Kitchen & Bar

The kitchen is where most of us keep our regrets, so it seems fair that it should also be where we keep a good cookbook or two. These run from the Mediterranean to Japan to a man who has clearly thought very hard about boiling an egg. Beside them sit block printed tea towels and napkins that make a modest table look like it has its act together, and a trivet that will happily catch whatever the oven decides to send your way.

Through the swinging door, things get a little more festive. Embroidered cocktail napkins suggest you meant to have people over, Swedish candy proves that happiness can be purchased in a 150 gram bag, and the tenugui, a cloth the Japanese have used for everything from drying dishes to wrapping lunch, feels less like a product than a good idea that wandered in from another country. We like all of it. That is the whole explanation, and we have decided it is enough.