It’s Better Than a Bread BasketA regular...

It’s Better Than a Bread Basket

A regular bread basket, after all, only holds bread. This ceramic basket, one of the season’s most popular wedding gifts, goes right in the oven. Heat a loaf of bread in the basket and it will stay warm through most of dinner. You can tell your bride-and-groom recipients that some things do stay hot after marriage. Available at Room With a View in Santa Monica.

My Vegan Heart

We’re going to tell you straight out: This stuff is not as good as true eggy mayonnaise. But if you’re worried about cholesterol or adhere to a strict vegan diet, Follow Your Heart’s “Veganaise” may work for you. Since the early ‘70s, the Canoga Park market and cafe has been making egg-free mayonniase. Now its original canola oil dressing and its newer grapeseed oil spread (grapeseed oil is supposed to help raise levels of HDL, the good cholesterol) are available in markets around the Southland.

Four Hundred Years Bold

The Japanese ceramic style known as Oribe originated in the early 17th Century. It’s characterized by bold, sometimes surprisingly “modernistic” designs, either geometrical or inspired by natural forms, executed in brown oxide. The plate (or other piece of Oribe ware) is then dipped in a blue-green glaze, which often covers a third of its surface.

When made in the traditional way, the item is called Oribe, regardless of the name of the artist who created it, and unlike most artistic pottery, it is usually not signed. These, however, are from Takahashi and they are available at Robert Grounds on Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles.

Summer Fashion

The well-dressed table doesn’t have to cost a fortune. These fresh, summery tablecloths come from Ikea and run about $12 each. That leaves more money for you to spend on another kind of summer fashion--clothes for yourself.