These lovely salad dressing shakers make salads especially interesting, especially for those of us who customarily avoid kitchens. Add some flavor to your greens with these Lucite contraptions, which harbor five different French recipes for the perfect vinaigrette. (Even if you detest cookbooks, note that you may have to crack out the French-to-English translation dictionary if you’re a bit rusty from years of disuse.) Available from Basic French.

Technorati Tags: Charles & Marie, contraptions, cooking, Epicurean delight, kitchen

A new collection of steamed puddings by Aunt Betty are hitting supermarket shelves. If you visited the Auckland Food Show you might remember sampling them. They’re deliciously decadent and come in three flavors: butterscotch and pecan, mango and lime, and mocha.
Aunt Betty has also introduced Yorkshire Puddings to her repertoire. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the dish, let us break it down for you. They’re traditionally served hot with roasted meat, gravy and vegetables, but they also make a great quickie meal. For a real treat, fill them with cream cheese and top with smoked salmon and chives.

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CocoLuxe specializes in cakes, tarts, cookies, pastries and chocolates. Ingredients are mighty fine and mighty fresh: we’re talking sweet cream butter, fresh roasted nuts, seasonal fruits and imported chocolate. Fancy a Euro-style cake? Try the white chocolate raspberry roulade, opera torte, or milk chocolate mocha mousse cake, all of which are adorned with homemade butter creams, ganache and mousse. If cakes aren’t your thing, stop by the shop for a flaky croissant and cup of steaming java.

Technorati Tags: cake, Charles & Marie, chocolate, Epicurean delight, gourmet

Yeah, we all know the clichés about the Germans: precise, anal, efficient, emotionless - natural when you have a nation of engineers… Well now these traits make it into the kitchen with a tool that amused us: The Knifeguide! It’s primary use is to allow you to cut the same slice at the perfect angle and the perfect width over and over and over again… Not necessarily an item you can’t live without, but for the foodie who has everything else already in his kitchen, it’s a lot of fun! What do you think of this? Any good?

Technorati Tags: Charles & Marie, contraptions, design, Epicurean delight, IMM Colgne, kitchen

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ISAK started spring 2006 and the first range of products was launched autumn 2006. Each season new designs will be added and our product range will grow. ISAK products will be sold through our web shop, retailers andr trade fairs. Designer and founder is Sandra Isaksson. She is a graphic desgner and illustrator and in her creative studio she works with pattern design for textile, wallpaper and print as well as book design, corporate identity and illustration. She lives in England with her partner and son. You can see more of her work at www.sandraisaksson.com.

Technorati Tags: accessories, Charles & Marie, contraptions, design, Epicurean delight, kitchen

From Feinedinge of Austria come these exquisite porcelain tea (or espresso) cups with saucer. Cup has raised flower print detail and the saucer the relief detail. They have also created these generously sized coffee cups and saucers with the quote “We can be heros just for one day” on the inside rim. Great gift for all those quote lovers out there!

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This winter we’ll be roasting chestnuts by an open fire and passing out generous slices of Lady M’s Chestnut Cake to our very fortunate friends and family. An almond paste crust is filled and iced with a whipped, chestnut-infused cream. Walnuts adorn the top for a crunchy finish.

Technorati Tags: cake, Charles & Marie, Epicurean delight, food, gourmet, Sweets

Yoshitomo Nara is our favorite Japanese pop artist. We love his cheeky, nostalgic renditions of androgynous children, who harbor way more emotional range than any cartoon could muster. Nara’s “Ramona”-style characters are bedecked with the influence of Japanese mangas (comic books)—and now you can enjoy them while you drink your gin and juice. Celebratory tots in party hats whoop it up against a spare, near-philosophical backdrop. The glasses come in three sizes, so you can mix and match to your heart’s content.

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If you’ve got a hankering for eating organic, San Francisco’s plethora of options will ensure you won’t go hungry. Take Café Organic Lettus in the Marina District—rather than serving uninspired salads and bland veggie medleys with rubbery seitan, they give California cuisine a much-needed overhaul. The global gourmand will appreciate edibles like the Vegan quinoa bowl drizzled with fresh vegetables and ginger-miso sauce. Our personal favorite? Mango chicken lettuce cups with chile-tamarind sauces (‘cause the sauces are to die for). The place itself is sleek, modern, and always bustling—perfect for people-watching or showing off your new Balenciaga.

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We’ve heard of clichéd yule logs, but a carrot cake log? Now there’s a concept we can get used to. This extra-moist carrot cake is made with fresh carrots, juicy pineapple, and aromatic cinnamon, then rolled with rich, velvety cream cheese icing, and topped with pecans. We admit it appears to have been decorated by the Easter Bunny (a bit cheesy if we do say so). Nevertheless, it’s delicious and you simply must break out the fine china and save a slice for Santa. We’ll sure he’ll love it instead of the usual cookies and milk.

Technorati Tags: cake, Charles & Marie, Epicurean delight, food, gourmet, Sweets