While I'm not crazy about a female oriented bottle of Port, I have recently been loving dessert wines. More specifically Chris Pfeiffer's Rutherglen Muscat. If you've never tried Muscat — a fortified dessert wine more luscious than Port — hurry and get your hands on this Australian import. Its smooth, fresh flavor and delicious raisin scent would pair perfectly with a Valentine's Day vanilla panna cotta. The body is voluptuous and the color golden. With a slightly nutty flavor, this wine would also make a wonderful hostess gift.
Product of the Day: Bacon Scarf
Described by its genius maker as an "unsettlingly real-looking felted bacon scarf," this accessory with lovely bacon fat marbling streaks patched in may have you mistaken on the streets as an hors d'oeuvre.
Yesterday was Super Tuesday and Fat Tuesday, so I decided to celebrate with the super-fat New Orleans sandwich known as the muffuletta. Though lesser-known than the Big Easy's other big-bread creation, the po'boy, today's 'Wich of the Week is just as beloved.
Invented about a century ago by the French Quarter's Central Grocery, this sandwich is made on massive rounds of Italian bread cut into quarters; one sandwich easily feeds two to four people. I've never been able to find the bread outside of New Orleans, so I substitute seeded kaiser rolls.
The key to a good muffuletta — which features piles of ham, salami, mortadella, and provolone cheese — is Italian olive salad. Central Grocery closely guards its recipe, but Boscoli's version is hard to beat. This time I decided to make my own, and I was quite pleased with the results; to get the recipe for the olive salad and the sandwich, plus lots of photos, read more
Everyone has a friend or family member who loves to entertain so this Valentine's Day surprise the entertainer in your life with a clever heartfelt gift. From a heart-shaped flask to a delicious dessert cookbook, here are my ideas for the perfect gift for the perfect hostess.
Instead of baking the Chinese New Year Cake — Nian Gao — for your Chinese New Year dinner, why not modernize the tradition and serve a sweet version of spring rolls? Fill spring roll wrappers with a luscious mixture of bananas, brown sugar, ginger, and mangoes. Paired with a caramel rum dipping sauce, this is a truly decadent dessert.
Guests will have fun with this finger-licking-good treat, so get the recipe and read more
While on a ski vacation, a friend of mine was put in charge of cutting onions for the group meal. The cook needed a ton of tiny pearl onions, and after the first few my friend's eyes were watering like mad. She remembered this post on onion goggles, and being a resourceful gal, she decided to use her ski goggles instead. She said that although she looked dorky, it prevented her from crying. So tell me, would you ever use this tip?
While I'm not crazy about a female oriented bottle of Port, I have recently been loving dessert wines. More specifically Chris Pfeiffer's Rutherglen Muscat. If you've never tried Muscat — a fortified dessert wine more luscious than Port — hurry and get your hands on this Australian import. Its smooth, fresh flavor and delicious raisin scent would pair perfectly with a Valentine's Day vanilla panna cotta. The body is voluptuous and the color golden. With a slightly nutty flavor, this wine would also make a wonderful hostess gift. 
City Walk
Ralph Lauren
BDL by Ben de Lisi