Handwoven Cotton Throws
Several years ago, I restored my husband’s great grandmother’s farmhouse in Iowa: a 2-story 900 square foot 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom little brown house that sits on a hill overlooking rolling hills of corn and soybeans. The project took nearly two years to complete but when finished, the “Little Brown House” looked like the little farm house my husband remembered visiting as a child.
With softly pleated green and white pinstriped curtains covering every window, multicolored braided rugs on the old wooden floors, and an upholstered sofa and rocking chair swathed in shades of “sage” and “celery” colored fabric, the Little Brown House was nearly perfect when the final touch was added: a handwoven apple green cotton throw by Nantucket Looms. Read more 
The Robert Lambert Fruitcake
It’s that time of year when we are all thinking about decadent desserts so before David Letterman delivers his top ten list of fruitcake uses or the NRA suggests using slices of Aunt Martha’s fruitcake in the next skeet shooting contest, consider for a moment that fruitcake isn’t as bad as the masses make it out to be.
Most people believe there are two truths to fruitcake: people either love it or hate it but nearly everyone would love this traditional holiday dessert if they tasted a fruitcake made by Robert Lambert of San Rafael, California, a man totally dedicated to the art of making decadent, delicious fruitcake that can make even the most vocal critic grin and beg for seconds. Read more
Almond Crack
Almond Crack is one of the most appropriately named chocolates ever tasted: a sinfully addicting flaky butter-toffee (made with toasted organic Kashiwase Farms almonds, Gilt Edge Creamery butter, organic, fair-trade cane sugar and healthy dose of esprit du sel) dipped in 72% cacao Guittard chocolate.
Made by Nosh This, a San Francisco based company that specializes in handmade toffee, caramel, marshmallow, chocolate treats and sauces, Almond Crack is decadent, rich, and truly scrumptious. Did I mention addicting? Read more
Better Brittle
Better Brittle is a West African style peanut brittle that resembles the peanut brittle that many baby boomers recall from our childhood only without the rock-hard corn syrup that has been known to crack a tooth now and then. Made with three simple natural ingredients – freshly roasted peanuts from Virginia and North Carolina, fair-trade organic evaporated cane juice, and sea salt, Better Brittle is really better than traditional brittle. Read more
Original Parmesan Crisps
Kali, “the baking goddess” is the creator behind Original Parmesan Crisps – gently baked crispy crackers made with one ingredient: parmesan cheese. Inspired by a trip to Parma, Italy, Kali set upon capturing the culinary culture of the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy by changing the region’s most famous cheese product into a simple delicious cracker . Each tangy, crunchy melt-in-your-mouth bite will remind you of those beautiful chunks of parmesan cheese for which Italy is so famous for. Read more
Marco Paolo Chocolates
Mark Lewis is the founder and genius chocolatier behind Marco Paolo Chocolates – an artisan chocolate shop known for its distinctive double layered chocolate truffles that taste as decadent as they look. Instead of a single flavored truffle, Lewis combines two complementary ganache flavors using fruits, flowers, spices, herbs and seeds to create a tasting and sensory experience.
One of the most popular truffles is the Coconut Cilantro Dark Lime Truffle: white chocolate coconut ganache enlivened with cilantro teamed with tart lime dark chocolate ganache: two distinctive fruit flavors (the jury is still out on whether coconut is considered a fruit or nut) enhanced with spices and then enrobed in dark chocolate make for one scrumptious tropical truffle. Read more
Salty Wahine Passion Fruit Chili Pepper
A friend of mine whose food preferences run towards the crunchy and the spicy gave me a 4 ounce grinder of Salty Wahine Passion Fruit Chili Pepper with the promise that I would forever look at chili pepper in a different way. She was right. I was hooked with the first grind, as was my whole family. When we recently found ourselves traveling to three different places, we all began scheming to see who was going to get the Salty Wahine Passion Fruit Chili Pepper in their suitcase, which led me to order three 2.5 ounce grinders – one for each of us. Family war successfully averted…phew. Read more
Brewers Bars
A Brewers Bar is a chewy-crispy fruit and seed (no nuts) granola bar created by Granola Lab of Brooklyn, New York with organic rolled oats, organic rice syrup, brown sugar, barley malt, organic pumpkin seeds, organic dried apples, organic dried apricots, organic malt syrup, organic dates (with oat flour), hemp seeds, olive oil, organic sesame seeds, flax meal, organic vanilla extract, and salt. Sounds like most energy bars…but it isn’t because of one ingredient: barley malt. Read more
Garofalo Gluten-Free Pasta
I’ve never met a dish of pasta I did not love. A Wise Person
How to make a great tasting gluten-free pasta has been a big challenge for pasta makers worldwide over the past decade. Knowing that pasta made without wheat could not have the same flavor or texture as traditional pasta, Garofalo – the Italian pasta maker – set upon creating pasta with a different flavor, making gluten-free pasta a cooking opportunity for everyone and not just those on a gluten-free diet. Equally important was to create a healthy product which led Garafalo to combine corn flour (70%), rice flour (18%), and quinoa (3%) with corn starch and a small amount of oil to make some of the best tasting gluten-free pastas on the market. Read more
The Piebox
Transporting a pie is never an easy task, especially if the pie is deep dish, warm or topped with chiffon. Cardboard boxes are flimsy, Tupperware containers seem to be better at storing a pie, and baskets are just impractical (as cute as they look).
Professionally trained pastry chef, Adrienne Blumthal along with co-founders Carol Blumthal and Steve Metzer solved the problem by creating the Piebox: a reusable wooden pie carrier that will keep your pie safe and intact whether you’re walking, driving, biking, or even flying (yes, TSA rules allow you to carry pies and cakes through the security checkpoint: TSA Traveling with Food or Gifts). Read more
Paddock Post 