Food & Drink

Need a little help for Valentine’s Day? Here are our suggestions for this year!

Annie Band – We fell in love with Annie Band’s Vintage Coral Glass Cabochon Ring at first sight. What makes it even more desirable? This made to order ring has “live” inscribed inside the band, custom inscriptions also available to ensure a personal touch. This comfortable fit ring gives off subtle glamour with its intricate vintage details and femininity. Available online at www.annieband.com for $368.

Olia – Everyone should have a personal mantra close to their heart! Olia’s Make Love Necklace, is an affordable and adorable keepsake. Simple yet statement making, this necklace is perfect for your former flower child mother whose heart will melt when she unwraps and discovers this special token on Valentine’s Day.  Have a new mother to shop for or a friend expecting? The Make Babies Necklace will make them smile. Each hand stamped charm necklace is $47, available in gold and sterling silver.

Knock Knock – Knock Knock has plenty of playful and witty giftables under $5 this Valentine’s Day that are guaranteed to please. Already committed? Spice things up with their Sweet Nothing notepad ($3.75) and let your loved one know exactly what you’re thinking in one concise sticky note! Looking for love? The Paper Pick Up pad ($4.50) keeps things simple – the paper version of speed dating that allows you to show interest while saving face.   (more…)

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying everyone probably likes flowers, chocolate and/or fragrance as a Valentine’s Day gift. But do they LOVE it? Well, “mind-blowing” might not be the first thing I’d think … more like “predictable, but sweet. I’ll take it.” Leave it to Strange Invisible Perfumes to prove me wrong. Their creative take on the ol’ tried and true is simply eye-popping. (Oh men of our lives, are you reading this?!?)

A team effort with floral designer Holly Flora and San Francisco-based chocolate artisan Cocoa Absolute, SIP’s “ultimate Valentine’s Day delivery” offers four options of drop-dead gorgeous, creative bouquets paired with limited-edition organic, botanical perfumes and a delectable box of hand-crafted chocolates. (Just outside of L.A.? Call and see if they’ll make the trip.)

While pricey ($205–$542), the results are absolutely swoon-worthy. In addition, the flowers can be customized by request (if what you want is available), and since the chocolates are optional, you can always adjust according to your budget.

P.S. If you’re in the neighborhood, drop by SIP’s Venice, Calif., boutique tomorrow (Feb. 5) for a trunk show. There will be champagne, cupcakes, jewelry and plenty of limited edition fragrances to sample before you take the plunge!

Strange Invisible Perfumes is located at 1138 Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice, Calif. To order a V-Day delivery, call them at 310-314-1505 by February 11, 2011.

If you’re looking for a delicious treat to give someone this Valentine’s Day (or to use to drown your own romantic sorrows with), head over to Williams-Sonoma and pick up their Checkerboard Marshmallows.  They’re made by hand using a recipe that was developed in 1889 (you might’ve also heard them called “Modjeskas” in honor of a Polish actress).  The handmade marshmallows are each dipped in caramel and in the box, you’ll get two versions – one dipped in the traditional caramel recipe and the other dipped in a Guittard dark chocolate-infused caramel.  As someone who already loves marshmallows, this just takes that food to a whole new level of deliciousness.  It’s such a decadent combination – the soft texture of the marshmallow brings out the sweetness of the caramel it’s covered with, but it’s not so sweet that it’ll make your teeth ache.  (I find that it’s literally the perfect sweetness for me because I can eat one – or maybe two! – and be completely satisfied, so it’s not like some candy where you start eating it and before you know it, the whole box is gone).  And I love that they’re still made the old-fashioned way – each one is hand poured, hand dipped, and hand wrapped, so you know they’re made with love.

Each box has 20 marshmallows – 10 of each flavor – so while it’s a little bit of a splurge at $26.50, it’s totally worth it.  (They also give you a good excuse to go shopping at Williams-Sonoma, since they’re exclusively sold there).  They’re a treat that’s completely worth the calories!

So, after all those holiday cookies and hangovers, CLEANSE and DETOX appear to be the buzz words of the month. (And judging by the fact that two local Borders stores were sold out of Dr. Alex Junger’s “Clean” book, I think all of L.A. has jumped on the bandwagon.) Prompted by my curious husband (who despite feeling sluggish after the new year was suspicious of the detox trend), I enlisted us in a cleansing experiment: 5 days of raw-food-eating and 2 days of Lori C. Kenyon and Marra O. St. Clair’s Ritual Cleanse — an Irvine, Calif.-based juice cleansing program designed to “reset” the body.

Now, I know, some people do “Beyonce’s maple syrup diet” for well over a week, and many follow Dr. Junger’s advice (endorsed by Gwyneth Paltrow) for at least three weeks, but honestly, feeling faint, weak, mucus-y and stuck with a headache is not my idea of a good time … no matter how skinny, light or euphoric I’m supposed to feel. One week of abstaining from all the things I love about food — caffeine, all meat, refined sugar, dairy, alcohol, soy, wheat, gluten — was about all I could stomach. That’s why I chose this route. With raw food, we got to eat a bunch of vegetables and feel full; and with Ritual Cleanse, we didn’t have to prepare meals (vegetables are time-consuming!) and worry whether we did so correctly.
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As I type this, an exclusive state-side preview auction is concluding at Sotheby’s Beverly Hills for a one-of-a-kind Lalique “Cire Perdue” Decanter containing the oldest and rarest Macallan ever bottled, a 64-year-old Macallan Single Malt Whisky.

Reportedly “history in the making,” the event, hosted by The Macallan Brand Ambassador Eden Algie (yes, he’s really Scottish), gives the winning bidder the chance to be the first person in the U.S. to own The Macallan 64. (And, can we just note how gorgeous the crystal artisan bottle is?)

For a scotch connoisseur, this is a big deal. For a gal like me who likes to watch “Mad Men,” sit in vintage leather wingback chairs and engage in witty conversation with scotch connoisseurs, this is a thrilling pipe dream. And for charity: water, a nonprofit organization that brings drinking water to people in developing nations, it means more than $100,000 of support collected at auctions throughout the world over the course of eight months.

Discerning New Yorkers out there who want to contribute to this great cause and catch a glimpse of the bottle above before it ends up on someone’s private bar can still attend the charity: water grand auction event at Sotheby’s New York on November 15. Interested in bidding? Send an email to cireperdue@mbooth.com. Or for more information, go to http://www.charitywater.org/themacallan/. For the rest of us, here’s a quick scotch lesson:

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I’ve been pretty obsessed with Pinkberry ever since the first time I tried it – as evidenced by the fact that on more than one occasion (okay, more than ten occasions) I’ve waited in line for over 30 minutes just to get my fix.  I was beyond excited when one opened within walking distance of my apartment and I’m constantly using it as motivation to go run boring errands that I really don’t feel like taking care of because I always treat myself to it when I’m done.  That’s why I was super excited when I got a chance to preview their new Pumpkin Pinkberry holiday flavor.  I was a little scared that it was going to be the flavor that broke my Pinkberry obsession because I just wasn’t sure how well Pinkberry and pumpkin would go together, but I was totally wrong.  It’s the perfect blend of sweet and tart, very light and refreshing, but with a pumpkin tang that lingers on your tongue.  Delish!  Pinkberry is pairing it with a few new toppings – crunchy honey graham crackers, their new Pinkberry Swirly Whip (a fluffy whipped cream they make fresh daily) and a dusting of cinnamon to finish it off.  I usually get the original flavor with strawberries and chocolate chips, but this is such a different taste combo – the crunchy graham crackers go really well with the pumpkin flavor and the whipped cream is light and full of flavor.  I’m going to be obsessively stopping to pick this up, especially since it’s only available through the end of the year.

In addition to the new Pumpkin flavor, Pinkberry is also bringing back Pomegranate Seeds as a topping for the holiday season and they’ve just introduced Pinkberry Take Home containers, so you can stop at any of the stores and bring it home with you.  (So, so dangerous for me!)  To find a Pinkberry location near you, visit www.Pinkberry.com.

During my five years as a Manhattanite, I’ve never once made it to Governor’s Island- though not for lack of trying as I’ve been wanting to go all summer.  This coming Saturday, however, I’m determined to make it- boyfriend in tow to check out the first annual Pig Island.

Pig Island is a culinary festival featuring local food, NY State wines, Six Point Craft Ales, and live music.  Twenty chefs from some of New York City’s finest venues will be preparing their specialties.  I just got the menu and restaurant lineup (see below)  for the event and it looks like it’ll be an amazing day of foodies.  Just checked the weather too and it looks like the sun will be cooperating.  For more information and tickets, check out their website!. (more…)

Lobster, fresh lemon juice, and the taste of clarified butter: foods for me that conjure up summertime memories of when I was 7 or 8, and our family used to make yearly car-ride pilgrimages to Arcadia, Maine, for a taste of the outdoors that suburban New Jersey couldn’t provide.  Rather then playing the “Am I There Yet” game with my brother, I spent the 8-10 hour drive to Maine sleeping.  But I always knew when we were getting close to our destination when my dad pulled into the nearest, decent open-air, roadside seafood joint advertising LOBSTERS in capital letters.

Our whole family would sit down to a fresh lunch (or dinner) of a few, simply steamed lobsters with sides of lemon and melted butter, as we dug into their nooks and crannies, seeking out the fresh, sweet meat.  My dad was always the best and fastest at digging, always offering us the choicest, largest morsels, something he still does today whenever we eat shellfish.  I was always amazed when he could crack a lobster claw, and remove the entire thing intact, like extracting a puzzle piece.

Coming to Mary’s Fish Camp, made me feel like I wasn’t on Charles Street anymore, but exiting onto the highway off a family trip from Maine into one of those roadside seafood joints.  Perched on the corner, Mary’s Fish Camp is a small open-window corner restaurant with walls lined with faded old-time nautical ads  and ’70s rock playing overhead  (when I was there, it seemed like the entire Virgin Suicides Soundtrack was on rotation).   One of their famed Lobster Rolls can be seen on practically every one of their ten tables and along the smooth metal counter. (more…)

This holiday weekend (or whenever you are preparing to throw a summer party) consider one of the coolest new launches from Godiva. Their new Ice Cream Truffle is exactly as it sounds- a chocolate truffle filled with a delicious ice cream center. Their limited edition flavors are all inspired by the classics, among them: mint chocolate chip, pecan caramel sundae, neapolitan, and oranges and cream. After having been lucky to taste test all of them, I have to say that my favorite is mint chocolate chip, a cool refreshing truffle that brings back childhood memories of licking on the cone, but now with a decidedly grown up feel. The tuffles are perfect for summer parties because they are so low maintenance (just pick them up from your local store) yet look and taste so luxurious. Each box comes with 4 truffles and you can mix or match for a colorful, festive display.

Back in April, EFFEN Vodka hosted a fun event at the ROOF at theWit, focusing on meaningful and sustainable design. What’s the connection between EFFEN and design? EFFEN chooses to be different from other vodkas by design, featuring all natural ingredients. Its bottle was also designed to be both aesthetically pleasing and functional–the patented rubber sleeve that it is encased in provides insulation to keep the vodka chilled longer, as well as easier handling.

I asked one of my girlfriends to come to the event with me and we loved enjoying the amazing views at ROOF, the lounge on the roof of theWit Hotel. We met a lot of Chicago foodies and bloggers, like Better With Butter and the Local Tourist, and heard about Chicago architecture and sustainability from Jonathan Boyer. We also got to enjoy some delicious cocktails by mixologist Jonny Abens (featuring EFFEN, of course). Now that summer’s in full swing, I wanted to share these drink recipes with you so that you can bust them out at your next warm weather get-together!

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