By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
Who knew that it was an American bartender, working at a bar in Paris in the roaring 20′s, that would come up with the iconic American drink that is the Bloody Mary.
Traditionally, the Bloody Mary is made with vodka, tomato juice, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and garnished with a lime; all served in a tall glass. This cocktail has come a long way. It is probably one of the only cocktails that can have such diverse inclusions and still be called a Bloody Mary. Anything goes for garnishes; combining everything from shrimp, oysters [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
What does your perfect Mother’s Day look like? For me, it is breakfast in bed with the newspaper and my young girls competing on whose school-made gift I will open first. It is either going out to lunch or walking the dogs with my 20 year old son, who knows that spending an afternoon together has been our tradition on Mother’s Day for the last six years. Simple, right? How easy for us to enjoy this day that became an official celebration for mothers over 100 years ago.
Not all countries, mind you, have a day [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
I was given a sample pair of Dear Kate panties to try. I thought that the bikini with the full protection were cute and I could see the benefit of them for my age. Dear Kate was started by a young woman who saw a need for leak resistant underwear for her heavy periods. She did not want to compromise style with practicality, so she came up with a line that she would want to wear. When she realized how popular they were, not only heavy periods but also for women with bladder control, she [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
Let me start this article by saying that I want to share with you a book that has literally brought new life into this aging body, mind and soul of mine. I learned about this book when Esther Perel recommended it after reading my article that mentioned her TedTV video on Love and Desire in a Long-Term Relationship.

The author, François Roland, is a self-proclaimed quintessential Frenchman, who knows personally about women, making love and living a sensual life. Not sure if this was a book for me, I grabbed the sample chapter for my Kindle [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
You may already be familiar with these handy little Stick-Um!, but, for me, they were an Uh-huh moment and I find them just brilliant! As the namesake states, UM! is the first sound made when you have an epiphany. And each of their products are genius solutions created to make our life a little bit more organized.
Each product uses nano-suction technology; meaning that there are millions of little suction cups that allow the products to stick to a clean, flat surface. When you touch them they feel sticky but really it is just all these [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
If you are a fan of the Mad  Men show, then you know that the era’s drink of choice was the cocktail – and not just one… Set in the 60′s in NYC, the era romanticized the Rat Pack’s image of a bottomless drink and a smoke, a vice for each hand.
Forget about the cigarette. The cocktail represents the return of drink sophistication. Just their names – the Manhattan, Vodka Gimlet or the Old-Fashioned – conjure up images of men in snappy suits and women in beautiful cocktail dresses, looking stylish and sexy.
The cocktail is a classic [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Technical Writer
If you have never heard of Lekue you’re in for a treat. This company was one of the first to embrace the wide use of silicone. Silicone, an odorless, colorless substance that is found naturally in sand, quartz and rocks, has been around for decades, but it is just within the last five years that we are seeing it everywhere. And for obvious reasons.
Silicone is light, flexible and comes in a variety of bright, delicious colors. It can withstand extreme heat and cold and therefore can be used in ovens, freezers and microwaves (it’s BPA-free, [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
I was recently on a short flight from Toronto to Chicago and sat beside a gentleman from France. I normally have casual chats with the person sitting beside me that either end as quickly as they start or we find a common interest and talk the whole flight.
This chance encounter was different. I do need to preface this post with the fact the I have been happily married to the same man for almost 27 years.
This man ignited something in me that has left me seeing myself in a very different way. In the one [...]

My family and I are currently living at Taboo Resort and feel that we are having a long term vacation in the great Canadian white north (except for the working everyday and going to school part). It appears that we are the only ones that live here on a permanent basis and our townhouse clearly is not designed for anything but a vacation home.
We have moved most of possessions from our two homes into this one small space. It has been a challenge to be organized with so little storage space. The kitchen has been the hardest to organize since [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
With the East Coast being hit again with yet another snow storm and my California friends complaining about the cold weather, it is definitely the season to curl up with a good hot cup of tea.
Growing up, my mother would make tea when we got home from school. By the time we walked through the door, the kettle would be boiling. My mother would add two Red Rose tea bags to the teapot and pour the boiling water in it. Gone was the whole intricate formal ceremonies that many cultures historically created around serving tea.
Baby [...]