Q: My boyfriend’s cottage has the sweetest vintage stove I’ve ever seen. The only problem is that the oven is limited to two settings: high and off. The only way to regulate the temperature is by opening the door until the oven cools down, and then closing it until it gets too hot again. 

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Herb Grinder from Danny Seo

• $7
• HomeGoods

I'm so intrigued by this little grinder from Danny Seo. It's made of recycled steel and is designed to grind fresh or dried herbs for homemade pastes and rubs. I'm curious to see what else it could do, too - and all for a much better price than a chopper or mini processor. It's sold at Marshall's, TJ Maxx, and HomeGoods.

I'd bet there's a pretty good chance someone in your family has a Stanley thermos stashed in the basement, or out in the garage. Although this 100-year-old company has been making durable outdoor food gear for over a generation, it's back in the spotlight thanks to the Americana/nostalgia trend of recent years. But lest you think they're still only making that mottled green design, you'd be wrong! Stanley has updated with the times.

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We know that fresh fava beans can be a pain to prepare (...or maybe not), but once we've got the pesky little things, what do we do with them? I've got an idea or two that will make shelling a bunch of fava beans worth the trouble.

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When traveling to another country for the first time, one of the first things I like to do is pop into a grocery store. Grocery stores are often the only places open in the wee hours of the morning after stepping off a transcontinental flight, and they offer an immediate peek into the real flavor of life. When I was in London a few weeks ago I found the supermarkets impressively glossy and dizzyingly well-stocked. I know we have a lot of readers in the U.K. so I wanted to ask you what you think of your grocery stores. Where do you shop most? 

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It's a bit of a puzzle, but for some reason wall mounted dish racks are hard to find here in the US, despite the fact that they are very common in Europe and in Great Britain in particular. Perhaps our lack of exposure to this clever and attractive way to store dishes has kept demand down? With open-shelved kitchens all the rage right now, this might just be the moment for us to wise up. Luckily, a few forward-thinking shop owners have us covered with three very different approaches to the wall mounted dish rack.

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Spiced Edam from Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company

• $7.99 for 8 oz.

Today's Daily Find comes from Emma: "Cheese is never a hard sell for me, but I found the idea of infusing this edam-style cheese with fenugreek seeds particularly intriguing. They add a nutty maple flavor that works well with the creaminess of the cheese itself. I love it on a cheese platter with thin rye crackers, roasted nuts, and dried fruit."

I have to admit, when I first saw these posters I didn't understand them because I'm not a big beer drinker. However my husband, who both enjoys buying and brewing his own craft beer, recognized the names of all these hops and declared the posters "very cool" indeed. So, there you have it. Educational art for (lovable) beer geeks!

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A spoon is a spoon, no? At first glance, Umbra's newest spoon looks ordinary: a basic wooden spoon with a black handle. But it actually has another purpose altogether. Care to take a guess?

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Red Metallic Snow Cone Maker by Waring

• $69.95
• Crate and Barrel

While I've always kind of wanted a snow cone maker (fresh fruit syrups over shaved ice, oh yeah) - this clean-lined shaved ice machine would go even farther in my kitchen. I'm thinking tiki cocktails and spiked slushies. Who's with me?

Item: Kyocera Ceramic Chefs Knife
Price: $69.95
Overall Impression: Lightweight and easy to care for. Excels at chopping hard vegetables and herbs.

The idea of a knife that stays razor-sharp for months — even years! — has a lot of appeal to me as a home cook whose knives seem to be in constant need of honing and resharpening. But a chefs knife has to wear a lot of hats in the kitchen, and I've always wondered how a lightweight, brittle ceramic blade would hold up when put to the test.

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When I'm traveling, it seems the easiest snacks to come by are sweet ones. What with baked-on-board cookies, go-to trail mix, and sweet fruits galore, it's easy to start feeling a little dizzy with all of that sugar and so little substance. I've found that the snack I want to keep at hand when I'm traveling is easy, filling, and savory. It's an avocado! 

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Maurice de Sully Kitchen Table from Peg and Awl

• $2000
• Etsy

I'm rather enchanted by this table, with black and white squares made from milk paint, on a table built of reclaimed oak from 19th century Philadelphia buildings. The price is heftier than I would like for such a modestly-sized table, but it's awfully pretty.

This week, a continued conversation about the best kind of cracker for cheese. Since I prefer serving cheese with bread, a cracker's got to carry a certain kind of special quality if I'm going that route. And these most certainly do. Surprisingly, though, I passed them by for years, not knowing exactly what they were all about.

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