The coolest thing we saw this week - 07/01/08
By: LMP Editorial Team - January 11th, 2008
Dirt Devil’s two new cordless hand vacuums offer fingertip on and off control, a bagless dirt cup and a soft tip that’s easy on delicate surfaces. Here’s the exciting part – they were designed by style guru Karim Rashid, which means they do double duty as room décor. The Kone and Kurv vacs come in a range of colours, including oh-so-hot charcoal and chocolate. Prices start at an affordable $59.99.
For more info, http://www.dirtdevil.com/.
Matthew Lee isn’t surprised that Torontonians recently lined up to pay $220 for a pound of Esmerelda coffee beans, a coveted bean variety from Panama that’s often described as having “notes’ of jasmine and bergamot. It’s reflective, he says, of coffee’s elevated status as “the new wine.” 
Individual expression and decorative embellishment — emerging trends in home décor — are coming together right now in wall tattoos. These are easy to apply graphics, words and images for walls, often with pre-pasted or adhesive backing. And unlike tattoos for the skin, these appliqués are easy to remove, so one impetuous choice will not lead to a lifetime of regret.
Resisting refinishing because it requires hours and hours of sanding and stripping? Think again. Minwax’s new Polyshades is a one-step stain and finish product that takes a lot of the hassle out of refinishing. This new product combines rich stain colour and durable polyurethane protection, and can even be applied over an existing finish. Available in Mission Oak, Classic Black, and American Chestnut. For more information, go to 
Consumer choice is, in general terms, a good thing. Except when it means you’re presented with a mind-numbing array of options, as was the case when I recently set out to replace a beloved, but much battered, cooking pot.
Statistics show that 74.7 per cent of Canadians fantasize at this time of year about going to bed, pulling the covers over their heads and staying put until April. Okay, we made that up, but we’ll bet our 450-thread count, Egyptian cotton sheets that the number is pretty close to the mark. While it’s not healthy – physically or financially – to hibernate for six months, luxurious new bed linen will make it even harder to resist the urge to settle down for really, really long winter’s nap.
As electricity costs have risen over the years, and consumers have become more environmentally aware, the annual ritual of stringing coloured lights in and around the home to mark the holiday season has turned into something of a guilty pleasure. Sure they look beautiful, but those incandescent beauties are energy hogs.
pasta, fish, meat, eggs and poultry in minutes. No water is added – the food cooks by steam, which keeps its flavour and colour fresh. These bags stand up on their own base in the microwave (no spills!), and have a tear-off top. A package of ten sells for between $3.49 and $3.99 at major supermarkets. For more information, go to 
The downside is that they are not recyclable or reusable for steaming. But I’ve been washing them out, and using them for storing prepped vegetables and shredded cheese in the fridge. I personally won’t be using them to cook eggs – too rubbery – but I love the Shrimp Pad Thai Soup recipe that Chef Dennis DeRooy created for Glad. So much so that I’ve included it below.
Hands up if you hate vacuuming. Wait - is that a breeze we feel, or is it the whoosh of millions of female hands being hoisted into the air? Well, ladies, put down your arms and pick up a robot. The Roomba 560 is a robotic vacuum that cleans the floors when you tell it to, easily gets to hard-to-reach areas like under beds and coffee tables, automatically adjusts from carpets to hard flooring, and then returns to a charging station when it’s finished the job. We really, really want one…Check it out at