Back to basics
www.realsimple.com
Unless you haven’t ventured anywhere near a grocery store in the past five years you are probably familiar with the proud housewife’s almanac: Real Simple, the magazine that takes life and makes it easier…or at least more manageable. It’s a relative phenomenon that has expanded from the traditional magazine format into television, a product line, and even e-cards. All this and more can be found at the Real Simple website that is, well, real simple to navigate. Hosting a dinner party? The recipes the site offers up will tempt you to break your diet pronto. Don’t understand your teenage daughter? This site even offers suggestions in the mother-daughter-who-are-you department. Our favorite, though, is the “Organizing” section: endless product suggestions to help you make sense of space.
Soak it up
http://designsponge.blogspot.com
A virtual bible for design freaks, Design Sponge is the baby of freelance writer and girl with a golden eye, Grace Bonney. With plenty of pictures and links to the best of the best undiscovered designers, the thing about Bonney’s taste is that it is just so…so…good. She has an eye for objects and designs that are pretty and girly, but that still manage to walk on the right side of sophisticated. It’s shabby chic without that extra ruffle. The posts range from Bonney’s latest stationary discoveries to photos of a Mies van der Rohe house sent in by a reader in Detroit who just bought the house for a steal. But no matter what the topic of the moment may be, you always feel like you are reading the words of a friend; Bonney’s writing style is chatty and she, herself, is relentlessly excited about what it is that has most recently passed through her discerning field of vision. Design is fun, ya’ll! Not pretentious!
Hands on
www.jacksbackyard.com
One of the many best things about TLC’s show “Little People, Big World” are the amazing jungle gyms and tree houses that Father of the Year Matt Roloff has built for his kids. You, too, can pretend you are half as amazing as Matt Roloff with a little help from some dude named Jack. See, on his website, Jack’s Backyard, Jack makes it easy for you to build your kids a wicked fort with his DIY kits. Jack provides all the materials and directions needed to construct a fort or swing set; all you need is a little manpower and some free time. Plus, once the backyard has been transformed into the ultimate playground, do yourself a favor: try your hand at one of Jack’s DIY porch swings, then sit back, and pop a well-earned cold one. The prices are reasonable and patronizing this Jack character is a guilt-free undertaking since most of his wares are constructed from reclaimed wood.
Step by step
www.cookingforengineers.com
Kind of like math whizzes who make dividing up a bar bill an easy experience, Cooking for Engineers takes that soufflé recipe that looks impossible and somehow makes it seem doable. With pictures that document the cooking process from start to finish, and directions that patiently talk you through your fears of mismeasuring and undersifting, this blog is the dorked-out cooking tutor the culinarily challenged have always needed. Winner of the Bloggie (ie. the Oscar of the blogosphere) Award for Best Food Blog in 2005, the foodie behind this site also takes reader feedback to heart. There are extensive discussions among readers and author after each recipe deconstructing the merits and dangers and ambiguities and rewards of each recipe, from garlic bread to poached fish. It’s a world that might be foreign to most, but it offers a true window into the lives of cooking nerds that is sure to give anyone a newfound appreciation for the art of the ingredient.