Nurumaiel, as for your second question, here are my opinions.
I always imagined elven homes in the cities to be like ancient Roman houses: organized around a central courtyard, with lots of plants, maybe a fountain, tiled roofs, etc.
As for food, Tolkien made some Elvish names for: meat, bread, juice, honey, fruit, flour, oranges, edible roots, and corn (probably not the maize of North America).
Older sources give Elvish names for: soup, plums and cherries, berries, and cheese. So elves of that time seemed to have a varied diet. I was articularly surprised by seeing oranges. I thought that would have been to exotic, but I suppose there might be some orange trees in Gondor, or that some were brought from Valinor to be cultivated in Middle-Earth when the Noldor rebelled.
Just my ideas.
P.S. I will get my first post done as soon as possible, tonight probably.
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