy to clean: rinse it out after every use and run it through the dishwasher whenever necessary. It makes a pleasant slurping/hissing noise while it’s working, which adds to its charm. It can be a little messy, and if you’re too impatient and pour too fast, it can be a lot messy. So watch what you’re doing. It comes with a mesh filter in the top and a handy rubber stand to hold it afterward and prevent drips. Does it work? Yes. But you don’t have to believe me. Just taste the first glass you pour, before and after the wine goes through the aerator. If you don’t like what it does, you can send it back, but you won’t want to. It’s one of the best $25 purchases I’ve made in a while.

Affordability: 9                  Luxury: 9

Available from Amazon.

Want more luxury? This is pretty much it. There are cheaper imitations out there and you can get a stand for this one, but I think it’s fun to hold it in your hand while you pour.

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Roger Vivier Chips Flats

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Daisy B

Roger Vivier Chips FlatsOn a hunt for a different shoe by the same designer, I found the Roger Vivier Chips Flats years ago and fell in love with them.  IN LOVE.  As in, “IF I BUY THESE I WILL NEVER LOVE ANOTHER BLACK FLAT.”  Sure, that was in the real estate-booming, pre-recession Aughts, when spending $600 on a pair of ballet flats didn’t seem quite the extravagance it does today, but even in today’s recessed, depressed economy, where spare change can be hard to accumulate, these shoes are a bargain at about the same price, give or take $100, as I paid four years ago.   They come in many colors and hides, and they are an  uber-chic, comfortable, versatile classic — glamorous with jeans, stylish with pantsuits, even sexy with skirts — that you will wear everywhere and with everything.  Your friends will be jealous — and after all, isn’t that what a fabulous pair of shoes is all about?

P.S.  What really makes these shoes an affordable luxury, even at their price, is that they DEMAND attention.  Year after year, shoes have tiptoed, stomped, even run into my closet, only to land in the next year’s Goodwill donation bag, but not these.  These won’t go.  They won’t even leave my feet.  Per weekly wear their price over time, to date, is a mere $3 — now LESS than your Starbucks latte and far better for your figure!
Roger Vivier Chips Flats
About $600 at Roger Vivier, 750 Madison Avenue (at 66th)
(212) 861-5371 

or at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

http://www.rogervivier.com/en/#/stores

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Johnny Beard Fireplace Bellows

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

It’s starting to get cold in North America, and that means if you have a fireplace, you’ll want to have fires. After a few nights of hyperventilating by blowing into the fire, I knew a fireplace bellows was a necessity, not a luxury. But now which bellows? The quick, cheap and easy thing to do was get the usual Chinese-made product from my local chain store. But no, I didn’t want to do that. Cheap, yes, but eventually it would wear out and get thrown out, or tossed in the dumpster if I ever move somewhere without a fireplace. Johnny Beard, a real person from Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been in the bellows business for over 30 years, and he has gotten pretty good at it. He makes a wide assortment of fireplace bellows for every taste and price range, and his customer service aims to please. I accidentally ordered the wrong one, and when I called, he answered the phone himself and personally changed it for me. Order up ’til two weeks before Christmas if you want to give one as a gift. I went for the one in the picture, the Pennsylvania Pine, one of the lower-priced models. It evokes nineteenth-century Pennsylvania Dutch design and has a romantic heart-shaped intake hole. You may prefer something different; there are plenty to choose from. Check them out online here.

Affordability: 6                   Luxury: 9

Want more luxury? Don’t have to go far. The Johnny Beard Special Editions are as luxurious as you could want.

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Palomino Blackwing Pencil

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

The Blackwing pencil is back! We have all mourned the original, the famous Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 pencil, generally considered to be the world’s best and sent to an early grave when the company discontinued them in 1998. They could be had on eBay for about $35 each; making them an unaffordable luxury for anyone who really wanted to write enough that they would need to sharpen away their $35 pencil. California Republic, the company responsible for the Palomino, has acquired the rights to the Blackwing and are now producing their own version, the Palomino Blackwing. It looks more or less the same and has all the writing quality and the unique good looks of the original. Writes a beautiful smooth black line and smells like fresh cedar when you sharpen it. And you know it’s the world’s best pencil: after all, it’s a Blackwing. A steal at $19.95 for a box of a dozen from Pencils.com.

Affordability: 10                Luxury: 9

Want more luxury? If you can tell the difference, there’s some of the original Blackwing 602s around. They are too good to use, so they still exist …

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Lumotec LED Bike Light

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

Most LED bicycle headlights do seem to have fairly long and complicated names, and I wanted everyone to know that this post is about LED bike lights generally. That title is a real mouthful, no doubt about it. LED bicycle light technology has come a long way since halogen bulbs first became available – if your ride was too long, the halogen bulb might very well use up the batteries in just that one ride. The days are getting steadily shorter and Daylight Savings Time ends in a few weeks, on November 7th. I wanted a bright LED light to use with my Dymotec 6 sidewall generator, and something that would not be too futuristic for my Raleigh 3 speed. After checking out all the many lights and all the information on Peter White’s excellent Web site, I went with the Lumotec IQ Cyo Plus. Lightweight, classic styling, very bright and easy to mount right on the front fork bolt. It meets the German standards and has a standlight: electronics that keep it lit for a few moments when you have to stop. It’s the same light that was mentioned in the Lovely Bicycles! blog last month. There are a lot of bike lights out there, but I like this one the best. Most of them all seem to cost the same amount, about $100.

Affordability: 6                    Luxury: 8

Want more luxury? The Supernova E3 Pro is pretty nice.

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Cocomotion Hot Chocolate Maker

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

It’s true that making good hot chocolate can be a little too much work, and skilled work at that. If you are using luxurious hot chocolate like the MarieBelle Aztec from my previous post, you really have to stir to make sure the little bits of chocolate melt and get thoroughly mixed into the milk. Then there’s the problem of making sure the milk gets hot enough, but doesn’t reach the boiling point: almost but not quite. The technological solution to these problems is the Mr. Coffee Cocomotion Hot Chocolate Maker. I never even knew there was such a machine, but once I tried it, I knew devoting a little counter space to it was a must during cold weather. Add the chocolate, pour in the milk, turn it on and you’re done. It does all the heating and mixing  and keeps stirring the perfectly smooth hot chocolate until you are ready to pour some into a mug. Easy to clean; just put in some soapy water, run it for a few seconds, then rinse. It more or less washes itself.

Affordability: 9                   Luxury: 9

Available from Amazon

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MarieBelle Aztec Hot Chocolate

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

The weather is changing here in most parts of North America, and we are turning our thoughts to ways to keep warm. Curling up under a blanket, starting a fire in the fireplace, taking warm baths – all the things that you don’t miss in the summer become the luxuries you don’t want to miss in the fall. And of course there’s hot chocolate – warm, sweet and giving the comfort of chocolate to the true chocolate lover. You can just pick up a box of Swiss Miss at the grocery store. You really can, it’s not against the law. But then again, if you are going to take the time to make it yourself, heating up the milk and pouring it into a cup, then why not drink real hot chocolate, not hot cocoa? MarieBelle is Colombian chocolate; it doesn’t even have any cocoa powder in it. Just tiny pieces of 63% cacao that you dissolve (melt, really) in water or milk. You can go to the boutique in New York’s SoHo or your neighborhood Williams-Sonoma.

Affordability: 7                   Luxury: 9

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Scrapbook Tape

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Maxwell Perkins

OK, now you have decided you want a Hannibal tape dispenser or a Black and Blum tape dispenser. A beautiful, well-designed tape dispenser is on your desk and you are going to spend your valuable time taping torn books and other important papers. So are you fixing them temporarily, and years from now expecting to put up with cracking and discoloration? No, you are fixing them permanently. That’s the whole point. Anything worth fixing with clear tape is worth fixing with archival, acid-free scrapbook tape. That’s fixed for good. Unless you are just doing something temporary, like gift-wrapping a present. You can use regular tape for that.

Affordability: 9                    Luxury: 8

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