A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

Everyone has a favorite things list these days. Here are some of my favorite things I gave, received or with someone gave to me this season:

Consumables:

Rosie’s bakery chocolate orgasm brownies. TO DIE FOR. Chocolate fudge brownies with this delicious chocolate frosting on top. http://www.rosiesbakery.com/ They have stores in Cambridge, South Station, Chestnut Hill, Porter Square and Wellesley. You can have things shipped to you or they can be delivered locally for a fee.

I saw this on Chronicle and had to try it out. I don’t usually go for egg nog, but this tastes like liquid sugar cookies. Sugar Cookie egg nog. 180 calories for 1/2 a cup…so drink sparingly 🙂 Available seasonally at your local supermarket.

I love a good bottle of champagne-a mid priced one. Veuve-Cliquot is a good choice.

As far as dry pasta goes-I think this one, a pappardelle from Trader Joes is excellent.

It pairs nicely with their tomato basil marinara that I spruce up with a little red wine.

Fig and Kindle makes wonderful and exotic brittle and short breads. The brittle comes in flavors like walnut rosemary with sea salt, wasabi pea, toasted almond anise, smoking hot pecan, and Saigon cinnamon peanut brittle. Prices vary from $13 to $16 for 10oz to 1 pound. They make each to order which is pretty cool. And let’s not forget the brittle that comes in flavors like serious cocoa, dark chocolate chunk, original and cinnamon allspice.

I saw this jam in Food and Wine magazine. I can’t wait to try it. It’s made by a company called We love jam. They have jam, dessert sauces and bbq sauce and prices start at around $10.

I have yet to try this, but how excellent does this look? Sun dried garlic spread ($11.50 for 7 oz; $65 for 6 bottles) “perfect for any antipasto, this Mediterranean spread starts with the best tomato dried in the sun and then marinated in Moulin’s incredible extrav virgin olive oil. This ‘caviar de tomatoes sechees’ compliment other olive based tapenades, and can perfume sauces.” Find this online at The Gourmet Food Store.

Kitchen gadgets:

I just love these cheese markers from Beehive Kitchenware. They are $52 for 4, made with pewter, and they come with extra labels for you to write on. I think they are just adorable.

For a wine lover, I just love this lazy server made from a recycled wine barrel. Made by California Vines, this product is handmade in the USA. Each one is one of a kind, measures 22 inches in diameter and is about 3 inches thick. $95.00

I love this double olive woods salt and spice keeper for $35 from La Tienda. It’s hand carved with swiveling covers-a really great gift. You can even pair it with some specialty sea salt from the website.

Just us girls:

I love the coco mademoiselle  fragrance by Chanel. I love the eau de parfum but it also comes as an eau de toilette if you are looking for something a little lighter. They say it’s an oriental fragrance, whatever that means…I just like it because it’s a fresh and clean scent. 1.7oz bottle can run you about $80 and a 3.4 can run you about $115. You can buy it at sephora or your local department store.

I’m not a bath person, but I love the idea of this product. Bubble bath in a beautiful glass bottle. I bought this for a friend of mine and she adores it. The bubble bath is made from extracts of Japanese green tea, avocado and olive oils and vitamin e. For $22 a bottle, Tokyo Milk comes in a variety of different scents and bottles.

I love these scarves by a company called GreenSewn. They make scarves from recycled Indian saris. You can buy them off their site: www.greensewn.com or you can buy it off the daily grommet website and get 20% off. They come in two sizes, 15″ W x 74″ L or 39″W x 72″L. The 15 x 74 is $45 and the 39 x 72 is $65. Daily grommet has the scarves in blue, pink or yellow but the greensewn website has a lot more variety.

I saw this necklace at a wedding we went to-the bride bought these for all her bridesmaids and they looked so amazing that I HAD to have one. For $140, but they do go on sale, you too can have a starfish necklace strung with quartz beads (17″ with a 3″ extender chain). They come in a variety of colors-you can wear it with jeans or a party dress. They are sold online at the jojolovesyou website or check the website for a store in your state that sells them.

The pink peony bag from beegeebags.com is beautiful. Each bag is handmade, they come in 3 styles, range in price from $72 to $100 and you can choose from a variety of fabrics. She can also do custom orders!! I love mine. They can be casual or dressy depending on what outfit you pair them with.

I bought my first Tylie Malibu bag a few years back, the suede utility in sage.  A 10″ H x 16″ W x 8″ D bag with a 17″ strap for $325. I customized the strap color and stones. I love it. It fits all of my day to day junk I carry around with me and looks super cute with the rhinestone strap. They started selling them at Nordstrom Rack, but beware that it is NOT the same bag. The one at Nordstrom Rack is 10″ W x 9″ H x 7″ D for $109.97. They say compare at $325, but that price is for a larger bag. Don’t get me wrong, that didn’t stop me from buying a new bag in grey, but the downside is that you don’t get to pick your strap-the one that came with the grey bag was black with clear stones. There is a zip pocket inside and two pockets on the outside, complete with a metal clip closure. I really like the company itself-they have great customer service. I like to give my money to companies like this one, who appreciate your business and want you as a customer.

Nail polish by Deborah Lippmann starts at $16 and goes up to $20 (yes, per bottle!) on the website. Favorite colors of the moment include “bring on the bling” a divine diamond shimmer; “baby doll” a baby doll sheer pink; “before he cheats” a pink creme; “bitches brew” a spell of mulberry fantasy (opaque pearl); and “lady is a tramp” classic sanguine red (creme). Celebs love the polish, and it’s high quality, goes on smoothly.

Misc.

I got this as a gift a few seasons ago, but keep going back for more because I love the scent. A cypress and cassis diffuser by K. Hall Designs. The site describes the sent as “essential oils of woodsy cypress and tart cassis meld seamlessly to create this rich, complex, sensual sent”. $46 per bottle with the reeds and $32 for the refill. They have other products in the cypress and cassis scent as well as a variety of other enticing scents.

My dad is from the Bronx and has some serious hometown pride-so I bought him a Neighborhoodie. Totally customized sweatshirts. Choose your font, choose your color, choose if the letters are hand sewn on or pressed on-all for under $50. They also sell other types of clothing that can also be customized. (photo courtesy of Neighborhoodies)