Gorgeous! My boss gave me a ribbon candy ring from Barcelona confectioner, papabubble! They have boutiques in New York, Tokyo & more cities where they make the cutest candy. Maybe I can visit them in Tokyo when I go in March???

Picnic Box from Boxsal
price: $24.99

Who doesn’t love a great picnic in the park? The problem is that you might not have a picnic basket lying around or even have an idea of where you might buy one. Then you might worry about how often you will actually use it and if it’s worth buying. Maybe you decide to forgo the basket all together and take a blanket and some take-out to your nearest park? Good thing for you, Boxsal has you covered. Today’s Date Box is an eco-friendly, affordable option for your next picnic in the park. It features everything you need for the transportation and consumption of your meal, all in a stylish package, begging to be enjoyed out under the sun. Go out and picnic!

Spice Jars from Anthropologie
price: $4.00/each

Are you still rocking those ugly stainless steel spice jars that came with your giant spice rack? Are you looking for a cute yet functional gift for the super chef on your list? If so, these adorable spice jars are a fit. Perfect colors, perfect price: go pick yourself up a dozen and surprise someone special this holiday.

Recipe Flags from Paper Source
price: $5.95/each

Even though my recipe books are beat and speckled with oil splashes, I still hate to dog-ear the pages. These illustrated flags are a cute and practical way to mark the recipes I want to remember to try. Another way to use them as a gift: Buy your favorite recipe book and mark the dishes you really loved for the recipient!

Heirloom Recipe Box from Rifle Paper Co.
price: $125.00

Everything that Rifle Paper Co. makes has a lovely vintage charm to it. The days of recipe cards seem to have passed, but like vinyl records and hand-written notes, there’s a really strong argument for their comeback. Cooking has a sentimental quality to it and this gorgeous box does it justice.

Macaroons from Sucre
price: $23.00

Macaroons are a labor of love… but no one will feel any less-loved if you pick up a box of the sweets from New Orleans-based boutique, Sucre. Their holiday box features 15 in the season’s favorite flavors, chocolate and peppermint!

Star Wars Cookie Cutters from William Sonoma
price: $20.00

These Star Wars cookie cutters are awesome. Either you know someone who loves Star Wars and also likes to cook (unlikely), or you know someone who loves Star Wars and likes to eat cookies (likely). Which ever the case, they’ll appreciate these cookie cutters all year long. I’d like a batch of Death Star sugar cookies please!

Cookies from Momofuku
price: $10

So you can’t fly them to David Chang’s famous Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar in New York this year. (Thanks, economy.) Plan B: Bring to flavors from his oven to them. Compost, blueberry and cream, and cornflake cookies come right to their door. For an extra $18, send them with one of their awesome tote bags.

Flask from J Crew
price: $34.50

Are you thinking about buying a loved one a nice bottle of liquor this holiday season? Well make sure they have the option to drink it on the go with this classy flask from J. Crew. Perfect for the dry family christmas party, or when you drag your boyfriend to go see the next Twilight. A pocket flask makes any occasion an enjoyable one!

Jam Jar Sweets
price: $3.50 (4oz. jar) – $6.00 (8 oz. jar)
Ready-to-eat homemade desserts meant to be eaten straight from the jar are the perfect way to send some love. They’d make a creative dessert to bring to a party, as well as a decadent snack on Christmas Eve. The company is local and their flavors are amazing. (Think gingerbread, peppermint brownie, s’mores, peach cobbler, and birthday cake!) Why not give it a go?

If you watch Biggest Loser, you know there’s this great part of the show where Bob the trainer has a “conversation” with one of the contestants that ends up being a not-so-cleverly disguised plug for a sponsoring product. My favorite is when he talks about fighting the urge to eat dessert and pulls out…a piece of Extra gum. Right, Bob. When I want a piece of cake or ice cream, I’m going to pull out my 5-calorie slice of gum and enjoy it.

With Extra’s original flavors the idea was pretty ridiculous. BUT WHAT’S MOST RIDICULOUS is that their new Desert Delight’s make it kinda plausible. They’re delicious! The mint chocolate chip & key lime pie flavors taste exactly like the real thing. So much so, it’s a little weird because at some point you’re like, “Why isn’t this bite of pie going away when I chew it.” (It’s not a bad thing.) The strawberry shortcake isn’t bad, but it’s not as exciting because it basically tastes like strawberry gum. The other two though are “wow.” It’s almost like dessert… almost.

Right now if you “like” extra gum on Facebook, they’ll send you a FREE sample pack to try. Go to their page & click on the “Dessert Day” tab.

Last night we hung at Bar Celine, host of the official launch party for the newest gin in town: Beefeater 24. Gin is my spirit of choice, so I was pretty excited about trying this one based on the description. It’s a handcrafted blend of botanicals, including Spanish grapefruit, bitter almond, Japanese sencha tea & Chinese green tea.

Sounds amazing on paper, right? The great news is that it didn’t disappoint. I’m not really qualified to talk about liquor in any sort of technical way, but as someone who just enjoys a great gin & soda, I think it’s excellent. It’s a bright & vibrant gin, really well balanced & almost effervescent.

It stood well on its own in the night’s more straight forward cocktails: the 24 Martini (Beefeater, Lillet Blanc, orange bitters) & the traditional gin & tonic updated for the evening with slices of lemon, lime & orange. However, it also proved to be a versatile & inspiring component in the hands of some creative mixologists.

In Shifting Sands (adapted from a recipe by the renowned Sasha Petraske of Milk & Honey) it married with grapefruit & lemon juice, maraschino liqueur & club soda. My favorite of the night was Bar Celine’s house creation, St. Henderson’s 24, which really showcased the gin with Aperol, St. Germain & lemon juice. I hope it will continue to be available at the bar there because it’s really delicious.

Desmond Payne, creator of Beefeater 24 & the world’s most experienced gin distiller, was present to celebrate the launch & made the event feel really special. Also in attendance was Dan Warner, a guy with one of the best jobs in the world. Serving as the international brand ambassador, it appears that he’s required to travel to different cities & drink gin with people…nice. The only thing better than sipping a cocktail is getting paid to do it.

Are you a fan of mint juleps? Or maybe a margarita devotee? Check out these amazing prints from BevShots. They’ve elevated your alcohol problem passion to an art form. The colorful images are taken in a process that starts with crystalizing the drink on a lab slide & then taking a picture of it through a standard light microscope. The polarized light source passes through the crystals & creates an amazing array of patterns & colors. The science behind it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I like the fact that a bloody mary looks as good as it tastes.

Chocomize—I love this idea! Choose from a wide variety of ingredients like teddy grahams, oreos, even mini chipotle peppers & 23-karat gold flakes to create your own unique candy bar. They have a favorites page that might spark some inspiration. (I especially love the S’mores Bar with milk chocolate, mini marshmallows, and teddy grahams.) But you should probably make your own path & design your own creation! (P.S. The prices hover around $6 a bar.)

Check it out on chocomize.com

Hatch chili cornbread, hatch chili crab cakes, hatch chili ravioli—the annual Hatch Chili Festival is in full swing right now at Central Market! In addition to fresh roasted hatch chilies, you can find pretty much everything else with the spicy green chili mixed in. There’s even a hatch chili chocolate gelato…

See the whole product checklist at CentralMarket.com & tell us: What chili-fide things have you tried??

(P.S. The festival ends on the 31st, so shop quick!)

I’ve been obsessed with making short films recently. It’s my new favorite thing. So when we heard about Deep Eddy, a brand new sweet tea vodka from Austin, I decided to make a movie about it.

[Click here iPads and iPad minis]

The recipes are featured are straight from Deep Eddy’s repertoire. Want to try it yourself? Right now it’s available for purchase at Centennial, Majestic, and Goody Goody liquor stores in Dallas.

(If you like this watch my first movie about a sandwich.)

This week the top ten American Idol finalists (including this season’s kinda dreamy winner, Lee Dewyze) performed in New York… inside of a giant pretzel M&M. 

Yeah. That’s right. One big corporate love fest wrapped in a polycarbonate candy shell. While I felt a little embarrassed for everyone involved, I joined the guilty party when I went out and actually bought the new M&M flavor. For $.89 I got some overly crunchy, dry pretzel chunks with not enough chocolate coating. I also got a reminder about the persuasive power of corporate shenanigans. After all, they wouldn’t do it unless it worked. And these M&Ms are going to need all the help they can get.