Have a cold one!

In browsing through some very cool shops around town, which include Blue Banana Market in Kensington and Outer Layer on Queen St, I've across this very interesting brand of kitchen gadgets and tools from a company called Fred & Friends. Granted, a lot of them are very gimmicky and maybe not that useful, but still, I'm hooked and would love to fill my kitchen with them!

I dropped by Blue Banana this week to pick up one item in particular after having seen it elsewhere, and this was a little treat for Matt (ok, maybe a little for me, too). We have both been enjoying iced coffees from Starbucks on these past few hot days (when you need a caffeine fix, but not necessary a hot one!), but if you take your time drinking them, the ice melts into them and dilutes the coffee flavour! So, Fred has come out with a genius idea and created something called Cool Beans. 

This is basically an ice cube tray (not a new idea, by any means) shaped like coffee beans. You simply brew up a batch of your favourite blend of coffee, pour into the molds, and let freeze in your freezer. Then, the next time you make yourself an iced coffee, throw in a couple of the frozen coffee cubes, and you'll be sure to keep your beverage icy cold and still just as potent.  I've already made several batches, keeping them in a tupperware container in the freezer where they are readily available for our next cup.

If you head on over to the website, you'll also find some unique items for your home, for your office, and some fun party items. I realized that we already had a Fred item in our kitchen - the cheese slicer that looks like a mouse trap! And I also bought my brother a pizza slicer that looked like a rotary saw for Christmas last year. Don't know if he's used it yet, though...