Brightest Young Things

Hey, since I wrote this piece the CaliBowl has had a slight upgrade, so I'm updating and re-running in case you missed it the first time around.

I love finding products/gadgets/services/ideas that increase the quality of life in little ways. I decided to profile some of them here on BYT. If you have suggestions for something I should check out, email me

The CaliBowl

The concept is so simple and effective it boggles the mind that these are not just "bowls".

Take your typical cereal bowl, and add this little lip to the inside:

which results in this magic:

In my extensive real-world testing, being a consumer of large amounts of cereal, ice cream, and soup, I can state with full confidence that these bowls represent the future of bowl based eating.  Not only do they prevent minor spills as shown in the diagram above, but you can use the lip to sort of mold the food into a nice pile on your spoon as you drag it up the side, use it to scoop up salsa with a chip, etc.  They are also easy to clean and made of thick plastic so they won't break or crack.  Update: Now CaliBowls include a little rubber ring on the bottom that keeps them in place.  I did a side by side slide test and it works well.  They also now have a ceramic model which gives them a slightly more mature look, but I prefer the original plastic.  And finally they now have optional lids, I have little need for these so I haven't tried one out.

They have a few other varieties as well:

Mixing bowl- I've used it successfully to make various baked goods and my rigorous stirring did not result in any spillage.

Kid's bowl- Like the cereal one but a little smaller and more squat shaped so it's harder to tip over. Also comes in suction cup variety. Not really useful except for perhaps late night drunken spaghettios

Super tiny bowl - Sort of useless and it now resides in my bathroom to mix hair toner.

There ARE a couple areas where I can see some minor improvements. All of the bowls are a little on the small side compared to an average bowl at Target.  At first you'll be scared to stir your Campbell's as it's almost flush with the top, but since the thick ridge tilts inward it's not as precarious as it seems.  Still, I'd like to see ver 2.0 be just a hair larger.  Second, on the bottom side there is a little ridge that collects water when going through a dish washer, not a huge issue by any means, and common with cereal bowls, but I demand perfection.

The company that makes them is still pretty mom and pop.  When the color I wanted wasn't available to ship immidately they called me personally and asked if I wanted to substitute a different color or wait and they'd throw in some free bowls.  I took the freebies (obvi).  Here are the color options:

I went with retro aqua blue (as seen above) and bought my mom the white ones.  I've since added some sunflower yellows to the mix as well.

There are a few purchasing options on their site, but I recommend picking up:

The Cali Stack - $29.99
Includes one mixing, one cereal, one mini, and one kids.
+
The La Jolla Stack - $24.99
Includes four cereal bowls

Order here: http://www.calibowl.com/ and thank me later.

Previously in Misc/Awesome:

• 12/28: Terrible Boyfriend/ Girlfriend Generator.
• 12/1: The John Waters Advent Calendar-it starts today
• 11/28: It Chooses You: All I Want for Christmas is Everything from Miranda July's Pop-Up Shop
• 11/3: Things I'd Move to Minnesota For
• 9/6: PHOTOS: Maloof $$ Money Cup
• 9/2: PHOTOS: Chantilly Model Train Show
• 9/1: Libby's List: 5 Things I Want Right Now...
• 8/22: PHOTOS: Best Friends Day
• 8/10: PHOTOS: Lawn Mover Racing, Eastern Seaboard Regionals @ Bowles Farm
• 7/26: Special List: Things the BYGays Want Now That We Can Marry In DC (and NY!)