Enter: the food box revolution. Not so long ago, I learned about the concept of food boxes and became immediately hooked. First with Blue Apron, and now with my latest obsession Home Chef (note – Home Chef links includes a $30 off offer for new subscribers!).

Home Chef

For starters, Home Chef allows you to make fun meals such as this creative, Halloween-inspired Shepherd’s pie that you would never before consider. How cute are these goblins?

This Chicago-based service offers convenience (ingredients delivered right to your door) and education (I’m learning how to cook!). Best of all, I don’t have to worry about deciding what I’m going to cook each week – Home Chef has a menu of around 10-12 meals each week to choose from.

On the menu this week is this tasty “Steak with Crash Potatoes”.  I’m convinced that food boxes may actually save money for singles and couples. No longer do you need to buy an entire carton of heavy cream for just that one dish – Home Chef provides exactly what you need. Hoorah!

Home Chef contains clear step by step directions with pictures to help you along the way. They even include helpful tips such as this one “sauces are perfectly thickened or ‘nappe’…when they coat the back of a spoon or you can draw a line through the sauce…” so that you’ll learn to be a master chef in no time.

After about 30 minutes of cooking, my masterpiece is done and ready to enjoy. I swear, I’m becoming spoiled by the quality of food I get to enjoy. It’s like having a professionally restaurant cooked meal at home every evening.

What’s the Downside?

As you can tell I’m a huge fan and it’s really hard to come up with a downside.  But a few things you may want to consider:

• The base plan is for 2-person meals. I’ve gotten around this by refrigerating one of the plates for lunch or dinner the next day.
• If you’re feeling lazy (like I sometimes do), making a 30-45 minute meal isn’t high on the list of things to do.
• Home Chef automatically assumes you want a delivery each week unless you decline – so you’ll want to make sure you pay close attention to when deliveries are coming.

Bottom Line

With it’s variety, creativity, and deliciousness, Home Chef is a winner. Try it today.

Have you tried any food box services? Tell me in the comments below!

Welcome to the era of the digital art frame. A far cry from the unimpressive but convenient photo frames that have gained popularity of the past few years, digital art frames are specifically designed to showcase fine art.

After much research I purchased a KLIO, a product from Art.com (see klioart.com). The frame is quite impressive, featuring a 41 inch screen (diagonal) and stunning 4K display for a reasonable $999.

Why Digital Art?

I know what you’re thinking – why would I ever purchase a device to display digital art when a TV or print would work just as well? I too was skeptical until I started researching it more, and now that I have the device in my home I’ve decided that it’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

Yes, the digital representation of paintings is impressive. I mean, you can literally see the brush strokes. The 4K resolution also means that you can get up close and personal, details emerging as you step nearer to appreciate the works of art.

But what makes this even better is that the digital frame opens up new possibilities for artwork by embracing what makes this medium so special. That’s because the KLIO also features animated forms of art – paintings that suddenly and surprisingly come to life.

See for yourself with this snippet of a Van Gogh that surprises you with the subtle introduction of new characters to the scene. Other art forms include works that evolve over the course of a day, or year. You can even display an image of the Big Ben that shows the real time.

Setup

Setup was a breeze! After connecting to wi-fi, the KLIO automatically took me through a few steps to upgrade the software and connect my account to the KLIO service. Access to the KLIO service with 300+ works of art is included for free for the first year. KLIO expects the service to cost $10/month after that. Rest assured, you can also upload your own images in .JPG or .PNG format anytime.

And….done!

Within a few minutes, I was happily exploring the wide range of content that is automatically available to all KLIO owners.

I chose to hang my KLIO over my new Besta console (purchased at Ikea) using the mounts that were included with the device. As an extra precaution, I also used drywall anchors (purchased separately).

Ready for Prime Time

Here’s a look at my finished KLIO, with completed console, ready to enjoy!

I asked one of my friends if he would “believe me” if I said that this wasn’t a real painting. Turns out the cable (and my curious question) gave it away, so I suppose we’ll leave hiding the cable for another day, another project.

Learn More

More about the KLIO at klioart.com

Houzz has a couple of the best writeups of the digital art frame movement that I’ve seen:

• New Digital Art Frame Gets Put To The Test
• Is The Timing Finally Right For Framed Digital Art?

What do you think?

Let me know in the comments!