Pop on over to Ula Cafe

(pat greenhouse/globe staff)

Business partners Korinn Koslofsky and Kate Bancroft opened Ula Cafe in the hopes that it would fill a gap in the neighborhood -- a good-looking spot serving great homemade food, with enough space to sit, study, and surf the Web. Sandwiches are built on bread from Hi-Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, and while Bancroft takes care of the front of the house, Koslofsky draws on her training at Boston-area bakeries to turn out pastries like popovers ($1.25), which come out of the oven throughout the day. With help from friends and family, the pair remodeled the space inside the J.P. Brewery complex, and though the build-out ran a year behind schedule, the results are stunning, and unlike any other spot in town. In the year between the projected and actual opening, the Brewery has added new tenants and Ula's business is better than expected, says Koslofsky. Seems they were right about the neighborhood's gap. Ula Cafe, 284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, 617-524-7890. -- LEIGH BELANGER

Quick jam

Used to be, jam making ate up a whole afternoon. It demanded a sure hand and religious stirring over heat to keep fruits from burning as the pectin -- the agent that gels the concoction -- worked its magic. Now this can be done in a fraction of the time. Ball, whose famous jars have held some fine homemade jams over the decades, sells plastic freezer jars and no-cook pectin, eliminating both the cooking and the wax seals. You just stir the fruit, sugar, and pectin in a bowl, let it sit for 30 minutes, and pop the jar in the freezer, where it can be stored for a year. Instructions come with the jars; the pectin is sold separately. Another upside to freezer jam is that without the simmering, it tastes more like sweetened fresh fruit. A quicker method but, alas, nothing to store on the pantry shelf. Available at Star Market MIT, 20 Sydney St., Cambridge, 617-494-5250; Shaw's Brighton Mills, 370 Western Ave., Brighton, 617-787-5266, and other Shaw's markets. -- DARRY MADDEN

Small chocolates, big treats

The elephant in the room just arrived from across the ocean, and it's smaller than a box of matches. The iconic elephant logo of Belgian chocolatier Cote d'Or trumpets each of the company's bite-size petits, now available here. In milk and dark chocolate, the rectangular confections come in packages of 24 ($4.99 and $5.99) for sharing with friends. In Europe, a tiny chocolate always accompanies after-dinner coffee. Toss a few of these individually wrapped goodies in your bag to take to your local cafe. Unless, of course, they already serve them. Available at Bed Bath & Beyond stores. -- DANIELLE CAPALBO