In the Kitchen with Laurie Zalk

Laurie Zalk, the former longtime owner of Our Daily Bread and a brave, brave soul, has her work cut out for her. She’s leading a group of six middle-aged guys in an afternoon she’s billed Men Only: There’s Nothing to Eat in the Fridge.

Want to read the rest then do so at the Independent's site.

Iron Efficiency

As you might guess, everything is bigger in Texas, from political disasters (howdy, Dubya!) to cast iron pans molded into the shape of the Lone Star State. That's 30 pounds of pan, outweighing California 3-1 and costing $2,500 compared to $1,500. Seeing that price you might feel as if you just got hit in the head by one of these beauties, but they aren't just functional, they're art, and they can teach you some geography to boot (plus depress you if you live in Colorado or Wyoming and therefore merely rate a rectangle). These are the work of artist Alisa Toninato of FeLion Studios, and you can go look at the rest, even if you're not up for cooking that 4-egg upper and lower peninsula Michigan omelet quite yet.

Alas, it's only a set of the Continental 48 states--Hawaii and Alaska didn't pan out.