Tag Archives: Harry Potter

2018 Gift Guide, Holiday Gift Guide, Home and Garden

Petrucelli Picks: 2018 Gift Guide: Our Picks for the Best Home and Garden Wonders

Such incredible is the Instant Pot (instantpot.com)that users call themselves “Potheads”. And with good reason. The device has never allowed grass to grow under its sturdy bottom—Instant Pots can be used for sautéing, pressure-cooking, steaming, warmer, even making yogurt and cheesecakes.

Such magic for $100.

They were founded by Instant Brands Inc., and hit the market in 2010, One can choose among a few different types of Instant Pot—including one without the yogurt function (the 6-in-1) and another that has Bluetooth capabilities (the Smart). I have the No. 1 bestseller: the 7-in-1 Pressure Cooker.

Need recipes? Have a suggestion? Join the Instant Pot Community on Facebook; a week before Christmas, more than 1,627,440 Potheads were chatting and cooking.

Truly a miraculous, easy-to-use appliance. Instant Pot new York-Style Cheesecake, anyone?

We wax poetic on the neat line of candles from Insight Luminaries (insightluminaries.com). Wizards and muggles will relish the Harry Potter-inspired wonders. Choose from several and illuminate on several that cast a warm glow as they display famed Hogwarts house crests, fan-fave phrases , even the exclusive Golden Snitch. The huge  sculpted pillar candles last forever because the exterior never melts! And we really really like the trio votive collection.

Harry Potter Hogwarts Large Insignia Candle

Insight Luminaries also creates DC Comics with candles. Especially nifty are the tin candles featuring such femme faves as Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Wonder Woman.

We have used Fiskars (fiskars.com) scissors for decades. And we mean the same pair with their trademark orange handles. Yep, that shows just how dependable and well-made Fiskars products are. Our garden work is now easier with two great finds.

The Fiskars Stand-Up Weeder is designed to remove weeds and their roots without sore knees, an aching back or harsh chemicals, with an enhanced design to make a weed-free lawn easier than ever.  Just place the head over a weed, step down on the reinforced foot platform, and the four serrated, stainless-steel claws will grab the weed by the root for clean removal. 3995_IU_-step_001_HRAn offset hand reduces wrist strain, a viewing window in the pedal makes claw placement mistake-free, and an easy-eject mechanism clears the head between uses for quick and easy cleanup.  And they come with a lifetime warranty.

Raking the leaves and picking them up got a lot easier when we found Fiskars’ Hard-Shell Bottom Kangaroo Garden Bag. The pop-up gardening container makes outdoor cleanup easy, and a hard bottom provides durability that can stand up to any terrain. Hate gardening?  Use this toys or laundry from your clothesline—the reinforced bottom offers enhanced durability.

HardShell® Bottom Kangaroo® Garden Bag (30 gallon)

An innovative design folds to 3.5″ for space-saving storage, and an internal spring pops it up when you’re ready to use it. Sturdy handles make carrying and unloading our Kangaroo Gardening Container easy. A durable, tear- and mildew-resistant design provides lasting value, and the HardShell bottom prevents damage, even if you’re dragging it over rough terrain.

 

Books

Why do we still love “Little Women”? Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters Answers the Question

Just in time for the 150th anniversary this September of the publication of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel comes Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters (W. W. Norton & Company, $27.95 hardcover). This delightful and illuminating book tells the story of the novel that has captured the imaginations of generations of young readers and adults alike, and explores its phenomenal staying power.

Author Anne Boyd Rioux, who first read Little Women in her twenties and fell in love with it, tells us the unlikely story of the novel’s creation, beginning with the moment in September of 1867 that Louisa May Alcott was asked to write a book for girls. Alcott, who had always wished she were a boy, wrote in her journal that she “never liked girls or knew any” other than her sisters. Despite her initial reservations to write a book specifically for girls, she accepted the assignment for the same reason she had written so many other stories for publication: she needed the money to support her family.

A year later, on September 30, 1868, the first part of Little Women was published to great acclaim. The first printing sold out in a matter months. Fans clamored for a sequel, desperate to know the futures of the March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. Alcott finished the novel’s second part by the end of 1868, completing a story that would shape children’s books, influence American literature, and inspire generations up until today.

In Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, Rioux tells the story of the Alcott family and how they inspired the novel. Bronson Alcott, Louisa’s transcendentalist father, championed his daughters in their creative pursuits but was ultimately unable to provide for his family. Abigail May Alcott, the Marmee of the Alcott girls, while a steadying force, had times of depression and confessed to feeling angry nearly every day of her life. Rioux details how the lives of each of Louisa’s sisters—Anna, Lizzie, and May—paralleled those of their fictional counterparts, and how Louisa came to be thought of by readers, who would make unannounced visits to her house, as nearly interchangeable with Jo.

Rioux also traces the novel’s influence through the 150 years since its publication and its appearances on Broadway, radio, television, and three times, so far, on the silver screen. She also describes the character of Jo’s notable influence on diverse women writers as a model to which they could aspire and explains how characters, including Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games series, can be seen as her descendants.

The book is ultimately a tribute to the novel that has played a vital role in the way decades of girls understood family, sisterhood, love, and their own capabilities. Rioux rightfully places the importance of both Louisa May Alcott and her great work in the fabric of American literature.