Gifts

The SAMBA Montclair Cookbook by Chef Ilson Gonçalves is a glorious celebration of authentic Brazilian homestyle cooking. Originally from the state of Santa Catarina in the south of Brazil, Chef Ilson Gonçalves makes his home in Montclair, New Jersey where his creative cuisine has dazzled patrons with restaurant, SAMBA Montclair, since it opened in December 2010. His cookbook takes the reader on a visual and taste bud tour of Brazil with his delectable recipes ranging from appetizers to desserts. It …

Cold and rainy weather will soon be here making it the perfect time to stay inside and play family board games. I grew up playing epic, marathon games of Monopoly with my sister Joanne and brother David. As young children we spent many countless happy hours playing this game of skill, luck, and strategy, which was permanently installed on the games table in the family room of our home. When I learned that Top Trumps USA Inc. was introducing a …

If you love wine, history, and formal dinners, you are going to love the book Wine and the White House: A History by Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. I fell in love with this stunning book filled with interesting anecdotes about the Presidents of the United States of America from President George Washington through President Donald Trump, and provides an in-depth look at the history of wine served at the White House through the years. For gastronomy lovers, the book is …

High-quality extra virgin olive oil, affectionately known as EVOO, is like liquid gold for professional chefs and dedicated home cooks. With a rise in the organic farm movement we were thrilled to find The Trentasette Collection Organic EVOO, which is USDA Organic certification, OU Kosher certified, and is Non-GMO imported from Italy by the company, Italian Products & Beyond that is the perfect complement to your organic farmers markets finds. Used for dipping, drizzling, cooking, sauteing or finishing, we loved …

What I found especially interesting about the book Vincent van Gogh A Life in Letters edited by Nienke Bakker, Leo Jansen and Hans Luijten published in September 2020 by Thames & Hudson, Ltd is that Vincent’s story is not told by someone else, rather his life deftly unfolds by Vincent himself through his letters to his brother Theo van Gogh (1857 – 1891) providing the reader with new insight into the mind and world of the artist.

Chocolate is one of life’s delectable sweet little pleasures, and New York-based Chocolatier Maribel Lieberman owner of MarieBelle New York shares her passion with her luxurious chocolate offerings. Whether your chocolate preference is dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate, MarieBelle New York has the perfect chocolate to appeal to diverse palates. We loved sampling our way through the tasty offerings.

During a visit to Southampton, New York, we discovered Plain-T and The T Loft, a company dedicated to the art of exceptional tea, founded by TathianaTeixeira and her husband Alessandro Teixeira. As avid tea drinkers, we always appreciate learning about nature’s special bounty and meeting with Tathiana Teixeira was like getting a PhD in tea! Passionate about her exceptional line of high-quality whole leaf tea products, she shared her vast tea knowledge with us and told us about their diverse …

Love spending time in the Hamptons and wish you could bring its essence home with you? Hamptons Handpoured, founded by Hamptons native Brittany Torres, deftly captures of the spirit of the towns that comprise The Hamptons of Long Island, New York with her beautiful hand-poured candles. Made with love in small batches, Hamptons Handpoured candles are made with 100% American grown natural soy and high-quality, plant-based fragrance oils, with cotton wicks, zero additives, that are phthalate free, vegan, and have …

Looking for a great gift for your favorite wine lover or wine enthusiast? As wine lovers know air is the nemesis of wine. Once a bottle of wine is opened and is exposed to air, it must be drunk immediately. Air will spoil the wine, so in the past people tried to recork the bottle or used systems to pump the air out. Now, along comes Savino Wine Saving Carafes and a new and stylish way of preserving wine is …

Food has the power to transport our senses, first visually, then through the sounds of cooking, to its fragrant aromas wafting in the air, and then finally delivering the much-anticipated flavors and textures on our palates. The cookbook, Hong Kong Food City by Tony Tan published by Murdoch Books takes the reader on an incredibly beautiful and flavorful journey of the senses to Hong Kong. This cookbook is a perfect gift for your favorite cook or for the armchair traveler.