La Madeline au Truffe, created by Fritz Knipschildt (whose shop, Knipschildt Chocolatier, is in Norwalk, Connecticut), has a ganache (rich chocolate center) made of Valrhona dark chocolate.

High-quality stuff yes, but is that a legitimate reason for a single chocolate truffle to launch into the triple digits? $250 to be exact.

This ganache also contains heavy cream. Well, so do many handmade homemade truffles but we’re not selling those to our friends and families for $250 a pop.

Click Here to View a video of how the truffle is made.

In my never ending efforts to find the right tools and aspects of technology that make my computing life easier to manage I happen to run across a new player in the managed server hosting space.

Now, I don’t give recommendations lightly and I also don’t give them without an extensive amount of research. With that said, I’ve checked into these folks and they are pretty good. The company’s core business lies in data center co-location services and they’ve branched out into the smoking hot segment of managed hosting.

Here’s the scoop – IronScale is a fully managed, fully automated server provisioning and management environment. True, there are countless companies out today that do this, but what I’ve learned is that IronScale is unique in that they perform all this rapid provisioning magic on real NOT virtual servers (a huge plus in my book!!!)

What’s also pretty cool is that they don’t have any special drivers or plugins integrated inside the OS. This means that when you install a gold image of Microsoft Server or Red Hat that’s what you’re installing, no crazy custom, pre-fabricated image with a ton of overhead.

I’m going to play with the environment a bit more, they’re currently in beta plan to be available for general release in about a month, but what I’ve seen so far looks real good froma speed, ease, and usability perspective.

Los Angeles chef about town Jet Tila has been tapped to open a to-be-named pan-Asian restaurant at casino mogul Steve Wynn’s new Wynn – adjacent Encore resort in Las Vegas.

Tila, whose family owns L.A.’s Bangkok Market, has been teaching cooking classes — at the New School of Cooking in Culver City and Sur La Table, among other venues — and consulting for Bon Appetit Management Co. Tila also has contributed to the Los Angeles Times and has appeared regularly on KCRW’s “Good Food.”

“America’s already very accustomed to Chinese and Japanese food, so it’s time to bring in bolder flavors,” Tila says. “Indian flavors, Singaporean flavors, and of course, Thai –- I think Thai has been misrepresented. I’m trying to bring it back to what it’s supposed to be.”

The nearly 100-seat restaurant also will serve sushi and dim sum. Asian restaurants at Wynn include Okada (Japanese), Michelin-starred Wing Lei (Chinese) and Asian bistro Red 8.

Encore is expected to open early next year. Other restaurants include Botero Steak and Switch, and as reported by Eater LA, Patina chef Theo Schoenegger also will be opening a restaurant.

Source: Betty Hallock

The movie-star glamour and ladylike sophistication of the 1920s is being reinterpreted for fall 2008.

Chris Benz, Donna Karan and Milly are just a few of the names returning to the nonchalant romanticism of the flapper era. Heidi Handler, designer for fashion line Lovenia, pays close attention to details such as beading and fringe, which were trademarks of the 1920s.

In Brian Reyes’ fall collection, he focuses more on longer hemlines and ruffles, while Benz plays with the masculine undertones that began appearing in women’s fashion during the era.

“The 1920s were a lot of fun,” Handler says. “It was a time of escape, and with the current war and state of the economy, we could all use an escape.”

And while 1920s-inspired pieces are popping up mostly in women’s fashion, men have adopted a more polished way of dressing that is also reminiscent of the era, says Roseanne Morrison, fashion director at the Doneger Group, a source of global market trends and merchandising strategies for the retail and fashion industry.  Full article

Misty May Treanor and “Six Feet of Sunshine” Kerri Walsh, won their second consecutive gold medal in beach volleyball Thursday at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing China.

Playing through a steady and sometimes driving rain, May and Walsh defeated China in straight sets and extended their amazing winning streak to 108 matches in a row.

The winning American team defeated Wang Jie and Tian Jia 21-18, 21-18 for their second Olympic gold medal, after also winning in Athens. This win confirms their dominance of the sport.

May and Walsh did not lose a set in seven Olympic matches, playing through smog, sweltering heat and a drenching gold medal game before a loud, sold-out crowd.

Few athletes are identified with their sport more closely than the face of women’s beach volleyball, Misty May-Treanor. Misty was born July 30, 1977 in Santa Monica, California and is married to Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor.

May-Treanor attended Long Beach State where she was part of the 1998 NCAA Championship, defeating Penn State. Nicknamed “Turtle,” she paired up with Holly McPeak early in her career, collecting her first five career wins in addition to placing fifth in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In Huntington Beach in 2006, she surpassed $1 million in career earnings, just the second American woman to accomplish that feat.

Kerri Walsh is nicknamed “Six Feet of Sunshine,”  was born in California and grew up in Saratoga, California. Beyond winning dozens of tournaments, Kerri is an extremely valuable marketing image for the sport. Her friendly and personable demeanor, great sportsmanship, and imposing presence on the court have done much to fuel the popularity of beach volleyball in the 2000s.

Walsh has appeared in several television commercials, and has been a guest on a number of popular talk shows as a result. In February 2006, Kerri Walsh had a guest starring role in an episode of CSI: Miami along with several other AVP Volleyball players.

Taj Mahal Hotel Tarq Restaurant

Hotel Tarq, Delhi’s newest fine dining Indian restaurant, opened August 1 at the Taj Mahal Hotel.

Varq is a modern Indian gourmet dining experience with authentic, artistic dishes created by Taj Corporate Chef Hemant Oberoi and paired with teas to enhance enjoyment of the dishes’ ingredients.

Varq is part of Chef Oberoi’s masala cuisine concept, which reinvents Indian food with new techniques, innovative plated presentations and organic produce and spices. Chef Oberoi is faithful to the diverse homemade Indian dishes, while evolving traditional Indian recipes for contemporary palates.

At Varq, he uses ingredients such as sea bass, diver’s scallops, foie gras, halibut, sand crab and Karachi prawns.

The very name, “Varq” which refers to the edible gold and silver foil traditionally used to embellish certain Indian sweets, rich biryanis and curries, calls to mind refinement and luxury.

Named for India’s exotic edible gold leaf, Varq seats 82 guests and includes a private dining room for 14. Interior designers Mario and Theo Nicolaou created a classic contemporary ambiance by using dark wood, creamy leather and gold textures.

It looks like there’s a changing of the guard in luxury car market.  The Bugatti Veyron is no longer the most expensive car in the world. The Veyron also lost its spot as the fastest car.

That most expensive car title now goes to the One-77. It’s a $2.3 million hand-made coupe that Aston Martin will sell next year.

Rumor is that no more than 77 cars will be built, a figure that makes Bugatti’s run of 300 Veyrons look mass-market and just beats the 80 Veyron roadsters in exclusivity.

“It’s a very special car for customers who want to take the bespoke experience to a higher level,” company chairman David Richard told Autocar. “Every car will be entirely individual.”

Aston Martin isn’t saying much about the One-77, a codename for the as-yet-unnamed coupe, but the project started about 15 months ago.

Aston Martin has identified about 500 potential customers for the One-77.

Top speed is estimated at 220 mph and 60 mph arrives in 3.5 seconds.

Those figures are well short of the 253 mph and 2.5 seconds the Bugatti has hit, but Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Benz says the company isn’t “doing a Veyron.”

People tend to purchase fractional properties in places they frequent for vacations.

A fractional property is an alternative to a second home. Luxury fractional ownership properties appeal to those looking for amenities found in homes valued in excess of $3 million.

Globetrotting interior designer Carl Ross knows what rich people want — more of everything luxurious, and then something unexpected. So that’s what he has bundled into the model apartment for the Hyatt Corp.’s newest vacation real estate venture in Florida.

It’s a $100 million, fractional ownership project of 44 designer-furnished apartments called Hyatt Siesta Key Beach. It will be located on the sand where the old Sea Castle Resort used to welcome tourists who were considerably less wealthy than the buyers of this new property are expected to be.

But the designer’s sand-and-glam model apartment isn’t at the picturesque beach location; it’s on the Tamiami Trail, in the Hyatt Vacation Ownership sales office. It’s a one-bedroom unit, not the two- or three-bedroom apartment that will be standard at the actual beach property.

Since he established his firm in 1996, Ross has made a name for himself successfully tricking out resorts, spas, casinos, themed restaurants and luxury boutique hotels all over the world. He knows what appeals to the rich and famous. At the moment, that doesn’t seem to involve piling on the glitz.

Ross analyzes what brings clients to a particular destination and then pulls the magic of that site into the apartments with subtle layers of color, texture, art and sculptural objects that reference the illusive allure of the destination.  Full article

To commemorate its 150th anniversary, the fine jewelry house Boucheron teamed up with the renowned watch designer Richard Mille to create the RM 018 Tourbillon Wristwatch Hommage a Boucheron.

The resulting timepiece is a never-before-seen design that uses stones hand-picked by the jewelry house that have been carved down to make wheels of the Mille movement.

Price from $700,000 to over $1,000,000

Contact: Barbara Simonian at Westime in Los Angeles, California
Phone: 310-470-1388
Website: www.richardmille.com

Source: Elite Traveler

The innovative team behind the uber-successful Tao Las Vegas is proud to announce LAVO, a new dining and nightlife concept set to open this August at The Palazzo Resort hotel Casino in Las Vegas.

Latin for “to bathe or cleanse,” LAVO is an AvroKo designed space that derives inspiration from the bathhouses of ancient Mediterranean culture with a menu that highlights the best of the region’s cuisine.

The journey from lounge to restaurant to nightclub begins with an entry into the lounge surrounded by worn tile walls and water stained plaster. Twenty foot ceilings of old wood and low chandeliers crown an area featuring a curved bar, leather seating and Moroccan tables.

The restaurant is highlighted by a spectacular glass and wood screened bridge and is bordered by a grand carved stone wall.

Turkish water basins flank the bridge that leads to the second floor nightclub and the bridge itself becomes a gathering perch from which guests can observe the action below.

The nightclub features vaulted glazed tile arches opening to a domed ceiling above the dance floor. Revelers can enjoy a sexy, elevated VIP area with posh banquettes, embossed leather walls and mirrored mosaic tile niches.

THE RESTAURANT & CUISINE
Chef Ludo Lefebvre and his team of experienced chefs will treat guests to a culinary journey with selections of signature dishes from countries such as Spain, France and Italy. The menu is designed to encourage sampling and sharing among friends.
With classic French training, Lefebvre comes to Las Vegas from Los Angeles, where he held the distinction of being that city’s only chef to earn the prestigious Mobil Travel Guide Five Star award at two different restaurants; L’Orangerie and Bastide.
The 300 seat restaurant includes a 180 seat main dining room, a 20 seat private dining room and 100 seats on the outdoor patio overlooking the famed Las Vegas Strip. The restaurant will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, with late night dining until 2 am.

THE NIGHTCLUB
The 4500 square foot nightclub features 40 bottle service tables, state-of-the-art audio visual systems and the sounds of resident DJs Vice, Reach, Galleano and Berrie. The nightclub will be open six nights a week from 10 pm to 5 am.

THE TEAM
Marc Packer, Rich Wolf, Jason Strauss and Noah Tepperberg are all names synonymous with successful restaurant and nightlife destinations. Together, with Managing Partner Lou Abin, they opened Tao Las Vegas at the Venetian Resort hotelCasino in 2005, that quickly became one of the most sought after culinary and nightlife attractions in the city. A favorite of celebrities, locals and those in the know, Tao Asian Bistro, Nightclub and Beach has been the highest grossing venue in the country for the past two years. Individually and collectively, these operators have been the force behind such creations as Tao New York, Marquee Nightclub, The Stanton Social, Rue 57, Avra Estiatorio and Angelo & Maxie’s Steakhouse.

AVROKO
LAVO is designed by AvroKo, a full service, integrated design and concept firm that develops architectural environments, lifestyle brands and products. The company has developed design concepts for such global hotelgroups as Starwood and for restaurants including The Stanton Social and Public in New York and Social House and Company in Las Vegas.

THE PALAZZO LAS VEGAS
With over 3,000 expansive suites, luxury shopping and world-class dining and entertainment, the $1.9 billion, 50-story Palazzo Las Vegas literally takes luxury to new heights. Highlighted by a flagship, 85,000-square-foot Barneys New York, The Shoppes at The Palazzo features more than 60 luxury boutiques. Additionally, The Palazzo offers a variety of cuisines from a collection of award-winning chefs. Other one-of-kind offerings include, Tony Award winning Broadway musical, JERSEY BOYS, the world’s largest Canyon Ranch SpaClub, Jay-Z’s signature 40/40 Club and the Strip’s first Lamborghini dealership.  Source: LAVO/ PRNewswire

The Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino is located off the Las Vegas Strip, and was the first all-suite casino in the Las Vegas area. It made its debut in 1990 as a locals’ casino, owned and operated by Marnell Corrao Associates.

The Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino’s claim to fame is built on two things: spacious suites and scantily clad waitresses.

Every room in the hotel is a suite, open and uncluttered, decorated in warm neutrals. Perhaps the size of the rooms is intended to compensate for the frenetic crowds on the lower levels, where every day is a billed as a carnival.

The exterior certainly reflects the Mardi Gras madness happening inside; the Rio’s buildings themselves are bright red and purple, with gigantic masks hanging from the ceiling.

True to the essence of a Brazilian Carnaval or a Louisiana Mardi Gras, visual overload is the order of the day. On the main floor, the stunning Masquerade Village (recently revamped by Dick Foster Productions) is a roving party of acrobats, mimes and sexy dancers.

Dance along on the side, or for a small fee, you can get in costume and hop on one of the floats. The costumes are garish – think Carmen Miranda meets Cirque du Soleil – and that’s part of the fun. Throw on as many layers of beads as you can and move to the sinuous bahia beats.

Samba your way through the lounge and play some slots along the way, but leave time to visit the tropical paradise outside, complete with a sandy beach alongside the lagoon. You don’t have to be tall and tan and young and lovely to visit the Rio’s Ipanema Beach (although it certainly helps).

Waterfalls, Jacuzzis, and poolside beverage and food service will help you relax and gear up for another night of reckless abandon inside. Although Las Vegas is famous for catering to guests with a Y chromosome, the Rio Hotel and Casino bucks the trend. Their Ultimate Girls Night Out package includes access to the Flirt Lounge, designed by women for women.

Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
3700 W Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89103