I’m seriously addicted to the Trader Joe’s Fruit Floes and don’t understand that it did not occur to me, until today, to share about them. Actually, it’s only upon watching a Tivo-ed Oprah episode where she shares about her favorite 100 calorie snack (The Skinny Cow Fudge Bars – these are good too!) that I went “duh” and knew that I had to write this blog post.
The addiction officially set in over the past summer, where I could easily go through two or three boxes (4 popsicles to a box) of these – to myself!!! – per week. Sure, there [...]

I’ll keep this one short, ‘cause really, I’m not that much into spending a lot of time tearing something up. That’s just not very rewarding to me. But still, I must share about my disappointment with the Second City performance at The Flamingo Hotel, Las Vegas.
Second City bills themselves as improv comedy troupe, but really, there was hardly any improv at all. Mostly sketches. The Second City website proclaims “Sin City’s favorite improv comedy troupe launches sixth season of side-splitting laughs”. Huh? Our group’s few and far between laughs were incidentally prompted by the painful attempts of the comedians to [...]

When friends visit us in Las Vegas, we like to parade around The Strip to hear their oooohs and ahhhhs, vicariously feeling that we had a hand in creating all this crafty overload of sensorial experiences. Alas, I’m not that brilliant and my input is confined to knowing “all the good places”.
Indeed, when Pierre visited recently for Toronto, Canada, I made the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace one of our obligatory stops. Besides the Forum Shops unbelievable collection of upscale and luxury shops, nouveau/ancient roman-like environment, the curved escalator is one of its main attraction. But the Forum Shops are [...]

Hahaha. I knew it!!! Just saw this story and had to share, for all the people who look at me funny when I say that I buy – and drink!- this wine, please note that Charles Shaw‘s Three Buck Chuck ($3.99 here in NV) Chardonnay is an award winner!!!
Here’s a sweet excerpt. You can read the whole story on ABC.com:
Charles Shaw Chardonnay, beat hundreds of other wines and was named the top prize in a prestigious tasting competition in California… The characteristics that we look for in our gold medal winner … a nice creamy butter, fruity … it was [...]

Worth the detour. We actually stumbled upon this little gem “by accident” on our way to Sonoma. We were searching for something “charming”and Risibisi Restaurant delivered that and then some.
Cool bistro decor. We were immediately welcomed by one of the restaurant owners of this casually chic restaurant. As always,I like the know “the story” behind everything (a weird obsession and kinda the premise behind The Succulent Wife’s Gift Company) so I peppered the gentleman with questions. He was proud to say that he and his partner were the real deal real Italians. No Fettuccine Alfredo here. Although we did get [...]

My kids and husband clamor for this. And it’s sooooooooo easy to make. I buy a pack of fresh mint leaves at Trader Joe’s (you know, my second home). It’s packed full of mint leaves, 2 ounces worth at a whopping $1.39. All that one needs to do is to remove the stems, place the leaves in a teapot, add boiling water and steep for about 5 minutes. I actually steep the same leaves a second time and since my teapot is small, I go through two rounds of this. I add Stevia to sweeten. It complements the mint flavor [...]

I just hosted a ladies night at my home and served this and got the regular oooohhhhs and ahhhhs when the guests saw this dessert presentation. I serve this chocolate platter as the accompaniment to a lighter dessert. So easy, you’ll get it done in 90 seconds. OK, maybe 120 seconds if you count the time to pull out your platter and cheese knives (yep, cheese knives). All I do is get 2 or 3 kinds of chunk chocolate, usually found in the bulk bins. These Ghirardelli pieces are from Trader Joe’s but Whole Foods also has some good choices [...]

Since most of the people that I mention it to have never heard about it, I thought it was time to share about the herb Stevia that I use as a sweetener. You probably have not heard about it for a good reason. It was not available here in the US until a few years ago.
Stevia is actually is South American plant that has been used by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for hundreds of years. The Japanese started cultivating Stevia in the 1970’s as an alternative to artificial sweeteners, aka suspected carcinogens. But here in the US, the herb [...]

It’s wonderful news. The self proclaimed “little guys” of the food/beverage industry are leading the way. In this case, Jones Soda. This soda manufacturer has already differentiated itself in the market for, among other things, for featuring customer submitted images on its labels. That and their innovative flavor combinations helped build the brand. Now, they are making another statement by replacing High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) with Pure Cane sugar to sweeten their sodas.
I’ve long had an aversion to HFCS. Beverage manufacturers started using it in the 70′s because it was less expensive than cane sugar, easy to store and [...]