Beloved sugar bowl and other 'good eats'

My "sweet" husband sent away for this fabulous sugar dish to surprise me last week and I just had to share a picture of it because I think every self-proclaimed foodie should have one on her countertop. I've been coveting these for about six years--ever since I discovered Alton Brown on Food TV and at the local library. Alton (we are on a first-name basis) uses these great flip-top dispensers to contain sugar, salt, baking soda--anything powdery. It's actually a Parmesan cheese server, I but I think it does its best work keeping moisture and critters out of my sugar while still keeping it within easy grasp for my morning coffee ritual.

Also part of last week's kitchen upgrade, N purchased a new chef's knife and paring knife to replace our aging ones and they are astonishingly the sharpest cutlery pieces I've ever owned. Upon recommendation from Cook's Illustrated, he bought these great, cheap tools from Forschner.

So what have we been concocting in our kitchen with these nifty tools? Our utility knife made quick work of cantaloupe and prosciutto for this fresh, vitamin-packed cold soup when we were all fighting colds last week. I never would have tried this recipe on my own, but N whipped it up and totally blew me away with how much I liked it.

I've been stirring my sugar into Starbucks' Pike's Place Roast (its new, improved house blend). Now fellow Northwesterners will note we are snobbish about coffee and usually consider Starbucks to be the McDonald's of grab-n-go gourmet Joe shops. But I have to credit the coffee giant for its recent attention to its core product in an effort to revive its struggling brand. N brought home a half-pound of these new beans recently and I was pleasantly surprised.

Happy linking and eating!