Penguin Soda Club

Saul and I drink a lot of sparkling mineral water. A lot. We tried to scale back because of the environmental impact, but it was all too often that one of us ducked over to the corner store to buy a bottle of Perrier (Gerolsteiner was our drink of choice, but buying it by the case at the grocery store was too committed for us).

So we thought we'd try the Penguin Soda Club, which adds a gentle to hearty dose of CO2 to your tap water. I don't know if the Penguin itself will last forever, and the CO2 cartridges are only good for about 60 liters, but that seems a lot less wasteful than buying 60 liters outright. The water tastes great (three blasts on the tank give you Gerolsteiner equivalency) and I like the glass bottles that come with the Penguin (the regular Soda Club machines give you plastic bottles). I'll report back if we have any problems with the sturdiness of the Penguin.

Hand-me-down Design

Just saw this post over on the Dwell Daily blog about Hand-me-down Design from Howies in Britain. They have a select line of durable, well-made (and very expensive) bags and jackets, the idea being that you could make them last through your lifetime and hand down to the next generation. I'm not a huge fan of the stuff they have on offer (will it really last long enough to hand down to your children? Would you want to?) but I like that companies are starting to think long term.

Sigg Water Bottles.

I've owned a sigg water bottle for more than 10 years and have probably drunk 1000 liters (or pints) of water from it. I think it could last another 10.
So for replacing disposable water bottles these seem like an obvious choice. I like the fact they don't change the flavour of the water the way plastic bottles do.

Chopsticks

This post about high-quality ohashi (chopsticks) on Treehugger caught my eye recently.

"The trend in the past few years is to design beautiful ohashi that users cherish and keep for a long time. These properly designed, award-winning wooden chopsticks feel wonderful in your hand, with a lovely balance. Perfect for just eating a little bite, little by little. If you like slow food, this is the only utensil you need."

I like the idea of everyone carrying around their pair of beautiful, handmade chopsticks--you'd never need plastic utensils for takeout again!

(Photo from Treehugger post--a traditional chopstick shop in Japan.)

Nihola Cargo Bicycle.

We fell in love with the Nihola cargo tricycle when visiting Copenhagen. Without doubt it is an expensive bicycle, but I like to think of it much more like a cheap car, or even a very cheap truck. The cargo carrying capacity is awesome, easily hauling 200 lbs or 100kg in the front bucket. It is extremely hard to get in the US - I had to import it myself. Hopefully something similar will emerge here. It is fun and practical and the best way to shop for groceries I've ever tried. When necessary we can even give each-other rides home in the bucket. I particularly look forward to having the baby carrier in the front, or perhaps two small chidlins' sitting on the provided seat (with seatbelt included). It is very sturdy, meaning the frame is not lightweight. It looks like it will last 50 years with minimal maintenance. We've had it a year now. So far so good.

Chantal tea kettle

The last time I visited my grandmother, she made me tea from a kettle that she bought when my father was born. Let me repeat that: when my father was born, well over 50 years ago. It's incredible! My parents burned through more kettles than I can count, but if they'd been a little less absent-minded, would their kettle have lasted?

When I moved to California four years ago, my mom bought me a beautiful Le Creuset kettle that I was confident would be my version of Grandma's. Le Creuset had a reputation for quality, and the white enamel was classic. Sadly, after about 6 months, I left the very full kettle on the boil for what was clearly too long, because the plastic pieces at the base of the handle melted through, leaving the handle to flop against the side of the kettle. Over the next few years, I tried to prop the handle up against nearby pots, but it got more and more cracked, and eventually I also noticed that little black specks were pouring into my tea from the inside enamel. Yikes! I did a little research on the web, and turns out that this is distressingly common.

For the next six months, Saul and I made tea from a saucepan while we waffled back and forth about what kettle to replace it with. We wanted to make sure this next one would last long enough to make tea with our grandchildren. This Chantal whistling tea kettle is our best bet.

Why we think it will last:

solid stainless steel with no enamel inside to crack, and a metal handle welded on to the body to boot. (It gets hot, so the kettle comes with a little custom potholder to cover the handle.) Check back in 50 years and we'll let you know how it's doing!