Last month I helped out a guy stuck on Tioga pass get his vegetable oil powered Gelaendewagen back on the road. He showed me a copy Overland Journal and I was so impressed I subscribed and ordered all the back issues once I got home. To give you an idea of the flavor of the magazine, one of the contributing editors is the author of my previously reviewed Vehicle Dependent Expeditions book.

For anyone who does car camping, 4x4 exploring, vehicle trips abroad, or just enjoys armchair exploration, I cannot recommend this publication enough. It has amazing comprehensive comparison reviews of the type of gear no other publication would cover, ranging from vehicle rooftop tents to converting a LandCruiser to bio-diesel. On top of the fantastic information and writing in the magazine, it is gorgeously designed and features beautiful expedition shots from around the world. It is the first publication I have come across in years that has me reading every word, review and even advertisement. They publish four issues per year, plus a gear guide and back-issues are available to ’97.

My brother-in-law introduced me to the neti pot, for nasal irrigation, about three years ago. He had had chronic sinus infections that have largely stopped since he started using it. Since I began using it, I’ve had fewer illnesses and just breathe easier. I used to take decongestants regularly in order to sleep soundly (due to mild allergies), but haven’t in the past three years, since the neti pot became part of my daily routine. My sinuses don't dry out as much during winter anymore, and my wife says my snoring has decreased.

The neti pot flushes your sinuses of pollutants, allergens, pollen and dust that build up during the day. By flushing your sinuses you allow your nose to do its secondary job more effectively -- keep the bad stuff out. It also has the added benefit of relieving sinus headaches and congestion. The interesting thing is, it's been around for a long time (several thousand years) and is used by many yoga practitioners to ease breathing during meditation. Eight ounces of warm tap water and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt (with no iodine) is all it takes to wash the grime away, and that's a lot cheaper than over-the-counter decongestants.

I recommend getting a neti pot with a pot belly look, like the Himalayan Institute one available from Amazon. I've tried two other brands/styles and they don’t provide as consistent water pressure through the nose. Currently I use my neti pot once a day, in the evenings, to wash the day's grime away and help with sleeping.

Try it once or twice and you'll agree your sinuses have rarely felt better or clearer. As a side note, if it burns a little, stop and add a tad more salt. Too little salt and the water won't flow well through the nasal cavity. If you've had a broken nose, please check with your doctor to make sure your nasal cavity is still properly aligned for nasal irrigation.

My initial experience with Printed Space came about when family in England bought my wife and I a couple of canvases that used photos from our wedding. An artist at Printed Space worked with my brother to edit a batch of 300 photos down to 60, then cropped and arranged them and gave my brother various digital proofs, from which he selected the one he thought we'd like the best. The canvas was shipped from England to our home in San Francisco in a custom-made picture-frame box, in perfect condition.

When we found out that Printed Space also puts your images (or stock images) on blinds and wallpaper, we got a bedroom decorated for a friend's 4-year-old son. (Pictured here).

The company now does flooring too, so I'm planning to get the lobby and other areas of my office covered with custom flooring.

What we liked: Limitless choice in images -- use your own, or images you can buy from any online source. Printed Space has partnerships with a number of stock image sources, photographers and artists, so you're not going to end up with the same all-too-obvious images you see elsewhere.

Fully customized to your space. These are not posters. I've had other canvases made by online poster vendors, but they've been just that -- posters printed on canvas. These are images that can be enlarged, cropped, rotated, whatever, to suit the space you're trying to decorate. Printed Space gave us advice about planning around windows, doors, light switches and power outlets. You pay no extra for this design service.

I couldn't be happier with the quality of their work.

Last year, Williams-Sonoma released a line of exclusive All-Clad flared roasters. They are expensive, but well worth it if you do a lot of oven cooking. I cooked a 27lb turkey in the extra large one for Thanksgiving last year, and have since been using this pan for all kinds of things. The design makes for very even cooking, especially if you don't have a convection oven: the low flared sides give good heat exposure, so you get excellent browning on the underside of roasts, and the aluminum core provides outstanding heat distribution. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how much of a difference these two design changes made. Of course, it's basically a very large saute pan, so it gives the results you'd expect from All-Clad on the stove as well.

I've also used it successfully to make a huge pan of mac and cheese (mixing the roux/bechamel right in the pan on the stove), and I use it often for large batches of braised lamb shanks and short ribs. In the latter, the low wide design encourages a lot of reduction of the braising liquid to yield a more flavorful sauce.

The extra large size is unwieldy - before buying, make sure it fits in your oven and sink. Although the curved design also makes it very easy to clean with a brush (there are no sharp corners for gunk to get stuck in), this size barely fits in my sink.

And while I love the extra large one and it's great at what it does, it is a bit of a beast to get out (but indispensable if you need the capacity). I've spent the last year wondering how I could justify spending the money for the large version as well, and they made it easier for me by recently releasing an even smaller and cheaper version for roasting chickens.

This one is essentially the same pan in a smaller form factor which makes it much more convenient if you don't need the larger capacity. This has quickly become my standard everyday pan for most things. It also comes with a suspension arm for cooking a chicken elevated.

I've experimented with the suspension arm a bit, which I initially dismissed. At least in my oven, which is not a convection oven, breast side up is a disaster. Not enough heat reaches the bottom, and the white meat gets overcooked while the thighs stay very undercooked. Breast-side down, however, gives outstanding results. Twice in a row, I've gotten evenly cooked meat (very tender and juicy breast meat, properly cooked thighs) and crispy skin, with no added oil or basting (just salt and pepper or a dry rub). The suspension arm can be a little testy. If it's jostled too much, the whole chicken will fall into the pan. It's a bit of work to get it put back up, but it does actually yield good results with less work overall.

Regardless of which size is right for you, these are just great roasting pans, and I highly recommend them. The images are pretty deceptive with respect to the size differences and it's difficult to judge from the picture how big they actually are. It's worth a trip to the store to see which size is actually best for you.

When weather permits, I live in sandals. Over the years I’ve tried all the major brands. A few years ago a friend suggested that I try a brand, Chaco, that I had never heard of. Initially I balked at the price, but when I found a pair that was closeout priced I decided to give them a try. I’ve never looked back.

While I own a variety of Chaco sandals, I primarily wear the general purpose Z/1.The primary advantage of these sandals is their unique means of attachment to your foot; a single slide buckle. The strap for the front of the sandal is one continuous length that is threaded through slots in the sole. You initially adjust the sandal to your feet by pulling until you’ve got the fit you want. You then take the sandal off and on by using the slide buckle. To put the sandal on you slip in your foot and pull down on the buckle strap. To loosen the strap to remove the sandal you pull up on the buckle bottom. This is so easy and natural to do that with reasonable balance you can take them on and off while standing on one foot, then the other. This design provides a superbly comfortable fit, primarily through the elimination of the typical stiff Velcro closures.

Another feature of all Chaco sandals is their unique contoured footbed. First, it has an aggressive arch support (that the manufacturer claims counters pronation). Second, it has a deep heel cup that helps your foot stay centered. For my foot, they are more comfortable than any other shoe I have ever worn. This is, of course, a very personal observation, and you should probably try a pair on before buying. Also, the company has recently switched to a newer footbed material that I haven’t yet tried.

While they aren’t marketed as such, I consider them a hiking sandal. They have a stiff Vibram sole with a very aggressive tread, just like what you’d find on a hiking boot. The slightly oversize footbed protects toes from being stubbed. I wear them for everything: strolling around town, driving, canoeing, biking and hiking. In all these roles they are every bit as comfortable as well-fitting shoes, while also providing the glorious open-air experience. As added bonuses, they float, and can be re-webbed or re-soled.

When I travel to warm countries this is the only shoe I pack. My sandals have experienced Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, Death Valley and Petra. The only concession I make for exceptional conditions is to also pack a pair of lightweight neoprene socks. The only place I seldom wear the sandals is hiking in heavily forested areas, where exposed tree roots can be toe-killers.

In the (previously reviewed) Keens, your feet are quite confined, and I can't imagine that they feel anything like sandals. I don't really think of the Keens as sandals; they are really quick-dry athletic shoes with cut-outs. The Keen's soles are similar to those of an athletic shoe, while the Chaco's are more similar to the soles on hiking boots. I wouldn't want to do any serious hiking or rock scrambling, where stiff soles are important, in the Keens.

The Keens definitely offer better toe protection. Still, I've put many hundreds of hiking and biking miles on my Chacos and have never once stubbed my toe. I think that the thick, oversize soles are what provide the protection. If you don't seek the open-air feeling of true sandals such as the Chacos, the Keens would be a fine choice for everyday use. However, for serious hiking and river travel, Chacos are the answer.

As far as cost, the sandals list for $95, but annual design updates result in numerous Internet closeout opportunities in the early spring, and I’ve never paid more than $65 for a pair.

Klean Kanteen offers a range of stainless steel water bottles that are well made, relatively lightweight, and come with a variety of interchangeable tops. They seal tightly (I pack them in my briefcase with my computer), even with the sport top. They're light enough to compare well with a plastic water bottle, but without the ecological waste of disposable bottles or the odor of reusable plastic bottles.

They come in various sizes (12 oz. to 40 oz.) and the 18 oz size fits nicely in a bicycle bottle cage. I take mine through airport security empty and fill it on the other side.

This chair caught my eye immediately because it looked like a clever solution to a problem I've wrestled with for a long time — how to carry comfortable seating that takes up minimal weight and space. As a motorcycle rider, meeting friends for "car camping" means I'm much more limited than they are in the luxuries I can bring along.

One way this chair saves weight is by eliminating the two front legs; you lean back in it as you would when tipping a chair back on its hind legs, using your own legs for control and balance. At first I thought this would be tiring, but it really isn't. Nearly all of my weight rests comfortably in the seat, with the kind of lumbar support I need. When collapsed, the Monarch fits into not much more space than a water bottle, and it weighs only 18 oz. At least as importantly, it's simple to set up and it seems very solidly constructed.

I've had problems with foam seats such as the Crazy Creek chairs because the stress points don't hold up well to repeated use. And another chair I've used, the GCI Trail-Sling (no longer made, though still available through some online stores) is a light, comfortable chair, but it can be a little tricky to set up and doesn't seem likely to hold up to too much wear and tear. I still have a couple Trail-Slings, but I believe they'll get left behind in favor of the Monarch going forward.

The Monarch's legs are sturdy milled aluminum poles, connected with shock cords like tent poles, and seem designed for years of use. Similarly, the seat appears thoughtfully shaped to minimize possible points of failure, and the pockets into which the poles fit are thick and reinforced beyond what I've come to expect from most consumer outdoor gear. Really, the whole chair has a feeling of quality and craftsmanship. It's not inexpensive at $60, but I find it's worth it.

I love to cook but I don't have many recipes memorized, and much as I like cooking from any of the several cookbooks in my library, I often look for new recipes online. It's not an easy task. I'm amazed at the number of ad-riddled pages I find when typing the name of any dish into Google. I do have an online subscription to Cook's Illustrated (previously reviewed), and there are a handful of other individual free sites I turn to for recipes and technique info. However, as a research librarian, I'm always keen to execute a search in a manner that maximizes the number of relevant results by querying a specific set of targeted resources. For scientific queries, I use freely accessible databases such as Public Library of Science or PubMed, or I use one of my library accounts to access subscription-based databases such as Wiley InterScience or Elsevier's Science Direct. When I put my home-cook hat on, I approach recipe-finding with a similar set of expectations. Though there's no shortage of recipe information online, there's not really an equivalent set of databases for cookery. Here's a round-up of the best recipe aggregation resources I've found.

Epicurious is my go-to recipe site; I've used it for four years. One of the aspects I like most about it is the user comments. Because the site is older, most recipes have at least a handful of comments, and I've found that most users leave really helpful feedback (usually suggestions for how to scale or tweak recipes). However, it's also very easy to ignore user comments if you just want to stick to the original recipe. I usually cook from printed versions of the recipes (rather than bringing my laptop in the kitchen), and Epicurious offers several options for the size of the printed page, whether or not images are included, and even the option to print a separate shopping list.

Most recipes come from Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines (the site is owned by Conde Nast). Some come from cookbooks published by Random House, with whom Epicurious has some kind of republication agreement, it seems. Some have also been reprinted from other cookbooks, with permission. In addition to the 25,000 recipes from these professional resources, they also boast 50,000 member-submitted recipes. Epicurious is the online food site to beat.

Cookstr publishes recipes by professional chefs, including Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, Jacques Pepin, Michael Recchiuti, Mark Bittman, and on and on. In addition to recipes, the site also provides informative profiles for each chef. Features are fairly minimal, with a video section still under development, but I do like the simplicity of the site. Site registration allows you to save and comment on recipes. Although Cookstr only has a few recipes from each chef, it's the closest thing to a massively cross-cook[book] database I've found. I hope it grows.

I learned about Food52 when the New York Times ran a round-up of new, crowd-sourced food sites. The hook of this site, founded by two food writers, is that every week there's a theme-based competition; after a year of these contests, the winning recipes will be collected in a book. Any registered user can compete in the competitions, the founders select finalists and post slideshows of them testing the recipes, and then users vote for a winner. The focus of the site is the contests, and all recipes submitted for the contests are accessible, but registered users can upload any type of recipe. Although there is a pretty sizable diversity of recipes on the site, I most often use it when I'm looking for inspiration to try something new, not when I have a few keystone ingredients I'm trying to hang together.

Serious Eats is another curated food community with some social features, including a set of forums, and original video content in addition to a large collection of recipes. Recipes come largely from featured cookbook writers and chefs, but also the wider community base (in the forums). It's more inclusive than Food52, because of its forums, and it's more polyphonous because its cast of contributors is quite long and revolving. However, it's less inclusive in the sense that the Recipes section of the site is limited to those curated by contributors (mostly recipes from featured books and chefs).

Foodbuzz is a network of foodbloggers (more than 10,000). They offer a set of services for "featured publishers," including ad management and other perks, as well as several social networking-type features for individual users. Foodbuzz is one of the few sites I've found that actually aggregates recipes from across the web. You can submit links to recipes to be indexed, and you can also submit recipes for direct publication at the site. It displays some characteristics of a curated site in as much as it highlights recipes from members of its featured publishers network, but overall it's quite open since anyone can submit a recipe or recipe link.

Epicurious, Cookstr, Food52, SeriousEats, and Foodbuzz are my favorite recipe aggregators. To reduce my search load even further, I've created a custom Google search engine that queries these sites in addition to a few of my favorite individual sources (you can see it here).