Rigel Celeste
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The Glacier Ring by Swarovski
I'm not one for enormous jewels and gems on my jewelry (I know, call me crazy) but this Glacier Ring by Swarovski really appeals to me. Maybe it's because there is no large bling set onto a band so much as the bling is the band. Appropriately named after a mass of ice, this Swarovski crystal cocktail ring is faceted to catch both the light and the attention of your fellow party goers and is gold-plated inside for comfort. A perfect winter accessory as it evokes feelings of snow and sparkles and will coordinate with everything. £142
Thakoon Mirror Mosaic Strappy Sandals
The holidays are all about glitz and glamour -- even for those who glam it up year round, Christmas and New Years are a time for stepping it up a notch. Consider these Mirror Mosaic Strappy Sandals by Thakoon to be your over-the-top statement splurge this season. Dazzling slip-on style in silver mirrored leather with brick-effect paneling, black suede trim, cutout effect, and angled peep toe opening. The heel measures a sky-high 4.5 inches and the price checks in at an equally high $1,150.
Like 'em? Then you should also check out these Mirror Mosaic Ankle Boots.
DKNY Logo Tote, Handbag of the Day
The DKNY Logo Tote is a classic, dark, wintery tote bag that will surely be a staple for years to come on those lazy days when you want to look pulled together without trying too hard or having to think too much about it. The logo-printed body is accented with black crocodile embossed leather and shiny goldtone hardware. Inside there's a black satin lining and two open compartments separated by a closed (zip-top) one. Also includes a logo key fob and a couple interior pockets (including one for your cell phone). £179
Zebra Canvas Shoulder Pouch, Handbag of the Day
Now here's a zebra print I actually like. The Zebra Canvas Shoulder Pouch by Temperley London is a little muted but still very much recognizable and fashion forward. Done in brown and blush in cotton canvas (another reason I like it!), it has brown leather trim and goldtone hardware. The drawstring top gives it a cute pouchy shape while the circular leather base helps it to both hold it's shape and stay sitting up when you set it down. The leather drawstring is pulled through large leather loops and the matching leather handle has a woven circular pattern at the top. One internal pouch pocket in the pale salmon lining, $600.
Zingerman's Bakehouse: Artisan Bread and Pastry from Ann Arbor
Zingerman's Bakehouse of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is nominated for a Luxist Award in the best bread bakery category. Zingerman's is one of the 'younger' nominees, having just come into existence in 1992 as a way for the Zingerman's Deli to have their own freshly baked bread. First there was bread (1992), then there were pastries (1994), and eventually a retail shop opened (1996). Today the Bakehouse is comprised of a group of 130 dedicated foodies and skilled artisan bakers that use traditional methods to hand make all of their breads and sweets and sell to over 100 wholesale customers in addition to a growing crowd of retail shoppers.
Zingerman's Bakehouse prides itself on being run by regular people that simply love to bake, and love to share their baked goods with others. And when it comes to sharing they don't stop at simply selling bread, in 2006 Zingerman's launched BAKE!, a hands-on teaching bakery where experts and newbies alike can learn to make their own scrumptious breads, pastries, and cakes at home.
Zingerman's Bakehouse goods can be found in their in-house shop or in any number of retail locations and restaurants (only in Michigan), or you can buy most everything online through Zingerman's Mail Order.
Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.
Max Poilane Bakery: French Bread at its Finest
Max Poilane is nominated for a Luxist Award in the Best Bread Bakery category. It all started more than 70 years ago when Pierre-Léon Poilane, Max Poilane's father, moved to Paris from Normandy and started a bakery. Contrasting with France's famous fluffy white French loaves, the Poilane bakery brought a signature miche, or sourdough loaf made from stone-milled gray flour that makes for richer, more nutritious baked goods that last longer (up to a week in some cases).
The Max Poilane Bakery, as it is today, came to be many years later (in the 1960s) when Max and his brother Lionel had a falling out and Max Poilane left the family business to start his own bakery on the other side of town. Tensions ran high over the following years and even included a lawsuit over legal rights to the name 'Poilane' (the courts ruled Max Poilane had the right to use his own name). Emotions are still tense today but the Max Poilane Bakery continues to put out delicious baked goods made in a very simple, artisanal way that holds true to family tradition.
The bakery is famous mostly for its fresh bread, although it does offer pastries and other baked goods as well. So next time you're in Paris you could do well to stop by and pick up some of their 'pain,' if just for the experience. Also, there's a fascinating video on YouTube showing how the bakery's famous bread is made.
Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.
ChefShop.com: Gourmet Gets Back to Basics
ChefShop.com is nominated for a Luxist Award in the Best Online Gourmet Food category.
Located in Seattle, ChefShop.com was started ten years ago in 1999 by a group of people that wanted to change the way people thought about and approached their food. The company's mission is to find the best, healthiest foods and goods from artisans and traditional small farmers around the world and bring them to consumers in the U.S. Chefshop.com is fighting against mass market food production and unsustainable farming practices in hopes of fostering the sale of healthier foods with more flavor and value. ChefShop.com is especially proud of the fact that they work directly with their chosen producers and as a result get the freshest, most flavorful goods possible.
Chefshop.com has both a mail-order website and a brick-and-mortar retail store in Seattle. The store also opened in 1999 and offers, in addition to its many shelves of baked and grocery goods, tasting bars for olive oil, jams, honeys, sea salts, and vinegar. The website, on the other hand, is especially shopper-friendly thanks to options of shopping not only by keyword or category but also by recipe and by what's fresh that day.
Goods must meet several stringent criteria before ChefShop.com will consider carrying them and to date their selection exceeds 1000 items from all over the world.
Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.
iGourmet.com: Specialty Cheeses, Fine Foods, and Exquisite Gifts
Can you shop online and have your specialty cheeses and fine dining too? iGourmet.com thinks so, and it seems plenty of others agree as it has been nominated for a Luxist Award in the Best Gourmet Food category and was named 'best gourmet food website' by Forbes for five years in a row: from 2003 to 2007. It's a family business that originated from three generations of cheese importers and started as a mail order business (known as "International Gourmet") well before the internet was even invented. With no "brick and mortar" shop, igourmet.com has an extensive website complete with large photos, flavor descriptions, usage ideas, and recipes in an effort to not only offer exquisite edibles but also educate its customers so they really get what they're shopping for.
iGourmet.com offers everything from meats to sweets to oils and vinegars, but they especially pride themselves on their extensive line of gourmet cheeses imported from France, Italy, Sweden, and every other European country that exports it. They also offer a wide array of unique gift options for the holidays or any time of year in the form of luxe and beautifully packaged gift boxes, gift baskets, and cheeseboards plus a selection of 6 different gourmet monthly club options including Cheese of the Month (of course), Tea of the Month, and Connoisseur of the Month clubs.
Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.
Zingerman's Mail Order: Gourmet at Your Fingertips
Zingerman's Mail Order has been nominated for a Luxist Award in the Best Online Gourmet Food category. The original Zingerman's Delicatessen was started in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1982 by Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig. It offered a combination of specialty foods, traditional Jewish dishes, and a few sandwiches.
Over the years Zingerman's grew steadily, adding (among others) a bakery, a creamery, a couple of restaurants, and a mail order business to sell it all. Zingerman's Mail Order offers a little bit of everything, all wrapped up in personal touches like excellent customer service and a website that displays everything in charming artistic renditions of reality.
Zingerman's focuses mostly on traditionally made foods, plus a few extras that they deem worthy, but overall the selection is intentionally kept "tight and focused" so people can find what they're looking for more efficiently. They carry goods from all the Zingerman's businesses and this time of year is an especially good time to shop their Thanksgiving selection that includes goodies like Spiced Pecans, Crespone Salami, and their "Turkey Rescue Kit" for making the best of all the seasonal leftovers.
Shop online at Zingermans.com or request a paper catalog by mail here.
Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.
Di Bruno Bros.: It's All About Food, Family, and Community
Di Bruno Bros. is nominated for a Luxist Award in the Best Online Gourmet Goods category. It got its start way back in 1939 when two Italian brothers, Danny and Joe Di Bruno, after emigrating from Italy, decided to open a grocery in in the Italian Market in Philadelphia. Their dream was focused around family and community. "A smile doesn't cost you anything," Joe would tell his grandsons. Their store became a touchstone for the community; each customer that walked in the store was treated like family.
Eventually, the store turned from a traditional grocery to having more gourmet imports in honor of the brothers' European roots. Their business and the Di Bruno reputation in the community has continued to grow over the years, and now in addition to the original storefront in the Italian Market there are three other Philadelphia locations and an online shop that makes their products available nationwide. It remains a family business to this day.
To this day, nothing compares to the Di Bruno Bros. experience. The brothers' dedication to culinary pioneering still drives the company to provide the most authentic foods from traditional, artisanal producers, and extraordinary selections of traditional gourmet specialty products that include imported cheeses, charcuterie, oils and vinegars, antipasta and much more.
Di Bruno Bros. also has a line of original creations. Di Bruno Originals includes handmade cheese spreads, gift sets, and a Private Collection that includes such delicacies as Di Bruno Barrel-Aged Balsamic Vinegar and Di Bruno White Truffle Honey. They've also made headlines for their homemade Burrata, which is an Italian-style cheese with a mozzarella shell on the outside and soft mozzarella curd and slightly whipped cream on the inside, Said to pair well with champagne and sweet white wines, it comes in several flavors in addition to the traditional century-old recipe.
Di Bruno Bros. continues to be family-owned and operated, with the original storefront standing proudly at 930 S. 9th Street in Philadelphia's Italian Market. In 2004, Di Bruno Bros. expanded their family, adding a store on Chestnut Street in center city Philadelphia. The company's most recent location opened in 2008 in the Comcast Center as the centerpiece of the market in Philadelphia's tallest building.
Vote now for what you believe is the best of breed in Gourmet Foods. Readers' Choice Awards for Food will be announced on November 30th.
