While checking out this NYTime’s Interactive on Wednesday, part of their “Shopping with [fillintheblank]” series in the Home & Garden section, this bike rack really jumped out at me. It’s slim, it’s good looking, and it’s $13 on Amazon. We’ve talked about hanging bikes in small spaces before, but this one takes the cake at 10% of the cost of the Cycloc. You’ll probably need Da Vinci’s back tire tray as well for $6, bringing you another six away from $25 free shipping.

Image, Delta Cycle.

The night before last I was looking for a source for the Alessi juicer by Philippe Starck (below left) after recognizing it in one of the scenes in Food, Inc. The juicer appeared in the kitchen of Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and I was curious about how much it cost (answer, $90). The movie was great for so many reasons. You should see it; I hope it will change the way you think about food. I hope it will change the way you think about a lot of things. Enough with the seriousness, though. This post is here because you should also see this website that I found the juicer on! They have a lot of great stuff. It’s Emmo Home. Emmo is meant to spell out the sound of saying the letters M. and O. M.O. for Modus Operandi (so they say in their FAQ). But that’s not what matters. Check out all of these lovely things!

Juicy Salif Squeezer by Alessi, Kiwi watering can by Alessi, Bread Bag by Stelton, Salad Plant by Black + Blum. Images: http://www.emmohome.com/

p.s. They also carry the Cycloc Bike Rack by IC Design Group (featured here previously).

Living in a city with an IKEA (as opposed to the nearest one being 2 [2006-08] or 6 hours away [2005]) can be dangerous. I may or may not have been there twice in the last 14 days. I didn’t see any of these items when I was there last week… so they must be just coming in to stores. It’s about time they got some new napkin patterns!

Solig paper napkins, $0.99—$1.99

Dyning hammock in assorted colors, $29.99

I’m interested to see what the Dyning hammock is like in person. For its price, it would be lovely if it were light and squished up small so as to be camping-friendly.

And the trays! There are several new trays also part of the Solig line; the price is right too. We have one tray at home with a great black and white striped pattern, a gift from Sarah, that makes for fun food presentation. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to have a couple more?

Solig trays: Left, $7.99; Right, $4.99 each

Lastly, I almost forgot, there are new bags. I still like my ’05 beach bag best… mostly because it was purchased at IKEA Florence and because it’s just generally awesome, but these are pretty great patterns too. Below are the Solig gardening bags in three colors at $2.49 each and the new Solig beach bags at $1.49 each. This is why IKEA=Love.

All images: http://www.ikea.com/us/en

**Update: If you’d like to see the catalog pages check out AT’s “sneak peek” of the summer line.

We keep our bikes in the basement… but I wish we had two of these.

CYCLOC Bicycle Storage, $135 at Design Public and available in three four excellent colors.

*Image source: Design Public

I’ve talked before about trying to do good for the Earth. Maybe “Trashing the Fridge” is a bit extreme, so here’s something you are probably doing already: carrying reusable bags to your localorganicsustainable grocer. I’m big on reusable bags (as mentioned in the above post). Sometimes canvas totes, sometimes IKEA beach bags, sometimes nylon bags that can be squished into tiny sacks so as to fit absolutely anywhere, sometimes just regular paper sacks used again. When I find myself at the grocery  store *without* a reusable bag, I think about those tiny squished nylon pouches and feel a twinge of guilt. Why didn’t I just throw one of those in my bag assuming I’d be buying something somewhere that day?

Guilt-inducing aside, nylon sacks are great, but have you ever felt like a bit of a shoplifter carrying one around and throwing food in instead of using a basket or cart while you’re shopping? Maybe I’m out on a limb on that one, but just the same, handier still are these collapsible baskets. 

They do double duty—basket for shopping, basket for carrying the goods home. They take a little more forethought, true. But I assure you everywhere you go women (and men) will stop you and ask where they can get one too (this post is meant in part as a public service announcement). For those who regularly take the car to do the shopping, just keep them in the trunk!

If budget is not an issue, you can reliably find one at Garnet Hill’s website or through their clothing & home décor themed catalog. If you have a more conservative budget, try a trip to Marshall’s where they’re often available for $9.99. As always, you pay for what you get; the color choices at Garnet Hill are much more varied and so far it seems to be a steadily offered item. Reisenthel, the brand behind the Garnet Hill bags, offers a number of fun patterns as well. I also purchased the covers at Garnet Hill (to go w/ Marshall’s bought bags… bringing the total to $21/ea.).

And for your monthly (err, weekly) wine shopping, try Reisenthel’s 9-bottle carrier available from reusablebags.com. Trust me, you’ll be the talk of Trader Joe’s with this one.

Images: Garnet Hill (top 2), reusablebags.com (bottom)