Fruit Art: Summer Fruit and Winter Fruit Posters

Los Angeles-based artist Claire Nereim's new Summer Fruit and Winter Fruit posters celebrate seasonal fruits.

The Summer Fruit poster features drawings of stone fruits and berries, while the Winter Fruit poster features citrus varieties, pomegranate, and pear. "I love eating seasonally," says Nereim. "And hope to encourage people to remember what's being harvested (and is therefore most delicious)!"

The posters are hand-screen-printed, signed and numbered (19x25", editions of 270) on recycled cover-stock paper.

$50 each at Claire Nereim's etsy shop.

Take the Subway to Sancerre

Created by David Gissen, an architectural historian and wine afficianado, the Metro Wine Map of France reconceptualizes France's wine regions as a subway map.

"If I see another picture of a vineyard or pruning shears, or a wine map that looks like a hiking map, I might lose it," Gissen told wine blogger Dr. Vino about his inspiration for creating the innovative map. "I believe that French wine (like all EU wine) was born in and through villages, towns and cities. From my perspective it’s completely urban. I want to make some artifacts that express my point of view. The map is the first of these."

The map is 18 x 24 inches and printed on heavyweight acid-free matte paper. $24.95 at De Long Wine Discovery Tools.

The Art of Origami Napkin Folding

Fred & Friends Origami Napkins take the art of napkin-folding to a whole new level.

The paper napkins are printed with instructions for folding four different designs, from the classic crane to a nifty polo shirt (pictured here).

$12 for a pack of 40 napkins at Fred Flare.

A Cheese Journal for Your Cheesy Thoughts

Formaticum, the people behind Formaticum Cheese Papers, have created a handy Cheese Journal to record your innermost lactic feelings. The journals feature an introduction with basic information about cheese, milk types, and tasting and serving tips, plus plenty of room to keep track of the cheeses you've tasted. At 59 pages, each journal contains enough space to record tasting notes on 118 different cheeses. Printed on recycled paper using vegetable based inks.

I saw the journals at the cheese counter at Whole Foods, but they are also available for $9.85 via mail order at the Formaticum website.

Great Moments in Menu Design: Washington's Blue Day Inn

Awesome design for a menu, from Washington's Blue Day Inn, 20 miles outside of Seattle, date not identified. From the digital Menu Collection at the University of Washington.

Food Art: I Love Your Egg Beaters

"I Love Your Egg Beaters," a digital print made from drawings of whisks, whips, and, naturally, egg-beaters, is $25 for an 8x10 print at the Studio Mela Etsy store.

Restaurant Bound: Tablecloth Notebooks

Looking for a gift for the epicure with a paper and design fetish?

These Tablecloth Notebooks by the Portuguese graphic design firm Serrote are comprised of the same paper used to cover tables in Portuguese restaurants. The cover is printed in letterpress.

A Moleskine Just for Meal Planning

 
Thinking about an iPad for your recipe collection? Here's an alternative: a sleek handheld pad for collecting and organizing recipes. It's eminently mobile and doesn't even need batteries.

One of the journals in Moleskine's new "Passions" series, the 240-page Moleskine Recipe Journal  includes food calendars, food facts, measurements, and conversions; six theme-based sections for appetizers, first courses, main dishes, side dishes, desserts, and cocktails; and six tabbed sections for your own personalization. Adhesive labels are also included for additional customization.

$13.57 at amazon.com.

Notable Fruit

Kudamemo sticky notes from Japan look good enough to eat, but they're just for jotting notes.

The fruit-shaped memo pads (available in apple or pear) are detailed down to the seeds printed at the core of each "slice" and stems made from real tree branches. Unfortunately, the price is astronomical: $40 per 150-sheet pad or a whopping $148 for a carton of six at Japan Trend Shop.

Recipe Bookmarking for Cookbooks

You may have collected hundreds of great recipes that are bookmarked in your browser for easy future reference, but how do you find cherished (and permalink-less) recipes in an old-fashioned cookbook?

This could be a serious technological challenge for future generations of cooks educated only in the ways of epicurious.

The Chef Set page flags give you a way to bookmark -- in an analog way --  your favorite cookbook recipes, tagged by category (appetizers, meats, seafood, and so on). $5.95 at The Spoon Sisters.