Lights! Camera! Blanco!

Recently, I had the good fortune to visit my friends and colleagues at Blanco on the set of a photo and video shoot. The folks from Blanco's marketing department is working on the catalog shots and video footage they'll use when they roll out a new campaign in a couple of months.

While I was on set I saw some old favorites and a lot of new stuff I can't talk about. But brace yourselves.

Listen, I get it that many people's eyes glaze over when I start gushing about innovations in sink design. But think about it. What component do you use more than any other in your kitchen? The smart money's on you answering "the sink." So why not spend some time considering this heavily utilized and underappreciated feature in every kitchen?

Blanco does that and more. Every aspect of how people use their products is thought through and and analyzed. Their research informs their finished designs to an alarming, though understated way.

For example, on most flat bottomed stainless sinks the sink walls and the sink floor meet each other at a sharp, 45-degree angle. You know what you can't do with a sharp 45-degree angle at the bottom of a sink? That's right, you can't clean it very easily. On a Blanco flat bottom sink, the joints between the sinks walls, sides and floor meet at a gentle, 10mm radius. You know what the average radius of a human being's index finger is? That's right, 10mm.

Flat bottomed steel sinks such as Blanco Precision™ Sinks are engineered around the dimensions of the human body to make them easier to clean.

Another great example is from my favorite sink in the universe, the Blanco Modex™. The drainboard built into this sink is pitched in two directions (backward and toward the sink) so water can't get anywhere but down the drain. That's more solid thought expended on a sink that makes it easier to use and live with.

While I'm gushing over the Modex, here's a video that 'splains it all:


As cool as the Modex is, just wait'll you see the new stuff Blanco has coming.

My on set visit with Blanco took place at the Shadowlight Group and I was absolutely blown away by their skills and their facility. Have a product you want to have photographed or filmed? Give them a call.

As always, it was great to see my friends from Blanco. I'm fortunate to know first hand that with a company like Blanco, I know that the great products they produce are backed by some of my favorite people in the industry.

Hordes of marauders

It's been a while but this post has been rattling around in my head for the last few months.

I've devoted a significant amount of energy this summer to learning how to garden in the northeast again. In a lot of ways it's like riding a bike --it is after all the climate I grew up in. Yet at the same time, it's come with its own challenges.

One of the things I grew this summer is Swiss Chard. I grew it as an ornamental more than a food crop because it's beautiful. At the same time, I've eaten from my ornamental chard more than once. Here's a photo of it I Instagrammed when it was in its prime.

Lovely, isn't it? I should say, "wasn't it?" because it's been decimated by the most unlikely of marauders.

Meet the American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis.

via

My bird guides assure me that goldfinches are strictly seed eaters.

However, I now know that goldfinches like to supplement their meager diet of seeds with fresh, succulent Swiss Chard. Here's a photograph I took from the kitchen window during one of the finches' nightly raids.

©Paul Anater

I've seen as many as four goldfinches perched on the remains of that Swiss Chard at the same time, so I know it's not just a single bird with a taste for salad greens. It's wasn't just a one time thing either. The neighborhood goldfinches, and only the goldfinches, descend on that poor Swiss Chard every evening at dusk.

I like to think of myself as a pretty aware guy when it comes to what happens in the world around me. I know a lot about the birds and bugs with whom I share my part of the world. With that said, I have never heard of goldfinches raiding a garden. Rabbits and chipmunks I expect and know how to handle. But chard loving goldfinches? Who ever heard of such a thing? Gangs of marauding goldfinches --what's next?