Photo by: Spiral Cellars

As a sophisticated wine connoisseur, are you looking for luxury but live in a modern house …. without a wine cellar? Well a Spiral Cellar may be what you need.

A Spiral Cellar enables you to keep up to hundreds of bottles in an ideal condition, for as long as you want.

So what is it? It’s a watertight, modular cylindrical system that’s built under your home. It can be located anywhere, from kitchen to living room, den to garage.

Relying on the insulation power of the surrounding ground, the temperature can be easily maintained. The best part is it’s free.

In 1978, Frenchman Georges Harnois, developed The Spiral Cellar system. He realized that very few modern houses had cellars, but people still desired a place to store their wine. The design has been optimized by Spiral Cellars Ltd., a UK company. They are now making their grand presence in the U.S.

The Spiral Cellar is quite the innovative and cost effective way of building a wine cellar for your own home.

For more information, go to: Spiral Cellars

We all love chocolate. Many times that’s downfall of those trying to watch their waistlines. But what if there was a way to inhale your favorite food, like chocolate?

David Edwards is a Harvard professor and Illinois Institute of Technology graduate and is the inventor of “Le Whif“, an inhalable chocolate.

Along with several of his students, Edwards is using chocolate particles that are only 80 to 300 microns in size, so they’re too large to enter the lungs and cause coughing.

The Le Whif inhaler device actually coats the person’s mouth with the taste of chocolate and it’s less than 1 calorie.

For those you who are already salivating at this cutting edge concept, by the end of the month you’ll be able to purchase 24 “whiff” bundles online for around $50. Each Le Whif whiff will contain four puffs.

Unlike Bill Clinton, you can now proudly say – you do inhale.  Bon appetite !

The New Orleans Fish House in the MGM Grand Hotel was opened in 1995. Offering authentic cajun style food, this is a must for any fine dining experience. “Bam!”

Chef Emeril Lagasse has seen enourmous success over the last decade. Because of this, it has prompted a signature line of cooking products, cook books, exclusive ingredients and launched his hugely popular Food Network show.

Emeril’s business corporation now heads up a number of fine restaurants in notable cities throughout the country. Lucky for visitors and natives of Las Vegas, Sin City is lucky enough to be one of them.

Emeril Lagasse was born in Massachusetts and studied culinary arts at Johnson and Wales University. After formal studies, Emeril went to Europe where he trained with chefs skilled in classical French cuisine.

The interior of the New Orleans Fish House is upscale, contemporary and spacious, with pockets of ambient colored light. His signature “Emeril” in aqua neon is suspended in the center of the large dining room.

In keeping with his New Orleans Gulf Coast tastes, Emeril’s menu is abundant in seafood: lobster, shrimp, scallops, salmon, oysters and crab, tuna and bass. Appetizers and entrees feature Creole-infused dishes such as the Creole Maine Lobster with andouille sausage or the Creole calamari.

New Orleans Fish House
MGM Grand
3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S.,
Las Vegas, NV 89109

It seems that everywhere you look these days, whether it’s on radio, television, or in the newspapers, you’re hearing about studies that show that healthy-chocolate promotes weight loss.

A small bar of chocolate can contain as many flavanoids as six apples, as four and a half cups of tea or two glasses of red wine.

You finally score that hard to get dinner reservation, and sit down in a lavish restaurant soaking up the ambiance.  Now the difficult choice is deciding what to order from the numerous mouth watering menu choices.  Why hassle?  Let the head chef decide for you.

This is a growing trend in top restaurants.  Tasting menus which typically come with set prices, are becoming more common at America’s top restaurants. Many have even done away with a la carte ordering all together.

If you want to know the highest price restaurant.  Manhattan’s Masa is tops with a $400 per person set menu – plus an automatic 20 percent gratuity.  Cha-ching!  Full article

Recent news that eating a Mediterranean diet during pregnancy might ward off childhood allergies and asthma just adds to the list of studies suggesting this style of eating has a lot to offer.

Living longer, lower risks of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and possibly birth defects have all been linked to eating a Mediterranean Diet.

But is it easy to follow, especially given that the traditional way of eating in many Mediterranean countries – like everywhere else – is now under threat from faster lifestyles and faster more refined foods? Yes, says Dr Antigone Kouris, a Melbourne-based dietician and nutrition research fellow with Monash University, whose own background is Greek.

While she’s the first to agree that the traditional diet back in Greece is becoming more westernised, she believes that many principles of a Mediterranean diet can be easily adopted in Australia. Here are some good habits to borrow.

• Eat legumes. They’re common throughout Mediterranean countries and in a traditional Greek diet are eaten twice a week to avoid eating meat for religious reasons, says Kouris, herself part of a research team at Monash University that found legumes to be the most important food contributing to longevity in over 1000 elderly people in five countries.
• Eat lots of dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, rocket, endive, chicory and amaranth (excellent sources of magnesium and plant omega- 3 fats, she says). You’ll sometimes find amaranth – often called Chinese spinach – displayed with Asian veg in some greengrocers.
• Eat a range of coloured vegetables including tomatoes and capsicum – they’re high in antioxidants, including lycopene.
• Use extra virgin olive oil. There’s some evidence, says Kouris, that olive oil, like omega-3 fats, don’t seem to add weight around the waist as much as animal fats and processed (hydrogenated) vegetable fats that are high in saturated and trans fats.
• Include some fermented foods like yoghurt or fetta cheese that may help provide gut-friendly bacteria.
• Slow cook meats with vegetables, including tomato, garlic, onion and olive oil. This slow cooking of meat is less likely than grilling to form carcinogens, she says. Stewing also retains nutrients in vegetables.
• Eat fish and seafood. Traditionally, fish is eaten more often than animal meats, she says.
• Be generous with herbs like oregano, rosemary, dill and mint; they make vegetables taste great so you want to eat more of them. Indeed, “you don’t hear Greeks saying they hate vegetables,” says Kouris.
• Snack on nuts and seeds. Traditional snacks include pumpkin seeds, roasted chickpeas, almonds, walnuts, as well as dried and fresh fruit.
• Think outside the salad dressing and use vinegar as flavouring for other dishes. Besides adding a tangy flavour, says Kouris, it also lowers the GI (Glycemic Index) of foods and helps you absorb more iron.
  Author: Paula Goodyer

OK, you’re over it. You’re ready to divorce yourself from the Strip and its claustrophobic cluster of people, flashing lights, blaring music and encroaching buildings all bleeding together and assailing the senses.

Breathe. Here’s one antidote, at the far end of Las Vegas Boulevard, in a very humble strip mall. Rincon Criollo is a hole-in-the-wall in the best possible meaning. It’s a Cuban restaurant with an utter lack of posturing.

Dallas doesn’t have many homey Cuban food options, which makes Rincon Criollo worth a lunch trip no matter what your budget is. The cooking here has soul: roasted, marinated pork leg falls into tender, ropy chunks. The chicken in the arroz con pollo tastes fresh, and the yellow rice is gently but distinctively seasoned. The Cubano sandwich yields an honest crunch, and scattered slivers of pickle perk up the layered meats between the bread slices.

Don’t forget the sides: maduros (mashed ripe plantains drizzled with olive oil), yucca fries with a garlic-infused dipping sauce and even avocado slices to further enrich the pork leg.

The laid-back service (there may be one person waiting tables) and determinedly plain interior presents a contrary vision of Las Vegas to what most visitors experience. But it can be soothing to enter a glitz-free zone. Perhaps some flan and a strong coffee before you head back?

For those with unique tastes and looking for cutting edge luxury gifts, then Vikki Smyth has something special for you. Vikki offers a high end, food-presentationware / luxury table top / gift line that will definitely please even the most demanding consumer.

Vikki describes her clientele as “people who are looking for uniqueness, whether it be in food, wine, fashion, travel, or in products.”

Vikki works with high end hotels such as Ritz’s, Four Seasons, and W Hotels, just to name a few. They use her unique goods for food display. Her signature piece is the Sushi-Ushi. This table top piece is quite a stunner, and is her biggest seller. Sushi-Ushi is unique, absolutely gorgeous, and her packaging is killer – it literally screams luxury!

Sushi-Ushi is define as “Playful Luxury at your fingertips”.

This award-winning, eye-catching food-presentationware platter suggests both intrigue and savoir-faire. Sleek and elegant, this one-inch-thick, clear rectangular platter rests upon an enticing arrangement of brilliantly colored acrylic blocks. Compelling presentation tantalizes your guests’ taste buds allowing your freedom of artistry to be expressed . . . the perfect playmate for a heightened culinary experience.

Sushi-Ushi is available in 3 sizes: 36”x6”w/24 blocks; 25”x5” w/18 blocks; and 20”x4” w/12 blocks.

Vikki Smyth just finished designing a brand new bath line exclusive to Encore Hotel in Vegas (Steve Wynn’s new hotel). You can find more information on her website.

Vikki also does custom work and has various clients that will request sculptural pieces. An example is she’s currently designing a 7 foot by 3 foot glittery guitar to be placed on a wall for a famous rock star.

To view all of Vikki Smyth’s fabulous product line, visit her website at: www.vikkismyth.com

Vikki Smyth Inc.
www.vikkismyth.com
Phone: (310) 829-3937
Toll Free: (866) 417-0481
Fax: (310) 829-3929

The Thienpont family’s Chateau Le Pin venture is another garage wine. In an average year, they produce about 6,000 bottles of this fine Pomerol on five acres of land.

The Chateau Le Pin Pomerol 1999 is truly one of the most illustrious wines to come out of Bordeaux. Its fullness comes from the downy levels of mocha, black cherry and currant flavors. It’s a favorite of serious wine collectors.

Chateau Le Pin Pomerol 1999 is full bodied and as loaded with tannins as it is with fruits. This is a wine that opens in the glass, revealing layer after layer of complexity and richness.

With flavors that linger seemingly without end on the palate, this is a wine that will drink well as it ages, especially about twenty years or longer down the road . If you’ve got to compare it to anything at all, think of the exquisite 1990 vintage wine.

Chateau Le Pin Pomerol 1999 will cost you about $900 a bottle.

Chocolate has forever been a grand gift to give someone. The chocolate industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are so many different types of chocolate and so many reasons to give someone a chocolate gift that it is a industry that just keeps getting larger every year.

There are several different types of chocolate. There is dark chocolates, milk chocolate, fair chocolate, and semi-sweet chocolate are just a few. Many people have a favorite chocolate. Each manufacturer of chocolate gifts has their own special formula for the way they create chocolates and this makes each brand of chocolate flavor a little different.

Chocolate Truffles are a great gift to give for just in relation to any occasion or no occasion at all. individuals love to acquire chocolate gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, holidays or just because. extraordinary occasions or events are also grand times to give the gift of chocolates. Baby showers, a move up at work, or just to tell a friend that you are thinking about them are great reasons to give chocolate handouts.

You can buy chocolate gifts just about anywhere including grocery stores, gas stations, malls or convenient stores. Stores that put on the market only chocolates have the biggest variety to choose from and you may even find a particular store that carries the particular type of chocolate truffle that you like or you know your friend likes. This makes choosing chocolates present a little easier because there is such a hefty variety and you may end up finding amazing new that you like.

Chocolate Truffles make grand gifts for any person at anytime. There are a mixture of packages that chocolate gifts come in so you should be able to find one just right for the event or friend you are trying to buy something for. The present of chocolates is a gift that people love to accept. Have fun searching for the just right chocolate for your buddy and don’t forget to get some for yourself!

For individuals of you who like chocolate truffles, there are several different kinds to decide from. You can buy chocolate truffles in milk chocolate, dark chocolate or if you aren’t certain which kind of truffle your cherished one or friend might like, you can always get a box of mixed chocolate truffles.

Buying a chocolate gift for someone is pleasurable and you can get really inventive with the things that you choose. You can get someone a box of milk chocolate truffles. You can get someone a heart filled with assorted filled chocolates and you can still get someone a good old plain chocolate bar.

People love to get chocolate gifts for just about any occasion or still if there isn’t an occasion. Chocolates are a grand treat to show someone that you are thinking about them. Go pick out your chocolate gifts today and show someone how special you fell they are.

Author: Hugh Roberts

Veuve Clicquot has a thing about teaming up with high-end renowned brands to offer exceptional indulgences for champagne enthusiasts, time and gain.

Following Globalight’s success, now they have collaborated with Italian yacht maker Riva to unveil the La Grande Dame by Riva Collection. Since popping a bottle of champagne while cruising through serene waters is mandatory (at least I think it is), this luxurious set includes the Cruise Collection, Cruiser Bag, and ice bucket for intoxicating celebrations.

While the Cruise Collection, a “made to measure” piece contains 4 bottles of La Grande Dame 98, 2 magnums of La Grande Dame 88, 6 champagne flutes Riedel and 6 water tumblers, plates, table mats and cutlery, the Cruiser Bag, a limited edition of 300 pieces only, contains a bottle of La Grande Dame 98 and two champagne flutes.

For $80,000, you can dare to spoil yourself with the Cruise Collection. And that much sum hits you hard then you can get high with the Cruiser Bag for $425 only.

If you are planning a bash to celebrate your darling’s birthday or a multimillion dollar business venture on your luxurious yacht over the Mediterranean waters, then the Cruise Collection will agree with the occasion for sure.  Source